of travellers contributed likewise to procrastination. The sun had
nearly set before I reached the precincts of the city. I pursued the
track which I had formerly taken, and entered High Street after
nightfall. Instead of equipages and a throng of passengers, the voice of
levity and glee, which I had formerly observed, and which the mildness
of the season would, at other times, have produced, I found nothing but
a dreary solitude.

The market-place, and each side of this magnificent avenue, were
illuminated, as before, by lamps; but between the verge of Schuylkill
and the heart of the city I met not more than a dozen figures; and these
were ghost-like, wrapped in cloaks, from behind which they cast upon me
glances of wonder and suspicion, and, as I approached, changed their
course, to avoid touching me. Their clothes were sprinkled with vinegar,
and their nostrils defended from contagion by some powerful perfume.

I cast a look upon the houses, which I recollected to have formerly
been, at this hour, brilliant with lights, resounding with lively
voices, and thronged with busy faces. Now they were closed, above and
below; dark, and without tokens of being inhabited. From the upper
windows of some, a gleam sometimes fell upon the pavement I was
traversing, and showed that their tenants had not fled, but were
secluded or disabled.

These tokens were new, and awakened all my panics. Death seemed to
hover over this scene, and I dreaded that the floating pestilence had
already lighted on my frame. I had scarcely overcome these tremors, when
I approached a house the door of which was opened, and before which
stood a vehicle, which I presently recognised to be a _hearse_.