BY THE REVEREND Samuel Henley, who translated the novel first into English (from the French), in 1786, with additional Commentaries by the Rev. Abijah Hoadley, Congregational Minister. About the substance of this novel it is well to quote Charles Lamb from his WITCHES AND OTHER NIGHT-FEARS: “Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimaeras—dire stories of Celaeno and the Harpies—may reproduce themselves in the brain of superstition—but they were there before. They are transcripts, types—the archetypes are in us, and eternal. How else should the recital of that which we know in a waking sense to be false come to affect us at all? Is it that we naturally conceive terror from such objects, considered in their capacity of being able to inflict upon us bodily injury? O, least of all! These terrors are of older standing. They date beyond body—or without the body, they would have been the same. . . . That the kind of fear here treated is purely spiritual—that it is strong in proportion as it is objectless on earth, that it predominates in the period of our sinless infancy—are difficulties the solution of which might afford some probable insight into our ante-mundane condition, and a peep at least into the shadowland of pre-existence.” Next week we will continue to follow the protagonist of this novel as he descends into the supernatural horror of irredeemable evil, in our third reading. Hey, Kids! Don't miss the online performance of the first Ask Dr. Hal! show of this year, the night of Sunday, March 19th! The program begins at 6:00 PM. Watch at www.askdrhalshow.com --and then visit our post-show chat room! (Not affiliated with Radio Valencia)