Our books – the books which, for years, had formed no small portion of the mental existence of the invalid – were, as might be supposed, in strict keeping with this character of phantasm. We pored together over such works as the Ververt et Chartreuse of Gresset; the Belphegor of Machiavelli; the Heaven and Hell of Swedenborg; the Subterranean Voyage of Nicholas Klimm by Holberg; the Chiromancy of Robert Flud, of Jean D’Indagine, and of De la Chambre; the Journey into the Blue Distance of Tieck; and the City of the Sun of Campanella.

One favourite volume was a small octavo edition of the Directorium Inquisitorum, by the Dominican Eymeric de Gironne (одним /из наших/ любимых томов было маленькое издание in octavo /книги/ «Директориум инквизиторум» монаха-доминиканца Эймерика Жиронского); and there were passages in Pomponius Mela, about the old African Satyrs and AEgipans, over which Usher would sit dreaming for hours (и были пассажи у Помпония Мелы, про старых африканских сатиров и эгипанов, над которыми Ашер сидел, мечтая, часами). His chief delight, however, was found (его главная радость, однако, находилась = он находил главную радость; to find – найти) in the perusal of an exceedingly rare and curious book in quarto Gothic (в изучении чрезвычайно редкой и любопытной книги в формате ин-кварто) – the manual of a forgotten church (устав позабытой церкви) – the Vigilae Mortuorum secundum Chorum Ecclesiae Maguntinae (Бдения по усопшим согласно хору магунтинской церкви).

One favourite volume was a small octavo edition of the Directorium Inquisitorum, by the Dominican Eymeric de Gironne; and there were passages in Pomponius Mela, about the old African Satyrs and AEgipans, over which Usher would sit dreaming for hours. His chief delight, however, was found in the perusal of an exceedingly rare and curious book in quarto Gothic – the manual of a forgotten church – the Vigilae Mortuorum secundum Chorum Ecclesiae Maguntinae.

I could not help thinking of the wild ritual of this work (я не мог не думать о безумном ритуале этих трудов; to help – помогать; cannot help doing something – не мочь не делать чего-либо), and of its probable influence upon the hypochondriac (и о его возможном влиянии на ипохондрика), when, one evening, having informed me abruptly that the lady Madeline was no more (когда одним = однажды вечером, сообщив мне коротко, что леди Маделин больше не: «что она не была больше»), he stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight, (previously to its final interment,) in one of the numerous vaults within the main walls of the building (он заявил о своем намерении хранить ее труп в течение двух недель, перед его окончательным погребением, в одной из многочисленных подземелий в главных стенах здания; fortnight – две недели). The worldly reason, however, assigned for this singular proceeding (практическая причина, однако, приведенная для этой необычной процедуры), was one which I did not feel at liberty to dispute (была такая, которую я не чувствовал себя вольным оспаривать; liberty – свобода; at liberty – свободный).

I could not help thinking of the wild ritual of this work, and of its probable influence upon the hypochondriac, when, one evening, having informed me abruptly that the lady Madeline was no more, he stated his intention of preserving her corpse for a fortnight, (previously to its final interment,) in one of the numerous vaults within the main walls of the building. The worldly reason, however, assigned for this singular proceeding, was one which I did not feel at liberty to dispute.

The brother had been led to his resolution (so he told me) by consideration of the unusual character of the malady of the deceased (брат был подведен к своему решению, так он сказал мне, соображением о необычном характере болезни покойной; to lead – вести), of certain obtrusive and eager inquiries on the part of her medical men (о некоторых назойливых и энергичных расспросах со стороны ее врачей: «медицинских людей»), and of the remote and exposed situation of the burial-ground of the family (и о далеком и открытом всем ветрам положении семейного кладбища; to expose – выставлять; burial – погребение; ground – земля; burial-ground – кладбище).

The brother had been led to his resolution (so he told me) by consideration of the unusual character of the malady of the deceased, of certain obtrusive and eager inquiries on the part of her medical men, and of the remote and exposed situation of the burial-ground of the family.

I will not deny that when I called to mind the sinister countenance of the person whom I met upon the staircase (я не стану отрицать, что когда я припомнил: «призвал на ум» зловещий вид особы, которую я встретил на лестнице), on the day of my arrival at the house (в день моего прибытия в дом), I had no desire to oppose what I regarded as at best but a harmless, and by no means an unnatural, precaution (я не имел никакого желания возражать против того, что я рассматривал как, в лучшем случае, лишь безвредную и никоим образом не неестественную предосторожность; to regard – рассматривать, расценивать; at best – в лучшем /случае/; means – средство, метод; by no means – никоим образом).

I will not deny that when I called to mind the sinister countenance of the person whom I met upon the staircase, on the day of my arrival at the house, I had no desire to oppose what I regarded as at best but a harmless, and by no means an unnatural, precaution.

At the request of Usher, I personally aided him in the arrangements for the temporary entombment (по просьбе Ашера я лично помог ему в устройстве временного захоронения). The body having been encoffined (тело, будучи положено во гроб = /когда/ тело было положено во гроб; to encoffin – класть в гроб), we two alone bore it to its rest (мы двое одни отнесли его к его упокоению; to bear – нести). The vault in which we placed it (склеп, в котором мы поместили его) (and which had been so long unopened that our torches, half smothered in its oppressive atmosphere, gave us little opportunity for investigation) (и который был так долго неоткрываем, что наши факелы, наполовину задушенные в его давящей атмосфере, давали нам мало возможности для обследования) was small, damp, and entirely without means of admission for light (был маленьким, сырым и совершенно без доступа для света; means – средство; admission – допуск); lying, at great depth, immediately beneath that portion of the building in which was my own sleeping apartment (лежащий на большой глубине непосредственно под той частью здания, в которой был мой собственный ночной: «сонный» покой).