geon down an endleſs ladder, which was withdrawn as ſoon as my foot touched the ground. Egyptian darkneſs and a death-like ſilence, reigned in the horrid cell: a cadaverous ſmell aſſailed my ſenſes. I ſoon felt that I ſtood before the entrance of the kingdom of the dead, for I ſtumbled ſometimes againſt a ſkeleton, and ſometimes againſt an half-putrified body, as I pored about in ſearch of a place for my own death-bed. Full of deſpair, I ſtretched myſelf along the hard floor, and invoked death to free me from the pains of life; but for this time he only ſent his brother ſleep, who made me forget for a while the miſery of my ſituation. On awaking, I was ſurpriſed at a light glimmering in the den, and on obſerving whence it proceeded, ſaw a lamp burning in the middle of my charnel-houſe; it reſted on a baſket, which ſeemed to have been let down from above by a rope. I examined the contents of the baſket, and‘found
