Prose, Vol. 2 of 2 (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Prose, Vol. 2 of 2 Among the victims, however, there were some, splendidly apparelled, whose business it was to preserve the rest from being crushed by his steps, yet who appeared to delight in the misfortunes of their fellow creatures, whom they urged to push one another down in the path of the monster, for their own amusement. At the same time, with goads in their hands, which had been entrusted to them expressly for the purpose of keeping him off, they incessantly pricked him on, even when he would have been quiet, or have taken a different road. One of these especially distinguished himself; he was a little man, in a green coat, with an eagle's head on his shoulders, and a cook's comb upon it, of which he was prodigiously vain. This nondescript being had the power of driving the destroyer whithersoever he pleased, - except across the straits of Dover. After the giant had thus exercised himself (with one short interval of slumber) for more than twenty years, - twenty years in a reverie may be passed in twenty seconds, - he appeared utterly exhausted. Suddenly, as if he had been struck by apoplexy, he lay down, and stretching himself out at full length, from the rock of Gibraltar, a cross the whole continent of Europe, and beyond the arctic circle, he made his pillow of the polar ices, and fell fast asleep, - for Peace is only the sleep of war. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.