Meanwhile a dark spot, which had for some time blotted the brightness of
the surrounding azure, expanded itself. The shades gathered, the light
of the sun was hid, and the blackness of the night forestaled. The wind
roared among the mountains, and its terrors were increased by the hollow
bellowings of the beasts they harboured. The shower began; it descended
with fury, and Edwin had scarcely time to gain the protection of an
impervious thicket that crowned the lawn. Here he stood and ruminated.
The solemnity of the scene accorded with the importance of his
undertaking. The pause was friendly. He composed his understanding, and
recollected the lessons of the hospitable hermit. He fortified himself
in the habits of virtue; and, with a manly and conscious humility,
recommended this crisis of his innocence to the protection of heaven.
The shower ceased, but the darkness continued. He had too well marked
however the bent of his journey during the continuance of the day, to
permit this to be any considerable obstacle. In the mean time it doubled
and rendered more affecting the stilness of the night. Nothing was to be
heard but the low whispers of the falling breeze, and the murmurs of the
prowling wolf that now languished and died away upon the ear.
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