• Behold a being born like thee to live, And yet endow'd with fortitude to die, Were his alone the pang of poverty:

t

But a dear wife, now starving far from hence,
Seven hapless hungry children at her side,
A frowning world, and an ungrateful friend,
Urge him to actions which his heart abhors:
Assist us-save us-pity my despair,

O'erlook my fault, and view me as a man.
A fellow mortal sues to thee for bread,

Invites thy charity-invites thy heart:
Perhaps thou art a husband, and a father:
Think if thy babes like mine, dejected lay
And held their little hands to thee for food,
What would'st thou have me do, wert thou like me,
Driv'n to distress like mine.- -Oh! then-befriend,
Make our sad case your own-I ask no more,
Nor will I force what bounty cannot spare;
Let me not take assassin-like, the boon
* Which, humbly bending at thy foot, I beg,
Ne'er 'till this night-[gives him a purse.]

> Heaven speed thee on thy way!
May plenty ever sit within thy house!
If thou hast children, angels guard their steps!
Health scatter roses round each little cheek,
And Heaven at last reward thy soul with bliss!
2 He's gone-and left his purse within my hand.
Thou much desired! thou often sought! in vain ;
Sought but not found- -at length I hold thee fast;

r Command, apparently rousing all his energies for the purpose, and exhausting them in the simple word "Stop."

s Plaintive utterance with agonized feelings.

Earnest Entreaty, requiring the most supplicatory tone and manner. "Earnest Expostulation, rising to a degree of Distress, which almost borders on Despair.

This line requires a most supplicatory tone and manner, falling gently on one knee, and extending his hands.

the speaker

The speaker on receiving the purse, after having looked at it earnestly for a moment, should rise rather hastily, and grasping it in one hand, raise the other towards heaven, and deliver this prayer with the greatest Ardour and apparent Gratitude.

Joy bordering on Wildness.

Swift let me fly upon the wings of love,
And bear the blessing to my fainting babes,
Then gently take Louisa in my arms,
And whisper to the mourner happier days.

a Hark! what noise was that?
b "Twas the dull bittern, booming o'er my head;
The raven follows her-The dusky air

Thickens each form upon the cheated sight:
Ha! somewhat shot across the way methinks !
d 'Tis but the shadow of this stripling tree,
That throws his baby arms as blows the gale.
Each object terrifies Guilt's anxious heart!
The robber trembles at-

e What have I said?

Robber! well may I start

I done?

f O Heaven! what have

Shall then Louisa live on spoil?

Shall my poor children eat the bread of theft?

And have I, at the peaceful hour of night,

—Like some malignant thing that prowls the wood

Have I!-a very felon ! sought relief

By means like these? h And yet the traveller
Gave what I asked as if in Charity;
Perhaps his heart compassionately kind,
Gave from an impulse it could not resist :

i Perhaps 'twas fear,-lest murder might ensue :
k Alas! I bore no arms-no blood I sought!

How knew he that?-Yet sure he might perceive
The harden'd villain spoke not in my air,

1 Trembling and cold, my hand was join'd with his,
My knees shook hard, my feeble accents fail'd,
The father's-husband's-tears bedew'd my face,
And virtue almost triumph'd o'er despair!

a Alarm, the speaker may give a slight start, thrusting at the same time the purse into his bosom, and looking wildly round him.

b Solemn manner, with considerable agitation.

c Alarm.

d Again resumes Solemnity of manner, but appears deeply agitated.

e Starts with a feeling of Horror.

Earnest Ejaculation.

8 Deep Anguish, with vehement Self-reproach.

h This is a transition to a mild tone, apparently endeavouring to lull the reproaches of his conscience.

i Apprehension.

k Mild tone with 1 Agonized feelings.

m Yet strikes the thought severely on my heart,
The deed was foul-" Soft,-let me pause awhile!
Again the moon-beam breaks upon the eye,
• Guilt bears me to the ground-I faint! I fall!
The means of food should still be honest means,
Else were it well to starve!-

PRATT.

m Remorse.

n Perplexity.

• Deep Compunctiou.

THE FUNERAL OF ARVALAN.

(MOURNFUL DESCRIPTION.)

The principal Rhetorical Figures are the Ecphonesis, the Epizeuxis, the Metonymy, the Apostrophe, the Anaphora, the Metaphor, and the Simile.

a Midnight, and yet no eye

Thro' all the Imperial City closed in sleep!
Behold her streets ablaze

With light that seems to kindle the red sky,
Her myriads swarming thro' the crowded ways!
Master and slave, old age and infancy,
All, all abroad to gaze;
Housetop and balcony

Cluster'd with women, who throw back their veils
With unimpeded and insatiate sight,

To view the funeral pomp which passes by,
As if the mournful rite

Were but to them a scene of joyance and delight.
b Vainly, ye blessed twinklers of the night!
Your feeble beams ye shed,

This should be spoken in an animated manner, with a slight degree of Enthusiasm.

b Dignified and solemn manner.

Quench'd in the unnatural light which might outstare Even the broad eye of day,

way,

And, thou, from thy celestial
Pourest, O Moon! an ineffectual ray.

For lo ten thousand torches flame and flare

Upon the midnight air,

Blotting the light of heaven
With one portentous glare.

Behold! the fragrant smoke in many a fold
Ascending, floats along the fiery sky,
And hangeth visible on high,
A dark and waving canopy.

Hark!

'tis the funeral trumpet's breath!
'Tis the dirge of death!

d At once ten thousand drums begin,
With one long thunder-peal the ear assailing:
Ten thousand voices then join in,
And with one deep and general din,
Pour their wild wailing.

The song of praise is drown'd

Amid that deafening sound;

You hear no more the trumpet's tone,
You hear no more the mourner's moan,
Though the trumpet's breath, and the dirge of death,
Mingle and swell the funeral yell,

But rising over all in one acclaim
Is heard the echo'd and re-echo'd name,
From all that countless rout:
Arvalan! Arvalan !

Arvalan! Arvalan !

Ten times ten thousand voices in one shout
Call Arvalan! The overpowering sound,
From house to house repeated rings about
From tower to tower rolls round.
The death procession moves along;
Their bald heads shining to the torches_ray,
The Bramins lead the way
Chanting the funeral song.

c Increased Solemnity.

d Much Animation.

And now at once they shout

Arvalan! Arvalan!

With quick rebound of sound
All in according cry,
Arvalan! Arvalan!

The universal multitude reply.

e Far, far behind, beyond all reach of sight,
In order'd files the torches flow along,
One ever lengthening line of gliding light.
Far-far behind

Rolls on the undistinguishable clamour
Of horn and trump and tambour;
Incessant as the roar

Of streams which down the wintry mountain
And louder than the dread commotion

Of stormy billows on a rocky shore,
When the winds rage
o'er the waves,
And ocean to the tempest raves.

f And now toward the bank they go,
Where winding on their way below,
Deep and strong the waters flow.

Here doth the funeral pile appear

With myrrh and ambergris bestrew'd,
And built of precious sandal wood.

pour,

They cease their music and their outcry here;
Gently they rest the bier :

They wet the face of Arvalan

No sign of life the sprinkled drops excite !
They feel his breast-no motion there!
They feel his lips-no breath!

8 For not with feeble nor with erring hand,

The stern Avenger dealt the blow of death.
Then with a doubling peal and deeper blast,
The tambours and the trumpets sound on high,
And with a last and loudest cry
They call on Arvalan.

e Relaxes into a calmer manner.

f Mournful expression gradually increasing in solemnity.

SOUTHEY.

g Earnestness of manner, with much Solemnity, and particularly slow

utterance.

A gradual rise of voice with increased animation.