The Evil Eye; Or, The Black Spector: The Works of William Carleton, Volume OneCarleton, William
General
The Evil Eye; Or, The Black Spector: The Works of William Carleton, Volume One
Carleton, William
Ireland -- Social life and customs -- Fiction
On that
morning, neither arrest, nor friar, nor chaplain, nor jailer, nor
sheriff could wring from him one single expression of regret or
repentance for what he had done. The only reply he made them was
this--“Don't trouble me; I knew what my fate was to be, and will die
with satisfaction.”
After cutting him down, his body, as we have said, was delivered to his
friends, who, having wrapped it in a quilt, conveyed it on a common car
to his own house, where he received the usual ablutions and offices of
death, and was composed upon his own bed into that attitude of the grave
which will never change.
The house was nearly filled with grave and aged people, whose
conversation was low, and impressed with solemnity, that originated from
the painful and melancholy spirit of the event that had that morning
taken place. A deal table was set lengthwise on the floor; on this were
candles, pipes, and plates of cut tobacco. In the usual cases of death
among the poor, the bed on which the corpse is stretched is festooned
with white sheets, borrowed for the occasion from the wealthier
neighbors. Here, however, there was nothing of the kind. The
associations connected with murder were too appalling and terrible
to place the rites required, either for the wake or funeral of the
murderer, within the ordinary claims of humanity for these offices
of civility to which we have alluded. In this instance none of the
neighbors would lend sheets for what they considered an unholy purpose;
the bed, therefore, on which the body lay had nothing to ornament it. A
plain drugget quilt was his only covering, but he did not feel the want
of a better.
It was not the first time I had ever seen a corpse, but it was the
first time I had ever seen that of a murderer. I looked upon it with an
impression which it is difficult, if not impossible, to describe. I felt
my nerves tingle, and my heart palpitate. To a young man, fresh, and
filled with the light-hearted humanity of youth, approximation to such
an object as then lay before me is a singular trial of feeling, and a
painful test of moral courage. The sight, however, and the reflections
connected with it, rendered a long contemplation of it impossible, and,
besides, I had other objects to engage my attention. I now began to
observe the friends and immediate connections of the deceased. In all,
there were only seven or eight women, including his wife. There were
four boys and no daughters; for, alas! I forgot to inform the reader
that his fallen daughter was his only one; a fact which, notwithstanding
his guilt, must surely stir up the elements of our humanity in
mitigation of his madness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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