wasp

When the mind is seiz'd with fear and amazement, the lips open and voice fails us. If the surprize be sudden, a whispered ejaculation escapes, suppress'd almost as soon as utter'd. In this way I would account for that combination of letters st, which Spenser and others of our older poets affect, whenever they have to describe this feeling. Its fitness for the purpose seems to lie in the sudden stop, which is given by the t to the whisper sound of the sletters, be it observed, which are formed without the agency of the lips.

The giant self dismayed with that sound

In haste came rushing forth from inner bow'r,
With staring countnance stern, as one astound,
And staggering steps, to weet what sudden stour

Had wrought that horror strange and dared his dreaded pow'r.

F. Q. 1. 8. 5.

Stern was their look like wild amazed steers,

Staring with hollow eyes and stiff upstanding hairs.

F. Q. 2. 9. 13.

He answer'd not at all, but adding new
Fear to his first amazement, staring wide
With stony eyes, and heartless hollow hue,

Astonish'd stood.

F. Q. 1.9. 24.

When too the sinews are overstretched, or shaken with sharp and jerking efforts, the same kind of broken breathing generally follows the strain upon them. The sound too is harsh and grating. Hence, in part at least, the effect produced by the combinations st, str, in the following passages;

Staring full ghastly like a strangled man,

His hair uprear'd, his nostrils (stretched with struggling,
His hands abroad display'd, as one that grasp'd
And tugg'd for life.

But th' heedful boatman strongly forth did stretch
His brawny arms, and all his body strain.

H 6.

F. Q. 2. 12. 21.

There is little doubt, however, that the chief link of association in these passages is the difficult muscular action, which is call'd into play in the prounciation of str.

Under the influence of fear the voice sinks into a whisper. Hence in describing that passion, or such conduct as it generally accompanies-deceit or caution-we find the whisper-letters peculiarly effective.

F. Q. 1.7. 8.

With sturdy steps came stalking on his sight
A hideous giant, horrible and high.
The knight himself e'en trembled at his fall,
So huge and horrible a mass it seem'd.

F. Q. 1. 12. 55.

So daunted when the giant saw the knight,
His heavy hand he heaved up on high.

F. Q. 1. 7. 14.
P. L.

And pious awe, that fear'd to have offended.
His fraud is then thy fear, which plain infers
Thy equal fear that my firm faith and love
Can by his fraud be shaken and seduc'd.

P. L. 9.

P. L. 9.

Fit vessel fittest imp of fraud in whom To enter, and his dark suggestions hide. The whisper letters p, t, are sometimes used at the end of words with great effect, in representing an interrupted action. The impossibility of dwelling upon these letters, and the consequently sharp and sudden termination which they give to those words into which they enter, will sufficiently explain their influence.

Till an unusual stop of sudden silence
Gave respite.

Sudden he stops, his eye is fix'd, away!

Away! thou heedless boy.

Comus.

Childe Harold, 1.

All unawares

Fluttering his pinions vain, plumb down he dropt

Ten thousand fathom deep

Par. Lost, 2.

The pilgrim oft

At dead of night, mid his orisons, hears

Aghast the voice of time! disparting tow'rs,
Tumbeling all precipitate, down dash'd,
Rattling aloud, loud thundering to the moon.

Dyer's Ruins of Rome. Little effort is wanted, as Johnson once observed, to make our language harsh and rough. It cost Milton no trouble to double his consonants, and load his line with rugged syllables, when he described the mighty conflict between his angels.

But soon obscur'd with smoke all heav'n appear'd
From those deep-throated engines belch'd, whose roar
Embowell'd with outrageous noise the air

And all her entrails tore, disgorging foul

Their dev'lish glut, chain'd thunderbolts and hail

Of iron globes.

P. L. 6.

But when he chose, he could also glide upon his vowels and make his language as smooth as the Italian.

Milton's verses, however, lose half their beauty when thus insulated. It is a remark of Cowper, that a rough line seems to add a greater smoothness to the others; and no one better knew the advantages of contrast than Milton, There can be little doubt that many of his harsher verses. some of which contain merely a bead-roll of names, were introduced for the sole purpose of heightening the melody of the lines which followed.

There is little doubt, however, that the chief link of association in these passages is the difficult muscular action, which is call'd into play in the prounciation of str.

Under the influence of fear the voice sinks into a whisper. Hence in describing that passion, or such conduct as it generally accompanies-deceit or caution—we find the whisper-letters peculiarly effective.

With sturdy steps came stalking on his sight
A hideous giant, horrible and high.

F. Q. 1.7. 8.

The knight himself e'en trembled at his fall,
So huge and horrible a mass it seem'd.

F. Q. 1. 12. 55.

So daunted when the giant saw the knight,
His heavy hand he heaved up on high.

F. Q. 1. 7. 14.

And pious awe, that fear'd to have offended.
His fraud is then thy fear, which plain infers
Thy equal fear that my firm faith and love
Can by his fraud be shaken and seduc'd.

Fit vessel fittest imp of fraud in whom
To enter, and his dark suggestions hide.

P. L.

P. L. 9.

P. L. 9.

The whisper letters p, t, are sometimes used at the end of words with great effect, in representing an interrupted action. The impossibility of dwelling upon these letters, and the consequently sharp and sudden termination which they give to those words into which they enter, will sufficiently explain their influence.

Till an unusual stop of sudden silence
Gave respite.

Sudden he stops, his eye is fix'd, away!

Away! thou heedless boy.

Comus.

Childe Harold, 1.

Aghast the voice of time! disparting tow'rs,
Tumbeling all precipitate, down dash'd,
Rattling aloud, loud thundering to the moon.

Dyer's Ruins of Rome. Little effort is wanted, as Johnson once observed, to make our language harsh and rough. It cost Milton no trouble to double his consonants, and load his line with rugged syllables, when he described the mighty conflict between his angels.

But soon obscur'd with smoke all heav'n appear'd
From those deep-throated engines belch'd, whose roar
Embowell'd with outrageous noise the air

And all her entrails tore, disgorging foul

Their dev'lish glut, chain'd thunderbolts and hail

Of iron globes.

P. L. 6.

But when he chose, he could also glide upon his vowels and make his language as smooth as the Italian.

And all the while harmonious airs were heard.

P. L. 9.

Milton's verses, however, lose half their beauty when thus insulated. It is a remark of Cowper, that a rough line seems to add a greater smoothness to the others; and no one better knew the advantages of contrast than Milton, There can be little doubt that many of his harsher verses. some of which contain merely a bead-roll of names, were introduced for the sole purpose of heightening the melody of the lines which followed.