At a small distance, on his right
hand, he perceived a contiguous object that reflected the rays of the
moon, through the willows and the hazels, and chequered the view with a
clear and settled lustre. He approached it. It was the lake of Elwy; and
near it he discovered that huge pile of stones, so well known to him,
which had been reared ages since, by the holy Druids. It was upon this
spot that they worshipped the Gods. But they had no habitation near it.
They repaired thither at stated intervals from the woods of Mona, and
the shores of Arvon. One only Druid lived by the banks of the silver
flood, and watched the temple day and night, that no rude hand might do
violence to the sanctity of the place, and no profaner mortal, with
sacrilegious foot might enter the mysterious edifice. It was surrounded
with a wall of oaks. The humbler shrubs filled up their interstices, and
there was no avenue to the sacred shade, except by two narrow paths on
either side the lake.
The solemn stilness of the scene for a moment hushed the sorrows of
Edwin into oblivion. Ah, short oblivion! scarcely had he gazed around
him, and drank of the quietness and peace of the scene, ere those recent
sorrows impressed his bosom with more anguish than before.
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