by the sound of wheels moving at an almost
indistinguishable distance.

She paused for a moment to contemplate this unwonted spectacle. Her
trepidations were mingled with emotions not unakin to sublimity; but the
consciousness of danger speedily prevailed, and she hastened to acquit
herself of her engagement. She approached the door for this purpose, but
before she could draw the bell, her motions were arrested by sounds
from within. The staircase was opposite the door. Two persons were now
discovered descending the stair. They lifted between them a heavy mass,
which was presently discerned to be a coffin. Shocked by this discovery,
and trembling, she withdrew from the entrance.

* * * * *

=_Washington Allston, 1779-1843._= (Manual, pp. 504, 510.)

From "Monaldi."

=_277._= IMPERSONATION OF THE POWER OF EVIL.

The light (which descended from above) was so powerful, that for nearly
a minute I could distinguish nothing, and I rested on a form attached
to the wainscoting. I then put up my hand to shade my eyes, when--the
fearful vision is even now before me--I seemed to be standing before
an abyss in space, boundless and black. In the midst of this permeable
pitch stood a colossal mass of gold, in shape like an altar, and girdled
about by a huge serpent, gorgeous and terrible; his body flecked with
diamonds, and his head, an enormous carbuncle, floating like a meteor
on the air above. Such was the Throne. But no words can describe
the gigantic Being that sat thereon--the grace, the majesty, its
transcendent form--and yet I shuddered as I looked, for its superhuman
countenance seemed, as it were, to radiate falsehood; every feature was
in contradiction--the eye, the mouth, even to the nostril--whilst the
expression of the whole was of that unnatural softness which can only be
conceived of malignant blandishment. It was the appalling beauty of the
King of Hell. The frightful discord vibrated through my whole frame, and
I turned for relief to the figure below.... But I had turned from the
first, only to witness in the second object, its withering fascination.
I beheld the mortal conflict between the conscience and the will--the
visible struggle of a soul in the toils of sin.

* * * * *

From his "Letters."

=_278._= ON A PICTURE BY CARRACCI.

The subject was the body of the virgin borne for interment by four
apostles. The figures are colossal; the t