VAMPIRES. 349 



iii doubt. I grant that the recitals published by these learned 

 authors do not abound with such deeds of active vampiredom 

 as form the subject of popular tradition in places where vam- 

 piredom is most rife : but they are conclusive as to the main 

 basis of belief on which vampiredom rests ; affirming that 

 divers human corpses have been known to retain a sort of 

 spurious life, to move in their graves, to eat whatever came 

 within the reach of their unhallowed jaws, to be heard munch- 

 ing and masticating like swine, whence the title of the book, 

 De Masticatione. 



Ghosts, hobgoblins, and, to be short, all other beings which 

 certain superficial thinkers call supernatural, had been made 

 matter of study long before tables began to speak, or even to 

 turn. The learned Calmet gave much attention to pneuma- 

 tology ; vide his book in proof of it.* I think the following 

 sentiments, enunciated in the preface to that book, will come 

 commended to the appreciation of many ; and I would humbly 

 call attention to the highly important place the learned writer 

 accords, in the science of the so-called supernatural, to the 

 particular hobgoblins (if by their leave we may call them so) 

 of which I shall have to treat. 



' It is always a matter of regret,' writes Calmet in his 

 preface, 'to have deceived one's self; and it is dangerous 

 (speaking in a religious sense) to believe on insufficient 

 grounds, to deny rashly, to remain in wilful ignorance, or 

 to voluntarily continue wrapped in superstition or illusion.' 

 A good deal will have been achieved by an individual who 

 has learned how to doubt wisely, in such way that he does 

 not allow his judgment to range beyond his testimony. That 

 which has most impressed me in the matter concerning which 

 I treat is the recitals I have met with of vampires, or ' reve- 



* ' Dissertations sur les Apparitions des Anges, des Demons, et des Es- 

 prits ; et sur les Revenans et Vampires de Hongrie, de Boheme, de Moravie, 

 et de Silesie. Par le R. P. Dom Augustin Calmet, Religieux Benedictin, et 

 Abbe de Senones en Lorraine. Paris, MDCCXLVI.' 



