THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO. A ROMANCE. INTERSPERSED WITH SOME PIECES OF POETRY. IN THREE VOLUMES. BY ANN RADCLIFFE. VOL. II. Fate sits on these dark battlements, and frowns, Her voice, in sulien echoes through the courts, EXETER PUBLISHED BY J. AND E. WILLIAMS. 1834. THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO. 0000 CHAPTER XVIII. THE extent and darkness of these tall woods awakened terrific images in her mind, and she almost expected to see banditti start up from under the trees. At length the carriages emerged upon a heathy rock, and soon after reached the castle gates, where the deep tones of the portal bell, which was struck upon to give notice of their arrival, increased the fearful emotions that had assailed Emily. While they waited till the servant within should come to open the gates, she anxiously surveyed the edifice: but the gloom that overspread it allowed her to distinguish little more than a part of its outline, with the massy wall of the ramparts, and to know that it was vast, ancient, and dreary. From the parts she saw, she judged of the heavy strength and extent of the whole. The gateway before her, leading into the courts, was of gigantic size, and was defended by two round towers, crowned by overhanging turrets, embattled, where, instead of banners, now waved long grass and wild plants, that had taken root among the mouldering stones, and which seemed to sigh as the breeze rolled past, over the desolation around them. The towers were united by a curtain, pierced and embattled also, below which appeared the pointed arch of a huge portcullis, surmounting the gates: from these, the walls of the ram parts extended to other towers, overlooking the precipice, whose shattered outline, appearing on a gleam that lingered in the west, told of the ravages of war. Beyond these all was lost in the obscurity of evening. While Emily gazed with awe upon the scene, footsteps were heard within the gates, and the undrawing of bolts; after which an ancient servant of the castle appeared, forcing back the huge folds of the portal to admit his lord. As the carriage wheels rolled heavily under the portcullis, Emily's heart sunk, and she seemed as if she was going into her prison; the gloomy court into which she passed, served to confirm the idea, and her imagination, ever awake to circumstance, suggested even more terrors than her reason could justify. Another gate delivered them into the second court, grass grown, and more wild than the first, where, as she survey |