For this end I am commissioned from time to time to appear
before thee in the midst of thy triumph, and to mingle with thy
exultations the boding voice of prophetic woe."
Roderic did not listen to these bitter sarcasms without exhibiting every
mark of fury and impatience. At length he commanded the spectre to
depart, with a voice so fierce and stern as to terrify him into
submission. For though the authority of the magician was not formidable
enough to make him desist from persecuting him, yet the penalties he had
frequently been able to inflict, inspired the goblin in spite of
himself, with the fear of so potent an adversary. Still choaked however
with agony and resentment, Roderic waved his wand, and summoned his
favourite instrument and the prime minister of his pleasures, the goblin
Medoro, to his presence. The moment he appeared the magician was
relieved from that violent gust of passion, which had held him
motionless, a statue of horror, and throwing himself upon his couch, he
burst into a flood of tears.
Medoro was the goblin that had appeared to Edwin in his return from the
feast of the bards, and had brewed the fatal storm that had preceded the
rape of Imogen. The figure of the spectre was uncouth, and his
countenance was full of savage and shapeless deformity.
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