Frowns o'er old Conway's foaming flood,

Robed in the sable garb of woe,

With haggard eyes the poet stood,

(Loose his beard, and hoary hair

Stream'd, like a meteor, to the troubled air),

And with a master's hand, and prophet's fire,

Struck the deep sorrows of his lyre."

Ordinary readers would have innocently supposed the above "pictured" passage beyond all praise or criticism. "At non infelix" Wakefield:

"A falcon, tow'ring in her pride of place,

Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at and kill'd."