The Ghost-Seer; or the Apparitionist

The Ghost-Seer (or The
Apparitionist), and
by
Frederich Schiller

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Sport of Destiny, by Frederich Schiller This eBook is for the use of
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Title: The Ghost-Seer (or The Apparitionist), and Sport of Destiny
Author: Frederich Schiller
Release Date: December 8, 2004 [EBook #6781]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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GHOST-SEER (OR THE ***

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THE GHOST-SEER; OR, APPARITIONIST.
AND
SPORT OF DESTINY

FROM THE PAPERS OF COUNT O-------
I am about to relate an adventure which to many will appear incredible,
but of which I was in great part an eye-witness. The few who are
acquainted with a certain political event will, if indeed these pages
should happen to find them alive, receive a welcome solution thereof.
And, even to the rest of my readers, it will be, perhaps, important as a
contribution to the history of the deception and aberrations of the
human intellect. The boldness of the schemes which malice is able to
contemplate and to carry out must excite astonishment, as must also the
means of which it can avail itself to accomplish its aims. Clear,
unvarnished truth shall guide my pen; for, when these pages come
before the public, I shall be no more, and shall therefore never learn
their fate.
On my return to Courland in the year 17--, about the time of the
Carnival, I visited the Prince of ------- at Venice. We had been
acquainted in the ------ service, and we here renewed an intimacy which,
by the restoration of peace, had been interrupted. As I wished to see the
curiosities of this city, and as the prince was waiting only for the arrival
of remittances to return to his native country, he easily prevailed on me
to tarry till his departure. We agreed not to separate during the time of
our residence at Venice, and the prince was kind enough to
accommodate me at his lodgings at the Moor Hotel.
As the prince wished to enjoy himself, and his small revenues did not
permit him to maintain the dignity of his rank, he lived at Venice in the
strictest incognito. Two noblemen, in whom he had entire confidence,
and a few faithful servants, composed all his retinue. He shunned
expenditure, more however from inclination than economy. He avoided

all kinds of dissipation, and up to the age of thirty-five years had
resisted the numerous allurements of this voluptuous city. To the
charms of the fair sex he was wholly indifferent. A settled gravity and
an enthusiastic melancholy were the prominent features of his character.
His affections were tranquil, but obstinate to excess. He formed his
attachments with caution and timidity, but when once formed they were
cordial and permanent. In the midst of a tumultuous crowd he walked
in solitude. Wrapped in his own visionary ideas, he was often a stranger
to the world about him; and, sensible of his own deficiency in the
knowledge of mankind, he scarcely ever ventured an opinion of his
own, and was apt to pay an unwarrantable deference to the judgment of
others. Though far from being weak, no man was more liable to be
governed; but, when conviction had once entered his mind, he became
firm and decisive; equally courageous to combat an acknowledged
prejudice or to die for a new one.
As he was the third prince of his house, he had no likely prospect of
succeeding to the sovereignty. His ambition had never been awakened;
his passions had taken another direction. Contented to find himself
independent of the will of others, he never enforced his own as a law;
his utmost wishes did not soar beyond the peaceful quietude of a
private life, free from care. He read much, but without discrimination.
As his education had been neglected, and, as he had early entered the
career of arms, his understanding had never been fully matured. Hence
the knowledge he afterwards acquired served but to increase the chaos
of his ideas, because it was built on an unstable foundation.
He was a Protestant, as all his family had been, by birth, but not by
investigation, which he had never attempted, although at one period of
his life he had been an enthusiast in its cause. He had never, so far as
came to my knowledge, been a freemason.
One evening we were, as usual, walking by ourselves, well masked in
the square of St. Mark. It was growing late, and the crowd was
dispersing, when the