49 

 THE PHRENOLOGIST. 



AN EXTRACT FROM THE " PRY CHRONICLES. 



r 



ON the second day of the first week in January, 1830, the lord and 

 master of Occiput House was journeying, on foot, from Ariesport to 

 his own mansion, late in the evening. 



By what designation this mansion was known, before it was the 

 property of Dr. Kopfstirn, I never heard nor is it matter of much 

 importance. After the mature deliberation befitting a subject of 

 such magnitude, he re-christened it, with all due ceremony, Occiput 

 House; by the which name it is now known. It is an ancient edi- 

 fice, modernized. Turrets, angles, and trivial conceits, are stuck 

 upon and about the massy walls, wherein our warlike ancestors took 

 delight. In the " days of former years," it was doubtless a castle ; 

 but, as some of the lights of the world insist that human nature has 

 degenerated, even so hath it fared with Kopfstirn's Castle. Its pre- 

 sent appearance is that of a partly Chinese, partly Gothic erection ; 

 which cannot fail to remind the contemplative traveller, that the 

 baron's coronet has been judiciously replaced by the cap and bells, 

 common to all ranks. 



This tasteful and elegant building stands within fifty paces of the 

 lofty and precipitous cliff, about a mile east of Ariesport, a watering- 

 place of repute, on the Kentish coast. It frowns not in the native 

 majesty of strength and power, but resembles, more than any thing 

 under heaven, a starving wretch, meditating the fatal plunge from 

 the aforesaid cliff. 



The evening on which the Doctor is first introduced to the reader's 

 notice, was precisely such a one as January often favours us with. 

 The snow descended thick and fast ; and the keen north-east wind 

 howled drearily around. But being profoundly wrapped up in his 

 own cogitations, and, what was more to the purpose, on such a night, 

 a coat that bid defiance to the cold, he plodded on his way, heedless 

 of the tempest. 



He had traversed more than three parts of the distance which sepa- 

 rates Ariesport from Occiput House, when he was startled from his 

 reflective mood by a stifled groan. He stopped, drew in his breath, 

 and assumed the attitude of one who listens ; but nought, save the 

 dismal sighing of the wind, was audible. So firmly, however, was 

 he impressed with the idea that a fellow-creature was near, and in 

 distress, that, regardless of the inclement night, he remained station- 

 ary, and called aloud. The howling of the blast was the only 

 answer. Smiling at what then seemed an illusion, he was moving 

 rapidly from the spot, when a second arid more distinct groan fell 

 upon his ear. Although the night was one well calculated for the 

 wanderings of a perturbed and miserable ghost, no such fancy dwelt 

 on the worthy Doctor's mind ; but deciding, that the sounds he had 

 heard were purely terrestrial, he commenced an examination on both 

 sides of the fences which separated the road from the contiguous fields. 



M. M. No. 85. E 



