land and his friend, as without ſpeaking they returned to the outer apartment with countenances pale through fear.
“Shortly, ſaid Edmund, toſſing from him the brand, and ſeating himſelf on one of the ſtones, “we ſhall heighten thoſe dreadful pillars. Death here bears a terrible appearance to my ſoul. It ſhrinks at the idea; though oft ere now have I faced it, without fearing its terrors, in the field of battle.”
“Thoſe ſad mementos of mortality,” rejoined James, “we have ſeen, as I recall my thoughts from the firſt impreſſion they made, I dread not as warnings of our own danger; as they have, I conjecture, been placed there in remote ages by thoſe pagans who reared this ſtrange hall, in memory of ſome bloody victory they have obtained over the natives, and here yet remain, a diſgrace to chriſtianity, my predeceſſors, and myſelf.
The three doors, which had been cloſed, at one inſtant flew back, and three hags entered, whoſe faces, the colour of an autumn leaf, were deeply furrowed with wrinkles; yet their gait was ſtrait and erect, and betrayed no tokens of age. Tall and robuſt, their perſons appeared maſculine and ſtrong; their foreheads were bald, but from the back of their heads hung thick treſſes, dark as the raven’s wing, which fell over their ſhoulders, and mingled with their garments, which were of the ſame hue, and looſely floated behind them, but faſtened up before, ſhowing their naked feet and midway to the knee; bare alſo to the ſhoulders were their arms. Their duſky robes were girded round them with the ſpeckled ſkin of a ſnake; in this girdle were ſtuck ſprigs of yew, mixed with the deadly berries of the nightſhade; in one hand they held a wand, on which were painted uncouth characters; to the top of this were affixed the wings, outſpread, of a bat; their other hands bore a horn, filled with ſome kind of liquor.
Three animals followed, whoſe forms declared them of the ſpecies of tigers, for they ſeemed much larger and fiercer than cats; their eyes glared on the ſtrangers, as if ready to devour them; the colour of thoſe fright-
