BOOK THE NINTH.
329
And dragging a huge coffin as his car,
Two Gouls came on, of form more fearful-foul
Than ever palsied in her wildest dream 290
Hag-ridden Superstition. Then Despair
Seiz'd on the Maid, whose curdling blood stood still,
And placed her in the seat; and on they pass'd
Adown the deep descent. A meteor light
Shot from the Dæmons, as they dragg'd along 295
The unwelcome load, and mark'd their brethren glut
On carcasses.
Below the vault dilates
Its ample bulk. "Look here!"———Despair addrest
The shuddering Virgin, "see the dome of Death!"
It was a spacious cavern, hewn amid 300
The entrails of the earth, as tho' to form
The grave of all mankind: no eye could reach,
Tho' gifted with the Eagle's ample ken,
Its distant bounds. There, thron'd in darkness, dwelt
The unseen Power of Death.
Here stopt the Gouls, 305
Two Gouls came on, of form more fearful-foul
Than ever palsied in her wildest dream 290
Hag-ridden Superstition. Then Despair
Seiz'd on the Maid, whose curdling blood stood still,
And placed her in the seat; and on they pass'd
Adown the deep descent. A meteor light
Shot from the Dæmons, as they dragg'd along 295
The unwelcome load, and mark'd their brethren glut
On carcasses.
Below the vault dilates
Its ample bulk. "Look here!"———Despair addrest
The shuddering Virgin, "see the dome of Death!"
It was a spacious cavern, hewn amid 300
The entrails of the earth, as tho' to form
The grave of all mankind: no eye could reach,
Tho' gifted with the Eagle's ample ken,
Its distant bounds. There, thron'd in darkness, dwelt
The unseen Power of Death.
Here stopt the Gouls, 305
Reaching
