An
indistinctness had begun to creep over the mass of buildings and
blend them with the intermingled tree-tops, except where the roof of
a statelier mansion, and the steeples and brick towers of churches,
caught the brightness of some cloud that yet floated in the
sunshine. Twilight over the landscape was congenial to the obscurity
of time. With such eloquence as my share of feeling and fancy could
supply, I called back hoar antiquity, and bade my companions imagine
an ancient multitude of people, congregated on the hill-side,
spreading far below, clustering on the steep old roofs, and climbing
the adjacent heights, wherever a glimpse of this spot might be
obtained. I strove to realize and faintly communicate the deep,
unutterable loathing and horror, the indignation, the affrighted
wonder, that wrinkled on every brow, and filled the universal heart.
See! the whole crowd turns pale and shrinks within itself, as the
virtuous emerge from yonder street. Keeping pace with that devoted
company, I described them one by one; here tottered a woman in her
dotage, knowing neither the crime imputed her, nor its punishment;
there another, distracted by the universal madness, till feverish
dreams were remembered as realities, and she almost believed her
guilt.
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