A
concussion that should shatter the pyramid, would threaten the
dissolution of the continent.
They measured all its dimensions, and pitched their tents at its foot.
Next day they prepared to enter its interiour apartments, and, having
hired the common guides, climbed up to the first passage, when the
favourite of the princess, looking into the cavity, stepped back and
trembled. "Pekuah," said the princess, "of what art thou afraid?" "Of
the narrow entrance," answered the lady, "and of the dreadful gloom. I
dare not enter a place which must, surely, be inhabited by unquiet
souls. The original possessours of these dreadful vaults will start up
before us, and, perhaps, shut us in for ever[a]." She spoke, and threw
her arms round the neck of her mistress.
"If all your fear be of apparitions," said the prince, "I will promise
you safety: there is no danger from the dead; he that is once buried
will be seen no more."
"That the dead are seen no more," said Imlac, "I will not undertake to
maintain, against the concurrent and unvaried testimony of all ages, and
of all nations. There is no people, rude or learned, among whom
apparitions of the dead are not related and believed. This opinion,
which perhaps, prevails, as far as human nature is diffused, could
become universal only by its truth: those that never heard of one
another, would not have agreed in a tale which nothing but experience
can make credible.
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