INTRODUCTION.

stretch, might conceive himself sailing up the pitchy
river of hell, and making his entr^ to the infernal
regions. In whatever direction he may turn his gaze
he is met with hideous sights—a score of huge cones
belch forth fierce tongues of flame, furnace doors sud¬
denly burst open and disclose ^^hat seem vast caverns
of liquid fire, great sheets of flame licking the black¬
ened walls which hardly confine them within hounds,
or shooting forth aloft into the darkness, douldy dark
by contrast. The ear is afflicted by the thunder of
the forge, the continual clanging of hammer>i, and
the hideous ringing of huge plates of metal as
they arc incessantly smitten ; the panting of mighty
bellows, the fierce roaring of the furnaces, howling
and shrieking as they are chafed into whiter heat;
the clanking and hissing of machineiy, ever and anon
varied by the stentorian cries of the workmen—all
contending for mastery in this chorus of horrible dis¬
cords. In the midst are seen dusky forms hurrying to
and fro with unearthly looking instruments, stirring
up the fires into fiercer flame, and suddenly casting
athwart the murky waves huge streaks of light, as
if to reveal the astonished voyager to the fiends who
seem not ill-prepared to give him a warm reception.

*' Hell is empty and all its devils are hero."

Mrs. Lawson's death seems to have taken place on
Palm   Sunday, 26 Mar. 1632.    Her burial   register