by degrees, and life appeared to be infused into the
figure of the gigantic demon. In spite of the singular beauty of the
features, which looked like those of an archangel, the face before him
appeared to be but a mask, beneath which all the passions of hell were
struggling, gnawing, and stinging, and devouring the heart of their
possessor. "The baleful eyes, that witnessed huge affliction and
dismay," appeared to flame in the obscure light, like the fabled
carbuncle of the Kaianian king; and the mighty limbs seemed to make an
effort to free themselves from the canvass, and spring forth upon the
floor of God's temple. As this idea rushed upon the mind of Spinello,
the wind, moaning through the aisles, and multiplied by the echoes,
sounded like the voices of wailing and desolation, which, the
imagination may suppose, mingled in dismal concert when the spirits fell
from heaven; and the artist, overpowered by the crowd of horrors which
fastened like hungry vultures upon his fancy, sprang from the altar,
and, stumbling in his haste, extinguished his torch. His imagination,
now wrought up to a frenzied pitch by the awful scene, distinguished
in every moan of the blast the shrieks of a fallen spirit; and the
wind, as if to increase his misery, raised its voice and swept through
the sacred building with tremendous power, howling, and shrieking, and
gibbering as it passed. The demoniac excitement of the moment now became
too great to be endured. Spinello sunk upon the ground, struck his
forehead against an angle of the altar, and fainted away. How long he
remained in this condition, he could never conjecture; but when he
recovered his senses, all around him appeared like the illusion of a
dream. The wind had died away, the darkness had disappeared, the moon
had risen, and was now throwing in its mild and beautiful light through
the long windows upon the checkered pavement; and, rising from the
ground, he crawled out of the church and reached his lodgings.

The next day he was too unwell to leave his bed; and Bernardo, with his
whole family, who loved the young man, and were anxious to discover and
remove the cause of his misery, came to see and console him. Beatrice
was the first who entered; and when Spinello heard the sound of her
footsteps, which he could most accurately distinguish, a beam of joy
visited his heart, a tear of delight trembled in his eye, and he blessed
her fervently. When he lifted his eyes to her countenance