Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 3.djvu/59

has in these little pieces neither elevation of fancy, selection of language, nor skill in versification: yet if I were required to select from the whole mass of English poetry the most poetical paragraph, I know not that I could prefer to an exclamation in The Mourning Bride:

almeria.

⁠It was a fancy’d noise; for all is hush’d.

leonora.

⁠It bore the accent of a human voice.

almeria.

⁠It was thy fear, or else some transient wind

Whistling thro’ hollows of this vaulted isle:
We’ll listen–

leonora.

⁠Hark!

almeria.

⁠No, all is hush’d and still as death.–’T is dreadful!

How reverend is the face of this tall pile,
Whose ancient pillars rear their marble heads,
To bear aloft its arch’d and ponderous roof,
By its own weight made stedfast and immoveable,
Looking tranquillity! It strikes an awe
And terror on my aching sight; the tombs
And monumental caves of death look cold,
And shoot a chilness to my trembling heart.
Give me thy hand, and let me hear thy voice;