"Unda: Thou knowest, Ariel, that wicked souls
Are, for wise purposes, permitted oft
To enter the dead forms of other men,
Assume their speech, their habits, and their knowledge,
And thus roam o'er the earth; but subject still,
At stated periods, to a dreadful tribute.
Ariel: Ay, they must wed some fair and virtuous maiden,
Whom they do after kill, and from her veins
Drain eagerly the purple stream of life;
??♂️⬇️
pickThe first of the six plays is The Castle Spectre, which won't be troubling Shakespeare, but having sprung from the morbid imagination of no less a writer than Matthew "Monk" Lewis is a galloping gothic ride.
Set in Conwy Castle, which I've visited several times, & referencing Alnwick Castle, ditto, it's full of atmosphere.
Tropes: Jolly fat friar, sarcastic but loyal fool, fratricidal earl with dastardly designs on his niece, said niece-of-great-
"Far from the haunts of men, of vice the foe,
The moon-struck child of genius and of woe,
Versed in each magic spell and dear to fame,
A fair enchantress dwells, Romance her name."
- The Castle Spectre: A Dramatic Romance by Matthew Lewis ???
#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl
I got this slightly battered 1975 book of 19th C. plays yesterday: "The Hour of One: Six Gothic Melodramas". The inside flap of the dust jacket shows its original pleasant shade of gangrene.
Contents include "The Castle Spectre" by Matthew "Monk" Lewis; "The Vampire", featuring Lord Ruthven in an adaptation of Polidori's novel, "Frankenstein or the Man and his Monster", & "The Flying Dutchman", featuring the excellently-named Captain Peppercoal!?
The Hour of One : Six Gothic Melodramas | 
From swift extermination.“
- The Vampire, or The Bride of the Isles, a Romantic Melo-Drama in Two Acts, by J. R. Planché..
The spirits of water and air discuss the existence of the vampiric Lord Ruthven, Earl of Marsden, possessed by the ancient spirit of Cromal the Bloody.
How many have found the fair-seeming fiancé a spousal monster? ? (edited) 11mo