Penny Dreadfuls, 1812 · page 110 of 258
Psyche, and other poems — page 110: what you’re looking at
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# Page 92: Running Prose This is a page of running verse narrative from a penny dreadful. It describes a man in deep despair sitting on damp ground, showing physical signs of wasting illness and mental anguish. A treacherous guard then taunts him with news that a woman (apparently his promised bride) has been sent to him, claiming she was lured away by another knight. The guard departs, and the woman attempts to flee, but the villain—described as a "monster" and "sorcerer"—blocks the cavern's exit and uses magic to show her a vision of her knight in a place called "the bower of loose Delight."
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
92 | On the damp ground he sits in sullen woe, But wildly rolls around his frenzied eye, And gnaws his withered lips, which still o’erflow _ With bitter gall; in foul disorder lie - His black and matted locks ; anxiety re ng Sits on his wrinkled brow and sallow cheek; > The wasted form, the deep-drawn, frequent sigh, Some slow consuming malady bespeak, | But medicinal skill the cause in vain shall seek, “‘ Behold,” the treacherous guard exclaimed, ‘* behold, “ At length Disfida sends thy promised bride! “ Let her, deserted by her knight, be told e _ 6 What peerless lady lured him from her'side ; ‘‘ Thy cares her future safety must provide.” Smiling maliciously as thus he spoke, He seemed her helpless anguish to deride ; Then swiftly rushing from the den he broke, Ere from the sudden shock astonished she awoke, < She too had fled; but when the wretch escaped He closed the cavern’s mouth with cruel care ; | And now the monster placed his form mis-shaped To kar the passage of the affrighted fair : fler spirits die, she breathes polluted air, And vaporous visions swim before her sight His magic skill the sorcerer bids her share, And lo! as in a glass, she sees her knight in bower remembered well, the bower of loose Delight. 7 - COmMmicbooksscom, %