Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/249

 one of them from a servant, when I could not help smiling at the fear of some of the men, who, though they had fought like lions before Gibraltar, and borne with defiance all the disasters of that unhappy siege, stood now like dastards, overwhelmed with the prejudices of religious superstition. So far from catching the contagion, it redoubled my courage, I darted to the door, the torch in one hand, and my sword in the other, opened it, and ushered in our host.

"At our entrance, a large form with two fiery eyes almost as big as window-ventilators and a wide mouth stained with gore, slowly advanced against us. The sight of this moving machine was frightful, and the marquis hastily retreated one or two yards, which the group on the stairs perceiving, they rushed down again with the impetuosity of a torrent that forces its banks. In less than a second, the marquis and I were left alone.

Notwithstanding this, I could not help making some observations on the grotesque appearance of the figure, which I assimilated to the giant, who challenges the knight of