The King of the Beasts. 9 



victim that he was Sayers. In the same way the poets' lion 

 always " roars " before attacking. 



" Something almost like a lion " came " a great padding 

 pace " after the Pilgrim. It had " a hollow voice of roar- 

 ing." 



This passage reminds me somehow of the poetical Beast 

 of Beasts. It is almost like a lion, and has a hollow voice. 



Snug. Have you the lion's part written ? Pray you, if it be, give it 



me, for I am slow of study. 

 Qjtince. You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring. 



Now, to complete the poetical lion it is necessary that in 

 all its moods it should be classic ; not only in those that 

 are heroic but those that are pathetic also. For are not 

 strong passions merely strong feelings ? So the lion in grief 

 is the most grievous beast imaginable. No parents created 

 (except eagles) feel the loss of their young so keenly as lions 

 and lionesses ; none are so quickly apprehensive of danger 

 to their hearths and cradles ; none are so frantic in revenge. 

 Therefore, from Spenser, with his "felle" lion that "grudg- 

 ing in his great disdaine, mournes inwardly, and makes to 

 himselfe mone," to Burns, who, anxious to give expression 

 to an overwhelming melancholy, cries out for the voice of 

 a lioness " that mourns her darling cubs' undoing," we find 

 the poets punctually magnifying the tenderness of the 

 species. It was necessary, of course, that this should be 

 done — ^just as one hears it said, describing some utter 

 ruffian, that, "after all, his heart is in the right place." 

 Thus, some of Ouida's tawny heroes are very leonine. 

 They crunch up bronze candlesticks between their fingers 

 in agonies of suppressed passion. But their violet eyes 

 overflow with liquidity at the first appeal of pathos. 



The "stately lion," that "stalks with fiery glare" and 

 "dauntless strides along," offers in its majestic gait an 

 obvious simile that is abundantly and handsomely availed 



