by M. R. James
FURTHER READING
Carl Jay Buchanan, “Notes on the Structure and Ubiquity of Mr. Humphreys’ Maze,” Ghosts & Scholars M. R. James Newsletter No. 1 (March 2002): 6-11.
Martin Hughes, “A Maze of Secrets in a Story by M. R. James,” Durham University Journal 85, No. 1 (January 1993): 81-93.
David Longhorn, “The Fall of the House of Wilson,” Ghosts & Scholars No. 15 (1993): 27-28.
Rosemary Pardoe and Jane Nicholls. “James Wilson’s Secret,” Ghosts & Scholars No. 24 (1997): 45-48. Rpt. in PT 596-600.1 Wilsthorpe is a village in Lincolnshire, five miles northeast of Stamford.
2 There are several Bentleys in England, none of which are particularly close to Wilsthorpe.
3 Cf. Charles Churchill, The Prophecy of Famine (1763): “And Nature gave thee, open to distress, / A heart to pity, and a hand to bless” (ll. 177-78).
4 I.e., métier: a trade, profession, craft, or activity to which one is especially suited.
5 I.e., cynosure, “Something that attracts attention by its brilliancy or beauty; a centre of attraction, interest or admiration” (OED).
6 Cooper is trying to pronounce the French expression hors d’oeuvre, apparently under the impression that its literal meaning would be “out of work,” but it does not have that meaning in French; instead, it means “out of alignment” or “extraneous.”
7 See “The Ash-Tree,” n. 10.
8 Susanna (1749) by German-British composer George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) is an oratorio about Susanna, a Jewish woman falsely accused of adultery but saved by Daniel. The story is found in the Old Testament Apocrypha (Additions to Daniel). The lines quoted come from Act III, Scene 1. A holm-tree is either a holly tree or the evergreen oak, whose dark foliage resembles that of the holly tree. Handel was one of MRJ’s favorite composers. In a sermon delivered at Eton he spoke of the “best things” in life: “The best things are represented by the Bible and Homer and Shakespeare and Handel and Dickens” (Pfaff, 352).
9 “My secret [is] for me and for the children of my house.” A paraphrase of Isaiah 24:16 (Vulgate): secretum meum mihi secretum mihi vae mihi (“I have my secret, I have my secret, woe is me”), translated curiously in KJV as “My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!”
10 Unannealed in this sense is a variant of unaneled, “Not having received extreme unction” (OED).
11 “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism (1711), 3.66.
12 A fractured quotation from Shakespeare, Hamlet 3.1.66: “When we have shuffled off this mortal coil.”
13 The Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Several Nations of the World (1731-39; 7 vols. in 6), a partial translation of Cérémonies et coûtumes religeuses de tous les peuples du monde (1728-43; 9 vols.), with illustrations chiefly drawn by French artist Bernard Picart (1663-1733).
14 The Harleian Miscellany (1744-46; 8 vols.), a collection of “scarce, curious, and entertaining pamphlets,” chiefly relating to English history, selected and edited by William Oldys from the library of Edward Harley, second Earl of Oxford (1689- 1741).
15 Tostatus Abulensis is Alphonsus Tostatus (Alfonso Tostado, 1414-1454), bishop of Avila and author of numerous works on theology and political science. His Opera Omnia in thirteen volumes appeared in 1569.
16 Juan de Pineda (1558-1637), Commentariorum in Iob. Libri Tredecim (1597-1601 [2 vols.]; Thirteen Books of Commentaries on Job). Pineda was a member of the Spanish Inquisition and the author of commentaries on several books of the Bible.
17 For the tale of Theseus—the Athenian hero who, with the help of Ariadne, ventured into the Labyrinth to kill the Minotaur, thereby freeing Attica from the bondage of King Minos of Crete—see Plutarch’s life of Theseus.
18 “The prince of darkness.” The phrase (a now customary epithet of Satan) does not occur in the Bible, although potestas tenebrarum does at Colossians 1:13: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness . . .”
19 “The shadow of death.” The phrase occurs frequently in the Bible, most famously in Psalm 23:4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil . . .” This passage is specifically referred to in the fragment “John Humphreys” (PT, 437).
20 “The valley of the sons of Hinnom.” Hinnom is one of three valleys that cut through the region of Jerusalem. At a place called Topheth in this valley, the people worshipped Baal and offered their children as sacrifices to Moloch. This led to the concept of Gehenna (literally, “the valley of Hinnom”), a synonym for Hell, where condemned people are burned for eternity.
21 Chore is evidently a variant spelling of Korah, a Kohathite who rebelled against Moses and Aaron because they had failed to bring the Israelites to the promised land (Numbers 16:1f.). In Jude 11 he is linked with Cain as among those who rejected the authority of the Lord.
22 Absalom was the third son of David (1 Samuel 3:3) who attempted to wrest control away from his father and actually entered Jerusalem as king. But he was soon overthrown. As he fled the city, his head was caught in the boughs of an oak; he was captured and killed by Joab.
23 “Hostanes the magus.” Hostanes was a magus (magician) in the court of Xerxes I, king of Persia (486-465 B.C.E.). He is mentioned in a number of ancient sources (e.g., Pliny the Elder, Natural History 30.8). Minucius Felix (Octavius 26) reports Hostanes’ belief in “wandering and malevolent demons.”
24 Fictitious.
25 Cf. Proverbs 7:27 (Vulgate): viae inferi domus eius penetrantes interiora mortis. The context relates to the seductive wiles of a harlot: “Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers [lit., the inner places] of death” (KJV).
APPENDIX
“Ghost Stories” first appeared in the Eton Rambler No. 2 (18 May 1880): 10; No. 4 (21 June 1880): 25. It is probably the earliest extant essay by MRJ on the ghost story. The present text is derived from a reprint of the essay in the Ghosts & Scholars M. R. James Newsletter No. 3 (January 2003): 3-5. “A Night in King’s College Chapel” was first published in Ghosts & Scholars No. 7 (1985): 2-5 (edited by Michael Halls, then Modern Archivist of King’s College). It probably dates to 1892 and is the first avowedly supernatural tale by MRJ that survives. It is a pendant to an article MRJ had just published in the Cambridge Review of 26 May 1892 on the stained glass windows in King’s College Chapel. MRJ’s interest in the windows dates to his earliest years at King’s (1882f.). In 1890, as Dean, he had recommended the photographing of the windows in preparation for their thorough cleaning and repair, a task that occupied the years 1893-1906. MRJ also wrote a booket, Guide to the Windows of King’s College Chapel (1899), a work that long remained standard. MRJ’s story, surprisingly irreverent, reflects both his interest in and knowledge of the windows and his familiarity with the characters in the Bible. The window numbers given below are derived from the notes by Michael Halls.1 “As quickly as possible.”
2 Reuben was the son of Jacob and Leah. His brothers wished to kill their stepbrother, Joseph, but the more scrupulous Reuben persuaded them to hide Joseph in a pit. During Reuben’s absence, the brothers sold Joseph to the Midianites, and Reuben was dismayed to find Joseph no longer in the pit (Genesis 37:19-29). Window 17.
3 God sent the Israelites manna (a food of uncertain nature) from heaven during their forty-year sojourn in the wilderness (Exodus 16:4). Window 9.
4 The Golden Calf was constructed by Aaron and the Israelites after the Exodus. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai and found his people idolatrously worshipping it, he destroyed it (Exodus 31:18-32:35). Window 6.
5 Naomi was the wife of Elimelech, who died when he took his family to Moab (Ruth 1:1-3). Window 14.
6 The Old Testament makes no reference to Elimelech visiting Job.
7 Enoch, the eldest son of Cain, was “translated” (i.e., taken bodily before death) to heaven after living 365 years (Genesis 5:24). Window 25.
8 Electuary is “A medicinal conserve or paste, consisting of a powder or other ingredient
mixed with honey, preserve, or syrup of some kind” (OED).
9 Galen (129?-200?) was a Greek physician and the most celebrated medical writer in antiquity. His recommendations on the purging of blood for various purposes were widely adopted in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance.
10 Theophilus was an unknown man to whom the Gospel of Luke (1:3) and the Acts of the Apostles (1:1) were dedicated.
11 The story of Tobias and his parents, Anna and Tobit, is found in the Apocryphal Book of Tobit, where his dog is also mentioned. “The Shunammite” refers to a young man in the town of Shunem, in the territory of Issachar, who was miraculously raised from the dead by the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:32-37). Window 8.
12 Windows 17 and 18.
13 Darius the Mede took over the government after the death of Belshazzar (Daniel 5:31). He appointed Daniel as one of the three presidents of his kingdom (Daniel 6:2). The Book of Habakkuk relates to the prophet of that name, about whom little is known.
14 The Book of Jonah has only four chapters.
15 James McBryde. See Introduction, page X.
a We now know that these leaves did contain a considerable fragment of that work, if not of that actual copy of it.
b He died that summer; his daughter married, and settled at St. Papoul. She never understood the circumstances of her father’s “obsession.”
c I.e., The Dispute of Solomon with a demon of the night. Drawn by Alberic de Mauléon. Versicle. O Lord, make haste to help me. Psalm. Whoso dwelleth (xci.).14
Saint Bertrand, who puttest devils to flight, pray for me most unhappy. I saw it first on the night of Dec. 12, 1694: soon I shall see it for the last time. I have sinned and suffered, and have more to suffer yet. Dec. 29, 1701.
The “Gallia Christiana”15 gives the date of the Canon’s death as December 31, 1701, “in bed, of a sudden seizure.” Details of this kind are not common in the great work of the Sammarthani.
d Mr. Rogers was wrong, vide Dombey and Son, chapter xii.5
e An account of the Premonstratensian abbey of Steinfeld, in the Eiffel, with lives of the Abbots, published at Cologne in 1712 by Christian Albert Erhard, a resident in the district. The epithet Nobertinum is due to the fact that St. Norbert was founder of the Premonstratensian Order.1
f There is a place for gold where it is hidden.2
g They have on their raiment a writing which no man knoweth.3
h Upon one stone are seven eyes.4
i “Keep that which is committed to thee.”