The House by the Church-Yard

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781513271651
• eBook ISBN: 9781513276656
• Topic: Literatur
• Subtopic: Altertumswissenschaften

The House by the Church-Yard (1863) is a novel by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. An important source for James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, The House by the Church-Yard is a hybrid of the mystery and historical genres of fiction. With its complex use of side plots and extensive frame narrative, the novel is central to Le Fanu's legacy as an innovator whose literary works inspired Bram Stoker and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

During a routine interment at a churchyard in the historic village of Chapelizod, a grave is disturbed revealing a skull buried a century earlier. Upon examination, a gruesome discovery is made—not only does the skull show signs of severe head trauma, it contains a hole from an emergency trepanning procedure. Stirred by the discovery, an old man named Charles de Cresseron pieces together the story of a time the village had nearly forgotten. In the eighteenth century, a coffin was secretly buried in the churchyard, with no defining characteristics except for the initials "R.D." As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that this burial is somehow related to a series of mysterious events—a love triangle between a general's daughter, a local official, and a man who has taken residence in a home rumored to be haunted; the suicide of a disgraced prisoner; and a rivalry between a deeply indebted doctor and the agent of a local lord whose home has been infiltrated by a dubious imposter. As these plots swirl and converge, The House by the Church-Yard emerges as a masterpiece of suspense, a thriller that delights its reader just as much as it demands their attention.

This edition of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's The House by the Church-Yard is a classic of Irish literature reimagined for modern readers.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• A Prologue—being a dish of village chat
• I. The rector’s night-walk to his church
• II. The nameless coffin
• III. Mr. Mervyn in his inn
• IV. The Fair-green of Palmerstown
• V. How the Royal Irish Artillery entertained some of the neighbours at dinner
• VI. In which the minstrelsy proceeds
• VII. Showing how two gentlemen may misunderstand one another, without enabling the company to understand their quarrel
• VIII. Relating how Doctor Toole and Captain Devereux went on a moonlight errand
• IX. How a squire was found for the knight of the rueful countenance
• X. The dead secret, showing how the fireworker proved to Puddock that Nutter had spied out the nakedness of the land
• XI. Some talk about the haunted house—being, as I suppose, only old woman’s tales
• XII. Some odd facts about the Tiled House—being an authentic narrative of the ghost of a hand
• XIII. In which the rector visits the Tiled House, and Doctor Toole looks after the Brass Castle
• XIV. Relating how Puddock purged O’Flaherty’s head—a chapter which, it is hoped, no genteel person will read
• XV. Æsculapius to the rescue
• XVI. The ordeal by battle
• XVII. Lieutenant Puddock receives an invitation and a rap over the knuckles
• XVIII. Relating how the gentlemen sat over their claret, and how Dr. Sturk saw a face
• XIX. In which the gentlemen follow the ladies
• XX. In which Mr. Dangerfield visits the church of Chapelizod, and Zekiel Irons goes a fishing
• XXI. Relating among other things how Doctor Toole walked up to the Tiled House; and of his pleasant discourse with Mr. Mervyn
• XXII. Telling how Mr. Mervyn fared at Belmont, and of a pleasant little dejeuner by the margin of the Liffey
• XXIII. Which concerns the grand dinner at the King’s House, and who were there, and something of their talk, reveries, disputes, and general jollity
• XXIV. In which two young persons understand one another better, perhaps, than ever they did before, without saying so
• XXV. In which the sun sets, and the merry-making is kept up by candle-light in the King’s House, and Lily receives a warning which she does not comprehend
• XXVI. Relating how the band of the Royal Irish Artillery played, and, while the music was going on, how variously different people were moved
• XXVII. Concerning the troubles and the shapes that began to gather about Doctor Sturk
• XXVIII. In which Mr. Irons recounts some old recollections about the Pied horse and the Flower de Luce
• XXIX. Showing how poor Mrs. Macnamara was troubled and haunted too, and opening a budget of gossip
• XXX. Concerning a certain woman in black
• XXXI. Being a short history of the great battle of Belmont that lasted for so many days, wherein the belligerents showed so much constancy and valour, and sometimes one side and sometimes t’other was victorious
• XXXII. Narrating how Lieutenant Puddock and Captain Devereux brewed a bowl of punch, and how they sang and discoursed together
• XXXIII. In which Captain Devereux’s fiddle plays a prelude to ‘Over the hills and far away’
• XXXIV. In which Lilias hears a stave of an old song and there is a leave-taking beside the river
• XXXV. In which Aunt Becky and Doctor Toole, in full blow, with Dominick, the footman, behind them, visit Miss Lily at the Elms
• XXXVI. Narrating how Miss Lilias visited Belmont, and saw a strange cocked-hat in the shadow by the window
• XXXVII. Showing how some of the feuds in Chapelizod waxed fiercer, and others were solemnly condoned
• XXXVIII. Dreams and troubles, and a dark look-out
• XXXIX. Telling how Lilias Walsingham found two ladies awaiting her arrival at the Elms
• XL. Of a messenger from Chapelizod vault who waited in the Tyled House for Mr. Mervyn
• XLI. In which the rector comes home, and Lily speaks her mind, and time glides on, and Aunt Rebecca calls at the Elms
• XLII. In which Dr. Sturk tries this way and that for a reprieve on the eve of execution
• XLIII. Showing how Charles Nutter’s blow descended, and what part the silver spectacles bore in the crisis
• XLIV. Relating how, in the watches of the night, a vision came to Sturk, and his eyes were opened
• XLV. Concerning a little rehearsal in Captain Cluffe’s, lodging, and a certain confidence between Dr. Sturk and Mr. Dangerfield
• XLVI. The closet scene, with the part of Polonius omitted
• XLVII. In which pale Hecate visits the Mills, and Charles Nutter, Esq., orders tea
• XLVIII. Swans on the water
• XLIX. Swans in the water
• L. Treating of some confusion, in consequence, in the club-room of the phoenix and elsewhere, and of a hat that was picked up
• LI. How Charles Nutter’s tea, pipe, and tobacco-box were all set out for him in the small parlour at the Mills; and how that night was passed in the house by the church-yard
• LII. Concerning a rouleau of guineas and the crack of a pistol
• LIII. Relating after what fashion Dr. Sturk came home
• LIV. In which Miss Magnolia Macnamara and Dr. Toole, in different scenes, prove themselves Good Samaritans; and the great Doctor Pell mounts the stairs of the House by the Church-yard
• LV. In which Dr. Toole, in full costume, stands upon the hearth-stone of the club, and illuminates the company with his back to the fire
• LVI. Doctor Walsingham and the Chapelizod Christians meet to the sound of the holy bell, and a vampire sits in the church
• LVII. In which Dr. Toole and Mr. Lowe make a visit at the Mills, and recognise something remarkable while there
• LVIII. In which one of little Bopeep’s sheep comes home again, and various theories are entertained respecting Charles Nutter and Lieutenant Puddock
• LIX. Telling how a Coach drew up at the Elms, and two fine ladies, dressed for the ball, stepped in
• LX. Being a chapter of hoops, feathers, and Brilliants, and Bucks and Fiddlers
• LXI. In which the ghosts of a by-gone sin keep tryst
• LXII. Of a Solemn resolution which Captain Devereux registered among his household gods, with a libation
• LXIII. In which a Liberty is taken with Mr. Nutter’s name, and Mr. Dangerfield stands at the altar
• LXIV. Being a night scene, in which Miss Gertrude Chattesworth, being adjured by Aunt Becky, makes answer
• LXV. Relating some awful news that reached the village, and how Dr. Walsingham visited Captain Richard Devereux at his lodgings
• LXVI. Of a certain tempest that arose and shook the Captain’s spoons and tea-cups; and how the wind suddenly went down
• LXVII. In which a certain troubled spirit walks
• LXVIII. How an evening passes at the Elms, and Dr. Toole makes a little excursion; and two choice spirits discourse, and Hebe trips in with the nectar
• LXIX. Concerning a second hurricane that raged in Captain Devereux’s drawing-room, and relating how Mrs. Irons was attacked with a sort of choking in her bed
• LXX. In which an unexpected visitor is seen in the cedar-parlour of the Tiled House, and the story of Mr. Beauclerc and the ‘flower de luce’ begins to be unfolded
• LXXI. In which Mr. Irons’s narrative reaches Merton Moor
• LXXII. In which the apparition of Mr. Irons is swallowed in darkness
• LXXIII. Concerning a certain gentleman, with a black patch over his eye, who made some visits with a lady, in Chapelizod and its neighbourhood
• LXXIV. In which Doctor Toole, in his boots, visits Mr. Gamble, and sees an ugly client of that gentleman’s; and something crosses an empty room
• LXXV. How a gentleman paid a visit at the Brass Castle, and there read a paragraph in an old newspaper
• LXXVI. Relating how the Castle was taken, and how Mistress Moggy took heart of grace
• LXXVII. In which Irish melody prevails
• LXXVIII. In which, while the Harmony continues in Father Roach’s front parlour, a few discords are introduced elsewhere; and Doctor Toole arrives in the morning with a marvellous budget of news
• LXXIX. Showing how little Lily’s life began to change into a retrospect; and how on a sudden she began to feel better
• LXXX. In which two acquaintances become, on a sudden, marvellously friendly in the church-yard; and Mr. Dangerfield smokes a pipe in the Brass Castle, and resolves that the dumb shall speak
• LXXXI. In which Mr. Dangerfield receives a visitor, and makes a call
• LXXXII. In which Mr. Paul Dangerfield pays his respects and compliments at Belmont; where other visitors also present themselves
• LXXXIII. In which the knight of the silver spectacles makes the acquaintance of the sage ‘Black Dillon,’ and confers with him in his retreat
• LXXXIV. In which Christiana goes over; and Dan Loftus comes home
• LXXXV. In which Captain Devereux hears the news; and Mr. Dangerfield meets an old friend after dinner
• LXXXVI. In which Mr. Paul Dangerfield Mounts the stairs of the house by the church-yard, and makes some arrangements
• LXXXVII. In which two comrades are tete-a-tete in their old quarters, and Doctor Sturk’s Cue is cut off, and a consultation commences
• LXXXVIII. In which Mr. Moore the barber arrives, and the medical gentlemen lock the door
• LXXXIX. In which a certain songster treats the company to a Dolorous Ballad whereby Mr. Irons is somewhat moved
• XC. Mr. Paul Dangerfield has something on his mind, and Captain Devereux receives a message
• XCI. Concerning certain documents which reached Mr. Mervyn, and the witches’ revels at the mills
• XCII. The wher-wolf
• XCIII. In which Doctor Toole and Dirty Davy confer in the blue-room
• XCIV. What Doctor Sturk brought to mind, and all that Doctor Toole heard at Mr. Luke Gamble’s
• XCV. In which Doctor Pell declines a fee, and Doctor Sturk a prescription
• XCVI. About the rightful Mrs. Nutter of the Mills, and how Mr. Mervyn received the news
• XCVII. In which Obediah arrives
• XCVIII. In which Charles Archer puts himself upon the country
• XCIX. The story ends
• A Note About the Author
• A Note from the Publisher