# “The most terrible of beasts” by Charles Spurgeon

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2012/09/06/the-most-terrible-of-beasts-by-charles-spurgeon/
- Published: 2012-09-06T13:00:58-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“6 a.m.—I awake grateful for another night’s peaceful rest, only to find myself 
very badly bitten by mosquitoes. A mosquito is the most terrible of beasts. A lion
delights in blood, but he does not suck it from living animals; he does not carefully
prolong their tortures.

A viper poisons, but he is generally content with one use of his fangs; but these
small-winged serpents bite in scores of places in succession. My hands are a series
of burning mountains. The creatures are as nearly omnipresent as Satan, which means
that, though a mosquito cannot be everywhere, yet no mortal can be sure that he 
is not near him, or tell where he is not.

Curtains are a delusion, pastilles are a snare; the little enemies are irritated
by such attempts to escape their malice, and give you double punishment. O Italy!
I have shed my blood for thy sake, and feel a love of thee (or something else) burning
in my veins!

The sooner I am away from thee, O fair Venice, the better, for thou dost deluge 
me by day, and devour me by night! I wonder how my two companions have fared; I 
shall go, by-and-by, and look for their remains! I have opened my windows, and the
pests are pouring in, eager and hungry; but, as I am up and dressed, there will 
be no more of me available for them at present.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, _C. H. Spurgeon’s Autobiography, Vol. III 1856-1878_ (London:
Alabaster, Passmore and Sons, 1899), 211. This excerpt can be [read online here](http://www.spurgeon.org/misc/abio73.htm).

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