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Page 247:-
[pre]vent any further approach. We were, however, favoured by the
weather, and met with no obstacle of that nature to stop our
ingress, but boldly entered a large aperture to the left, into
the side of the mountain, like the great door of some cathedral.
Having never been in the cave before, a thousand ideas, which had
been for many years dormant, were excited in my imagination on my
entrance into this gloomy cavern. Several passages out of Ovid's
Metamorphoses, Virgil, and other classics, crowded into my mind
together. At one time I thought it like the den where Cadmus met
the huge serpent.-
Silva vetus stabet, nulla violata securi;
Est specus in medio virgis ac vimene densus,
Efficiens humilem lapidum compagibus arcum;
Ubericus foecundus aquis. Hoc conditus antro
Martius anguis erat.
Ovid's Met. b.3. fab.1.
Within this vale there rose a shady wood
Of aged trees: in its dark bosom stood
A bushy thicket, pathless and unworn,
O'errun with brambles, and perplex'd with thorn;
Amidst the brake a hollow den was found,
With rocks and shelving arches vaulted round;
Deep in the dreary den, conceal'd from day,
Sacred to Mars, a mighty dragon lay.
Addison.
Indeed, there wanted nothing but an ancient wood, to make one
believe that Ovid had taken from hence his lively description.
As we advanced within this antre vast, and the gloom and horror
increased, the den of Cacus, and the cave of Poliphemus, came
into my mind. I wanted nothing but a Sybil conductress with a
golden rod, to imagine myself, like Eneas, going into the
infernal region. [1] The roof was so high, and
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