Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1870 edition. Excerpt: ...ceases, for every critic has a theory of his own as to what this meaning really was. A knight in full armour, with sword at his side and lance in his hand, rides through a wild rocky defile with Death and a horrible fiend for his close companions. Death, or Time it may be, rides a little in front of the knight, on a lame horse, the head of which is bent nearly to the ground as it limps along. He carries an hour-glass in one hand: the sand in it has nearly run out, and he holds this up before the knight with a sorrowful expression on his ghastly countenance. His head and neck are encircled with snakes that twist round the sharp pointed crown he wears in token of his sovereignty, and his long white beard falls down on his hollow chest. A fearful demon of loathsome animal form follows close behind the knight's horse and stretches forth his claws to clutch his prey, which, however, he does not quite reach. But the knight takes no heed of these fearful apparitions: he is not in the least like one, who "On a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round, walks on And turns no more his head, Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread." Whether conscious or not of his horrible companions, he is at all events unmoved by their presence and holds on to his purpose, whatever that may be, undismayed by the powers of death and hell. Nothing can equal the steadfast determination of his face. The furrows of care and thought line his cheeks, but his mouth is set in firm resolution, and his eyes look straight forward on the road he is travelling, a road from which he will not be held back by any presentiment of coming danger. Is this road a good or an evil one? Is the end he is setting forth to attain a...
