[32] Eliza Heywood's romance, _Lasselia: or, the Self-Abandoned_, shows a similar portent, as Dr. George Frisbee Whicher notes in his _The Life and Romances of Mrs. Eliza Heywood_. Professor Ashley H. Thorndike, in his _Tragedy_, in speaking of the plays of the Restoration dramatist John Banks (p. 273), says: "Even the portents are reduced to a peculiar decorum:-- "Last night no sooner was I laid to rest Than just three drops of blood fell from my nose!" These three drops of blood probably have a much more extended history in romance and the drama, which it would be interesting to trace out. The symbols of dread and the ghostly are used to good effect in the terror romance. The cumulative effects of supernatural awe are carefully built up by the use of gruesome accompaniments and suggestions. The triple veil of night, desolation, and silence usually hangs over the haunter and the haunted, predisposing to an uncanny psychosis. The Gothic ghost does not love the garish day, and the terror castle, gloomy even under the brightest sun, is of unimaginable darkness at night. Certain houses add especially to the impression of fear. At crucial moments the stroke of twelve or one o'clock is sure to be sounded appallingly by some abbey bell or castle clock or other rusty horologue. In addition to its services as time-keeper, the bell has a predisposition to toll. Melancholy birds fly freely through these medieval tales, their dark wings adding to the general gloom. The principal specimens in the Gothic aviary are the common owl, the screech or "screeching" owl, the bat and the raven, while the flock is increased by anonymous "birds of prey," "night birds," "gloomy birds" and so forth. In _St. Oswyth_, as the murderer steals at midnight through the corridor toward his helpless victim, "the ill-boding bird of night that sat screeching on the battlement of the prison tower, whose harsh, discordant notes were echoed by the hoarse croaking of the ominous raven" terrifies but does not deter the villain.