The Midnight Bell

by Francis Lathom, David Punter (Introduction)

Young Alphonsus Cohenburg enters his mother's bedroom and finds her covered in blood. She tells him his uncle has murdered his father, and orders him to flee Cohenburg castle forever to save his own life! A disconsolate exile, Alphonsus wanders the earth seeking the means of survival, first as a soldier, then a miner, and finally as sacristan of a church, where he meets the beautiful Lauretta. They wed and establish a home together, and everything seems to promise them a happy future. But their domestic tranquillity is shattered, when a band of ruffians kidnaps the unfortunate Lauretta! Alphonsus must solve the mystery of Lauretta's disappearance and the riddle of his mother's strange conduct. And when he hears that ghosts inhabit Cohenburg castle, tolling the great bell each night at midnight, the mystery only deepens.... One of the greatest of all Gothic novels, The Midnight Bell (1798) features a blend of fast-paced action and spine-tingling suspence, pervaded throughout by a tone of profound melancholy. This edition, the first in forty years, features a new introduction by David Punter, one of the world's foremost experts on Gothic literature.

Genres: Gothic, Classics, Fiction, Horror, 18th Century, Literature, British Literature

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1798

About the author

Francis Lathom (1774-1832) was born in July 1774 at Rotterdam to Henry and Sarah Lathom. Henry Lathom was a Norwich merchant engaged in business with the East India Company in Holland. Around 1777, the family returned to the vicinity of Norwich, and in the 1790s Lathom began to pen plays for the Theatre Royal Norwich, including the comedies All in a Bustle (1795) and The Dash of the Day (1800), the latter of which was acted to “universal applause” and ran into at least four editions. In 1795, Lathom published his first novel, The Castle of Ollada, a Gothic romance indebted to Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) and Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1764).

In 1797, Lathom married Diana Ganning, daughter of Daniel Ganning, a wealthy lawyer and landowner, with whom he had three children, Henry Daniel (b. 1799), Frederick (b. 1800), and Jessy Ann (b. 1803). The following year, he published what became his most famous novel, The Midnight Bell (1798), which was mentioned in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey (1818) and which was the only of Lathom’s novels reprinted in the 20th century. He followed this success with the satire Men and Manners (1799), described by critic Montague Summers as Lathom’s masterpiece and worthy of a young Dickens, and Mystery (1800), a curious mixture of the Gothic with epistolary domestic romance.

Around 1802 or 1803, under circumstances not yet known, Lathom left Norwich, perhaps for Scotland. Lathom’s father’s will provided him an annuity of £200 per year, provided that he relinquish custody of his children to Diana and have nothing more to do with them. Summers posited that Lathom’s removal from Norwich may have stemmed from a gay love affair, which, while not substantiated, may nonetheless be true.

Between 1802 and 1809, Lathom was extremely prolific, publishing the novels Astonishment!!! (1802), The Impenetrable Secret, Find it Out! (1805), The Mysterious Freebooter (1806), Human Beings (1807), The Fatal Vow (1807), The Unknown (1808), London, or, Truth Without Treason (1809), and The Romance of the Hebrides, or, Wonders Never Cease (1809). After 1809, he disappeared from the publishing scene and apparently travelled to America, where he visited New York and lived for a time in Philadelphia.

In 1820, Lathom returned to publishing, releasing Italian Mysteries and the collection The One-Pound Note and Other Tales. He continued to write throughout the remainder of the decade; these later works include Live and Learn (1823), in which the friendship between the two male characters was felt by Summers to be “clearly” queer in nature, as well as two additional collections of short stories and the novels Young John Bull (1828) and Mystic Events (1830). Lathom is said to have died in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1832.

-Valancourt Books

Reviews

[Sotiris Karaiskos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book I wanted to read it together with the rest of the "Horrid Novels" of Northanger Abbey but having the impression that it was not particularly good I left it for later. Finally after reading it I can say it that it is an excellent example of Gothic literature of Ann Radcliffe's School, with all the assets and weaknesses that this means. So we have a history with a background of medieval castles and beautiful natural landscapes, with protagonists sensitive young women, brave and moral young men, robbers, monks and generally people which hide many secrets. An adventurous story, with many twists and turns, mystery and touching revelations. All this in a book that create a mysterious and sentimental atmosphere typical for the genre, that draws you away in a romantic world.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I amused myself by posting comments on this story as I read it and I think I'll just take all those and make my review from them, but beware they could be a bit spoilerish:

- Good start to this one. Suspicions and death, accusations of murder. Fantastic.

- Much bad fortune befalls our hero. Would it be impudent to suggest the theory that all his friends seem to die soon after meeting him and he might be bad luck?

- Faint number one, " 'Oh, protect a suffering woman!' ere she sunk at the feet of the lady abbess"

- Our hero is very trusted, so trusted in fact that he is being told a secret only the priest and the abbess know, how fortunate for him. Seems very foolhardy of the priest though, he's known him a very short time.

- And she faints again, "Exhausted with weeping, I sunk into a fainting fit, which lasted some time."

- She's fainted twice and I'm only now just figuring out who she is. Always good to introduce a character with much drama, even if it's all self inflicted.

- It's a close call, "and I should have sunk senseless at my father's feet" but she refrains, at least for now.

- Ha, I was right, "I uttered a violent shriek, and fainted at my aunt's feet"

- Not only that but, "I wept, I sighed, fainted, and upbraided him by turns", so who knows how many times she fell senseless that time.

- Really? Why is it that the hero is so self centered?? What if the pretty girl is happy in the convent and doesn't what to be "snatched from the eternal gloom of a monastic life"?
I know, she's gonna be all for it, but still, what makes him automatically assume she would rather marry him?? 'Cause I sure as hell wouldn't!

- Oh, a different woman has fainted now. Fat lot of good fainting is going to do her, she should stay awake to fight and scream!!

- Weak, weak woman. She has fainted again after uttering a hysterical shriek. That's right, surrounded by men she knows not what they will do but nonetheless, she still faints, because that will help so much. This heroine needs some gumption.

- She has sunk lifeless to the ground, which is a bit melodramatic considering she returns to her senses lying on an uncanopied bed, thus obviously not lifeless, because you know, lifeless means...like...dead. As in not possible to return to your senses, unless you're a vampire I suppose but that's a whole other discussion.

- "almost insensible of her situation, she sunk upon the supporting arms of Kroonzer." who I would like to say is the bad guy, that's right, bad guy. What the hell, who does that??

- What grand drama at the end of Volume One, what will happen, who will survive!! How will I stand the suspense.

- Maybe I need to read this like a serial or something because there was no suspense. The answer was in the next paragraph. How disappointing. What a missed opportunity on the authors part.

- Oh good, we're going to find out what the hero is doing. 'Cause the heroine is such a sad sack and I need a break.

- Pffftt, the hero is not better. Ending up in a fever and not able to do any searching. But not to worry, the local sweet Baron is on the hunt for the heroine, but I imagine not before she bogs off somewhere and gets kidnapped again.

- This makes me think of some Agatha Christie story where the girl tests all her prospective suitors by seeing if they can get her out of a kidnapping situation, maybe Lauretta should have tried that. It might have been useful.

- Noooo, stupid woman. Really?? A shriek?? How is that hiding out, just let all the bad dudes know where you are. Good plan.

- Ah ha, a long lost relative. Why don't I have any long lost relatives?? I guess you need to be raised in a convent and your mother must be sad and then dead before you meet any. And I just can't say that has happened to me.

- It's been several chapters since anyone fainted but the men have decided it's their turn now, "the little strength I had remaining fled from me, and I fainted whilst yet bound in the chair of torture."
This sentence sounds much more dramatic than the story really was.

- But never fear, she has fainted again, "and again she attempted to fly, but her trembling limbs could no longer support her, and she sunk on the earth in a swoon."
You know, this heroine isn't near as lucky as some others. She's forever falling on the ground, no one ever catches her.

-Ohh, what a thrilling chapter opener, "A fervent kiss, imprinted on her cold lips, recalled Lauretta into existence,"
Though, it does sound a bit vampiric, like she was dead and now she's not. Maybe I'm being too cruel, the gothic mood has affected me, it's really more Sleeping Beauty, just not the Disneyfied version.

- Why is everyone always telling stories?? There is THE story and then there is someone in the story telling another story and then that story contains someone telling a story. What is with this??
Always stories about dire tragedy and miscommunications and misdeeds too. No happy stories.

- "but Lauretta, who had fainted,"
I wonder how many she's at so far, it seems a lot. Though it has been a couple chapters since the last time.

- But I am all done this one, thanks to a boring day at work. All ends happily ever after, money and a title for the heroes and comeuppance for all the bad guys.

I thought it was pretty good, the heroes were a little more pathetic than usual and there was really no characters with guts but it was all real, no paranormal mumbo jumbo, quite decent all told.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the books Jane Austen mentions in Northanger Abbey, This is considered a Gothic/Horrid novels and has all the the aspects of that genre. The running theme is the dangers of being suspicious. People wrongly convicted of crimes, spouses being suspicious which led to terrible tragedies. The last chapter finally pieces everything together nicely. A nice piece of history.

[Arnstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the subject of troubled love and the sins of one’s forefathers; a Gothic romance.

Alphonsus is a character against the norm of his day and subgenre. In the 18th century it was argued by many that the fair sex was too fragile to read frightening novels. This sentiment was either met with agreement by the publishers of the day or they accepted that the idea had too much support to object against it – likely a bit of both since humanity is after all heterogeneous of thought. In any case, the result was that the authors of the day felt obliged to make their works appropriately soft in order to be published. If one wanted to write a scary story then clearly a compromise was needed, one which was found in a subgenre of Gothic literature named 'explained supernatural.’ Since it was aimed, at least largely, at the female consumer, so did it usually have a female protagonist. The ideals of the time demanded many kinds of subordination from women, and so heroines were often more passive and victimised than their male counterparts. A heroine would be dependent on men to do many of her dealings for her, to escort her while travelling, to furnish her with an income, to defend her against those who would assault her, etc. – in short, her limitations would have been quite sizeable and the story would have needed to be tailored to them. Therefore, Alphonsus is, due to his sex, a protagonist with more agency than what is commonly seen in the subgenre; he has a greater ability to make his fate rather than to be swept by its currents, and that has a major impact on his narrative. In that regard, one could see The Midnight Bell as a complementary tale to the myriads of female-protagonized ones, and it is a welcome change to have a protagonist that is not helpless even if it took a gender switch to achieve that.

Alphonsus is the only child of Count Alphonsus and Countess Anna of Cohenburg, and he would have inherited the title of count upon his father’s murder by two ruffians, if not for a series of strange occurrences that culminates with his mother interrupting his sleep, her hand stained with blood: ”’Alphonsus!’ she exclaimed, ‘observe thy mother’s words, nor ask their explanation: – instantly fly this castle, nor approach it more, as you value life! – as you value heaven!’” (vol. 1, p. 22) Earlier she had made him swear to kill his uncle, Count Frederic, but now she swears on his innocence. Confused, Alphonsus heeds his mothers commands, abandoning his home to seek a new life. This search is to lead to many things, including the great romance of the novel. With regard to his mother, he will later hear most dire rumours of her fate:

”now the folks say, the good lady killed her son in a mad fit, for the loss of her husband, and was so vexed at what she had done, when she came to herself, that she killed herself too – and directly after, a ghost began to walk, and every night at twelve o’clock, it tolls the great bell in the fourth turret, because that is the time she killed the young count.” (vol. 1, pp. 68-69)

So this is the midnight bell whereby the novel is titled; a mysterious tale, indeed – but the novel will concern itself no further with it until it nears its conclusion, and this reviewer will therefore speak no more of it in order to preserve the unknowns of the finale. Where the majority of the pages are spent is on the aforementioned romance between Alphonsus and a lady named Lauretta Byroff. Their plights, and those of other characters who relate to them, are many, and each plight requires the relation of its backstory. This amounts to quite a few backstories, some of them lengthy, but it speaks to the credit of the novel that only a single one of them is superfluous.

While this reviewer is hesitant to call The Midnight Bell a moralistic novel – it is first and foremost a story for the purpose of entertainment, as I read it, rather than a story moulded so as to present its morale in the most precise manner – there are instances where the author makes observations to that effect, the most important of which is this:

”avoid suspicion ; for as it is the source of crimes, it is also the worst of crimes, attaching itself with equal mischief to the guilty and the innocent, it is an endless pang to him who harbours it; for it dies only when he dies, and then often leaves a curse on those that follow him ; it is the influence of evil that breeds suspicion, the noble spirit of charity that subdues it!” (vol. 3, pp. 245-246)

Yet, the book deals with other evils too, such as the undue condemnation of others, greed, and elitism, and the victims here fare no better than those of suspicion. Moreover, when in the grip of these other evils the victims are lucky to escape, if they at all do; while suspicion required the direst chain of misfortunes in order to cause the harm it did, and even then much of the damage could have been avoided with simple measures. Delving further into this argument will inevitably lead to much too sizeable revelations of the story and so I will refrain from it. Suffice to say, the author does not always succeed in making convincing moral considerations, and the most central one of this novel is an example of this. But, perhaps the idea of dangerous suspicion was important to Lathom personally. He is interpreted by many to have been homosexual, and while we do not know what happened between him and his wife, they did separate in 1810; she gained sole custody of the children, they received her maiden name instead of his, and Lathom’s own father sought to completely break his ties to them. If it is true that he was gay, then likely he would have feared its discovery, demonized as it was in his time. If this is the case, no wonder he would have felt suspicion to be an evil.

When compared to other late 18th century novels from the explained supernatural branch of Gothic literature, The Midnight Bell comes across as run-of-the-mill but very successfully so. The problems the agonists face are largely the ones always faced in these novels: i.e. being of noble birth but circumstances prevents one from being able to inherit the title, and the love between two people being interrupted by a third party which seeks to keep them apart. Not to mention that with all the castles, virtues, and supernatural elements, this is a story that is almost excessively Gothic. But Lathom spends more time developing the characters than repeatedly describing their worries and emotional outbursts, and he chose a protagonist with the potential for genuine agonism, which makes the roster stand above the generic. Likewise, he elevates the story by focusing on what is important to keep the readers attention, by reducing that which is irrelevant to it and making sure the main story is sufficiently rich to fill the pages on its own. Since The Midnight Bell is thus typical for novels of its style but yet above most of it, it is an obvious candidate for those who would like an introduction to this Gothic subgenre.

However, the version available from Gale NCCO Print Editions is in no way recommendable. (It is the one I have based this review on.) It is printed from microfilm captures of the copy of the original edition published by H. D. Symonds in 1798, which was found in the legendary Corvey Collection. Normally the breeze of history which is residual in such replicas would enhance the reading experience beyond the minor flaws such copies often have. Not this time. The second volume is missing the pages 4 to 5, 62 to 63, and 232 and onwards. The third volume is even worse, missing pages 2 to 5 and 8 to 15. (The first volume is fine if you ignore the all too frequent page which includes a barely legible, or sometimes illegible, paragraph or two.) At least fifteen pages are simply missing, most likely because they were not included in the microfilm. There is no online copy of the novel so one cannot supplement the reading that way either. The other alternatives are the Valancourt and Skoob Books editions, and since the Valacourt one includes an introduction by a known scholar of the genre, the choice between the two would seem obvious.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first book from the Northanger Abby Horrid Novels that I‘ve read. I did not know what to expect but was pleasantly surprised to find this a quick and enjoyable read. I even found myself caught up in the mystery of the story, wondering how it was all going to end. You have to go into reading this knowing that it is a gothic tale written in 1798. You cannot compare the writing style or character development to something more modern. For that matter you cannot even really compare it to other novels of the time. I think the gothic romances fall into their own little niche. For example there was a lot of convenient coincidence. Alphonsus travels all over the continent of Europe and everyone he meets is some how connected. And of course being a gothic romance there was plenty of fainting, crying, and falling at people’s knees begging for forgiveness etc etc. The elements that were supposed to instill fright and horror often had me laughing. But I could imagine the reactions of a Catherine Morland character to reading it. Overall I found the book interesting and entertaining. I would recommend that any one who is a fan of Northanger Abby by Jane Austen read it. If I can find them, I will read more of the Northanger Abby Horrid Novels series.

[Lorri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything a gothic horrid novel should be.

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read 6 of 7 of the "7 Horrid Novels" mentioned by Jane Austen in Northanger Abbey. This is one of the most solidly structured of the 6 titles I've read so far. Most gothic romances that come in three volumes can feel almost like three separate novels when taken all together. This one though is one ongoing story from volume to volume. (Seriously, guys, the first two volumes end on cliffhangers.) There is even some good humor worked in with the reveals. For instance, at one point Lauretta escapes one of her periods of captivity because the castle turret she's being sequestered in is struck by lightning and she actually falls from the castle onto the lawn and is fine. And while for a chunk of time throughout the narrative, it just feels like sloppy writing so that she can escape and survive, it's later revealed that the turret she had been in was only about three feet off the ground. That reveal (which happened a good hundred pages later) got an actual verbal laugh from me.

I like the moral of this one, which is all about the dangers of suspicion. The writing of the moral at the end, just as with those in the two novels in the list that are penned by Eliza Parsons, has the same sort of memorable tone as Austen's own satire of these novels.

The only real issue I had with this book isn't due to the original novel at all but rather has to do with the introduction. I don't think the introduction should be at the front of the novel. It's written as a literary analysis which falls completely flat if it's your first time reading the work. It tells you the ending of the book and also references a bunch of things that you have no context for going in. It's a good analysis, but it should have been printed at the end of the work and not as a preface to reading it. And when you're reading it as an ebook, it's harder to just leave it for later.

But as a gothic novel, I do heartily recommend this book if you're into that genre. It's a lot of fun and does have examples of every plot point that is common to the genre and therefore is also a good starting point if you've never tried such novels before. It has all the tropes that will help you decide if gothic romances are the kind of stories that will grip you.

[Tracey Madeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things you will notice about this book is the duplication of names. We begin with the sons of Count Cohenburg, Alphonsus and Frederick. Frederick is married to Sophia and his wife and all three children die. Alphonsus is married to Anna and his son is also called Alphonsus. One of the main themes of this book is suspicion and because Alphonsus suspects his wife of having an affair, disastrous consequences ensue.

Despite being in love with another man Lauretta is married to Count Byroff. Her father suspects her of entertaining the affections of another man and sets a trap where the husband and father are away from the house. She arranges to meet her lover in the garden but the message is intercepted and he is killed. Lauretta then goes to a convent where she gives birth to a girl also named Lauretta.

The novel is interesting in its portrayal of the Bastille and the cruel treatment of prisoners. How the corruption of the guards sees prisoners poisoned and their bodies sold for medical research. It also has the traditional abduction of the heroine Lauretta by Theodore, who is aided in her escape by her father Count Byroff before being reunited with Alphonsus.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually 3.5 stars. A fast-paced atmospheric gothic novel which extolls the dangers of having a suspicious nature told through a bewildering maze of stories within stories (some extremely strange and curious) and ending with rational explanations for all the spooky supernatural elements. Sadly, there were no staunch women (only the woefully tragic and the excessively fainting types). I think Radcliff's novel, The Mysteries of Udolpho, was a much better and more satisfying novel with greater character complexity, depth, and sustained focus. Still, this was a fairly quick and entertaining read.
* On a side note, I couldn't make heads or tails out of Punter's introduction (although some of his points about Lathom's sexuality were clear enough), perhaps it was too academic and confusing for me personally.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The fifth of the seven "Horrid Novels" mentioned in Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey" is a short, forgettable book. David Putner's Introduction in the Valencourt Books edition is the best part. Rumor had it that Francis Lathom was gay. Putner does a convincing job of showing the homosexual undertones in the novel. The fourth book in the series, "The Necromancer," had a very silly essay "Queering the Necromancer" which strived to find homosexuality in a book which had none. But "The Midnight Bell" has legitimate homosexual undertones that don't need to be manufactured by a bored academic.

[Jon Mackley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first two volumes are fairly dense. There's some cleverly-done mise-en-abyme. The pace picks up at the end and becomes an easier read. David Punter's notes are excellent, although he does reveal the "twist" in the plot and the reason for all the shenanigans

[Becci · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast paced gothic, with a concise story.

[Victor · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 3 1/2 stars, but I'm a giant fan of the original wave of Gothic novels.

[Dfordoom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the “horrid books” referenced in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey. Actually an interesting example of the gothic novel with stories within stories like a series of Chinese boxes. Recommended.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bad by all standards except those of 18th and 19th century gothic fiction. No character development, unrealistic plotting, the whole delightful bag.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amongst my least favorite of the Gothic genre. Usually I love them, but this book couldn't really hold my interest.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole book is pretty much a buildup to the last fifty pages. But it's pretty good.