In the present work, Mr. Montague endeavored to set forth what might be termed the philosophy of vampirism, and however ghastly and macabre they may appear, he felt that here one must not tamely shrink from a careful and detailed consideration of the many cognate passions and congruous circumstances which, there can be no reasonable doubt, have throughout the ages played no impertinent and no trivial but a very vital and very memorable part in consolidating the vampire legend, and in perpetuating the vampire tradition among the darker and more secret mysteries of belief that prevail in the heart of man.