From the port all was solid and massive.

It is indeed a grand and stately fortress.

Here we have done all that was possible to make Rhodes impregnable, but nature did nothing for us; there nature has done everything, and the castle looks as if it could defy the assaults of an army, however large.

And indeed, it was not wrested from us by force.
The knights, when the city walls were stormed and the town filled with their foes fought their way down to the water's edge and embarked there, for they were reduced to a mere handful; and however strong a castle may be, it needs hands to defend it.

Still, it well nigh moved me to tears to see the Turkish banner waving over it, and to think how many tens of thousands of Christian soldiers had died in the effort to retain the holy places, and had died in vain." "I wonder whether the Turks will ever be forced to relinquish their hold of the holy places ?" "Who can tell, Sir Giles ?" the bailiff, who had come up to the group unobserved, said quietly.