Atkins, Sarah: Relics of antiquity, exhibited in the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum: with an account of the destruction and recovery of those celebrated cities (London: St. Harris, St. Paul's Church-Yard, 1825)

CONSTERNATION.

43

And then the mingled hum of many tongues,
In earnest talk, yet soften’d down as though
They told of murders. From a slow-op’d door,
A pale and shrinking figure came at times,
With wild and gleaming eye a moment turn’d
Up to the pitchy firmament; then back
In haste withdrew, and with such gentle hand
As his who fears to wake an enemy,
The portal clos’d again.


Terror was over all men : what to fear
They scarcely kr;ew; yet to the stoutest heart
The panic shudd’ring crept; and in the brain
Of wisest man work’d dire imaginings,
And shapeless horrors.” *
Yes: anxiety was depicted in every counte-
nance ; fathers were heard calling to their chil-
dren ; children begging the assistance of their
parents; and the very air resounded with the
cries of anguish and distress.
“ All wanted aid ! But there was none to help.”
Some wished to die from the very fear of dy-
ing ; some lifted their hands to heaven, and im-
plored mercy ; but the greater part imagined that
the last and eternal night was come, and that the

Atherstone’s Last Days of Herculaneum.