Afterwards De
Quincey owned up, and ever after that referred all disputed cases of
this nature to his Boston publishers.]
"Klosterheim" is from beginning to end only the development, through
regular stages, of an intricately involved mystery of this subtile
nature. Oftentimes De Quincey deals with the horrid tragedy of murder;
but the mere fact of a murder, however shocking, was not sufficient to
arrest him. With the celebrated Williams murders, on the contrary, he
was entirely taken up, since these proceeded in accordance with designs
not traceable to the cursory glance, but which tasked the skill of a
decipherer to interpret and reduce to harmony. Here were murders that
revolved musically, that modulated themselves to master-principles, and
that at every stage of progress sought alliance with the hidden
mysteries of universal human nature. I know of no writer but De Quincey
who invests mysteries of this tragic order with their appropriate
drapery, so that they shall, to our imaginations, unfold the full
measure of their capacities for striking awe into our hearts.
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