1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, London: T. Payne & Son and T. Cadell, Volume 2, Book 3, Chapter 4, p. 51,
[…] my strength, madam, is almost all gone away, and when I do any hard work, it’s quite a piteous sight to see me, for I am all in a tremble after it, just as if I had an ague […]

[…] you go out to beg, first smearing yourself with mud and filth to make yourselves as piteous as you can.

Or have they soft piteous eyes beheld
The weary wanderer thro’ the desert rove?
Or does th’ afflicted man thy heavenly bosom move?

Piteous

Meaning

Adj

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