They're at the top of the charts again this week.

She is dead, he announced, very gravely and simply. The hunchback shivered. Captain Runacles neither spoke nor stirred in his chair. A man-child was born at two o'clock. He is alive: his mother died two hours later. (Set in 1673)

Such speeches (like the rheses) have the distinction of length, often exceeding one hundred lines; they give the impression that for a time dramatic effect is suspended, and, as a substitute, the recognised features of Epic Poetry supply a new interest.

I began also to feel very hungry, as not having eaten for twenty-four hours; and worse than that, there was a parching thirst and dryness in my throat, and nothing with which to quench it.