[_A rushing sound from the cavern is heard, and shouts of laughter--afterwards a Spirit passes_. _Japh._ In the name Of the Most High, what art thou? _Spirit_ (_laughs_). Ha! ha! ha![146] _Japh._ By all that earth holds holiest, speak! _Spirit_ (_laughs_). Ha! ha! _Japh._ By the approaching deluge! by the earth Which will be strangled by the ocean! by The deep which will lay open all her fountains! 60 The heaven which will convert her clouds to seas, And the Omnipotent who makes and crushes! Thou unknown, terrible, and indistinct, Yet awful Thing of Shadows, speak to me! Why dost thou laugh that horrid laugh? _Spirit_. Why weep'st thou? _Japh._ For earth and all her children. _Spirit_. Ha! ha! ha! [_Spirit vanishes_. _Japh._ How the fiend mocks the tortures of a world, The coming desolation of an orb, On which the sun shall rise and warm no life! How the earth sleeps! and all that in it is 70 Sleep too upon the very eve of death! Why should they wake to meet it? What are here, Which look like death in life, and speak like things Born ere this dying world? They come like clouds! [_Various Spirits pass from the cavern_.