Beyond the Count

By Margo Bond Collins

Long before Dracula, vampires stalked the literary scene.

These early literary vampires are sometimes terrifying, at times melodramatic, and occasionally ridiculous, but they are always out for blood—and their vampiric descendants continue to fascinate and captivate us.

Beyond the Count includes an edited collection of vampire stories, plays, and poems from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, annotated and introduced by literary scholar Margo Bond Collins. This collection gives students, scholars, and vampire aficionados alike the opportunity to examine works often long out of print and to contextualize the development of the vampire beyond that most famous of literary Counts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bathory Gate Press
• Release date: Aug 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9780990743309

Book preview

Beyond the Count

The Literary Vampire

of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Ed. Margo Bond Collins

Introduction and Notes copyright Margo Bond Collins. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without prior written consent of the publisher.

Bathory Gate Press

www.BathoryGatePress.com

Smashwords Edition

2014

Editor’s Introduction¹

In March 1732, several London newspapers—including the London Journal, which seems to have first published the news—carried the story of Arnold Paole (rendered Paul in most English reports), a Hungarian who had apparently become a vampire after his death. Other newspapers quickly picked up the report and all included the same salient points: Arnold Paul had been attacked by a vampire during his lifetime and had returned after his death to haunt and murder his loved ones. Determined to exterminate the menace, local officials dug up Paul’s body, staked it through the heart, and burned it to ashes. These reports led to what has been termed the Eighteenth-Century Vampire Controversy, a debate over the existence of vampires that would eventually engross a number of clergymen; cause the exhumation, staking, and burning of bodies from countless eastern European gravesites; and end with the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria sending her personal physician, Gerhard van Swieten, to investigate. He concluded that vampires did not exist, and the Empress passed laws prohibiting the opening of graves and desecration of bodies.²

Those 1732 reports probably constituted the earliest uses of the word vampire in English, despite the Oxford English Dictionary’s³ claim that the word actually appeared two years later. By 1734, vampires had already been much discussed in England as in the rest of Europe, and by 1740, at least one French clergyman—Dom Augustin Calmet—had written a treatise speculating about the possibility of the reality of vampires.⁴

Vampires were not, however, the subject of fiction until much later. In the summer of 1816, George Gordon, Lord Byron, was traveling through Switzerland on his way to Italy with his companion, Dr. John Polidori. Along with Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Godwin, Shelley’s soon-to-be wife, Byron and Polidori were delayed by bad weather. The group stopped at a villa and entertained themselves first by reading German ghost stories aloud and then by engaging in a now-famous writing contest to see who could produce the best ghost story. Out of this contest came both Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Polidori’s The Vampyre. Originally published anonymously in April 1819 in The New Monthly Magazine, The Vampyre was widely assumed to have been written by Byron—an assumption that would soon be dismissed by Polidori’s claim a month later in the same magazine that your correspondent has been mistaken in attributing that tale in its present form to Lord Byron. The fact is that though the groundwork is certainly Lord Byron’s, its development is mine. Byron, irritated by the misattribution, promptly published in June 1819 his version of Fragment of a Novel,⁵ the story Polidori had expanded upon to create The Vampyre.

Most scholars believe that Polidori’s was the first full-blown vampire story. In her introduction to the Riverside Edition of Three Vampire Tales, Anne Williams makes the unlikely claim that English readers had probably never heard the word vampire before Byron’s use of it in his oriental tales⁶—a claim that is fairly easily refuted, given the use of the word in English more than eighty years earlier. Furthermore, Byron and Polidori were almost certainly aware of the Germanic versions of the vampire story, and may even have read Goethe’s The Bride of Corinth in its original 1797 German version, Die Braut von Korinth. Most significantly, though, Polidori, in his introduction to The Vampyre, quotes verbatim from the 1759 translation of Calmet’s treatise, though Polidori’s source was probably the original 1732 London Journal article.⁷

At any rate, it is virtually irrefutable that Polidori’s tale piqued widespread English interest in the vampire—an interest that has remained fairly steady ever since. Most scholars, though, when discussing early vampire stories, move straight from Polidori’s The Vampyre to Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 Carmilla, the overtly homoerotic story of the vampire Carmilla and her victim Laura, and then move from Carmilla to Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula, often considered the quintessential vampire story. Rarely do scholars discuss the intervening works, generally dismissing them as melodramatic and of little literary or historic value.⁸

This volume seeks to offer a corrective to the history of the literary vampire by presenting a collection of other vampire tales written before Dracula. Some of the poems, plays, and stories included here are indeed melodramatic and perhaps even histrionic, but they offer important insight into the development of the vampire mythos in England from its literary beginning until the publication of Bram Stoker’s novel. In so doing, I hope to offer both scholars and students the opportunity to study the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literary vampire in a more complete context.

I have chosen to include excerpts from the early British newspaper accounts, the English translation of Calmet’s book, and Byron’s Fragment in order to illustrate the genesis of Polidori’s work. Polidori’s story, the most famous in this collection, is included because of its seminal influence on the works which followed it, including, for example, J. R. Planché’s 1820 revision of the French play Le Vampire by Pierre Carmouche, Charles Nodier, and Achille de Jouffroy, itself a revision of Polidori’s story.

I have also included other works that are not necessarily as easily identified as vampire stories for one reason or another, such as Dion Boucicault’s 1856 play The Phantom. However, this play is important because in its original 1852 incarnation, it was entitled The Vampire: A Phantasm, thus illustrating the shifting nature of the vampire. As Nina Auerbach points out, early vampires were virtually indistinguishable from other revenants, not subject to the rules of vampiric existence as it has come to be defined over the last two centuries. These early vampires could, for example, move about during the day and were not necessarily out for blood.⁹ In fact, the character of Dr. Rees in Boucicault’s play claims that vampires are a subspecies of phantoms rather than monsters in their own right; that is, the vampire is a specific type of ghost. The fact that a vampire’s nature had not been codified by the middle of the nineteenth century meant that the interpretation of vampiric symbolism was still up for grabs. Authors could choose to appropriate vampires and use them in a variety of ways. In 1821, for example, St. John Dorset—possibly a pseudonym for either Hugo John Balfour or George Stephens—published his play The Vampire, probably hoping to cash in on Planche’s success of the year before. However, as the Dorset points out in his introductory advertisement, the vampire in his play is not a literal blood-sucking fiend but is rather a metaphorical figure, someone who is able to act the moral Vampire to perfection. ¹⁰

Dorset was far from the first to use the vampire as a metaphorical figure, of course. In the March 1732 edition of The Craftsman included in this collection, Nicholas Amherst (in his guise as Caleb D’Anvers) argues that the vampire controversy in Europe is actually nothing more than a political metaphor—vampires are actually corrupt politicians out to suck the lifeblood of their constituents.

Despite the enduring popularity of the vampire myth, though, authors in the mid-nineteenth century began to see the vampire as belonging to an inherently melodramatic and perhaps even ridiculous tradition. In his 1835 translation of Goethe’s poem Bride of Corinth, John Anster seems more than a little embarrassed by the translation—or at least the existence of the original by Goethe. In fact, Anster doesn’t even mention his translation of the poem in his introduction and in his note to the poem first claims that Goethe:

never appears so triumphant, or so happy, as when he shocks, by the daring extravagance of his conceptions, and wins us to admire and take interest in them, by the charm of his style, and the grace, and even purity of his sentiments. His Bride of Corinth is an extraordinary instance of this application—I had almost said misapplication—of genius.¹¹

Anster then claims that in less capable hands, the subject of the poem would infallibly revolt every feeling of taste, religion and morals, but that Goethe, with his sure and unerring hand, so delicately and touched and ‘tricked off’ the subject, that it acquires an irresistible grace and beauty in his hands (490). Thus even by 1835, vampires were considered an appropriate subject for popular fiction but not necessarily for high literary art.

However, with a more recent recognition of the value of popular fiction and drama in literary studies comes the need for classroom and critical editions of that fiction. Although the scope of this collection could easily have included such works as Le Fanu’s Carmilla, I have chosen not to do so as the work is easily available to scholars and students and, unlike Polidori’s The Vampyre, does not heavily influence the other works in this volume (though it certainly influenced Stoker’s Dracula and is well worth reading in its own right). Similarly, I have chosen not to include selections from the highly influential serial story Varney the Vampire, as Zittaw Press will soon be publishing the complete collection. On the other hand, I have chosen to include Rudyard Kipling’s 1897 poem The Vampire, inspired by Philip Burne-Jones’s painting of the same name which was displayed in London earlier that year,¹² as proof of the continuing interest in vampires from their early eighteenth-century introduction in England to the 1897 publication of Dracula and beyond.

Ultimately, the stories, poems, and plays included in this collection should give both students and scholars alike the opportunity to examine works long out of print and to contextualize the development of the literary vampire.

From Foreign Advices in The Gentleman’s Magazine, March, 1732.

From Medreyga in Hungary, That certain dead Bodies called Vampyres, had kill’d several Persons by sucking out all their Blood. The Commander in Chief, and Magistrates of the Place were severally examin’d and unanimously declared, that about 5 years ago, a certain Heyduke¹³ named Arnold Paul, in his Life Time was heard to say, he had been tormented by a Vampyre, and that for a Remedy he had eaten some of the Earth of the Vampyre’s Grave, and rubbed himself with their Blood. That 20 or 30 Days after the Death of the said Arnold Paul, several Persons complained that they were tormented; and that he had taken away the Lives of 4 Persons. To put a Stop to such a Calamity, the Inhabitants having consulted their Hadnagi¹⁴ took up his Body, 40 Days after he had been dead, and found it fresh and free from Corruption; that he bled at the Nose, Mouth and Ears, pure and florid Blood; that his Shroud and Winding Sheet were all over Bloody; and that his Finger and Toe Nails were fallen off, and new ones grown in their room. By these Circumstances they were perswaded that he was a Vampyre, and, according to Custom, drove a Stake thro’ his Heart; at which he gave a horrid Groan. They burnt his Body to Ashes, and threw them into his Grave. ’Twas added, that those who have been tormented or killed by the Vampyres become Vampyres when they are dead. Upon which Account they served several other dead Bodies in the same manner.

From The Craftsman

by Caleb D’Anvers¹⁵

No. 307. Saturday, May 20, 1732.

Non missura Cutem, nisi plena Cruoris Hirudo.¹⁶

Horace

One Evening last Week I call’d to see a friend, and met a Company of Gentlemen and Ladies engaged in a Dispute about Prodigies,¹⁷ occasion’d by a very remarkable Event, which hath lately happen’d in Hungary. The Account of the Affair, as it is given us in the London Journal of March the 11th, is of so extraordinary a Nature, that it will be difficult to give my readers any just Conception of it, without quoting it at large.

Extract of a private Letter from Venice.

We have received certain Advice of a Sort of Prodigy lately discover’d in Hungary, at a Place called Heyducken,¹⁸ situate on the other Side of the Tibiscus, or Teys;¹⁹ namely, of dead Bodies sucking, as it were, the Blood of the Living; for the latter visibly dry up, while the former are fill’d with Blood. The fact at first Sight seems to be impossible and even ridiculous; but the following is a true Copy of a Relations attested by unexceptionable Witnesses, and sent to the Imperial Council of War.

Medreyga in Hungary, Jan. 7, 1732.

Upon a current Report, that in the Village of Medreyga certain dead Bodies (call’d here Vampyres) had kill’d several Persons, by sucking out all of their blood, the present Enquiry was made by the honourable Commander in Chief; and Capt. Goschutz of the Company of Stallater, the Hadnagi Bariacrar, and the Senior Heyduke of the Village were severally examined; who unanimously declared that about five Years ago a certain Heyduke, named Arnold Paul, was kill’d by the Overturning of a Cart-Load of Hay, who in his Life-time was often heard to say, he had been tormented near Caschaw, and upon the Borders of Turkish Servia, by a Vampyre; and that to extricate himself, he had eaten some of the Earth of the Vampyre’s Grave, and rubb’d himself with their Blood.

That 20 or 30 Days after the Decease of the said Arnold Paul, several Persons complain’d that They were tormented, and that, in short, he had taken away the Lives of four Persons. In order, therefore, to put a Stop to such a Calamity, the Inhabitants of the Place, after having consulted their Hadnagi, caused the Body of the said Arnold Paul to be taken up, 40 Days after he had been dead, and found the same to be fresh and free from all Manner of Corruption; that he bled at the Nose, Mouth and Ears, as pure and florid Blood as ever was seen; and that his Shroud and Winding-Sheet were all over bloody; and lastly his Finger and Toe Nails were fallen off, and new ones grown in their Room.

As they observed from all these Circumstances, that he was a Vampyre, They according to Custom drove a Stake through his Heart; at which he gave a horrid Groan, and lost a great deal of Blood. Afterwards They burnt his Body to Ashes the same Day, and threw them into his Grave.

These good Men say farther, that all such as have been tormented, or kill’d by the Vampyres, become Vampyres when they are dead; and therefore They served several other dead Bodies as They had done Arnold Paul’s, for tormenting the Living.

Signed,

Batruer, first Lieutenant of the Regiment of Alexander.

Flickhenger, Surgeon Major to the Regiment of Furstemburch.

— — — three other Surgeons.

Gurschitz, Captain at Stallath.

I shall now proceed to give my Readers the Substance of our Conversation upon this extraordinary Narrative.

The Brunt of the Dispute, upon my entering the Room, lay between a grave Doctor of Physick and a beautiful young Lady, who was a great Admirer of strange and wonderful Occurrences. The Doctor endeavour’d to ridicule such romantick Stories, by treating them as the common Artifices of News-writers to fill up their Papers at a dead Season, for want of other Intelligence. The young Lady confess’d, with a good deal of Modesty and Candour, that she believed such Things were frequently done; but still insisted on the Truth of this Relation, which stood attested by such unexceptionable Witnesses. She observed that the Time, the Place and the Names of the Persons concern’d in this Affair were particularly mention’d; that an authentick Account of it appears to have been transmitted to the Court of Vienna, sign’d by no less than six Persons, four of whom were Surgeons, and the other two Officers of the Army; that such Gentlemen must be supposed to have too much Skill to be imposed upon Themselves in such a Matter, and too much Honour to impose upon others. To this the Doctor reply’d, with some Disdain, that all the Surgeons and Soldiers in the Universe should never make Him believe that a dead Body, whose animal Powers were totally extinguish’d, could torment the living, by sucking their Blood, or performing any other active and operative Functions. He added, that it was contrary to all the Principles of Philosophy, as well as the Laws of Nature; and, in my Opinion, urged the Point somewhat too far against a young, female Opponent; who, by the Colour in her Cheeks, appear’d to be a little nettled and, with a scornful Smile, return’d; well, well, Doctor, you may say what you please; but as wise as you pretend to be now, it is not long ago that you endeavour’d to make us believe a Fact, equally ridiculous and absurd. Surely, Doctor, said she, you cannot have forgot the famous Rabbit-Woman of Godalmin.²⁰—The Smartness of this Reply produced an hearty Laugh on the Lady’s Side, and put the Doctor somewhat out of Countenance. Then turning to me, with an Air of Triumph and Satisfaction, I am sure, said she, Mr. D’Anvers, that you are of my Opinion, and believe there may be such Things as Vampyres.—A Man, who hath any Degree of Complaisance, is loth to contradict a pretty Girl, who forestalls his Judgment in so agreeable a Manner. I desired therefore to read over the Account very attentively before I gave my opinion upon it; and, clapping on my political Spectacles, I soon discover’d a secret Meaning it in, which I was in Hopes would moderate the Dispute. I perceived the whole Company waited with Impatience for my Answer; so that having unsaddled my Nose, and composed my Muscles into a becoming Gravity for such an Occasion, I deliver’d myself to Them in the following Manner.

Gentlemen and Ladies,

I think this Dispute may be easily compromised, without any Reproach, or Disgrace to either Side. I must agree with the learned Doctor that an inanimate Corpse cannot possibly perform any vital Functions; and yet I am firmly persuaded, with the young Lady, that there are Vampyres, or dead Bodies, which afflict and torment