at brought light and immortality to light. "Here," said
I, "do I feel that I am indeed immortal, and destined for scenes of a
more exalted and comprehensive existence!"

I then proceeded further into the valley, completely freed from the
influence of old and superstitious associations. A few porches below
me a small river crossed the road, over which was thrown a little
stone bridge of rude workmanship. This bridge was the spot on which the
apparition was said to appear; and as I approached it, I felt the
folly of those terrors which had only a few minutes before beset me so
strongly. I found my moral energies recruited, and the dark phantasms of
my imagination dispelled by the light of religion, which had refreshed
me with a deep sense of the Almighty presence. I accordingly walked
forward, scarcely bestowing a thought upon the history of the place,
and had got within a few yards of the bridge, when on resting my eye
accidentally upon the little elevation formed by its rude arch, I
perceived a black coffin placed at the edge of the road, exactly upon
the bridge itself!

It may be evident to the reader, that, however satisfactory the force
of philosophical reasoning might have been upon the subject of the
solitude, I was too much the creature of sensation for an hour before,
to look on such a startling object with firm nerves. For the first two
or three minutes, therefore, T exhibited as finished a specimen of the
dastardly as could be imagined. My hair absolutely raised my cap
some inches off my head; my mouth opened to an extent which I did not
conceive it could possibly reach; I thought my eyes shot out from their
sockets, and my fingers spread out and became stiff, though powerless.
The "_obstupui_" was perfectly realized in me, for, with the exception
of a single groan, which I gave on first seeing the object, I found that
if one word would save my life, or transport me to my own fireside, I
could not utter it. I was also rooted to the earth, as if by magic;
and although instant tergiversation and flight had my most hearty
concurrence, I could not move a limb, nor even raise my eyes off
the sepulchral-looking object which lay before me. I now felt the
perspiration fall from my face in torrents, and the strokes of my heart
fell audibly on my ear. I even attempted to say, "God preserve me!" but
my tongue was dumb and powerless, and could not move. My eye was still
upon the coffin, when I perceived that, from being m