by Robert Reed
the embalmed body of their builder . Alas! the mere shepherd’s hut
of straw we passed on the road, contained in its structure the prin-
ciple of greater longevity than the whole race of man . How reconcile
this sad change to our past aspirations, to our apparent powers!
Sudden an internal voice, articulate and clear, seemed to say:—
Thus from eternity, it was decreed: the steeds that bear Time on-
wards had this hour and this fulfilment enchained to them, since
the void brought forth its burthen . Would you read backwards the
unchangeable laws of Necessity?
Mother of the world! Servant of the Omnipotent! eternal, change-
less Necessity! who with busy fingers sittest ever weaving the in-
dissoluble chain of events!—I will not murmur at thy acts . If my
human mind cannot acknowledge that all that is, is right; yet since
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1199
what is, must be, I will sit amidst the ruins and smile . Truly we were
not born to enjoy, but to submit, and to hope .
Will not the reader tire, if I should minutely describe our long-
drawn journey from Paris to Geneva? If, day by day, I should record,
in the form of a journal, the thronging miseries of our lot, could my
hand write, or language afford words to express, the variety of our
woe; the hustling and crowding of one deplorable event upon an-
other? Patience, oh reader! whoever thou art, wherever thou dwell-
est, whether of race spiritual, or, sprung from some surviving pair,
thy nature will be human, thy habitation the earth; thou wilt here
read of the acts of the extinct race, and wilt ask wonderingly, if they,
who suffered what thou findest recorded, were of frail flesh and soft
organization like thyself . Most true, they were— weep therefore;
for surely, solitary being, thou wilt be of gentle disposition; shed
compassionate tears; but the while lend thy attention to the tale, and
learn the deeds and sufferings of thy predecessors .
Yet the last events that marked our progress through France were
so full of strange horror and gloomy misery, that I dare not pause
too long in the narration . If I were to dissect each incident, every
small fragment of a second would contain an harrowing tale, whose
minutest word would curdle the blood in thy young veins . It is right
that I should erect for thy instruction this monument of the foregone
race; but not that I should drag thee through the wards of an hospital,
nor the secret chambers of the charnel-house . This tale, therefore,
shall be rapidly unfolded . Images of destruction, pictures of despair,
the procession of the last triumph of death, shall be drawn before
thee, swift as the rack driven by the north wind along the blotted
splendour of the sky .
Weed-grown fields, desolate towns, the wild approach of rider-
less horses had now become habitual to my eyes; nay, sights far
worse, of the unburied dead, and human forms which were strewed
on the road side, and on the steps of once frequented habitations,
where,
Through the flesh that wastes away
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Beneath the parching sun, the whitening bones
Start forth, and moulder in the sable dust.23
Sights like these had become—ah, woe the while! so familiar,
that we had ceased to shudder, or spur our stung horses to sudden
speed, as we passed them . France in its best days, at least that part
of France through which we travelled, had been a cultivated desert,
and the absence of enclosures, of cottages, and even of peasantry,
was saddening to a traveller from sunny Italy, or busy England . Yet
the towns were frequent and lively, and the cordial politeness and
ready smile of the wooden-shoed peasant restored good humour to
the splenetic . Now, the old woman sat no more at the door with
her distaff—the lank beggar no longer asked charity in courtier-like
phrase; nor on holidays did the peasantry thread with slow grace
the mazes of the dance . Silence, melancholy bride of death, went in
procession with him from town to town through the spacious region .
We arrived at Fontainebleau, and speedily prepared for the recep-
tion of our friends . On mustering our numbers for the night, three
were found missing . When I enquired for them, the man to whom I
spoke, uttered the word “plague,” and fell at my feet in convulsions;
he also was infected . There were hard faces around me; for among
my troop were sailors who had crossed the line times unnumbered,
soldiers who, in Russia and far America, had suffered famine, cold
and danger, and men still sterner-featured, once nightly depredators
in our over-grown metropolis; men bred from their cradle to see
the whole machine of society at work for their destruction . I looked
round, and saw upon the faces of all horror and despair written in
glaring characters .
We passed four days at Fontainebleau . Several sickened and
died, and in the mean time neither Adrian nor any of our friends
appeared . My own troop was in commotion; to reach Switzerland,
to plunge into rivers of snow, and to dwell in caves of ice, became
the mad desire of all . Yet we had promised to wait for the Earl; and
he came not . My people demanded to be led forward— rebellion, if
23
Elton’s Translation of Hesiod’s “Shield of Hercules .”
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so we might call what was the mere casting away of straw-formed
shackles, appeared manifestly among them . They would away on
the word without a leader . The only chance of safety, the only hope
of preservation from every form of indescribable suffering, was our
keeping together . I told them this; while the most determined among
them answered with sullenness, that they could take care of them-
selves, and replied to my entreaties with scoffs and menaces .
At length, on the fifth day, a messenger arrived from Adrian,
bearing letters, which directed us to proceed to Auxerre, and there
await his arrival, which would only be deferred for a few days . Such
was the tenor of his public letters . Those privately delivered to me,
detailed at length the difficulties of his situation, and left the ar-
rangement of my future plans to my own discretion . His account of
the state of affairs at Versailles was brief, but the oral communica-
tions of his messenger filled up his omissions, and shewed me that
perils of the most frightful nature were gathering around him. At first
the re-awakening of the plague had been concealed; but the number
of deaths encreasing, the secret was divulged, and the destruction
already achieved, was exaggerated by the fears of the survivors .
Some emissaries of the enemy of mankind, the accursed Impostors,
were among them instilling their doctrine that safety and life could
only be ensured by submission to their chief; and they succeeded
so well, that soon, instead of desiring to proceed to Switzerland,
the major part of the multitude, weak-minded women, and dastardly
men, desired to return
to Paris, and, by ranging themselves under the
banners of the so called prophet, and by a cowardly worship of the
principle of evil, to purchase respite, as they hoped, from impending
death. The discord and tumult induced by these conflicting fears and
passions, detained Adrian . It required all his ardour in pursuit of an
object, and his patience under difficulties, to calm and animate such
a number of his followers, as might counterbalance the panic of the
rest, and lead them back to the means from which alone safety could
be derived . He had hoped immediately to follow me; but, being de-
feated in this intention, he sent his messenger urging me to secure
my own troop at such a distance from Versailles, as to prevent the
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1202
contagion of rebellion from reaching them; promising, at the same
time, to join me the moment a favourable occasion should occur, by
means of which he could withdraw the main body of the emigrants
from the evil influence at present exercised over them.
I was thrown into a most painful state of uncertainty by these
communications. My first impulse was that we should all return to
Versailles, there to assist in extricating our chief from his perils .
I accordingly assembled my troop, and proposed to them this ret-
rograde movement, instead of the continuation of our journey to
Auxerre . With one voice they refused to comply . The notion circu-
lated among them was, that the ravages of the plague alone detained
the Protector; they opposed his order to my request; they came to a
resolve to proceed without me, should I refuse to accompany them .
Argument and adjuration were lost on these dastards . The continual
diminution of their own numbers, effected by pestilence, added a
sting to their dislike of delay; and my opposition only served to
bring their resolution to a crisis . That same evening they departed
towards Auxerre . Oaths, as from soldiers to their general, had been
taken by them: these they broke . I also had engaged myself not to
desert them; it appeared to me inhuman to ground any infraction of
my word on theirs . The same spirit that caused them to rebel against
me, would impel them to desert each other; and the most dreadful
sufferings would be the consequence of their journey in their present
unordered and chiefless array. These feelings for a time were para-
mount; and, in obedience to them, I accompanied the rest towards
Auxerre . We arrived the same night at Villeneuve-la-Guiard, a town
at the distance of four posts from Fontainebleau . When my com-
panions had retired to rest, and I was left alone to revolve and rumi-
nate upon the intelligence I received of Adrian’s situation, another
view of the subject presented itself to me . What was I doing, and
what was the object of my present movements? Apparently I was
to lead this troop of selfish and lawless men towards Switzerland,
leaving behind my family and my selected friend, which, subject as
they were hourly to the death that threatened to all, I might never
see again. Was it not my first duty to assist the Protector, setting an
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1203
example of attachment and duty? At a crisis, such as the one I had
reached, it is very difficult to balance nicely opposing interests, and
that towards which our inclinations lead us, obstinately assumes the
appearance of selfishness, even when we meditate a sacrifice. We
are easily led at such times to make a compromise of the question;
and this was my present resource . I resolved that very night to ride
to Versailles; if I found affairs less desperate than I now deemed
them, I would return without delay to my troop; I had a vague idea
that my arrival at that town, would occasion some sensation more
or less strong, of which we might profit, for the purpose of leading
forward the vacillating multitude—at least no time was to be lost—I
visited the stables, I saddled my favourite horse, and vaulting on his
back, without giving myself time for further reflection or hesitation,
quitted Villeneuve-la-Guiard on my return to Versailles .
I was glad to escape from my rebellious troop, and to lose sight
for a time, of the strife of evil with good, where the former for ever
remained triumphant . I was stung almost to madness by my uncer-
tainty concerning the fate of Adrian, and grew reckless of any event,
except what might lose or preserve my unequalled friend . With an
heavy heart, that sought relief in the rapidity of my course, I rode
through the night to Versailles . I spurred my horse, who addressed
his free limbs to speed, and tossed his gallant head in pride . The
constellations reeled swiftly by, swiftly each tree and stone and
landmark fled past my onward career. I bared my head to the rushing
wind, which bathed my brow in delightful coolness . As I lost sight
of Villeneuve-la-Guiard, I forgot the sad drama of human misery;
methought it was happiness enough to live, sensitive the while of
the beauty of the verdure-clad earth, the star-bespangled sky, and
the tameless wind that lent animation to the whole . My horse grew
tired—and I, forgetful of his fatigue, still as he lagged, cheered him
with my voice, and urged him with the spur . He was a gallant ani-
mal, and I did not wish to exchange him for any chance beast I might
light on, leaving him never to be refound . All night we went forward;
in the morning he became sensible that we approached Versailles, to
reach which as his home, he mustered his flagging strength. The
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1204
distance we had come was not less than fifty miles, yet he shot down
the long Boulevards swift as an arrow; poor fellow, as I dismounted
at the gate of the castle, he sunk on his knees, his eyes were covered
with a film, he fell on his side, a few gasps inflated his noble chest,
and he died . I saw him expire with an anguish, unaccountable even
to myself, the spasm was as the wrenching of some limb in agoniz-
ing torture, but it was brief as it was intolerable . I forgot him, as I
swiftly darted through the open portal, and up the majestic stairs of
this castle of victories—heard Adrian’s voice—O fool! O woman
nurtured, effeminate and contemptible being—I heard his voice, and
answered it with convulsive shrieks; I rushed into the Hall of Her-
cules, where he stood surrounded by a crowd, whose eyes, turned in
wonder on me, reminded me that on the stage of the world, a man
must repress such girlish extacies . I would have given worlds to
have embraced him; I dared not—Half in exhaustion, half volun-
tarily, I threw myself at my length on the ground— dare I disclose
the truth to the gentle offspring of solitude? I did so, that I might kiss
the dear and sacred earth he trod .
I found everything in a state of tumult . An emissary of the leader
of the elect, had been so worked up by his chief, and by his own
fanatical creed, as to make an attempt on the life of the Protector and
preserver of lost mankind . His hand was ar
rested while in the act
of poignarding the Earl; this circumstance had caused the clamour
I heard on my arrival at the castle, and the confused assembly of
persons that I found assembled in the Salle d’Hercule . Although
superstition and demoniac fury had crept among the emigrants, yet
several adhered with fidelity to their noble chieftain; and many,
whose faith and love had been unhinged by fear, felt all their latent
affection rekindled by this detestable attempt . A phalanx of faithful
breasts closed round him; the wretch, who, although a prisoner and
in bonds, vaunted his design, and madly claimed the crown of mar-
tyrdom, would have been torn to pieces, had not his intended victim
interposed . Adrian, springing forward, shielded him with his own
person, and commanded with energy the submission of his infuriate
friends—at this moment I had entered .
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 1205
Discipline and peace were at length restored in the castle; and
then Adrian went from house to house, from troop to troop, to soothe
the disturbed minds of his followers, and recall them to their ancient
obedience . But the fear of immediate death was still rife amongst
these survivors of a world’s destruction; the horror occasioned by the
attempted assassination, past away; each eye turned towards Paris .
Men love a prop so well, that they will lean on a pointed poisoned
spear; and such was he, the impostor, who, with fear of hell for his
scourge, most ravenous wolf, played the driver to a credulous flock.
It was a moment of suspense, that shook even the resolution of
the unyielding friend of man . Adrian for one moment was about to
give in, to cease the struggle, and quit, with a few adherents, the de-
luded crowd, leaving them a miserable prey to their passions, and to
the worse tyrant who excited them. But again, after a brief fluctua-
tion of purpose, he resumed his courage and resolves, sustained by
the singleness of his purpose, and the untried spirit of benevolence
which animated him . At this moment, as an omen of excellent im-
port, his wretched enemy pulled destruction on his head, destroying
with his own hands the dominion he had erected .
His grand hold upon the minds of men, took its rise from the
doctrine inculcated by him, that those who believed in, and followed