We bear to the feast of the slain,
There we carry the free and the slave,
The host and his numberless train,
Yonder we carry--to and fro,
Nor end our labours e'er shall know.

At this moment a mist floated before my eyes--I endeavoured to
shout--but although I used the utmost exertion, I could not produce a
sound--I felt as if palsied and enchained--my situation was
desperate--what species of civility could I expect from the spirits,
(for that they were supernatural beings I could no longer doubt) of
those chairmen who during their mortal career are so noted for their
brutality? After a short halt, they recommenced their march at the same
stealthy pace, through how many streets I cannot now tell, for fear
almost deprived me of my senses. We came to the town gate--it
opened--and my conductors bore me directly towards--the churchyard! I
was in a fever of excitement. They no sooner reached this desired spot,
than they stopped, and I heard their accursed voices for the third time.
They opened the door, as if waiting for some one--I endeavoured to
embrace this opportunity to escape, or to call out, but my strength had
totally deserted me; every limb felt paralyzed. And now a whole legion
of similar fiends swarmed around my conductors, and one after another,
sprang in upon me, apparently no more remarking my presence than if I
had formed part of the cushion. The first that fell upon me was a cold,
heavy carcass that might have been buried, at farthest, about three
days. I thought horror and disgust would have destroyed me. Then came a
countless myriad of the skeletons of the defunct, all crowding into the
sedan, as if it had been the ark of Noah. At length, to all appearance,
the whole of the inhabitants of the churchyard were safely seated upon
and beside me, and the tombstones which had pertinaciously adhered to
many a greasy soul, added not a little to the load which lay rattling
and groaning upon me. A monstrous skeleton which lay at my side--with
its eternal grin--made the most horrible inroads into my right side with
its bony elbow, and such a smell--even now I wonder that every sense did
not leave me. The patience of my bearers seemed however now to be
exhausted. They still battled at the door with hundreds of this amiable
fraternity; at length they dashed the door to with a force that made the
windows quiver, and made off with me and my noble troop. And now it was
that the rattling, and groaning, and the el