suicide. Also apparent are nostalgia and sadness for the dispossessed Catholic aristocracy of Ireland, whose ruined castles stand as a mute witness to this history. Some of the stories still often appear in anthologies: "The Ghost and the Bonesetter" (1838), his first-published, jocular story. "The Fortunes of Sir Robert Ardagh" (1838), an enigmatic story which partially involves a Faustian pact and is set in the gothic ambiance of a castle in rural Ireland. "The Last Heir of Castle Connor" (1838), a non-supernatural tale, exploring the decline and expropriation of the ancient Catholic gentry of Ireland under the Protestant Ascendancy. "The Drunkard's Dream" (1838), a haunting vision of Hell. "Passage in the Secret History of an Irish Countess" (1838), an early version of his later novel Uncle Silas. "Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter" (1839), a disturbing version of the demon lover motif. This tale was inspired by the atmospheric candlelit scenes of the 17th-century Dutch painter Godfried Schalcken, who is the model for the story's protagonist. M. R. James stated that "Schalken' conforms more strictly to my own ideals. It is indeed one of the best of Le Fanu's good things." It was adapted and broadcast for television as Schalcken the Painter by the BBC for Christmas 1979, starring Jeremy Clyde and John Justin. "A Chapter in the History of a Tyrone Family" (1839), which may have influenced Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. This story was later reworked and expanded by Le Fanu as The Wyvern Mystery (1869). Revised versions of "Irish Countess" and "Schalken" were reprinted in Le Fanu's first collection of short stories, the very rare Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery (1851). Spalatro An anonymous novella Spalatro: From the Notes of Fra Giacomo, published in the Dublin University Magazine in 1843, was added to the Le Fanu canon as late as 1980, being recognised as Le Fanu's work by W. J. McCormack in his biography of that year. Spalatro has a typically Gothic Italian setting, featuring a bandit as the hero, as in Ann Radcliffe (whose 1797 novel The Italian includes a repentant minor villain of the same name). More disturbing, however, is the hero Spalatro's necrophiliac passion for an undead blood-drinking beauty, who seems to be a predecessor of Le Fanu's later female vampire Carmilla. Like Carmilla, this undead femme fatale is not portrayed in an entirely negative way and attempts, but fails, to