A troop of lazars, with sheets folded around them, glided, like phantoms, along Paul's Walk, and mimicked in a ghastly manner the air and deportment of the gallants who had formerly thronged the place.

No attempt being made to maintain silence, the noise was perfectly stunning; some of the sick were shrieking--some laughing in a wild unearthly manner--some praying--some uttering loud execrations--others groaning and lamenting.

The holy building seemed to have become the abode of evil and tormented spirits.

Many dead were lying in the beds--the few attendants who were present not caring to remove them; and Leonard had little doubt, that before another sun went down the whole of the ghastly assemblage before him would share their fate.

If the habitations he had recently gazed upon had appeared plague-stricken, the sacred structure in which he was now standing seemed yet more horribly contaminated.