But thine be ever!’—How shall I relate
Th’ event that finish’d this ecstatic state? 370
Yet let me try.—It turn’d, and I beheld
An hideous form, that hope and zeal expell’d:
In a dim light the horrid shape appeared,
That wisdom would have fled, and courage fear’d:
Pale, and yet bloated, with distorted eyes }
Distant and deep, a mouth of monstrous size, }
That would in day’s broad glare a simple maid surprise. }
He heard my words, and cried, with savage shout,