Romeo and Juliet, Act v. Sc. 3.
III. "The poor father was ready to fall down dead; but he grasped the broken oar which was before him, jumped up, and called in a faltering voice,—'Arrigozzo! Arrigozzo!' This was but for a moment. Receiving no answer, he ran to the top of the rock; looked at all around, ran his eye over all who were safe, one by one, but could not find his son among them. Then seeing the count, who had so lately been finding fault with his son's name, he roared out,—'Dog, are you here?' And, brandishing the broken oar, he rushed forward to strike him on the head. Bice uttered a cry, Ottorino was quick in warding off the blow; in a minute, Lupo, the falconer, and the boatmen, disarmed the frantic man; who, striking his forehead with both hands, gave a spring, and threw himself into the lake.
"He was seen fighting with the angry waves, overcoming them with a strength and a courage which desperation alone can give."—Marco Viconti, vol. i. chap. 5.
IV. A passage that has probably already occurred to the mind of the reader, Mucklebackit mending the cable in which his son had been lost:
"'There is a curse either on me or on this auld black bitch of a boat, that I have hauled up high and dry, and pitched and clouted sae mony years, that she might drown my poor Steenie at the end of them, an' be d——d to her!' And he flung his hammer against the boat, as if she had been the intentional cause of his misfortune"—Antiquary, vol. ii. chap. 13. Cadell, 1829.
V. "Giton præcipuè, ex dolore in rabiem efferatus, tollit clamorem, me, utrâque manu impulsum, præcipitat super lectum."—Petron. Arb. Sat. cap. 94.
The classical reader will at once recognise the force of the words "rabiem," "efferatus," "præcipitat," in this passage. The expression "utrâque manu" may not at first sight arrest his attention. It seems always used to express the most intense eagerness; see
"Ijecit utramque laciniæ manum."—Pet. Arb. Sat. 14.
"Utrâque manu Deorum beneficia tractat."—Ib. 140.
"Upon which Menedemus, incensed at his insolence, answered,—'Nothing is more necessary than the preservation of Lucullus;' and thrust him back with both hands."—Plutarch, Life of Lucullus.
"Women have a sort of natural tendency to cross their husbands: they lay hold with both hands [à deux mains] on all occasions to contradict and oppose them, and the first excuse serves for a plenary justification."—Montaigne, Essays, book 2. chap. 8.
"Marmout, deceived by the seemingly careless winter attitude of the allies, left Ciudad Rodrigo unprotected within their reach and Wellington jumped with both feet upon the devoted fortress of Napier," Pen. War, vol. iv. p. 374.
Any apology for the unwarrantable length of this discursive despatch, would, of course, only make matters worse.
C. FORBES.
Temple.