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"Imagination only can paint the anguish of Julia's mind, when she saw herself thus delivered up to the power of her enemy."

— Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

Author

Radcliffe [née Ward], Ann (1764-1823)

Work Title

A Sicilian Romance

Place of Publication

London

Publisher

Printed for T. Hookham

Date

1790

Metaphor

"Imagination only can paint the anguish of Julia's mind, when she saw herself thus delivered up to the power of her enemy."

Metaphor in Context

They now descended into a deep valley, which appeared more like a scene of airy enchantment than reality. Along the bottom flowed a clear majestic stream, whose banks were adorned with thick groves of orange and citron trees. Julia surveyed the scene in silent complacency, but her eye quickly caught an object which changed with instantaneous shock the tone of her feelings. She observed a party of horsemen winding down the side of a hill behind them. Their uncommon speed alarmed her, and she pushed her horse into a gallop. On looking back they clearly perceived themselves to be pursued. Soon after the men suddenly appeared from behind a dark grove within a small distance of them; and upon their nearer approach, Julia overcome with fatigue and fear, sunk breathless from her horse. She was saved from the ground by one of the pursuers, who caught her in his arms. Madame, with the rest of the party, were quickly overtaken; and as soon as Julia revived, they were bound, and re-conducted to the hill from whence they had descended. Imagination only can paint the anguish of Julia's mind, when she saw herself thus delivered up to the power of her enemy. Madame, in the surrounding troop, discovered none of the marquis's people, and they were therefore evidently in the hands of the duke. After travelling for some hours, they quitted the main road, and turned into a narrow winding dell, overshadowed by high trees, which almost excluded the light. The gloom of the place inspired terrific images. Julia trembled as she entered; and her emotion was heightened, when she perceived at some distance, through the long perspective of the trees, a large ruinous mansion. The gloom of the surrounding shades partly concealed it from her view; but, as she drew near, each forlorn and decaying feature of the fabric was gradually disclosed, and struck upon her heart a horror such as she had never before experienced. The broken battlements, enwreathed with ivy, proclaimed the fallen grandeur of the place, while the shattered vacant window frames exhibited its desolation, and the high grass that overgrew the threshold, seemed to say how long it was since mortal foot had entered. The place appeared fit only for the purposes of violence and destruction: and the unfortunate captives, when they stopped at its gates, felt the full force of its horrors.
(II.viii, pp. 14-16; pp. 110-1 in OUP edition)