belt and buckle—black gauntlets—shirt collar thrown back so as to show the throat bare—black stockings—black velvet shoes with strap across the instep—black sugar-loaf hat and broad riband and steel buckle—phosphoric livid countenance—slightly bald head—long black lank hair combed behind the ears—bushy black eyebrows and heavy black moustache. 2nd dress: Black dress coat and overcoat of the same colour—black trousers—black waistcoat—black kid gloves, white wristbands over them—white cravat and black German hat—all modern, and such as would be worn by a gentleman at the present time.” In the theatre such a contrast would have proved very effective.
I notice that Boucicault has in certain scenes borrowed his situations pretty freely from Le Vampire of Dumas, and occasionally he has even conveyed actual dialogue from the French play.
At the commencement of The Phantom we are shown a room in a Welsh inn, and it appears that Davy and Janet the hostess have just been married. A sudden storm sends Lucy Peveryl thither for shelter, and she confides to Janet that she is on her way to meet at sundown her cousin Roland Peveryl, who is a fugitive and proscribed. On this account he dare not openly seek her hand, but the lovers are secretly betrothed. He has promised to meet her, in order to bid her farewell for a time, in the most unfrequented spot, the ruins of Raby Castle. No sooner does Janet hear that name than she cries out with horror, and speaks of a fearful story connected with the place. They are interrupted by the arrival of Lord Clavering with a party of guests, amongst whom are friends of Lucy. She frankly informs them of her rendezvous, and they decide to accompany her, more especially as the inn has not sufficient accommodation for the travellers, who resolve to take provisions and wine and spend the night in the deserted chambers of the old castle. Davy endeavours to prevent them, nor are his efforts altogether selfish. He tells them: “No one ever sought a night’s shelter in the ruins of Raby Castle, that ever lived to see the morning. … Within the ruins of Raby dwells some terrible thing—man or fiend! … No traveller that knows the road will ever venture near that spot after nightfall; but strange wayfarers, benighted in the storm have wandered to this place of shelter, and the next morning they are found—dead—each with a wound in his throat in the right side, from which they
