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The Mysteries Of A London Convent [Transcript], William H. Hillyard

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Published in The London Miscellany and written by William Heard Hillyard (1811-1870), this 22 chapter story must have been considered a guaranteed blockbuster with the newspaper’s intended reading audience.

The Mysteries of a London Convent relies most immediately on the sensational categories that we saw delineated in The Mysteries of the Inquisition, as well as another and earlier penny dreadful production with an almost identical plot, Smiff’s The New Mysteries of London (1858), written in imitation of Reynolds’s blockbuster The Mysteries of London (1844-48).

The Affecting History Of The Duchess Of C**** Who Was Confined Nine Years In A Horrid Dungeon, Under Ground, Where Light Never Entered, A Straw Bed Being Her Only Resting Place, And Bread And Water Her Only Support, Conveyed By Means Of A Turning-Box, By Her Inhuman Husband; Whom She Saw But Once During Her Long Imprisonment, Though Suffering By Hunger, Thirst, And Cold, The Most Severe Hardships, But Fortunately She Was At Last Discovered, And Released From The Dungeon, By Her Parents. [Transcript], Stéphanie Félicité Genlis

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The narrative is given in the first person by the Duchess of C**** herself. She relates the circumstances of her easy, wealthy upbringing and tells of how she fell in with a dangerous friend, the Marchioness de Venuzi. While staying with her friend, she becomes enamored of the exiled Count de Belmire, but is instead forced into a marriage with his villainous uncle, the Duke of C****, by her parents. When the Duke discovers incriminating letters from the Duchess of C**** to Belmire at the Venuzi residence, he locks the Duchess of C**** in a castle dungeon and takes their …

The Nun, Or Memoirs Of Angelique; A Tale [Transcript], Unknown

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The Nun, or Memoirs of Angelique; A Tale begins as the written memoirs of Angelique. A young noblewoman, Angelique loves her cousin Ferdinand. However, when Angelique’s family’s fortune seems to have been lost at sea, Angelique’s father rashly vows that his daughter will become a nun should his ships safely return. When the ships return, Angelique is sent to a convent, where she takes her vows. Soon thereafter, Ferdinand sneaks into the convent dressed as a novitiate, and he quickly persuades Angelique to elope with him. After a midnight wedding, Angelique and Ferdinand escape the convent through a secret passageway. …

Ethelred & Lidania; Or, The Sacrifice To Woden [Transcript], Sarah Scudgell Wilkinson

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The story is set in the medieval period and begins with Sir Ethelred, a superstitious but tolerant pagan knight, caught in a storm at sea with his Christian tutor and friend, Aribert. He was returning from a visit to a Count’s daughter, who his wealthy but overbearing pagan father wanted him to marry. Desperate to survive the storm, he invokes the Saxon god Woden to save him, promising to sacrifice the first person to greet him at his home. The weather calms, and Ethelred returns home. Happy to have survived, he immediately greets his wife. He quickly remembers his vow …

The Ruins Of The Abbey Of Fitz-Martin [Transcript], Thomas Isaac Horsley Curties

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A corrupt Baron exploits the monks of St. Catherine's monastery by publicizing the acts of one Sr. St. Anna, a nun from the monastery that broke her vow of chastity. Under pressure from the scandal, the monks hand over the monastery to the Baron, who converts it into a secular property that swiftly falls into ruins. Many years later, Thomas Fitz-Martin and his daughter Rosaline, the last descendants of this Baron, move into these ruins and discover that the Baron himself seduced Sr. St. Anna under the name of Vortimer, leading her to her ruin and eventual death. The ghost …

The Distressed Nun [Transcript], Isaac Crookenden

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Luvido di Brindoli, Florentine nobleman, had two children—a son, Vincentio and a daughter, Herselia. Vincentio bitterly envied Herselia believing that his father loved her more. One night Brindoli received two guests—Count Fovolli and his handsome young son, Henri Velasquez. Herselia instantly fell in love with Henry and confided the matter in his brother who contrived a plot to ruin her happiness forever. Accordingly, he encouraged Herselia to elope with Henry the next day, and, secretly informed Brindoli about it.

The next morning, Brindoli apprehended Herselia outside the palace, and condemned her to a life in a remote convent. After weeks …

The Gothic Story Of Courville Castle; Or The Illegitimate Son, A Victim Of Prejudice And Passion: Owing To The Early Impressions Inculcated With Unremitting Assiduity By An Implacable Mother Whose Resentment To Her Husband Excited Her Son To Envy, Usurpation, And Murder; But Retributive Justice At Length Restores The Right Heir To His Lawful Possessions. To Which Is Added The English Earl: Or The History Of Robert Fitzwalter, Unknown

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The Gothic Story of Courville Castle begins with Alphonso de Courville returning to his ancestral castle after traveling through foreign lands. During Alphonso’s German travels, he had been attacked by banditti and fallen in love with Julia, a baron’s daughter. However, when Alphonso returns home to gain his uncle’s consent for his marriage, Alphonso is shocked to find Courville Castle entirely abandoned. Alphonso finds a note from his uncle explaining that Alphonso is the true owner of Courville Castle and that the uncle can no longer bear to reside there. Alphonso explores the castle and finds a decaying female corpse …