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Rh

Ethw. The Druid's cave, say'st thou? What cave is that? Where is it? Who hath seen it? What scar'd fool Has fill'd thine ears with all these horrid things?

Boy. It is a cavern vast and terrible, Under the ground full deep; perhaps, my Lord, Beneath our very feet, here as we stand; For few do know the spot and centre of it, Tho' many mouths it has and entries dark. Some are like hollow pits bor'd thro' the earth, O'er which the list'ning herdsman bends his ear, And hears afar their lakes of molten fire Swelt'ring and boiling like a mighty pot. Some like straight passes thro' the rifted rocks, From which oft' issue shrieks, and whistling gusts, And wailings dismal. Nay, some, as they say, Deep hollow'd underneath the river's bed, Which shew their narrow op'nings thro' the fern And tangling briars, like dank and noisome holes Wherein foul adders breed. But not far hence The chiefest mouth of ail, 'midst beetling rocks And groves of blasted oaks, gapes terrible.

Ethw. So near? But who are they who dwell within?

Boy. The female high arch Druid therein holds,* With many Druids tending on her will,