midnight
The far-famed collection of _ Tales of Terror _ appeared in 1799 , _ The Tales of Wonder _ in 1801 . The rest of Lewis 's work consists mainly of translations and adaptations from the German . He revelled in the horrific school of melodrama . He delighted in the kind of German romance parodied by Meredith in _ Farina _ , where Aunt Lisbeth tells Margarita of spectres , smelling of murder and the charnel-breath of midnight , who `` uttered noises that wintered the blood and revealed sights that stiffened hair three feet long ; ay , and kept it stiff . '' _ The Bravo of Venice _ -LRB- 1805 -RRB- is a translation of Zschokke 's _ Abellino , der Grosse Bandit _ , but Lewis invented a superfluous character , Monaldeschi , Rosabella 's destined bridegroom , apparently with the object that Abellino might slay him early in the story -- and added a concluding chapter . At the outset of the story , Rosalvo , a man after Lewis 's own heart , declares : `` To astonish is my destiny : Rosalvo knows no medium : Rosalvo can never act like common men , '' and thereupon proceeds to prove by his extraordinary actions that this is no idle vaunt . He lives a double life : in the guise of Abellino , he joins the banditti , and by inexplicable methods rids Venice of her enemies ; in the guise of a noble Florentine , Flodoardo , he woos the Doge 's daughter , Rosabella .