Pagina 184 van 483

"It was about seven in the morning, and I longed to obtain food

and shelter; at length I perceived a small hut, on a rising

ground, which had doubtless been built for the convenience of

some shepherd. This was a new sight to me, and I examined the

structure with great curiosity. Finding the door open, I entered.

An old man sat in it, near a fire, over which he was preparing

his breakfast. He turned on hearing a noise, and perceiving me,

shrieked loudly, and quitting the hut, ran across the fields with

a speed of which his debilitated form hardly appeared capable.

His appearance, different from any I had ever before seen, and

his flight somewhat surprised me. But I was enchanted by the

appearance of the hut; here the snow and rain could not

penetrate; the ground was dry; and it presented to me then as

exquisite and divine a retreat as Pandaemonium appeared to the

daemons of hell after their sufferings in the lake of fire.