The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1Poe, Edgar Allan
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The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 1
Poe, Edgar Allan
American fiction -- 19th century; Fantasy fiction; Horror tales, American; Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849
“It left me also in the dark,” replied Legrand, “for a few days;
during which I made diligent inquiry, in the neighborhood of
Sullivan’s Island, for any building which went by the name of the
‘Bishop’s Hotel;’ for, of course, I dropped the obsolete word
‘hostel.’ Gaining no information on the subject, I was on the
point of extending my sphere of search, and proceeding in a more
systematic manner, when, one morning, it entered into my head,
quite suddenly, that this ‘Bishop’s Hostel’ might have some
reference to an old family, of the name of Bessop, which, time
out of mind, had held possession of an ancient manor-house, about
four miles to the northward of the island. I accordingly went
over to the plantation, and re-instituted my inquiries among the
older negroes of the place. At length one of the most aged of the
women said that she had heard of such a place as Bessop’s Castle,
and thought that she could guide me to it, but that it was not a
castle nor a tavern, but a high rock.
“I offered to pay her well for her trouble, and, after some
demur, she consented to accompany me to the spot. We found it
without much difficulty, when, dismissing her, I proceeded to
examine the place. The ‘castle’ consisted of an irregular
assemblage of cliffs and rocks—one of the latter being quite
remarkable for its height as well as for its insulated and
artificial appearance. I clambered to its apex, and then felt
much at a loss as to what should be next done.
“While I was busied in reflection, my eyes fell upon a narrow
ledge in the eastern face of the rock, perhaps a yard below the
summit upon which I stood. This ledge projected about eighteen
inches, and was not more than a foot wide, while a niche in the
cliff just above it gave it a rude resemblance to one of the
hollow-backed chairs used by our ancestors. I made no doubt that
here was the ‘devil’s seat’ alluded to in the MS., and now I
seemed to grasp the full secret of the riddle.
“The ‘good glass,’ I knew, could have reference to nothing but a
telescope; for the word ‘glass’ is rarely employed in any other
sense by seamen. Now here, I at once saw, was a telescope to be
used, and a definite point of view, admitting no variation, from
which to use it. Nor did I hesitate to believe that the phrases,
‘forty-one degrees and thirteen minutes,’ and ‘northeast and by
north,’ were intended as directions for the levelling of the
glass. Greatly excited by these discoveries, I hurried home,
procured a telescope, and returned to the rock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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