Books with title Melmoth the Wanderer

“Melmoth the Wanderer” is an 1820 Gothic novel by Irish playwright, novelist and clergyman Charles Maturin. The novel's title character is a scholar who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for 150 extra years of life, and searches the world for someone who will take over the pact for him, in a manner reminiscent of the Wandering Jew. The novel is composed of a series of nested stories-within-stories, gradually revealing the story of Melmoth's life. The novel offers social commentary on early-19th-century England, and denounces Roman Catholicism in favour of the virtues of Protestantism. (Excerpt from Wikipedia)

Excerpt from Melmoth the Wanderer, Vol. 1 of 4: A TaleFor the rest of the Romance, there are some parts of it which I have borrowed from real life.The story of John Sandal and Elinor Mortimer is founded in fact.The original from which the Wife of Walberg is imperfectly sketched is a living woman, and long may she live.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Melmoth the Wanderer, Vol. 4 of 4: A TaleIf heto thee no answer give, I'll give to thee a. Sign; 38. Secret known to nought that live.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In the autumn of 1816, John Melmoth, a student in Trinity College, Dublin, quitted it to attend a dying uncle on whom his hopes for independence chiefly rested. John was the orphan son of a younger brother, whose small property scarce could pay John's college expences; but the uncle was rich, unmarried, and old; and John, from his infancy, had been brought up to look on him with that mingled sensation of awe, and of the wish, without the means to conciliate, (that sensation at once attractive and repulsive), with which we regard a being who (as nurse, domestic, and parent have tutored us to believe) holds the very threads of our existence in his hands, and may prolong or snap them when he pleases. On receiving this summons, John set immediately out to attend his uncle. The beauty of the country through which he travelled (it was the county Wicklow) could not prevent his mind from dwelling on many painful thoughts, some borrowed from the past, and more from the future. His uncle's caprice and moroseness,–the strange reports concerning the cause of the secluded life he had led for many years,–his own dependent state,–fell like blows fast and heavy on his mind. He roused himself to repel them,–sat up in the mail, in which he was a solitary passenger,–looked out on the prospect,–consulted his watch;–then he thought they receded for a moment,–but there was nothing to fill their place, and he was forced to invite them back for company.