e, all climbing to gain the top with as little delay as possible,
yet was there scarcely a sound, certainly not a word, to be heard among
them. For my part, I plainly heard the palpitations of my heart, both
loud and quick. Had I been told that the veil of eternity was about
to be raised before me at that moment, I could scarcely have felt more
intensely. Several females were obliged to rest for some time, in order
to gain both physical and moral strength--one fainted; and several old
men were obliged to sit down. All were praying, every crucifix was out,
every bead in requisition; and nothing broke a silence so solemn but a
low, monotonous murmur of deep devotion.

As soon as we ascended the hill, the whole scene was instantly before
us: a large lake, surrounded by an amphitheatre of mountains, bleak,
uncomfortable, and desolate. In the lake itself, about half a mile from
the edge next us, was to be seen the "Island," with two or three slated
houses on it, naked and un-plastered, as desolate-looking almost as the
mountains. A little range of exceeding low hovels, which a dwarf could
scarcely enter without stooping, appeared to the left; and the eye could
rest on nothing more, except a living mass of human beings crawling
slowly about. The first thing the pilgrim does when he gets a sight of
the lake, is to prostrate himself, kiss the earth, and then on his
knees offer up three Paters and Aves, and a Creed for the favor of being
permitted to see this blessed place. When this is over, he descends to
the lake, and after paying tenpence to the ferry-man, is rowed over to
the Purgatory.

When the whole view was presented to me, I stood for some time to
contemplate it; I cannot better illustrate the reaction which, took
place in my mind, than by saying that it resembles that awkward
inversion which a man's proper body experiences when, on going to pull
something from which he expects a marvellous assistance, it comes with
him at a touch, and the natural consequence is, that he finds his head
down and his heels up. That which dashed the whole scene from the
dark elevation in which the romance of devotion had placed it was the
appearance of slated houses, and of the smoke that curled from the
hovels and the prior's residence. This at once brought me back to
humanity: and the idea of roasting meat, boiling pots, and dressing
dinners, dispossessed every fine and fearful image which had floated
through my imagination for the las