Sonnet XII. to Mrs. Siddons
As when a child on some long winter’s night
Affrighted clinging to its Grandam’s knees
With eager wond’ring and perturbed delight
Listens strange tales of fearful dark decrees
Muttered to wretch by necromantic spell;
Or of those hags, who at the witching time
Of murky midnight ride the air sublime,
And mingle foul embrace with fiends of Hell:
Cold Horror drinks its blood! Anon the tear
More gentle starts, to hear the Beldame tell
Of pretty babes, that loved each other dear,
Murdered by cruel Uncle’s mandate fell:
Ev’n such the shiv’ring joys thy tones impart,
Ev’n so thou, Siddons! meltest my sad heart!
