Patriotic grief. Grief with affection. The day when thou, imperial Troy! must bend; Must see thy warriors fall, thy glories end. And yet no presage dire so wounds my mind, My mother's death, the ruin of my kind; Not Priam's hoary hairs defil'd with gore, Not all my brothers gasping on the shore, As thine, Andromache!-thy griefs I dread! I see thee trembling, weeping, captive led, In Argive looms our battles to design, And woes, of which so large a part was thine: There while you groan beneath the load of life, Insulting. They cry, 'Behold the mighty Hector's wife!' Pity. Narration. Some haughty Greek, who lives thy tears to see, The thoughts of glory past, and present shame, Thus having spoke, th' illustrious chief of Troy Intercession. "O Thou, whose glory fills th' ethereal throne, So when triumphant from successful toils, He spoke, and fondly gazing on her charms, Tenderness. Apprehension. XV.-MOURNFUL DESCRIPTION. From Æneas's account of the Sack of Troy. ALL were attentive to the godlike man, Not ev❜n the hardest of our foes could hear, Attention. Respect. Grief. Pity. 'Twas now the dead of night, when sleep repairs Horror. Our bodies worn with toils, our minds with cares, When Hector's ghost before my sight appears; Shrouded in blood he stood, and bath'd in tears. Such as when by the fierce Pelides slain, Thessalian coursers dragg'd him o'er the plain. Swoll'n were his feet, as when the thongs were thrust Through the pierc'd limbs: his body black with dust. Courage. Pity. Grief. Horror. Warning. Unlike that Hector, who return'd from toils I wept to see the visionary man, And whilst my trance continu'd, thus began: Alas! what wounds are these? What new disgrace 'The spectre, groaning from his inmost breast, Could have been sav'd, this arm the feat had done. Directing. Under their umbrage2 hope for happier walls, "He said, and brought from forth the sacred choir, The gods, and relics of th' immortal fire. 1 "The spectre," &c. These two lines, and the ghost's speech, are to be spoken in a deep and hollow voice, slowly and solemnly, with little rising or falling. [2" Umbrage" is here used in its primary sense, namely, shade; protection; auspices.] "He said, and," &c. Here the voice resumes its usual key. Now peals of shouts came thund'ring from afar, I mount the terrace; thence the town survey, In smoky flames, and catches on his friends. With splendours not their own, and shine with spark- New clamours and new clangours now arise, Trepidation. Courage. Trepidation. Had 'scap'd the Grecian swords, and pass'd the flame. And by the hand his tender grandson ted. What hope, O Pantheus? Whither can we run? Questioning. Where make a stand? Or what may yet be done? Scarce had I spoke, when Pantheus, with a groan, Troy-is no more! Her glories now are gone. [1"Ucalegon burns next." In imitation of the original, the owner of the house is, by metonymy, put for the house itself.] 2" Troy is no more." Such short periods, comprehending much in few words, may often receive additional force by a short pause between the nominative and the verb. Grief. Awe. Horror. The fatal day, th' appointed hour is come, Some block the narrow streets; some scour the wide. Who fights meets death, and death finds him who Dryden's Virgil. Cringing. Reproof. Wonder. XVI.-ASKING, REPROOF, APPROBATION. A troop came next, who crowns and armour wore,1 "For thee," they cried, "amidst alarms and strife, Then came the smallest tribe I yet had seen; The pupil, if he has not read the " Temple of Fame," (from which this extract is taken,) must be informed of the plot of the poem, viz. The author represents numbers of the pursuers of fame, as repairing, in crowds, to the temple of that goddess, in quest of her approbation, who are differently received by her, according to their respective merits, &c. 2 "Those ills," &c. The meaning of this line (which is not too obvious) is, "Our being guilty of such extravagances, shows how eager we were to obtain a name." |