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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5671-0.txt b/5671-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4026197 --- /dev/null +++ b/5671-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4439 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Visions of the Sleeping Bard, by Ellis +Wynne, Translated by Robert Gwyneddon Davies + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Visions of the Sleeping Bard + + +Author: Ellis Wynne + + + +Release Date: July 10, 2014 [eBook #5671] +[This file was first posted on August 6, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD*** + + +Transcribed from the 1897 Welsh National Press Company edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org + + [Picture: Book cover] + + [Picture: Glasynys, The Birthplace of Ellis Wynne] + + + + + + THE VISIONS + OF THE + SLEEPING BARD + + + BEING + + ELLIS WYNNE’S + + “_Gweledigaetheu y Bardd Cwsc_” + + TRANSLATED BY + + ROBERT GWYNEDDON DAVIES + + * * * * * + + LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARHSALL & CO., LIMITED. + + CARNARVON: THE WELSH NATIONAL PRESS COMPANY, LIMITED + + * * * * * + + MDCCCXCVII + + * * * * * + + TO + PROFESSOR JOHN RHŶS, M.A., LL.D. + PRINCIPAL OF JESUS COLLEGE, OXFORD + AND + VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE + OF NORTH WALES, + IN TOKEN OF + HIS DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARSHIP AND UNRIVALLED + SERVICES + TO + CELTIC LITERATURE + THIS TRANSLATION + IS + RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED + + + + +PREFACE + + +AT the National Eisteddfod of 1893, a prize was offered by Mr. Lascelles +Carr, of the _Western Mail_, for the best translation of Ellis Wynne’s +_Vision of Hell_. The Adjudicators (Dean Howell and the Rev. G. Hartwell +Jones, M.A.), awarded the prize for the translation which is comprised in +the present volume. The remaining Visions were subsequently rendered +into English, and the complete work is now published in the hope that it +may prove useful to those readers, who, being unacquainted with the Welsh +language, yet desire to obtain some knowledge of its literature. + +My best thanks are due to the Rev. J. W. Wynne Jones, M.A., Vicar of +Carnarvon, for much help and valuable criticism; to the Rev. R Jones, +MA., Rector of Llanfair-juxta-Harlech, through whose courtesy I am +enabled to produce (from a photograph by Owen, Barmouth) a page of the +register of that parish, containing entries in Ellis Wynne’s handwriting; +and to Mr. Isaac Foulkes, Liverpool, for the frontispiece, which appeared +in his last edition of the _Bardd Cwsc_. + + R. GWYNEDDON DAVIES. + +_Caernarvon_, + _1st July_, _1897_. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE +Frontispiece +Genealogical Tables xii +Introduction:— + I. The Author’s Life xv + II. The Text xx + III. The Summary xxiv +Facsimile of Ellis Wynne’s Handwriting +Vision of the World 3 +Vision of Death 43 +Vision of Hell 67 +Notes 123 + + + + +GENEALOGICAL TABLES. {0} + + +ELLIS WYNNE’S PEDIGREE. + + +*** (_I am indebted to E. H. Owen_, _Esqr._, _F.S.A._, _Tycoch_, +_Carnarvon_, _for most of the information compiled in the following +tables_.) + + [Picture: Ellis Wynne’s Pedigree] + + + +THE RELATION BETWEEN ELLIS WYNNE & BISHOP HUMPHREYS. + + + [Picture: The Relation between Ellis Wynne & Bishop Humphreys] + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +I.—THE AUTHOR’S LIFE. + + +ELLIS WYNNE was born in 1671 at Glasynys, near Harlech; his father, +Edward Wynne, came of the family of Glyn Cywarch (mentioned in the second +Vision), his mother, whose name is not known, was heiress of Glasynys. +It will be seen from the accompanying table that he was descended from +some of the best families in his native county, and through _Osborn +Wyddel_, from the Desmonds of Ireland. His birth-place, which still +stands, and is shown in the frontispiece hereto, is situate about a mile +and a half from the town of Harlech, in the beautiful Vale of Ardudwy. +The natural scenery amidst which he was brought up, cannot have failed to +leave a deep impression upon his mind; and in the Visions we come across +unmistakeable descriptions of scenes and places around his home. +Mountain and sea furnished him with many a graphic picture; the +precipitous heights and dark ravines of Hell, its caverns and its cliffs, +are all evidently drawn from nature. The neighbourhood is also rich in +romantic lore and historic associations; Harlech Castle, some twenty-five +years before his birth, had been the scene of many a fray between +Roundheads and Cavaliers, and of the last stand made by the Welsh for +King Charles. These events were fresh in the memory of his elders, whom +he had, no doubt, often heard speaking of those stirring times; members +of his own family had, perhaps, fought in the ranks of the rival parties; +his father’s grand-uncle, Col. John Jones, was one of those “who +erstwhile drank of royal blood.” + +It is not known where he received his early education, and it has been +generally stated by his biographers that he was not known to have entered +either of the Universities; but, as the following notice proves, he at +least matriculated at Oxford:— + + WYNNE, ELLIS, s. Edw. of Lasypeys, co. Merioneth, pleb. Jesus Coll. + matric. 1st March 1691–2, aged 21; rector of Llandanwg, 1705, & of + Llanfair-juxta-Harlech (both) co. Merioneth, 1711. (_Vide_ Foster’s + _Index Eccles_.) + +Probably his stay at the University was brief, and that he left without +taking his degree, for I have been unable to find anything further +recorded of his academic career. {0a} The Rev. Edmund Prys, Vicar of +Clynnog-Fawr, in a prefatory _englyn_ to Ellis Wynne’s translation of the +“_Holy Living_” says that “in order to enrich his own, he had ventured +upon the study of three other tongues.” This fact, together with much +that appears in the Visions, justifies the conclusion that his scholarly +attainments were of no mean order. But how and where he spent the first +thirty years of his life, with the possible exception of a period at +Oxford, is quite unknown, the most probable surmise being that they were +spent in the enjoyment of a simple rural life, and in the pursuit of his +studies, of whatever nature they may have been. + +According to Rowlands’s _Cambrian Bibliography_ his first venture into +the fields of literature was a small volume entitled, _Help i ddarllen yr +Yscrythur Gyssegr-Lân_ (“Aids to reading Holy Writ”), being a translation +of the _Whole Duty of Man_ “by E. W., a clergyman of the Church of +England,” published at Shrewsbury in 1700. But as Ellis Wynne was not +ordained until 1704, this work must be ascribed to some other author who, +both as to name and calling, answered to the description on the +title-page quoted above. But in 1701 an accredited work of his appeared, +namely, a translation into Welsh of Jeremy Taylor’s _Rules and Exercises +of Holy Living_, a 12mo. volume published in London. It was dedicated to +the Rev. Humphrey Humphreys, D.D., Bishop of Bangor, who was a native of +the same district of Merionethshire as Ellis Wynne, and, as is shown in +the genealogical table hereto, was connected by marriage with his family. + +In 1702 {0b} he was married to Lowri Llwyd—_anglicè_, Laura Lloyd—of +Hafod-lwyfog, Beddgelert, and had issue by her, two daughters and three +sons; one of the daughters, Catherine, died young, and the second son, +Ellis, predeceased his father by two years. {0c} His eldest son, Gwilym, +became rector of Llanaber, near Barmouth, and inherited his ancestral +home; his youngest son, Edward, also entered the Church and became rector +of Dolbenmaen and Penmorfa, Carnarvonshire. Edward Wynne’s son was the +rector of Llanferres, Denbighshire, and his son again was the Rev. John +Wynne, of Llandrillo in Edeyrnion, who died only a few years ago. + +The following year (1703), he published the present work—his _magnum +opus_—which has secured him a place among the greatest names in Welsh +Literature. It will be noticed that on the title-page to the first +edition the words “_Y Rhann Gyntaf_” (“The First Part”) appear; the +explanation given of this is that Ellis Wynne did actually write a second +part, entitled, _The Vision of Heaven_, but that on hearing that he was +charged with plagiarism in respect of his other Visions, he threw the +manuscript into the fire, and so destroyed what, judging from the title, +might have proved a greater success than the first part, as affording +scope for lighter and more pleasing flights of the imagination. + +It is said by his biographers that he was induced to abandon the pursuit +of the law, to which he was educated, and to take holy orders, by Bishop +Humphreys, who had recognised in his translation of the _Holy Living_ +marked ability and piety, and that he was ordained deacon and priest the +same day by the Bishop, at Bangor, in 1701, and presented on the +following day to the living of Llanfair-juxta-Harlech and subsequently to +Llandanwg. + +All these statements appear to be incorrect. To deal with them +categorically: I find no record at the Diocesan Registry of his having +been ordained at Bangor at all; the following entry in the parish +register of Llanfair shows that he was not in holy orders in July, 1704: +“_Gulielmus filius Elizaei Wynne generosi de Lâs ynys et uxoris suis +baptizatus fuit quindecimo die Julii_, _1704_.—_W. Wynne Rr._, _O. +Edwards_, _Rector_.” His first living was Llandanwg, and not Llanfair, +to which he was collated on January 1st, 1705. Moreover, the above-named +Owen Edwards was the rector of Llanfair until his death which took place +in 1711. {0d} From that date on to 1734, the entries in the register at +Llanfair church are all in Ellis Wynne’s handwriting; these facts prove +conclusively that it was in 1711 he became rector of the latter parish. + +In 1710 he edited a new and revised edition of the Book of Common Prayer, +at the request of his patron, the Bishop of Hereford (Dr. Humphreys) and +the four Welsh bishops,—a clear proof of the confidence reposed in him by +the dignitaries of his church as a man of learning and undoubted piety. +He himself published nothing more, but _A Short Commentary on the +Catechism_ and a few hymns and carols were written by him and published +posthumously by his son, Edward, being included in a volume of his own, +entitled _Prif Addysc y Cristion_, issued in 1755. + +The latter part of his life is as completely obscure as the earlier; he +lapsed again into the silence from which he had only just emerged with +such signal success, and confined his efforts as a Christian worker +within the narrow limits of his own native parts, exercising, +doubtlessly, an influence for good upon his immediate neighbourhood +through force of character and noble personality, as upon his +fellow-countrymen at large by means of his published works. His wife +died in 1720, and his son, Ellis, in 1732; two years later he himself +died and was buried under the communion table in Llanfair church, on the +17th day of July, 1734. {0e} There is no marble or “perennial brass” to +mark the last resting-place of the Bard, nor was there, until recent +years, any memorial of him in either of his parish churches, when the +late Rev. John Wynne set up a fine stained-glass window at Llanfair +church in memory of his illustrious ancestor. + +Ellis Wynne appeared at a time when his country had sore need of him, +when the appointed teachers of the nation were steeped in apathy and +corruption, when ignorance and immorality overspread the land—the darkest +hour before the dawn. He was one of the early precursors of the +Methodist revival in Wales, a voice crying in the wilderness, calling +upon his countrymen to repent. He neither feared nor favored any man or +class, but delivered his message in unfaltering tone, and performed his +alloted task honestly and faithfully. How deeply our country is indebted +to him who did her such eminent service in the days of adversity and +gloom will never be known. And now, in the time of prosperity, Wales +still remembers her benefactor, and will always keep honored the name of +Ellis Wynne, the SLEEPING BARD. + + + +II.—THE TEXT. + + +The _Bardd Cwsc_ was first published in London in 1703, a small 24mo. +volume of some 150 pages, with the following title-page + + “GWELEDIGAETHEU Y BARDD CWSC. Y Rhann Gyntaf. Argraphwyd yn + Llundain gan E. Powell i’r Awdwr, 1703.” {0f} + +A second edition was not called for until about 1742, when it was issued +at Shrewsbury; but in the thirty years following, as many as five +editions were published, and in the present century, at least twelve +editions (including two or three by the Rev. Canon Silvan Evans) have +appeared. The text followed in this volume is that of Mr. Isaac Foulkes’ +edition, but recourse has also been had to the original edition for the +purpose of comparison. The only translation into English hitherto has +been that of George Borrow, published in London in 1860, and written in +that charming and racy style which characterises his other and better +known works. He has, however, fallen into many errors, which were only +natural, seeing that the Visions abound in colloquial words and phrases, +and in idiomatic forms of expression which it would be most difficult for +one foreign to our tongue to render correctly. + +The author’s name is not given in the original nor in any subsequent +edition previous to the one published at Merthyr Tydfil in 1806, where +the _Gweledigaetheu_ are said to be by “Ellis Wynne.” But it was well +known, even before his death, that he was the author; the fact being +probably deduced from the similarity in style between the Visions and an +acknowledged work, namely, his translation of the _Holy Living_. The +most likely reason for his preferring anonymity is not far to seek; his +scathing denunciation of the sins of certain classes and, possibly, even +of certain individuals, would be almost sure to draw upon the author +their most bitter attacks. Many of the characters he depicts would be +identified, rightly or wrongly, with certain of his contemporaries, and +many more, whom he never had in his mind at all, would imagine themselves +the objects of his satire; he had nothing to gain by imperilling himself +at the hands of such persons, or by coming into open conflict with them; +he had his message to deliver to his fellow-countrymen, his Visions a +purpose to fulfil, the successful issue of which could not but be +frustrated by the introduction of personal hatred and ill-will. Ellis +Wynne was only too ready to forego the honor of being the acknowledged +author of the Visions if thereby he could the better serve his country. + + * * * * * + +The _Bardd Cwsc_ is not only the most popular of Welsh prose works, but +it has also retained its place among the best of our classics. No better +model exists of the pure idiomatic Welsh of the last century, before +writers became influenced by English style and method. Vigorous, fluent, +crisp, and clear, it shows how well our language is adapted to +description and narration. It is written for the people, and in the +picturesque and poetic strain which is always certain to fascinate the +Celtic mind. The introduction to each Vision is evidently written with +elaborate care, and exquisitely polished—“_ne quid possit per leve +morari_,” and scene follows scene, painted in words which present them +most vividly before one’s eyes, whilst the force and liveliness of his +diction sustain unflagging interest throughout. The reader is carried +onward as much by the rhythmic flow of language and the perfect balance +of sentences, as by the vivacity of the narrative and by the reality with +which Ellis Wynne invests his adventures and the characters he depicts. +The terrible situations in which we find the Bard, as the drama unfolds, +betoken not only a powerful imagination, but also an intensity of feeling +which enabled him to realise the conceptions of such imagination. We +follow the Bard and his heavenly guide through all their perils with +breathless attention; the demons and the damned he so clothes with flesh +and blood that our hatred or our sympathy is instantly stirred; his World +is palpitating with life, his Hell, with its gloom and glare, is an +awful, haunting dream. But besides being the possessor of a vivid +imagination, Ellis Wynne was endowed with a capacity for transmitting his +own experience in a picturesque and life-like manner. The various +descriptions of scenes, such as Shrewsbury fair, the parson’s revelry and +the deserted mansions; of natural scenery, as in the beginning of the +first and last Visions; of personages, such as the portly alderman, and +the young lord and his retinue, all are evidently drawn from the Author’s +own experience. He was also gifted with a lively sense of humor, which +here and there relieves the pervading gloom so naturally associated with +the subject of his Visions. The humorous and the severe, the grotesque +and the sublime, the tender and the terrible, are alike portrayed by a +master hand. + +The leading feature of the Visions, namely the personal element which the +Author infuses into the recital of his distant travels, brings the reader +into a closer contact with the tale and gives continuity to the whole +work, some parts of which would otherwise appear disconnected. This +telling of the tale _in propria persona_ with a guide of shadowy or +celestial nature who points out what the Bard is to see, and explains to +him the mystery of the things around him, is a method frequently adopted +by poets of all times. Dante is the best known instance, perhaps; but we +find the method employed in Welsh, as in “The Dream of Paul, the +Apostle,” where Paul is led by Michael to view the punishments of Hell +_(vide_ Iolo MSS.). Ellis Wynne was probably acquainted with Vergil and +Dante, and adopted the idea of supernatural guidance from them; in fact, +apart from this, we meet with several passages which are eminently +reminiscent of both these great poets. + +But now, casting aside mere speculation, we come face to face with the +indisputable fact that Ellis Wynne is to a considerable degree indebted +to the _Dreams_ of Gomez de Quevedo y Villegas, a voluminous Spanish +author who flourished in the early part of the 17th century. In 1668, +Sir Roger L’Estrange published his translation into English of the +_Dreams_, which immediately became very popular. Quevedo has his Visions +of the World, of Death and her (_sic_) Empire, and of Hell; the same +characters are delineated in both, the same classes satirized, the same +punishments meted out. We read in both works of the catchpoles and +wranglers, the pompous knights and lying knaves—in fine, we cannot +possibly come to any other conclusion than that Ellis Wynne has “read, +marked and inwardly digested” L’Estrange’s translation of Quevedo’s +_Dreams_. But admitting so much, the _Bardd Cwsc_ still remains a purely +Welsh classic; whatever in name and incident Ellis Wynne has borrowed +from the Spaniard he has dressed up in Welsh home-spun, leaving little or +nothing indicative of foreign influence. The sins he preached against, +the sinners he condemned, were, he knew too well, indigenous to Welsh and +Spanish soil. George Borrow sums up his comments upon the two authors in +the following words: “Upon the whole, the Cymric work is superior to the +Spanish; there is more unity of purpose in it, and it is far less +encumbered with useless matter.” + +The implication contained in the foregoing remarks of Borrow—that the +_Bardd Cwsc_ is encumbered to a certain degree with useless matter, is no +doubt well founded. There is a tendency to dwell inordinately upon the +horrible, more particularly in the Vision of Hell; a tiring sameness in +the descriptive passages, an occasional lapse from the tragic to the +ludicrous, and an intrusion of the common-place in the midst of a speech +or a scene, marring the dignity of the one and the beauty of the other. + +The most patent blemish, however, is the unwarranted coarseness of +expression to which the Author sometimes stoops. It is true that he must +be judged according to the times he lived in; his chief object was to +reach the ignorant masses of his countrymen, and to attain this object it +was necessary for him to adopt their blunt and unveneered speech. For +all that, one cannot help feeling that he has, in several instances, +descended to a lower level than was demanded of him, with the inevitable +result that both the literary merit and the good influence of his work in +some measure suffer. Many passages which might be considered coarse and +indecorous according to modern canons of taste, have been omitted from +this translation. + +From the literary point of view THE VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD has from +the first been regarded as a masterpiece, but from the religious, two +very different opinions have been held concerning it. One, probably the +earlier, was, that it was a book with a good purpose, and fit to stand +side by side with Vicar Pritchard’s _Canwyll y Cymry_ and _Llyfr yr +Homiliau_; the other, that it was a pernicious book, “_llyfr codi +cythreuliaid_”—a devil-raising book. A work which in any shape or form +bore even a distant relationship to fiction, instantly fell under the ban +of the Puritanism of former days. To-day neither opinion is held, the +_Bardd Cwsc_ is simply a classic and nothing more. + +The Visions derive considerable value from the light they throw upon the +moral and social condition of our country two centuries ago. Wales, at +the time Ellis Wynne wrote was in a state of transition: its old-world +romance was passing away, and ceasing to be the potent influence which, +in times gone by, had aroused our nation to chivalrous enthusiasm, and +led it to ennobling aspirations. Its place and power, it is true, were +shortly to be taken by religion, simple, puritanic, and intensely +spiritual; but so far, the country was in a condition of utter disorder, +morally and socially. Its national life was at its lowest ebb, its +religious life was as yet undeveloped and gave little promise of the +great things to come. The nation as a whole—people, patrician, and +priest—had sunk to depths of moral degradation; the people, through +ignorance and superstition; the patrician, through contact with the +corruptions of the England of the Restoration; while the priesthood were + + “Blind mouths, that scarce themselves knew how to hold + A sheep-hook, or had learnt aught else the least + That to the faithful herdman’s art belongs.” + +All the sterner and darker aspects of the period are chronicled with a +grim fidelity in the Visions, the wrongs and vices of the age are exposed +with scathing earnestness. Ellis Wynne set himself the task of +endeavouring to arouse his fellow-countrymen and bring them to realize +the sad condition into which the nation had fallen. He entered upon the +work endowed with keen powers of perception, a wide knowledge of life, +and a strong sense of justice. He was no respecter of person; all orders +of society, types of every rank and class, in turn, came under +castigation; no sin, whether in high places or among those of low degree, +escaped the lash of his biting satire. On the other hand, it must be +said that he lacked sympathy with erring nature, and failed to recognize +in his administration of justice that “to err is human, to forgive, +divine.” His denunciation of wrong and wrong-doer is equally stern and +pitiless; mercy and love are rarely, if ever, brought on the stage. In +this mood, as in the gloomy pessimism which pervades the whole work, he +reflects the religious doctrines and beliefs of his times. In fine, when +all has been said, favourably and adversely, the Visions, it will readily +be admitted, present a very faithful picture of Welsh life, manners, and +ways of thought, in the 17th century, and are, in every sense, a true +product of the country and the age in which they were written. + + + +III.—A BRIEF SUMMARY. + + +I. VISION OF THE WORLD. + + +One summer’s day, the Bard ascends one of the mountains of Wales, and +gazing a long while at the beautiful scene, falls asleep. He dreams and +finds himself among the fairies, whom he approaches and requests +permission to join. They snatch him up forthwith and fly off with him +over cities and realms, lands and seas, until he begins to fear for his +life. They come to a huge castle—Castle Delusive, where an Angel of +light appears and rescues him from their hands. The Angel, after +questioning him as to himself, who he was and where he came from, bids +him go with him, and resting in the empyrean, he beholds the earth far +away beneath them. He sees an immense City made up of three streets; at +the end of which are three gates and upon each gate a tower and in each +tower a fair woman. This is the City of Destruction and its streets are +named after the daughters of Belial—Pride, Lucre and Pleasure. The Angel +tells him of the might and craftiness of Belial and the alluring witchery +of his daughters, and also of another city on higher ground—the City of +Emmanuel—whereto all may fly from Destruction. They descend and alight +in the Street of Pride amidst the ruined and desolate mansions of +absentee landlords. They see there kings, princes, and noblemen, +coquettes and fops; there is a city, too, on seven hills, and another +opposite, with a crescent on a golden banner above it, and near the gate +stands the Court of Lewis XIV. Much traffic is going on between these +courts, for the Pope, the Sultan and the King of France are rivals for +the Princesses’ hands. + +They next come to the Street of Lucre, full of Spaniards, Dutchmen and +Jews, and here too, are conquerors and their soldiers, justices and their +bribers, doctors, misers, merchants and userers, shopmen, clippers, +taverners, drovers, and the like. An election of Treasurer to the +Princess is going on—stewards, money-lenders, lawyers and merchants being +candidates, and whoso was proved the richest should obtain the post. The +Bard then comes to the Street of Pleasure, where all manner of seductive +joys abound. He passes through scenes of debauchery and drunken riot, +and comes to a veritable Bedlam, where seven good fellows—a tinker, a +dyer, a smith and a miner, a chimney-sweep, a bard and a parson—are +enjoying a carousal. He beholds the Court of Belial’s second daughter, +Hypocrisy, and sees a funeral go by where all the mourners are false. A +noble lord appears, with his lady at his side, and has a talk with old +Money-bags who has lent him money on his lands—all three being apt pupils +of Hypocrisy. + +The Angel then takes him to the churches of the City; and first they come +to a pagan temple where the human form, the sun and moon, and various +other objects are worshipped. Thence they come to a barn where +Dissenters imitate preaching, and to an English church where many +practise all manner of hypocrisy. The Bard then leaves the City of +Destruction and makes for the celestial City. He beholds one man part +from his friends and, refusing to be persuaded by them, hasten towards +Emmanuel’s City. The gateway is narrow and mean, while on the walls are +watchmen urging on those that are fleeing from Destruction. Groups from +the various streets arrive and claim admittance, but, being unable to +leave their sins, have to return. The Bard and his Guide enter, and +passing by the Well of Repentance come in view of the Catholic Church, +the transept of which is the Church of England, with Queen Anne enthroned +above, holding the Sword of Justice in the left hand, and the Sword of +the Spirit in the right. Suddenly there is a call to arms, the sky +darkens, and Belial himself advances against the Church, with his earthly +princes and their armies. The Pope and Lewis of France, the Turks and +Muscovites fall upon England and her German allies, but, the angels +assisting, they are vanquished; the infernal hosts, too, give way and are +hurled headlong from the sky; whereupon the Bard awakes. + + +II. THE VISION OF DEATH. + + +It is a cold, winter’s night and the Bard lies abed meditating upon the +brevity of life, when Sleep and his sister Nightmare pay him a visit, and +after a long parley, constrain him to accompany them to the Court of +their brother Death. Hieing away through forests and dales, and over +rivers and rocks, they alight at one of the rear portals of the City of +Destruction which opens upon a murky region—the chambers of Death. On +all hands are myriads of doors leading into the Land of Oblivion, each +guarded by the particular death-imp, whose name was inscribed above it. +The Bard passes by the portals of Hunger, where misers, idlers and +gossips enter, of Cold, where scholars and travellers go through, of +Fear, Love, Envy and Ambition. + +Suddenly he finds himself transported into a bleak and barren land where +the shades flit to and fro. He is straightway surrounded by them, and, +on giving his name as the “Sleeping Bard,” a shadowy claimant to that +name sets upon him and belabours him most unmercifully until Merlin bid +him desist. Taliesin then interviews him, and an ancient manikin, +“Someone” by name, tells him his tale of woe. After that he is taken +into the presence of the King of Terrors himself, who, seated on a throne +with Fate and Time on either hand, deals out their doom to the prisoners +as they come before him. Four fiddlers, a King from the neighbourhood of +Rome with a papal dispensation to pass right through to Paradise, a +drunkard and a harlot, and lastly seven corrupt recorders, are condemned +to the land of Despair. + +Another group of seven prisoners have just been brought to the bar, when +a letter comes from Lucifer concerning them; he requests that Death +should let these seven return to the world or else keep them within his +own realm—they were far too dangerous to be allowed to enter Hell. Death +hesitates, but, urged by Fate, he indites his answer, refusing to comply +with Lucifer’s request. The seven are then called and Death bids his +hosts hasten to convey them beyond his limits. The Bard sees them hurled +over the verge beneath the Court of Justice and his spirit so strives +within him at the sight that the bonds of Sleep are sundered and his soul +returns to its wonted functions. + + +III. THE VISION OF HELL. + + +The Bard is sauntering, one April morning, on the banks of the Severn, +when his previous visions recur to his mind and he resolves to write them +as a warning to others, and while at this work he falls asleep, and the +Angel once more appears and bears him aloft into space. They reach the +confines of Eternity and descend through Chaos for myriads of miles. A +troop of lost beings are swept past them towards the shores of a +death-like river—the river of the Evil One. After passing through its +waters, the Bard witnesses the tortures the damned suffer at the hands of +the devils, and visits their various prisons and cells. Here is the +prison of Woe-that-I-had-not, of Too-late-a-repentance and of the +Procrastinators. There the Slanderers, Backbiters, and other envious +cowards are tormented in a deep and dark dungeon. He hears much laughter +among the devils and turning round finds that the cause of their +merriment are two noblemen who have just arrived and are claiming the +respect due to their rank. Further on is a crowd of harlots calling down +imprecations upon those that ruined them; and in a huge cavern are +lawyers, doctors, stewards and other such rogues. The Princesses of the +City of Destruction bring batches of their subjects as gifts to their +sire. + +A parliament is summoned and Lucifer addresses his princes, calling upon +them to do their utmost to destroy the rest of mankind. Moloch makes his +reply, reciting all that he has done, when Lucifer in rage starts off to +do the work himself, but is drawn back by an invisible hand. He speaks +again, exhorting them to greater activity and cruelty. Justice brings +three prisoners to Hell and returning causes such a rush of fiery +whirlwinds that all the infernal lords are swept away into the Uttermost +Hell. + +The Bard hears the din of arms and news comes that the Turks, Papists, +and Roundheads are advancing in three armies. Lucifer and his hosts +immediately set out to meet them and after a stubborn contest succeed in +quelling the rebellion. More prisoners are brought before the +King—Catholics, who had missed the way to Paradise, an innkeeper, five +kings, assize-men and lawyers, gipsies, laborers and scholars. Scarcely +is judgment passed on these than war again breaks out—soldiers and +doctors, lawyers and userers, misers and their own offspring, are +fighting each other. The leaders of this revolt having been taken, +another parliament is called and more prisoners yet brought to trial. + +Lucifer asks the advice of his peers as to whom he should appoint his +viceroy in Britain. Cerberus, first of all, offers the service of +Tobacco; then Mammon speaks in praise of Gold and Apolyon tells what +Pride can do; Asmodai, the demon of Lust, Belphegor, the demon of Sloth, +and Satan, devil of Delusion, each pleads for his own pet sin; and after +Beelzebub has spoken in favour of Thoughtlessness, Lucifer sums up, +weighs their arguments, and finally announces that it is another he has +chosen as his vicegerent in Britain. This other is Prosperity, and her +he bids them follow and obey. Then the lost Archangel and his +counsellors are hurled into the Bottomless Pit, and the Angel takes the +Bard up to the vault of Hell where he has full view of a three-faced +ogress, Sin, who would make of heaven, a hell, and thence departing, a +heaven of hell. The Angel then leaves him, bidding him, as he went, to +write down what he had seen for the benefit of others. + + [Picture: Facsimile of Ellis Wynne’s Handwriting] + + + + +TO THE READER. + + + Let whoso reads, consider; + Considering, remember, + And from remembering, do, + And doing, so continue. + Whoso abides in Virtue’s paths, + And ever strives until the end + From sinful bondage to be free, + Ne’er shall possess wherewith to feed + The direful flame, nor weight of sin + To sink him in th’ infernal mire; + Nor will he come to that dread realm + Where Wrong and Retribution meet. + But, woe to that poor, worthless wight + Who lives a bitter, stagnant life, + Who follows after every ill + And knows not either Faith or Love, + (For Faith in deeds alone doth live). + Eternal woe shall be his doom— + More torments he shall then behold + Yea, in the twinkling of an eye + Than any age can e’er conceive. + + + + +_The_ +_VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD_ + + +I.—VISION OF THE WORLD. + + +On {1a} the fine evening of a warm and mellow summer I betook me up one +of the mountains of Wales, {1b} spy-glass in hand, to enable my feeble +sight to see the distant near, and to make the little to loom large. +Through the clear, tenuous air and the calm, shimmering heat, I beheld +far, far away over the Irish Sea many a fair scene. At last, when mine +eyes had taken their fill of all the beauty around me, and the sun well +nigh had reached his western ramparts, I lay down on the sward, musing +how fair and lovely compared with mine own land were the distant lands of +whose delightful plains I had just obtained a glimpse; how fine it would +be to have full view thereof, and how happy withal are they, besides me +and my sort, who have seen the world’s course. So, from the long +journeying of mine eye, and afterwards of my mind, came weariness, and +beneath the cloak of weariness came my good Master Sleep {1c} stealthily +to bind me, and with his leaden keys safe and sound he locked the windows +of mine eyes and all mine other senses. But it was in vain he tried to +lock up the soul which can exist and travel without the body; for upon +the wings of fancy my spirit soared free from out the straitened corpse, +and the first thing I perceived close by was a dancing-knoll and such a +fantastic rout {4a} in blue petticoats and red caps, briskly footing a +sprightly dance. I stood awhile hesitating whether I should approach +them or not, for in my confusion I feared they were a pack of hungry +gipsies and that the least they would do, would be to kill me for their +supper, and devour me saltless. But gazing steadfastly upon them I +perceived that they were of better and fairer complexion than that lying, +tawny crew; so I plucked up courage and drew near them, slowly, like a +hen treading on hot coals, in order to find out what they might be; and +at last I addressed them over my shoulder, thus, “Pray you, good friends, +I understand that ye come from afar, would ye take into your midst a bard +who wishes to travel?” Whereupon the din instantly ceased, every eye was +turned upon me, and in shrill tones “a bard” quoth one, “to travel,” said +another, “into our midst,” a third exclaimed. By then I had recognised +those who were looking at me most fiercely, and they commenced whispering +one to another some secret charms, still keeping their gaze upon me; the +hubbub then broke out again and everyone laying hands upon me, lifted me +shoulder-high, like a knight of the shire, and off like the wind we go, +over houses and lands, cities and realms, seas and mountains, unable to +notice aught so swiftly were they flying. And to make matters worse, I +began to have doubts of my companions from the way they frowned and +scowled when I refused to lampoon my king {4b} at their bidding. + +“Well, now,” said I to myself, “farewell to life; these accursed, arrant +sorcerers will bear me to some nobleman’s larder or cellar and leave me +there to pay penalty by my neck for their robbery, or peradventure they +will leave me stark-naked and benumbed on Chester Marsh or some other +bleak and remote place.” But on considering that those whose faces I +knew had long been buried, and that some were thrusting me forward, and +others upholding me above every ravine, it dawned upon me that they were +not witches but what are called the Fairies. Without delay I found +myself close to a huge castle, the finest I had ever seen, with a deep +moat surrounding it, and here they began discussing my doom. “Let us +take him as a gift to the castle,” suggested one. “Nay, let us throw the +obstinate gallows-bird into the moat, he is not worth showing to our +great prince,” said another. “Will he say his prayers before sleeping,” +asked a third. At the mention of prayer, I breathed a groaning sigh +heavenwards asking pardon and aid; and no sooner had I thought the prayer +than I saw a light, Oh! so beautiful, breaking forth in the distance. As +this light approached, my companions grew dark and vanished, and in a +trice the Shining One made for us straight over the castle: whereupon +they let go their hold of me and departing, turned upon me a hellish +scowl, and had not the Angel supported me I should have been ground fine +enough to make a pie long before reaching the earth. + +“What is thy errand here?” asked the Angel. “In sooth, my lord,” cried +I, “I wot not what place here is, nor what mine errand, nor what I myself +am, nor what has made off with mine other part; I had a head and limbs +and body, but whether I left ’em at home or whether the Fairies, if fair +their deed, have cast me into some deep pit (for I mind my passing over +many a rugged gorge) an’ I be hanged, Sir, I know not.” “Fairly, +indeed,” said he, “they would have dealt with thee, had I not come in +time to save thee from the toasting-forks of the brood of hell. Since +thou hast such a great desire to see the course of this little world, I +am commanded to give thee the opportunity to realize thy wish, so that +thou mayest see the folly of thy discontent with thine own lot and +country. Come now!” he bade, and at the word, with the dawn just +breaking, he snatched me up far away above the castle; and upon a white +cloudledge we rested in the empyrean to see the sun rising, and to look +at my heavenly companion, who was far brighter than the sun, save that +his radiance only shone upwards, being hidden from all beneath by a veil. +When the sun waxed strong, I beheld in the refulgence of the two our +great, encircled earth as a tiny ball in the distance below. “Look +again,” said the Angel, and he gave me a better spy-glass than the one I +had on the mountain-side. When I looked through this I saw things in a +different light and clearer than ever before. + +I could see one city of enormous magnitude, with thousands of cities and +kingdoms within it, the wide ocean like a whirlpool around it, and other +seas, like rivers, dividing it into parts. After gazing a longwhile, I +observed that it was made up of three tremendously long streets, with a +large and splendid gateway at the lower end of each street; on each +gateway, a magnificent tower, and on each tower, in sight of all the +street, a woman of exceeding beauty; and the three towers at the back of +the ramparts reached to the foot of that great castle. Of the same +length as these immense streets, but running in a contrary direction, I +saw another street which was but narrow and mean compared with them, +though it was clean and upon higher ground than they, and leading upwards +to the east, whilst the other three led downwards northerly to the great +towers. I could no longer withhold from asking my friend’s permission to +speak. “What then,” said the Angel, “if thou wilt speak, listen +carefully, so that there be no need of telling thee a thing twice.” “I +will, my lord, and prithee,” asked I, “what castle is that, away yonder +to the north?” “That castle aloft in the sky,” said he, “belongs to +Belial, prince of the power of the air, and ruler of all that vast city +below; it is called Castle Delusive: for an arch-deluder is Belial, and +it is through delusion that he is able to keep under his sway all that +thou see’st with the exception of that little bye-street yonder. He is a +powerful prince, with thousands of princes under him. What was Cæsar or +Alexander the Great compared with him? What are the Turk and old Lewis +of France {7} but his servants? Great, aye, exceedingly great is the +might, craftiness and diligence of Prince Belial and of the countless +hosts he hath in the lower region.” “Why do those women stand there?” I +asked, “and who are they?” “Slowly,” cried the Angel, “one question at a +time; they stand there in order to be loved and worshipped.” “No wonder, +in sooth,” said I, “so lovely are they that were I the possessor of hands +and feet as once I was, I too would go and love or worship them.” “Hush! +hush!” cried he, “if that is what thou wouldst do with thy members ’tis +well thou’rt wanting them: know, foolish spirit, that these three +princesses are no other than three destroying enchantresses, daughters of +Prince Belial; and that all the beauty and gentleness which dazzles the +streets, is nought else but a gloss over ugliness and cruelty; the three +within are like their sire, full of deadly venom.” “Woe’s me, is’t +possible,” cried I sorrowfully, “that their love wounds?” “’Tis true, +the more the pity,” said he, “thou art delighted with the way the three +beam on their adorers: well, there is in that ray of light many a +wondrous charm, it blindens them so that they cannot see the hook; it +stupifies them so that they pay no heed to their danger, and consumes +them with an insatiate lust for more, even though it be a deadly poison, +breeding diseases which no physician, yea, not death itself can ever +heal, nor aught at all unless a heavenly medicine called Repentance be +had to purge the evil in good time ere it become too deeply rooted, +through gazing upon them too long.” “Wherefore will not Belial have this +adoration to himself?” asked I. “It is the same thing,” said he, “for so +long as a man adheres to these or to one of them, that man is sure to +bear the mark of Belial and wear his livery.” + +“By what names are these three enchantresses called?” “The furthest away +is called Pride, the eldest daughter of Belial; the second is Pleasure, +and the nearest to us is Lucre; these three are the trinity the world +adores.” “I would fain know the name of this vast, madding city,” said +I, “hath it a better name than great Bedlam?” “Yea, ’tis called the City +of Destruction.” “Alas!” I cried, “are all that dwell therein ruined and +lost?” “All,” said he, “save a few that flee from it into yon upper city +which is King Emmanuel’s.” “Woe is me and mine! how shall they escape +while ever staring at what makes them more and more blind, and preys upon +them in their blindness?” “It would be utterly impossible for any man to +escape hence were it not that Emmanuel sends his ministers from on high, +night and morn, to persuade them to leave the rebels and turn to Him, +their true Sovereign, and sends to some a gift of precious ointment +called Faith to anoint their eyes, and whoso obtains that genuine +ointment (for there is an imitation of this as of everything else in the +City of Destruction) and anoints himself therewith, at once becomes aware +of his own wounds and madness, and will not tarry here a moment longer, +even though Belial gave him his three daughters, yea, or his fourth who +is greatest of all, for staying.” + +“What are the names of these immense streets?” I enquired. “They are +called, each according to the name of the princess who rules therein; +furthest is the Street of Pride, the middle, the Street of Pleasure, and +next, the Street of Lucre.” “Who, prithee, dwell in these streets? What +tongue is spoken there? Wherefrom and of what nations are their +inhabitants?” “Many people,” answered he, “of every language, religion, +and nation under the sun dwell there; many a one lives in each of the +three streets at different seasons, and everyone as near the gateway as +he can; and very often do they change about, being unable to stay long in +the one because they so greatly love the princess of the other street. +And the old renard, slyly looking on, lets everyone love whichever he +prefers, or the three if he will—all the more certain is he of him.” + +“Come nearer to them,” said the Angel, snatching me downwards in the veil +through the noxious vapours rising from the city. We alighted in the +Street of Pride, on the top of a great, roofless mansion with its eyes +picked out by the dogs and crows, and its owners gone to England or +France, there to seek what might be gotten with far less trouble at home; +thus in place of the good old country-family of days gone by, so full of +charity and benevolence, none keep possession now but the stupid owl, the +greedy crows, or the proud-pied magpies or the like, to proclaim the +deeds of the present owners. There were thousands of such deserted +palaces, which but for pride might still be the resort of noblemen, a +refuge for the weak, a school of peace and all goodness, and a blessing +to the thousands of cottages surrounding them. From the top of these +ruins we had plenty of room and quietness to see the whole street on both +sides. The houses were very fine, and of wonderful height and grandeur, +and good reason why, for emperors and kings lived there, princes in +hundreds, noblemen and gentlemen in thousands, and a great many women of +all grades. I could see many a horned coquette, like a full-rigged ship, +strutting as if set in a frame with a fair store of pedlery about her, +and pearls in her ears to the value of a good-sized farm: some were +singing so as to be praised for their voices, some dancing, to show their +figures; others coloring, to improve their complexion, others having been +a good three hours before a mirror trimming themselves, learning to +smile, pinning and unpinning, making grimaces and striking attitudes. +Many a coy wench was there who knew not how to open her lips to speak, +much less to eat, or from very ceremony, how to look under foot; and many +a ragged shrew who would contend that she was equal to the best lady in +the street, and many an ambling fop who might winnow beans by the wind of +his train. + +Whilst I was looking from afar at these and a hundred similar things, lo! +there came by us a gaudy, strapping quean of arrogant mien, and after +whom a hundred eyes were turned; some made obeisance, as if in worship of +her, a few put something in her hand. I could not make out what she was, +and so I enquired. “Oh,” said my friend, “she is one whose entire dowry +is on show, and yet thou see’st how many fools there are who seek her, +and the meanest is received notwithstanding all the demand there is for +her; whom she will, she cannot have, and whom she can, she will not; she +will only speak to her betters because her mother told her that a young +woman can make no greater mistake than to be humble in courtship.” +Thereupon a burly Falstaff, who had been alderman and in many offices, +came out from beneath us, spreading out his wings as if to fly, when he +could scarcely limp along like a pack-horse, on account of his huge +paunch, and the gout, and many other gentlemanly complaints; but for all +that you could not get a single glance from him except as a great favour, +remembering the while to address him by all his title and offices. From +him I turned my eyes to the other side of the street, and saw a bluff +young nobleman with a numerous following, smiling graciously and bowing +low to everyone he met. “It is strange,” said I, “that these two should +belong to the same street.” “It is the same princess—Pride, who governs +them both,” answered he, “this one’s errand is but to speak fair; he is +now making a bid for fame with the intent thereby to attain the highest +office in the State; he is most ready to weep with the people, and tell +them how greatly they are wronged through the oppression of wicked +ministers; yet it is his own exaltation, and not the common weal that is +the main object of his pursuit.” + +After looking for a longwhile I saw close by the Porch of Pride a fair +city on seven hills, and over its magnificent court the triple crown, the +swords and cross-keys. “Well, here is Rome,” quoth I, “here lives the +Pope, is it not?” “Yes, most often,” said the Angel, “but he hath a +court in each of the other streets.” Over against Rome I could see a +city with a very fine court, whereon was raised on high a crescent on a +golden banner, by which I knew the Turk was there. After these came the +court of Lewis XIV. of France, as I perceived by his arms—the three +fleur-de-lys on a silver banner reared high. Whilst admiring the +loftiness and magnificence of these palaces, I observed that there was +much traversing from one court to another, and asked the reason. “Oh, +there is many a dark reason,” said the Angel, “existing between these +three potent and crafty monarchs, but though they deem themselves fitting +peers to the three princesses up yonder, their power and guile is nought +compared with theirs. Yea more, great Belial deems the whole city, +notwithstanding the number of its kings, unsuitable for his daughters. +Although he offers them in marriage to everybody, he has never actually +given them to anyone. Keen rivalry has existed between these three for +their hands; the Turk, who calls himself the god of earth, would have the +eldest, Pride, to wife. “Nay,” said the king of France, “she is mine, +for I keep all my subjects in her street, and bring her many from England +and many other realms.” Spain would have the Princess of Lucre, spite of +Holland and all the Jews, and England, the Princess of Pleasure in spite +of the Pagans. But the Pope claimed the three, and for better reasons +than all the others; and Belial admits him next to them in each street.” +“Is that the cause of this commerce?” said I. “No,” said he, “Belial has +made peace between them upon that matter long ago. But now he has bid +the three put their heads together to consider how they can the soonest +destroy yon bye-street; that is the City of Emmanuel, and especially one +great mansion therein, out of mere jealousy, perceiving it to be a finer +edifice than any in all the City of Destruction. And Belial promises +half his kingdom during his life, and the whole on his decease, to him +who succeeds in doing so. But notwithstanding the magnitude of his +power, the depth of his wiles, and the number of emperors, kings and +crafty rulers that are beneath his sceptre in that huge City of +Destruction, notwithstanding the courage of his countless hosts beyond +the gates in the lower region, that task will prove too difficult for +them; however great, powerful and untiring his majesty may be, in yon +small street is a greater than he.” + +I was not able to give very close attention to his angelic reasons, being +occupied in watching the frequent falls people were having on the +slippery street. Some I could see with ladders scaling the tower, and +having reached the highest rung, falling headlong to the bottom. “Where +do those fools try to get to?” I asked. “To a place that is high +enough—they are endeavouring to break into the treasury of the princess.” +“I warrant it be full,” quoth I. “Yes,” answered he, “of everything that +belongs to this street, to be distributed among its denizens: all kinds +of weapons for invading and extending territories; all kinds of +coats-of-arms, banners, escutcheons, books of genealogy, sayings of the +ancients, and poems, all sorts of gorgeous raiments, boastful tales and +flattering mirrors; every pigment and lotion to beautify the face; every +high office and title—in short, everything is there which makes a man +think better of himself and worse of others than he ought. The chief +officers of this treasury are masters of the ceremonies, roysters, +heralds, bards, orators, flatterers, dancers, tailors, gamblers, +seamstresses and the like.” + +From this street we went to the next where the Princess of Lucre rules +supreme; this street was crowded and enormously wealthy; yet not half so +magnificent and clean as the Street of Pride, nor its people so foolishly +haughty, for here they were for the most part skulking and sly. +Thousands of Spaniards, Dutchmen, Venetians, and Jews were here, and also +a great many aged people. “Prithee, sir,” said I, “what manner of men +might these be?” “They are pinchfists one and all. In the lower end +thou shalt see the Pope once more together with conquerors of kingdoms +and their soldiery, oppressors, foresters, obstructors of public paths, +justices and their bribers, and all their progeny from the barrister to +the constable; on the other side, physicians, apothecaries, leeches, +misers, merchants, extortioners, money lenders, withholders of tithes, +wages, rents or doles left to schools, almhouses and the like; drovers, +dealers who regulate the market for their own benefit; shopmen (or +rather, sharpers) who profit on the need or ignorance of their customers; +stewards of all grades; clippers {14} and innkeepers who despoil the +idlers’ family of their goods and the country of its barley, which would +otherwise be made into bread for the poor. All these are arrant robbers, +the others in the upper end of the street are mostly small fry, such as +highwaymen, tailors, weavers, millers, grocers and so on.” + +In the midst of this I could hear a terrible commotion towards the far +end of the street, and a great crowd of people thronging the gate, and +such pushing and quarelling as made me think that there was a general +riot afoot, until I asked my friend what was the matter. “There is very +valuable treasure in that tower,” said the Angel, “and the reason for +this tumult is that they are about to choose a treasurer for the +Princess, instead of the Pope, who has been driven from office.” So we +went to see the election. + +The candidates for the post were the stewards, the money-lenders, the +lawyers, and the merchants, and it was the wealthiest of these that was +to have it (for the more thou hast, the more wilt thou have and seek +for—an insatiate complaint pertaining to this street). The stewards were +rejected at the outset, lest they might impoverish the whole street and, +just as they had erected their mansions upon their masters’ ruins, in the +end dispossess the princess herself. The contest then lay between the +other three. The merchants had more silk, the lawyers more mortgages on +land, and the money-lenders more bills and bonds and fuller purses. “Ho, +they won’t agree this night,” said the Angel, “come away; the lawyers are +richer than the merchants, the money-lenders than the lawyers, the +stewards than the money-lenders, and Belial richer than all; for they and +all that belongs to them are his.” “Why does the princess keep these +robbers about her?” “What more befitting, seeing that she herself is +arch-robber?” I was amazed to hear him call the princess by such name, +and the proudest gentry in the land arrant robbers. “Why, pray my lord,” +said I, “do you consider these great noblemen worse thieves than +highwaymen?” “Thou art a simpleton—think on that knave who roves the +wide world over, sword in hand, and with his ravagers at his back, +slaying and burning, and depriving the true possessors of their states, +and afterwards expecting to be worshipped as conqueror; is he not worse +than the petty thief who takes a purse on the highway? What is a tailor +who filches a piece of cloth compared to a squire who steals from the +mountain-side half a parish? Ought the latter not be called a worse +robber than the former, who only takes a shred from him, while he +deprives the poor of pasture for his beast, and consequently of the means +of livelihood for himself, and those depending upon him? What is the +stealing a handful of flour in the mill compared with the storing up of a +hundred bushels to rot, in order to obtain later on for one bushel the +price of four? What is a threadbare soldier who robs thee of thy clothes +at the swords’ point when compared with the lawyer who despoils thee of +thy whole estate with the stroke of a quill, and against whom thou canst +claim no recompense or remedy? What is a pickpocket who steals a +five-pound in comparison to a dice-sharper who robs thee of a hundred +pounds in the third part of a night? And what the swindler that deceives +thee in a worthless old hack compared with the apothecary who swindles +thee of thy money and life too, for some effete, medicinal stuff? And +moreover, what are all these robbers compared with that great arch-robber +who deprives them all of everything, yea, of their hearts and souls after +the fair is over?” + +From this foul and disorderly street we proceeded to the street of the +Princess of Pleasure wherein I saw many English, French, Italians and +Paynims. The Princess is very fair to behold, with mixed wine in one +hand, and a fiddle and a harp in the other; and in her treasury, +innumerable pleasures and toys to gain the custom of everybody, and +retain them in her father’s service. Yea, many were wont to escape to +this pleasant street to drown their grief for losses and debts they had +incurred in the others. It was exceedingly crowded, especially with +young people; whilst the Princess is careful to please everyone, and to +have an arrow ready for every mark. If thou art thirsty, here thou will +find thy favorite beverage; if thou lovest song and dance, here thou +shalt have thy fill. If the beauty of the Princess has kindled thy lust, +thou need’st but beckon one of her sire’s officers (who, although +invisible, always surround her) and they will immediately attend thy +behest. There are here fair mansions, fine gardens, full orchards, shady +groves fit for every secret intrigue, or to trap birds or a white rabbit +or twain; clear streams, most pleasant to fish in; rich, boundless +plains, whereon to hunt the hare and fox. Along the street we could see +them playing interludes, juggling and conjuring, singing lewd songs to +the sound of the harp and ballads, and all manner of jesting. Men and +women of handsome appearance danced and sang, and many came hither from +the Street of Pride in order to be praised and worshipped. Within the +houses we perceived some on silken beds wallowing in debauchery; some at +the gaming-table, cursing and swearing, others tossing dice and shuffling +cards. Some from the Street of Lucre, having a room here, ran hither to +count their money, but stayed not long lest aught of the countless +geegaws that are here should entice them to part with their money without +interest. Others I saw at tables feasting with somewhat of every created +thing before them; and when everyone, mess after mess, had guzzled as +much of the dainties as would afford a moderate man a feast for a whole +week, grace followed in the form of blasphemous howling; then the king’s +health was called for, and that of every boon companion, and so on to +quench the taste of the viands, and drown their cares. Then came +tobacco, and then each one began to talk scandal of his neighbour—whether +true or false it mattered not as long as it was humorous or fresh, or, +best of all, degrading. At last, what with a round of blasphemy, and the +whole crowd with clay pistols belching smoke and fire and slander of +their neighbours, and the floor already befouled with dregs and spittle, +I feared lest viler deeds should happen, and craved to depart. + +Thence we went where we heard a loud noise, beating and clamouring, +crying and laughing, shouting and singing. “Well, here’s Bedlam and no +mistake,” quoth I. By the time we got in, the turmoil had ceased; one +man lay like a log on the ground, another was vomiting, another nodding +his head over a hearth full of battered flagons, and broken pipes and +mugs. On enquiring, what should it be but a carousal of seven thirsty +neighbours—a tinker, a dyer, a blacksmith, a miner, a chimney-sweep, a +bard, and a parson who had come to preach sobriety, and to show in his +own person how repulsive drunkenness is; and the beginning of the recent +altercation was a discussion and dispute they had as to which of the +seven callings loved best the pot and pipe; the bard had beaten all but +the parson and, due regard being observed for the cloth, he was adjudged +victor and worthy to be leader of his good comrades, and so the bard +wound up the discussion thus: + + “Where can ye find such thirsty seven, + Search every clime and land? + And quaffing off the ruddy ale, + Bard and parson lead the band.” + +Thoroughly tired of these drunken swine, we drew nearer the gate in order +to spy out the blemishes in the magnificent court of Love, the purblind +king, wherein it is easy to enter, but difficult to get out again, and +where are chambers innumerable. In the hall opposite the door stood +giddy Cupid, with two arrows in his bow, darting a languishing venom +called lust. Along the floor I saw many fair and comely women walking +with measured steps, and following them, wretched youths gazing upon +their beauty, and each one begging a glance from his mistress, fearing a +frown even more than death; now and then one, bowing to the ground, would +place a letter in his goddess’ hand, and another a sonnet, the while in +fear expectant, like schoolboys showing their task to the master. They +in return would favour their adorers with a simpering smile or two, just +to keep their desires on edge, but granting nought more lest their lust +be sated and they depart healed of the disease. Going on into the +parlour I saw them having lessons in dancing and singing, with voice and +hand, in order to make their lovers sevenfold madder than before; on +again into the dining hall where they were taught coy smartness in +eating; into the cellar, where potent love philtres were being mixed of +nail parings and the like; in the upper rooms we could see one in a +secret chamber twisting himself into all shapes, practising gentlemanly +behaviour when in his mistress’ presence; another before a mirror +learning how to smile correctly without showing his teeth too prominently +to his ladylove; another preparing his tale to tell her, repeating the +same thing an hundred times. Wearied with this insipid babbling we came +to another cell: here a nobleman had sent for a poet from the Street of +Pride to indite him a sonnet of praise to his angel, and an eulogy of +himself; the bard was discoursing of his art: “I can,” said he, “liken +her to everything red and everything white under the sun, and her tresses +to an hundred things more yellow than gold, and as for your poem, I can +trace your lineage through many knights and princes, and through the +water of the deluge right up to Adam.” “Well, here’s a poet,” quoth I, +“who is a better genealogist than I.” “Come, come,” said the Angel, +“their intention is to deceive the woman, but, once in her presence, you +may be sure they will have to meet trick with trick.” + +Upon leaving these we had a glimpse of cells where fouler deeds were +being done than modesty permits to mention, and which caused my companion +to snatch me away in anger from this fatuous court into the princess’ +treasury (for we went where we list notwithstanding doors and locks). +There we saw myriads of fair women, all kinds of beverages, fruits and +dainties, stringed instruments and books of songs,—harps, pipes, odes and +carols, all sorts of games,—backgammon, dice {20} and cards; pictures of +various lands, towns and persons, inventions and amusing tricks; all +kinds of waters, perfumes, pigments and spots to make the ugly fair, and +the old look young, and the leman’s malodorous bones smell sweet for the +nonce. In short, the shadow of pleasure and the guise of happiness in +every conceivable form was to be found there; and sooth to say, I almost +think I too had been enticed by the place had not my friend instantly +hurried me away far from the three alluring towers to the top end of the +streets, and set me down near an immense palatial castle, the front view +of which seemed fair, but the further side was mean and terribly ugly, +though it was scarcely to be seen at all. It had a myriad portals—all +splendid without but rotten within. “An’t please you, my lord,” asked I, +“what is this wondrous place?” “This is the court of Belials’ second +daughter whose name is Hypocrisy; here she keeps her school, and there is +no man or woman throughout the whole city who has not been a pupil of +hers, and most of them have imbibed their learning remarkably well; so +that her lessons are discernible as a second nature intertwined with all +their thoughts, words, and deeds from very childhood almost.” I had been +looking awhile on the falsity of every part of the edifice when a funeral +came by with many weeping and sighing, and many men and horses in +mourning trappings; and shortly the poor widow, veiled so as not to see +this cruel world any more, came along with piping voice and weary sighs, +and fainting fits at intervals. In truth, I could not help but weep a +little out of pity for her. “Nay, nay,” said the Angel, “keep thy tears +for a more worthy occasion; these voices are only what Hypocrisy has +taught, and these mourning weeds were fashioned in her great school. Not +one of these weep sincerely; the widow, even before the body had left the +house, let in another husband to her heart; were she rid of the expenses +connected with the corpse she would not care a straw if his soul were at +the bottom of hell; nor do his own kindred care any more than she: for +when it went hardest with him, instead of giving him good counsel and +earnestly praying for mercy upon him, they were talking of his property, +his will or his pedigree; or what a handsome robust man he was, and such +talk; and now this wailing {21} on the part of some is for mere ceremony +and custom, on the part of others for company’s sake or for pay.” + +Scarcely had these gone by than another throng came in sight: a most +gallant lord with his lady at his side, slowly advancing in state, to +whom many men of position doffed, and many were on tiptoe with eagerness +to show him obeisance and reverence. “Here is a noble lord,” said I, +“who is worthy such respect from all these!” “Wert thou to take +everything to consideration thou wouldst speak differently. This lord +comes from the Street of Pleasure, she is of the Street of Pride, and yon +old man who is conversing with him comes from the Street of Lucre, and +has a mortgage on almost every acre of my lord’s, and is come to-day to +complete the loan.” We drew nigh to hear the conversation. “In sooth, +sir,” Old Money-bags was saying, “I would not for all that I possess that +you should lack anything which lies in my power to enable you to appear +your own true self this day, especially seeing that you have met so +beautiful and lovely a lady as madam here” (the wily dog knowing full +well what she was). “By the — by the —,” said the lord, “next to gazing +at her beauty, my greatest pleasure was to hearken to your fair reasons; +I had liefer pay you interest than get money elsewhere free.” “Indeed, +my lord,” said one of his chief friends called Flatterer, “nuncle pays +you not a whit less respect than is due to you, but an it please you, he +has bestowed upon her ladyship scarce the half her mead of praise. I +defy any man,” quoth he, “to show a lovelier woman in all the Street of +Pride, or a nobler than you in all the Street of Pleasure, or a kinder +than you, good mine uncle, in all the Street of Lucre.” “Ah, that is +your good opinion,” said my lord, “but I cannot believe that any couple +were ever more united in the bonds of love than we twain.” As they went +on the crowd increased, and everyone had a pleasant smile and low bow for +the other, and hastened to salute each other with their noses to the +ground, like a pair of gamecocks on the point of striking. “Know then,” +said the Angel, “that thou hast seen naught of civility nor heard one +word which Hypocrisy has not taught. There is no one here, after all +this gentleness, who has a hap’orth of love one to another, yea, many of +them are sworn foes. This lord is the butt {23} of everybody, and all +have their dig at him. The lady looks only to his greatness and high +degree, so that she may thereby ascend a step above many of her +neighbours. Old Money-bags has his eye on my lord’s lands for his own +son, and all the others on the money he received as dowry; for they are +all his dependants, his merchants, tailors, cobblers and other craftsmen, +who have decked him out and maintained him in this splendor, and have +never had a brass farthing for it, nor are likely to get aught save +smooth words and sometimes threats perhaps. How many layers, how many +folds had Hypocrisy laid over the face of Truth! He, promising greatness +to his love, while his lands were on the point of being sold; she, +promising him dower and beauty, while her beauty is but artificial, and +cancer is consuming both her dowry and her body.” “Well, this teaches +us,” said I, “never to judge by appearances.” “Yes verily,” said he, +“but come on and I will show thee more.” + +At the word he transported me up to where the churches of the City of +Destruction were; for everyone therein, even the unbelieving, has a +semblance of religion. And it was to the temple of the unbelievers that +we first came, and there I saw some worshipping a human form, others the +sun, the moon and a countless other like gods down to onions and garlic; +and a great goddess called Deceit was universally worshipped. However, +there were some traces of the influence of Christianity to be found in +most of these religions. Thence we came to a congregation of mutes, {24} +where there was nothing but sighing and quaking and beating the breast. +“Here,” said the Angel, “is the appearance of great repentance and +humility, but which in reality is perversity, stubbornness, pride and +utter darkness; although they talk much about the light within, they have +not even the spectacles of nature which the heathen thou erstwhile saw, +possess.” + +From these dumb dogs we chanced to turn into an immense, roofless church, +with thousands of shoes lying at the porch, whereby I learnt it was a +Turkish mosque. These had but very dark and misty spectacles called the +Koran; yet through these they gazed intently from the summit of their +church for their prophet, who falsely promised to return and visit them +long ago, but has left his promise unfulfilled. + +From thence we entered the Jewish synagogue—these too were unable to flee +from the City of Destruction, although they had grey-tinted spectacles, +for when they look a film comes over their eyes from want of anointing +them with that precious ointment—faith. + +Next we came to the Papists. “Here is the church that beguiles the +nations,” exclaimed the Angel, “it was Hypocrisy that built this church +at her own cost. For the Papists encourage, yea, command men to break an +oath with a heretic even though sworn on the sacraments.” From the +chancel we went through the keyholes, up to the top of a certain cell +which was full of candles, though it was broad daylight, and where we +could see a tonsured priest walking about as if expecting someone to come +to him; and ere long there comes a buxom matron, with a fair maid in her +wake, bending their knees before him to confess their sins. “My +spiritual father,” said the good wife, “I have a burthen too heavy to +bear unless I obtain your mercy to lighten it: I married a member of the +Church of England!” “What!” cried the shorn-pate, “married a heretic! +wedded to an enemy? forgiveness can never be obtained!” At these words +she fainted, while he kept calling down imprecations upon her head. +“Woe’s me, and what is worse,” cried she when come to herself, “I killed +him!” “Oh ho! thou hast killed him? Well, that’s something towards +gaining the reconciliation of the Church; I tell thee now, hadst thou not +slain him, thou wouldst never have obtained absolution nor purgatory, but +a straight gate and a leaden weight to the devil. But where’s your +offering, you jade?” he demanded with a snarl. “Here,” said she, handing +him a considerable bag of money. “Well,” said he, “now I’ll make your +reconciliation: your penance is to remain always a widow lest you should +make another bad bargain.” When she was gone, the maiden also came +forward to make her confession. “Your pardon, father confessor,” cried +she, “I conceived a child and slew it.” “A fair deed, i’faith,” said the +confessor, “and who might the father be?” “Indeed ’twas one of your +monks.” “Hush, hush,” he cried, “speak no ill of churchmen. {25} What +satisfaction have you for the Church?” “Here it is,” said she and handed +him a gold trinket. “You must repent, and your penance will be to watch +at my bedside to-night,” he said with a leer. Hereupon four other +shavelings entered, dragging before the confessor a poor wretch, who came +about as willingly as he would to the gallows. “Here’s for you a rogue,” +cried one of the four, “who must do penance for disclosing the secrets of +the Catholic Church.” “What!” exclaimed the confessor, looking towards a +dark cell near at hand: “but come, villain, confess what thou hast said?” +“Indeed,” began the poor fellow, “a neighbour asked me whether I had seen +the souls that were groaning underneath the altar on All-souls’ day; and +I said I had heard the voice, but had seen nothing.” “So, sirrah, come +now, tell everything.” “I said moreover,” he continued, “that I had +heard that you were playing tricks on us unlettered hinds, that, instead +of souls, there was nothing but crabs making a row under the carpet.” +“Oh, thou hell-hound! cursed knave!” cried the confessor, “but, proceed, +mastiff.” “And that it was a wire that turned the image of St. Peter, +and that it was along a wire the Holy Ghost descended from the roodloft +upon the priest.” “Thou heir of hell!” cried the shriver, “Ho there, +torturers, take him and cast him into that smoky chimney for +tale-bearing.” “Well, this is the church Hypocrisy insists upon calling +the Catholic Church, and she avers that these only are saved,” said the +Angel; “they once had the proper spectacles, but they cut the glass into +a thousand forms; they once had true faith, but they mixed that salve +with substances of their own, so that they see no better than the +unbelieving.” + +Leaving the cell we came to a barn {26} where someone was delivering a +mock sermon extempore, sometimes repeating the same thing thrice in +succession. “These,” said the Angel, “have the right sort of spectacles +to see ‘the things which belong unto their peace,’ but there is wanting +in their ointment one of the most necessary ingredients, namely, perfect +love. People come hither for various reasons; some out of respect to +their elders, some from ignorance, and many for worldly gain. One would +think, looking at their faces, that they are on the point of choking, but +they will swallow frogs sooner than starve; for so does Princess +Hypocrisy teach those meeting in barns. + +“Pray tell,” said I, “where may the Church of England be?” “Oh, it is +yonder in the upper city, forming a large part of the Catholic Church, +but there are in this city a few probationary churches belonging to the +Church of England, where the Welsh and English stay for a time on +probation, so that they may become fit to have their names enrolled as +members of the Catholic Church, and ever blessed be he who shall have his +name so enrolled. Yet, more’s the pity, there are but few who befit +themselves for its citizenship. For too many, instead of looking +thitherwards, allow themselves to be blinded by the three princesses down +below; Hypocrisy too, keeps many with one eye on the upper city and the +other on the lower; yea, Hypocrisy is clever enough to beguile many who +have withstood the other enchantresses. Enter here, and thou shalt see +more,” he said, and snatched me up into the roodloft in one of the Welsh +churches, when the people were at service; there we saw some busily +whispering, some laughing, some staring at pretty women, others prying +their neighbour’s dress from top to toe; others, in eagerness for the +position due to their rank, keep shoving forward and showing their teeth +at one another, others dozing, others assiduous at their devotions, and +many of these too, dissimulating. “Thou hast not yet seen, nay, not even +among infidels shamelessness so barefaced and public as this,” said the +Angel, “but so it is, I am sorry to say, there is no worse corruption +than the corruption of the best.” {28a} Then they went to communion, and +everybody appeared fairly reverent before the altar; yet through my +friend’s glass I could see one taking unto himself with the bread the +form of a mastiff, another, that of a mole, another, that of an eagle, a +pig or a winged serpent, and a few, ah, how few, received a ray of bright +light with the bread and wine. “There,” he pointed out, “is a Roundhead, +who is going to be sheriff, and because the law calls upon a man to +receive the sacrament in the Church before taking office he has come here +rather than lose it, and although there are some here who rejoice on +seeing him, we have felt no joy at his conversion, because he has only +become converted for the occasion. Thus thou perceivest that Hypocrisy, +with exceeding boldness, approaches the altar in the presence of the God +that cannot be deceived. But though she wields great power in the City +of Destruction, she is of no avail in the City of Emmanuel beyond those +ramparts.” + +Upon that we turned our faces from the great City of Destruction and +ascended towards the other city, which was considerably less; and on our +way we met several at the upper end of the streets who had made a move as +of turning away from the temptations of the gates of Destruction, and +making for the gate of life. But they either failed to find it or grew +weary on the way; very few went through—one man of rueful countenance, +ran in earnest while crowds on all sides derided him, some mocking, {28b} +some threatening him, and his kindred clinging to him, begging him not to +condemn himself to lose the whole world at one stroke. “I lose but a +small portion of it, and were I to lose all, what loss, I pray you, would +it be? For what is there in the world to be desired, unless it be +deceit, oppression and squalor, wickedness, folly and madness? +Contentment and rest is man’s supreme happiness—this is not to be found +in your city. For who of you is content? {29} ‘Higher, higher,’ is the +aim of all in the Street of Pride, ‘More, more’ cry all that dwell in the +Street of Lucre, ‘Sweet, sweet, yet more’ is the voice of everybody in +the Street of Pleasure. And as for rest, where is it, and who hath +obtained it? If a man is of high degree, adulation and envy almost kill +him; if poor, everybody is ready to trample and despise him. If one +would prosper, he must set his mind upon being an intriguer; if one would +gain respect, let him be a boaster or braggart; if one would be godly, +and attend church and approach the altar, he is dubbed a hypocrite, if he +abstain from doing so, he becomes at once an antichrist or a heretic; if +he is light-hearted, he is called a scoffer, if silent, a morose cur; if +he practises honesty, he is but a good-for-nothing fool; if well dressed, +he is proud, if not, he is a pig; if gentle of speech, he is double-faced +and a rogue, whom none can fathom; if rough, he is an arrogant and +froward devil. This is the world you make so much of, and pray you take +my share of it and welcome,” and at the word he shook himself free of +them all, and away he sped boldly to the narrow gate, and spite of all, +pushing onwards he entered, and we too at his heels. Upon the +battlements on either side of the gate were many men dressed in black, +encouraging the man and applauding him. “Who are those in black up +yonder?” I asked. “They are the watchmen of King Emmanuel,” answered he, +“who in their sovereign’s name invite men hither and help them through +the gate.” + +By this we were at the gate: it was very low and narrow, and mean, +compared with the lower gates; around the door the Ten Commandments were +graven—the first table on the right hand and above it, “Thou shalt love +God with all thy heart,” and above the other table on the left, “Thou +shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” and above the whole “Love not the +world neither the things that are in the world.” I had not been looking +on long before the watchmen began calling in a loud voice upon the +condemned men: “Flee, flee for your lives!” But it was few that gave any +heed at all to them, though some enquired, “What are we to flee from?” +“From the prince of this world, who ruleth in the children of +disobedience; from the corruption that is in the world through the lust +of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; from the +wrath that is coming upon you.” “What is your beloved city?” cried a +watchman, “but a huge charred roof over the mouth of hell, and were ye +here ye should see the conflagration beyond your walls ready to burst in +and consume you even unto the bottomless pit.” Some mocked, others, +menacing, bade them have done with their wicked nonsense; yet one here +and there would ask, “Whither shall we flee?” “Hither,” answered the +watchmen, “flee hither to your rightful king, who through us still offers +you reconciliation, if ye return to your allegiance, and leave that rebel +Belial and his bewitching daughters. However fair they appear, it is all +sham; Belial is but a very poor prince at home; he has nought but you as +faggots for the fire and for food, both roast and boiled, and never will +ye suffice him; never will his hunger be appeased or your pain cease. +Who would ever in a moment of madness enter the service of such a +malignant slaughterer, and suffer eternal torments, when he might live +well under a king who is merciful and kind to his subjects, and who hath +never done them aught but good on all sides, and kept them from Belial, +so that in the end he might give to each one a kingdom in the realm of +light. Oh, ye fools, will ye have that terrible foe, whose lips are +parched with thirst for your blood, and reject the compassionate prince +who hath given his own blood to save you?” Yet these reasons which would +melt the rock seemed to have no good effect upon them, and chiefly +because few had the time to listen to them, the others were too intently +gazing at the gates; and of those listening, very few reflected thereon, +and of these again, many soon forgot them; some would not believe they +served Belial, others would not have it that this untrodden little hole +was the gate of Life, and that the other bright portals, and this castle, +were a delusion to prevent them seeing their doom before coming face to +face with it. + +Just then, behold a troop of people from the Street of Pride, knocking +boldly enough at the gate; but they were all so stiff-necked that they +could never enter a place so low without soiling their periwigs and +horns, so they sulkily retraced their steps. In their wake there came up +a group from the Street of Lucre: “And is this the Gate of Life?” asked +one; “Yea,” said the watchman overhead. “What must be done to enter?” he +enquired. “Read what is inscribed above the doorway and ye shall know.” +The miser read the Ten Commandments through: “Who will say that I have +broken one of these?” he exclaimed. But when he looked up, and saw the +words, “Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world,” he was +amazed, and could not swallow that hard saying. There was one, +green-eyed and envious, who turned back when he read: “Thou shalt love +thy neighbour as thyself.” There was a gossip and a slanderer who became +dazed on reading: “Thou shalt not bear false witness.” When he read, +“Thou shalt not kill,” “This is not the place for me” quoth the +physician. In short, everybody saw something which troubled him, and so +they all returned together to consider the matter. I saw no one yet come +back who had conned his lesson; they had so many bags and scripts tightly +bound to them, that they could never have got through such a narrow +needle’s eye, even if they had tried to. After that a drove from the +Street of Pleasure walked up to the gate. “Where, pray, does this road +lead to?” asked one of the watchmen. “This,” answered he, “is the way +that leads to eternal joy and happiness.” Whereupon all strove to enter, +but failed, for some were too stout to pass through such a strait +opening; others too weak to struggle, being enfeebled through debauchery. +“Oh, ye must not attempt to take your baubles with you,” said the +watchman, observing them; “ye must leave behind your pots and dishes, +your minions, and all other things, and then hasten on.” “How shall we +live?” asked the fiddler, who would have been through long since but that +he feared to smash his fiddle. “Ye must trust the king’s promise to send +after you as many of these things as will do you good,” said the +watchman. This made them all prick their ears, “Oh, oh!” said one, “a +bird in hand is worth two in the bush,” and at that they with one accord +turned back. + +“Let us enter then,” said the Angel, and drew me in; and there in the +porch I first of all perceived a large baptismal font, and hard by, a +well of salt water. “What is this doing in the middle of the road?” I +asked. “Because everybody must wash therein before obtaining citizenship +in the Court of Emmanuel; it is called the well of repentance.” Overhead +I could see inscribed “This is the gate of the Lord.” The gateway, and +street also, widened and became less steep as we went on, and after +proceeding a short distance I heard a voice behind me slowly saying, +“That is the way, walk ye in it.” The street trended upwards, but was +very clean and straight, and though the houses there were not so lofty as +those in the City of Destruction, they were fairer to behold; if there +was less wealth, there was also less dissension and care; if the choice +dishes were fewer, pain was more rare; if there was less turmoil, there +was less grief and more undoubtedly of true joy. I wondered at the +silence and sweet tranquility there, when thinking of what was going on +below. Instead of the cursing and swearing, the scoffing, debauchery and +drunkenness, instead of the pride and vanity, the torpitude of one +quarter and the violence of another, yea, for all the bustle and the +pomp, the hurly-burly and the brawl which there unceasingly bewildered +men, and for the innumerable and unvarying sins, there was nothing to be +seen here but sobriety, kindness and cheerfulness, peace and +thankfulness, compassion, innocence and contentment stamped upon the face +of every man, except where one or two silently wept, grieving that they +had tarried so long in the enemy’s city. There was no hatred or anger, +except towards sin, and this was certain to be overcome; no fear, but of +displeasing their king, who was more ready to be reconciled than to be +angry with his subjects; no sound, but that of psalms of praise to their +Saviour. By this we had come in sight of an exceedingly fine building, +oh, so magnificent! No one in the City of Destruction, neither the Turk +nor the Mogul nor any one else, has anything equal to it. “This is the +Catholic Church,” said the Angel. “Is it here Emmanuel holds his court?” +asked I. “Yes, this is the only royal court he has on earth.” “Are +there many crowned heads beneath his sway?” “A few—thy queen, some of +the princes of Scandinavia and Germany, and a few other petty princes.” +“What is that compared with those over whom great Belial rules—emperors +and kings without number?” “For all that,” said the Angel, “not one of +them can move a finger without Emmanuel’s permission—no, not even Belial +himself. For Emmanuel is his rightful liege too, only that he rebelled, +and was in consequence bound in chains to all eternity; although he is +still allowed for a short period to visit the City of Destruction where +he entices all he can into like rebellion, and to bear a share of his +punishment; and though he well knows that by so doing he increases his +own penalty, {34} yet malice and envy urge him on whenever he has a +pretext, and so much does he love evil that he seeks to destroy this city +and this edifice, although he knows of yore that its Saviour is +invincible.” + +“Prithee, my lord,” said I, “may we approach so as to obtain a better +view of this magnificent royal court” (for my heart waxed warm towards +the place since first I had beheld it). “Oh yes, easily,” answered the +Angel, “for therein is my place, my duty and my work.” The nearer I came +thereto the more I wondered at the height, strength, splendour, grandeur, +and beauty of its every part, how skilful the work was, and how apt the +materials. Its base was an enormous rock wondrously fashioned, and of +strength impregnable; upon it were living stones, laid and joined in such +perfect order that no stone could possibly appear finer elsewhere than in +its own place. One part of the church projected in the form of a +wonderfully handsome cross, and the Angel saw me looking at it, and said, +“Dost thou recognise that part?” I knew not what to answer. “That is +the Church of England,” he said. I was somewhat startled, and looking up +beheld Queen Anne on the church-top enthroned, with a sword in each +hand—the one in the left called “Justice,” to defend her subjects against +the inhabitants of the City of Destruction, the one in the right, to +preserve them from Belial and his spiritual evils, and this was called +“the sword of the Spirit,” or the Word of God. Beneath the left sword +lay the statute book of England, and beneath the other, a big Bible. The +sword of the Spirit was fiery, and of immense length, and would kill +further away than the other would touch. I could see the other princes +with like arms defending their part of the church, but I deemed mine own +queen fairest of all, and her arms the brightest. At her right hand I +observed throngs clad in black—archbishops, bishops, and learned men +upholding with her the sword of the Spirit, while soldiers and officials, +with a few lawyers, supported the other sword. I was allowed to rest +awhile, by one of the magnificent doors where people came in to obtain +membership in the Universal Church, and whereat a tall angel was +doorkeeper. The interior of the church was lit up so brilliantly that +Hypocrisy dared not show her face therein, and though sometimes she +appeared at the threshold she never entered. Just as I saw, in the space +of a quarter of an hour, a Papist, who thought that the Catholic Church +belonged to the Pope, came and claimed its freedom. “What have you to +prove your right?” demanded the porter. “I have plenty of the traditions +of the fathers, and of councils of the church,” he answered, “but what +need I more certain than the word of the Pope, who sits in the infallible +chair?” Then the doorkeeper opened a huge Bible—a load in itself; +“This,” said he, “is our only statute book—prove your right from this or +go.” And he straightway departed. + +Then came a flock of Quakers, who wished to enter with their hats on, but +were turned away for being so ill-mannered. After them some of the +barn-folk, who had been there only a short while, began to speak: “We +have the same statute book as ye have,” they averred, “and therefore show +us our privileged place.” “Stay,” said the bright porter, steadfastly +gazing on their foreheads, “I will show you something: see yon mark of +the rent ye made in the church when leaving it without cause or reason? +And would ye now have a place therein? Get ye back to the narrow gate, +and wash thoroughly in the well of repentance, to see if ye will reach +some of the royal blood ye erstwhile drank {36} and bring some of the +water of that well to moisten the clay, so as to make up yonder rent and +then ye are welcome.” + +Before we had gone a rood westward I heard a noise coming from above, +from among the princes, and everybody, great and small, was taking up +arms and donning his armour as if for war, and ere I had time to cast +about me for a refuge, the whole sky became black, and the city darker +than when an eclipse befalls; the thunder roared, the lightning flashed +to and fro, and ceaseless showers of deadly shafts were directed from the +lower gates against the Catholic Church, and had there not been in each +man’s hand a shield to receive the fiery darts, and had the foundation +rock not been so strong that nothing could ever harm it, we all would +have become one burning mass. But alack, this was but a prologue or +foretaste of what was to follow; for suddenly the darkness became +sevenfold more intense, and Belial himself advanced in the densest cloud, +and around him his chief officers both earthly and infernal, ready to +receive and accomplish his behest at their several posts. He had +entrusted the Pope and his other son of France {37} with the destruction +of the Church of England and its queen; the Turks and Muscovites were to +strike at the other sections of the Church, and slay the people, and +especially the queen and the other princes, and above all to burn the +Bible. The first thing the queen and the other saints did was to bend +the knee and tell of their wrongs to the King of Kings in these words: +“The stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, oh +Emmanuel.” And immediately a voice replied: “Resist the devil and he +will flee from you.” And then commenced the greatest and most terrible +conflict that ever took place on earth. When the sword of the Spirit +began to be whirled round, Belial and his infernal hosts began to +retreat; then the Pope began to waver, while the King of France still +held out, though he too was almost giving up heart, seeing the queen and +her subjects so united, while he himself was losing ships and men on the +one hand, and on the other many of his subjects were in open revolt; and +the onslaught of the Turk also was becoming less fierce. Just then, +woe’s me, I saw my beloved companion shooting away from me into the +welkin to join a myriad other bright princes. Thereupon the Pope and the +other earthly commanders began to slink off and become prostrate through +fear, and the infernal princes to fall by the thousands. The noise of +each one falling seemed to me as if a great mountain fell into the depths +of the sea, and between this noise and the agitation on losing my friend, +I awoke from sleep, and returned to this oppressive sod, most +unwillingly, so pleasant and enjoyable it was to be a free spirit, and +above all to be in such company, notwithstanding the great danger I was +in. Now I had no one to comfort me save the Muse, and she was rather +moody—scarcely could I get her to bray out these lines that follow:— + + Behold this wondrous edifice, + Both heaven and earth comprising, + The universe and all that is + At God’s command arising— + This world, with ramparts wide from pole to pole, + Down from its starry, brilliant dome, + E’en to the depths where angry billows roll, + And beasts that through the forest roam— + All things that sea and sky afford, + Thy faithful subjects eke to be; + A lesser heaven, a home for thee + Oh! man, creation’s lord. + + But once that thou desired to know + The ways of sin, seductive, + The hellish tempter, to our woe, + Became a power destructive; + He cursed our earth and ruin brought on all, + Yea, very nature felt the bane— + Its blighted walls now totter to their fall, + And soon disorder rules again. + This earthly palace then at last, + Unroofed, dismantled and decayed, + A hideous, barren waste is laid + By desolation’s blast. + + Behold oh, man! this glorious place + In the empyrean hovering + While all is but a treach’rous face + Foul swamps and quagmires covering. + Thy sin, that whelmed this earth in days of yore, + Shall draw upon it quenchless fire + With flaming torrents wildly rushing o’er— + A prey to conflagration dire; + If thou wouldst ’scape this dreadful fate, + I pray thee counsel take from me, + To Mercy’s city straightway flee + For life within its gate. + + Behold that city’s peerless might + Withstanding all oppression— + Then flee thereto in thy sad plight, + Be free from sin’s possession. + Behold thy refuge in this dreary land + Where all may find true, peaceful rest, + A rock, impregnable on every hand, + Where perfect love reigns ever blest; + We sinful men, the way must search, + And there in faith for pardon pray, + And live a blissful, tranquil day + Within the Holy Church. + + + +II.—THE VISION OF DEATH IN HIS NETHERMOST COURT. + + +One long, cold, and dark winter’s night, when one-eye’d Phœbus well nigh +had reached his utmost limit in the south and, from afar, lowered upon +Great Britain and all the Northern land, and when it was much warmer in +the kitchen of Glyn Cywarch {43a} than at the top of Cader Idris, and +better in a cosy room with a warm bedfellow than in a shroud in the +lychgate, I was meditating upon a talk I had had by the fireside with a +neighbour concerning the brevity of human life, and how certain it was +that death would come to all, and yet how uncertain its coming. Thus +engaged, I had just lain down, and was half-asleep, when I felt a heavy +weight stealthily creeping over me, from head to heel, so that I could +not move a finger—my tongue only was unbound. I perceived, methought, a +man upon my chest, and above him, a woman. After eyeing him carefully I +recognised by his strong odours, dewy locks and blear eyes, that the man +was no other than my good Master Sleep. “I pray you, sir,” cried I, +squeaking, “what have I done to you that you bring that witch here to +torment me?” “Hush,” said he, “it is only my sister Nightmare; we twain +are going to pay our brother Death {43b} a visit, and want a third to +accompany us, and lest thou shouldst resist we came upon thee, just as he +does, unawares. Consequently come thou must, willy-nilly.” “Alas,” I +cried, “must I die?” “Nay,” said Nightmare, “we will spare thee this +time.” “But an’t please you,” said I, “your brother Death has never +spared anyone yet who came beneath his stroke—he who wrestled with the +Lord of Life himself, though it was little he gained by that contest.” +Nightmare, at that word, rose up angrily and departed. “Come along,” +cried Sleep, “thou wilt never repent of thy journey.” “Well,” said I, +“may there never be night in Sleepton, and may Nightmare never have rest +save on an awl’s point if ye bring me not back where ye found me.” + +Then away we went over hills and through forests, across seas and +valleys, over castles and towers, rivers and rocks, and where should we +alight but at one of the gates of the daughters of Belial, at the rear of +the City of Destruction, where I noticed that the three gateways of +Destruction contracted into one at the back, and opened upon the same +place—a murky, vaporous, pestilent place, full of noisome mists, and +terrible lowering clouds. “Prithee, good sir,” asked I, “what place be +this?” “The chambers of Death,” replied Sleep. And no sooner had I +asked than I could hear some wailing, groaning, and sighing; some +deliriously muttering to themselves or feebly moaning, others in great +travail, and with all the signs of man’s departure from life; and, now +and then, would one give a long-drawn gasp, and lapse into silence. At +that moment, I heard a key being turned in a lock, and at the noise I +looked around for the door, and gazing steadfastly, perceived thousands +upon thousands of doors, seemingly afar off but really close at hand. +“Please, Master Sleep, where do these doors open upon?” asked I. “Upon +the land of Oblivion,” was the answer, “an extensive domain {44} under +the sceptre of my brother Death, and this great rampart is the boundary +of vast Eternity.” By this I could see that there was a little death-imp +at every door, each one bearing arms, and a name different from that of +his fellows; though it was evident that they, one and all, were the +ministers of the same king. Nevertheless they were continually +quarrelling about the sick; one would snatch the patient to take him as a +gift through his own door, while another strove to take him through his. + +On our approach, I observed that over each door the name of the Death who +kept it was written, and also that at each door were an hundred various +things left all of a heap, showing plainly that those who went through +were in haste. Over one door I saw “Hunger,” and yet on the floor close +by were full purses, and bags, and brass-nailed trunks. “This is the +Porch of Misers,” said Sleep. “Whom do those rags belong to?” “To the +misers, mostly,” he replied, “but there are some which belong to idlers, +gossipmongers and others, who, poor in everything except in spirit, +preferred to die of hunger rather than ask for help.” Next door was +Death-by-Cold, and when I came opposite him I could hear much shuddering +and shivering, and at his door, were many books, pots and flagons, a few +sticks and bludgeons, compasses, cords and ship’s tackle. “Scholars have +gone this way,” said I. “Yea, lonely and helpless, far from the succour +of those who loved them, their very garments stolen from them. Those,” +he continued, pointing to the pots, “are relics of the boon companions, +whose feet were benumbed under the benches, while their heads were +seething in drink and noise; those things over there belonged to those +who journeyed amid snow-clad mountains, and to North Sea traders.” The +next was a lanky skeleton called Fear-Death—so transparent you could see +he had no heart; at his door, too, there were bags and chests, bars and +strongholds. Through this one went userers and traitors, oppressors and +murderers, though many of these last called at the next door, at which +was a Death named Gallows, with a rope ready round his neck. Next to him +was Love-Death, and at his feet thousands of musical instruments and +song-books, love-letters, spots and pigments to beautify the face, and +hundreds of tinselled toys for the same purpose, together with a few +swords: “With these rivals have fought duels for their mistresses, and +some have killed themselves,” said Sleep. I could see that this Death +was sandblind. At the next door was a Death whose colour was worst of +all, and whose liver was entirely gone—his name was Envy. “This is the +Death,” said Sleep, “which brings hither those who have lost money, +slanderers, and a rideress or two, who are jealous of the law which +demands that a wife should submit herself unto her husband.” “Pray, sir, +what is a rideress?” “A rideress is a woman who will over-ride her +husband, her neighbourhood, and the whole country if she can, and by dint +of long riding, at last, rides a devil from that door down to the +bottomless pit.” Next was the door of Ambition-Death for those who hold +their heads high, and break their necks, for want of looking on the +ground they tread on; at this door lay crowns, sceptres, standards, +petitions for offices, and all manner of arms of heraldry and war. + +But before I had time to notice any more of these innumerable doors, I +heard a voice bidding me by name to be dissolved, and at the word I felt +myself beginning to melt like a snowball in the heat of the sun; then my +master gave me a sleeping draught, so that I slumbered; and when I awoke, +he had taken me by some road or other far away on the other side of the +castle. I perceived myself in a pitch-dark vale of infinite radius, +methought, and shortly, I saw by a few bluish lights, like the flickering +flame of a candle, countless, ah! countless shades of men, some afoot and +some on horseback, rushing back and fro like the wind, in awful silence +and solemnity; the land was barren, bleak and blasted, without either +grass or hay, trees or animals, save deadly beasts and poisonous vermin +of every kind—serpents, snakes, lice, frogs, worms, locusts, gids and all +such that exist on man’s corruption. Through a myriad shades and +reptiles, graves, churchyards and tombs, we made our way to view the land +unmolested, until I happened to see some turning round and looking at me; +in an instant, notwithstanding the prevailing silence, a whisper passed +from one to another that there was a man from earth there. “A man from +earth!” cried one, “a man from earth,” exclaimed another, while they +crowded round me, like caterpillars, from every quarter. “Which way came +you, sirrah?” asked a morkin of a death-imp. “Indeed, sir,” said I, “I +know not any more than you do.” “What is your name?” he asked. “Call me +here in your own country what ye will, but at home I am called the +Sleeping Bard.” + +At that word I could see an ancient mannikin, bent double, head to feet, +like a bramble, straightening himself, and looking at me more malignantly +than the red devil, and without a word he hurled a big skull at my head, +but, thanks to a sheltering tombstone, missed me. “Truce, sir, I pray +you,” cried I, “to a stranger who was never here before, and will never +come again, could I but once find the way home.” “I’ll make you remember +you’ve been here,” quoth he, and, again setting upon me with a thighbone, +he beat me most unmercifully, while I dodged about as best as I could. +“Ho ho!” I cried, “this country is very unmannerly towards strangers; is +there no justice of the peace here?” “Peace, indeed,” said he, “thou, +surely, hast no right to sue for peace, who disturbest the dead in their +graves.” “Pray, sir, might I know your name, for I wot not that I have +ever molested anyone from this country?” “Sirrah!” cried he, “know then +that I, and not you, am the Sleeping Bard, and have been left in peace +these nine centuries by all but you,” and again he set upon me. +“Withhold, brother,” said Merlin {48a} who stood near, “be not too hasty; +thank him rather for that he hath kept your name in respected memory on +earth.” “In great respect, forsooth,” quoth he, “by such a blockhead as +this. Are you, sirrah, versed in the four and twenty metres? Can you +trace the line of Gog and Magog and of Brutus son of Silvius {48b} down +to a century before the destruction of Troy? Can you prophesy when, and +how the wars between the lion and the eagle, and between the stag and the +red deer will end? Can you?” “Ho there! let me ask him a question,” +said another who stood by a huge seething cauldron, {48c} “draw near, and +tell me the meaning of this:— + + “Upon the face of earth I’ll be + Until the judgment day, + And whether I be fish or flesh + No man can ever say.” {48d} + +“I would know your name, sir,” said I, “so that I might the more +befittingly give answer.” “I am Taliesin, Chief of the Western Bards, +{48e} and those are lines from my mystery-song.” “I know not what your +meaning may be, if it be not the yellow plague which destroyed Maelgwn +Gwynedd, {49a} slew you upon the sea, and divided you between the ravens +and fishes.” “Tush, you fool,” cried he, “I was foretelling of my two +callings—as lawyer and poet—and which sayest thou now bears greatest +resemblance, whether a lawyer to a raven, or a poet to a whale? How many +will a single lawyer lay bare of flesh to swell his own paunch, and oh! +so callously doth he shed blood and leave the man half dead! The poet, +too, what fish can gulp as much as he? And though he hath always a sea +round him, not all the ocean can quench his thirst. And when a man is +both a poet and a lawyer, who can tell whether he is fish or flesh, and +especially if he be a courtier as well, as I was, and had to change his +taste with every mouth. But tell me, are there many of these folk now on +earth?” “Yes, plenty,” answered I, “if a man can patch together any sort +of metre, straightway he becomes a chaired bard. And of the others, +there is such a plague of barristers, petty lawyers, and clerks that the +locusts of Egypt preyed less heavily on the country than they. In your +time, sir, there were only roadside bargains and a hands-breadth of +writing on the purchase of a hundred pound farm, and a cairn or an +Arthur’s quoit {49b} raised as a memorial of the purchase and boundaries. +People have not the courage to do so nowadays, but more cunning, knavery, +and written parchment, wide as a cromlech, is necessary to bind the +bargain, and for all that it would be strange if no flaw existed or were +contrived therein.” “Well, well,” said Taliesin, “I would not be worth a +straw there, I may as well be here; truth will never be found where there +are many bards, nor justice where many lawyers, until health be found +where there be many doctors.” + +Upon this a grey-haired, writhled shrimp, who had heard of the presence +of an earthly man, came and fell at my feet, weeping profusely. “Alack, +poor fellow,” cried I, “what art thou?” “One who suffers too much wrong +on earth day by day,” he replied, “and your soul must obtain me justice.” +“What is thy name?” I enquired. “I am called Someone,” was the answer, +“and there is no love-message, slander, lie, or tale to breed quarrels, +but that I am blamed for most of them. ‘In sooth,’ said one, ‘she is an +excellent wench, and has spoken highly of you to Someone, although +someone great was seeking her.’ ‘I heard Someone,’ said another, +‘reckoning a debt of nine hundred pounds on such and such an estate.’ ‘I +saw Someone yesterday,’ said the beggar, ‘with a mottled neckerchief, +like a sailor, who had come with a grain vessel to the next port;’ and so +every rag and tag mauls me to suit his own evil purpose. Some call me +‘Friend.’ ‘A friend told me,’ saith one, ‘that so and so does not intend +leaving a single farthing to his wife, and that there is no love lost +between them.’ Others further disgrace me and call me a crow: ‘a crow +tell me there is some trickery going on,’ they say. Yea, some call me by +a more honoured name—Old Man, and yet not a half of the omens, +prophecies, and cures attributed to me are really mine. I never +counselled walking the old way if the new were better, and I never +intended forbidding men to church by saying: ‘Frequent not the place +where thou art most welcome,’ and a hundred such. But Someone is the +name generally given me, and most often heard of when anything uncommonly +bad happens; for if you ask one where that scandalous lie was told and +who told it. ‘Indeed,’ he will say, ‘I know not, but Someone in the +company said it,’ and if you enquire of all the company concerning the +story, all have heard it of Someone, but no one knows of whom. Is it not +a shameful wrong?” he cried, “I beg of you to inform everybody who names +me that I uttered nought of such things. I never invented or repeated a +lie to disgrace anyone, nor a single tale to cause kinsmen to fly at each +other’s throats; I do not come near them; I know nothing of their +scandal, or business, or accursed secrets—they must not charge me with +their evils, but their own corrupt brains.” + +Hereupon a little Death, one of the King’s secretaries, asked me my name, +and bade Master Sleep carry me at once into the King’s presence. I had +to go, though most unwilling, by reason of the power that took me up like +a whirlwind, ’twixt high and low, thousands of miles back on our left, +till we came, a second time, in sight of the boundary wall, and in an +enclosed corner we could see a vast palace, roofless and in ruins, +extending to the wall wherein were the countless doors, all of which led +to this terrible court. Its walls were built of human skulls with +hideous, grinning teeth; the clay was black with mingled tears and sweat, +the lime ruddy with gore. On the summit of each tower stood a Deathling, +with a quivering heart on the point of his shaft. Around the court were +a few trees—a poisonous yew or twain, or a deadly cypress, and in these +owls, ravens, vampires and the like, make their nests, and cry +unceasingly for flesh, although the whole place is but one vast, putrid +shamble. The pillars of the hall were made of thighbones, and those of +the parlour of shinbones, while the floors were formed of layer upon +layer of all manner of charnel. + +I had not to wait a longwhile ere I came in view of a tremendous altar, +where we could see the King of Terrors devouring human flesh and blood, +while a thousand impish deaths, from every hole, were continually feeding +him with warm, fresh meat. “Here is a rogue,” said the Death that led me +thither, “whom I found in the midst of the land of Oblivion, having +approached so light-footed that your majesty never tasted a bite of him,” +“How can that be?” demanded the king, opening his jaws, wide as a chasm, +to swallow me. Whereupon I turned trembling to Sleep. “It was I who +brought him hither,” said he. “Well then, for my brother Sleep’s sake,” +said the awful and lanky monarch, “you can retrace your steps for the +nonce; but beware of me the next time.” Having been for some time +cramming his gluttonous maw with carrion, he caused his subjects to be +called together, and moved from the altar to a very lofty and dreadful +throne, to adjudge newly-arrived prisoners. In an instant, lo! the dead +in countless multitudes paid homage to the king, and took their places in +wonderful array. King Death was in his regal robe of brilliant scarlet, +whereon depicted were wives and children weeping and husbands sighing; on +his head a dark-red, three-cornered cap, a gift his cousin Lucifer had +sent him, on the corners of which were written Grief, Sorrow, and Woe. +Above his head were a myriad pictures of battles on land and sea, of +towns aflame, of the earth yawning, and of the waters of the deluge; the +ground beneath his feet was nought else than the crowns and sceptres of +all the kings he had ever conquered. At his right hand sat Fate with a +morose and scowling visage, reading an enormous tome that lay before him; +at his left, was an old man called Time, warping innumerable threads of +gold, silver, copper, and many of iron—some threads were growing better +towards the end, a myriad worse; along the threads were marked hours, +days and years, and Fate, at his book, cut the thread of life and opened +the doors in the boundary wall between the two worlds. + +I had not been looking about me long, when I heard four fiddlers, just +dead, summoned to the bar. “How is it,” asked the King of Terrors, “that +ye, who are so found of joy, did not stay on yonder side of the chasm? +For on this side joy never existed.” “We have done no man ever any +hurt,” said one of the minstrels, “but on the contrary have made them +merry, and quietly took whatever was given us for our pains.” “Have ye +caused no one,” said Death, “to lose time from his work, or to absent +himself from church, eh?” “No,” replied another, “unless we were some +Sundays after service in an inn till the morrow, or in summer time on the +village green, and indeed we had a better and more beloved congregation +than the parson.” “Away, with them to the land of Oblivion,” cried the +terrible king, “bind the four, back to back, and pitch them to their +partners, to dance barefoot on glowing hearths, and scrape their fiddles +for ever without praise or pay.” + +The next to come to the bar was a king from near Rome. “Raise thy hand, +caitiff,” bade one of the officers. “I hope,” said he, “ye have somewhat +better manners and favor for a king.” “Sirrah, you too,” said Death, +“ought to have kept on the other side of the gulf where everybody is +king; but know that, on this side, there are none besides myself and +another, who dwelleth down below, and you shall see that that king and +myself will set no value upon the degree of your greatness, but rather +upon the degree of your wickedness, and so make your punishment +proportionate to your crimes; therefore give answer to the questions.” +“Sir, allow me to tell you that you have no authority to arrest and +examine me,” said he, “I hold a pardon under the Pope’s own hand for all +my sins. Because I served him faithfully, he gave me a dispensation to +go straight to Paradise, without a moment’s stay in Purgatory.” At that +the king, and all the lean jaws, gave a dismal grin in imitation of +laughter, and the other, angered at their laughing, ordered them to show +him the way. “Silence, lost fool!” cried Death, “Purgatory lies behind +thee, on the other side of the wall, for it was in life thou hadst ought +to have purified thyself, and Paradise is on the right, beyond that +chasm. Now there is no way of escape for thee, neither across this abyss +to Paradise, nor through the boundary wall back to earth; for wert thou +to give thy kingdom—though thou hast not a ha’penny to give—the warder of +those doors would not let thee look once, even through the keyhole. This +is called the irremeable wall, for once it is passed there is no hope of +return. But since you are so high in the Pope’s favor, {54} you shall go +and get his bed ready with his predecessor, and there you may kiss his +toe for ever, and he, the toe of Lucifer.” At the word, four death-imps +raised him up, now trembling like an aspen leaf, and snatched him away +out of sight, with the speed of lightning. + +Next after him, came a man and woman; he had been a boon companion, and +she a kind and lavish maid, but there they were called by their plain, +unvarnished names, a drunkard and a harlot. “I hope,” said the drunkard, +“I may obtain some favor in your eyes, for I despatched hither on a flood +of good ale many a fatted prey, and when I failed to slay others, I +willingly came myself to feed you.” “By the court’s leave,” said the +minion, “not half so many as I have despatched to you as a burnt offering +ready for table.” “Ha, ha,” exclaimed Death, “it was to feed your own +accursed lusts, and not me, that all this was done. Let them be bound +together and hurled into the land of darkness.” And so they too were +hurried away headlong. + +Next to them came seven recorders, who, on being bidden to raise their +hands {55} to the bar, pretended not to hear the command, for their palms +were so thickly greased. One of them, bolder than the rest, began to +argue, “We ought to have had fair citation, in order to prepare our +reply, instead of being attacked unawares.” “Oh, we are not bound to +give you any particular notice,” said Death, “because ye have, +everywhere, and everywhile throughout your lives, warning of my advent. +How many sermons on the mortality of man have ye heard? How many books, +how many graves, knells and fevers, how many messages and signs, have ye +seen? What is your Sleep but my brother? Your heads but my image? Your +daily food but dead creatures? Seek not to lay the blame of your ill hap +on my shoulders—ye would not hear of the summons, although ye had it an +hundred times.” “Pray what have you against us?” asked one ruddy +recorder. “What indeed?” exclaimed Death, “the drinking the sweat and +blood of the poor, and the doubling your fees.” “Here is an honest man,” +he said, pointing to a wrangler behind them, “who knows I never did aught +but what was fair, and it is not fair in you to detain us here, seeing +you have no specific charge to prove against us.” “Ha, ha!” cried Death, +“ye shall bring proof against yourselves; place them on the verge of the +precipice before the throne of Justice; there they will obtain justice, +though they practised it not.” + +There were yet seven other prisoners, who kept up such commotion and +clamour—some blandishing, gnashing the teeth and uttering threats, others +giving advice and so on. Scarcely had they been summoned to the bar than +the whole court darkened sevenfold more hideously than before, a +murmuring and great confusion arose around the throne, and Death became +more livid than ever. Upon enquiry it seemed that one of Lucifer’s +envoys had arrived, bearing a letter to Death, concerning these seven +prisoners; and shortly, Fate called for silence to read the letter which, +as far as I can recollect, was as follows:— + + “LUCIFER, _King of the Kings of Earth_, _Prince of Perdition and + Archruler of the Deep_, _To our natural son_, _mightiest and most + terrible King Death_, _greeting_, _wishing you supremacy and booty + without end_: + + “Whereas some of our swift messengers, who are always out espying, + have informed us that there lately came into your royal court seven + prisoners of the seven most worthless and dangerous species in the + world, and that you are about to hurl them over the precipice into my + realm: our advice is, that you endeavour, by every possible way, to + let them return to the earth; there they will be more serviceable—to + you, in the matter of food, to me, for supplying better company. We + had too much trouble with their partners in days gone by, and our + kingdom is, even now, unsettled. Wherefore, turn them back or retain + them yourself; for, by the infernal crown, if thou cast them hither, + I will undermine the foundations of thy kingdom, until it fall and + become one with mine own great realm. + + “_From our Court_, _on the miry Swamp in the glowing Evildom_, _in + the year of our reign_, _5425_.” + +King Death, his visage green and livid, stood for a time undecided. But +while he was meditating, Fate turned upon him such a grim frown that he +trembled. “Sire,” said Fate, “consider well what you are about to do. I +dare not allow anyone to repass the bounds of Eternity—the insurmountable +ramparts, nor deign you harbour any here, wherefore, send them on to +their doom, spite of the great Evil One. He has been able to array in a +moment many a haul of a thousand or ten thousand souls, and allot each +one his place, and what difficulty will he have with these seven now, +however dangerous they may be? Whatever happen, even if they overturn +the infernal government, send them thither instantly, lest I be commanded +to crush thee to untimely nothingness. As for his menaces, they are +false, and although thy doom, and that of yon ancient (looking at Time), +are not many pages hence, yet, thou need have no fear of sinking down to +Lucifer, for however glad everybody there would be to have thee, they +never will; for the eternal rocks of steel and adamant, which roof Hell, +are somewhat too firm to be shattered.” Whereupon Death, in great +agitation, called for someone to indite thus his reply:— + + “DEATH, _King of Terrors_, _Conqueror of Conquerors_, _To our most + revered kinsman and neighbour_, _Lucifer_, _Monarch of the Endless + Night_, _and Emperor of the Sheer Vortex_, _Salutation_: + + “After giving earnest thought to this your royal wish, it seemeth to + us more advantageous, not only to our state, but also to your vast + realm, that these prisoners be sent to the furthest point possible + from the portals of the impervious wall, left their putrid odour + should so terrify the entire City of Destruction that no one would + ever enter Eternity from that side of the gulf, and I, in + consequence, would be unable to cool my sting, and you should have no + commerce betwixt earth and hell. But I leave you to judge them, and + to cast them into the cells you deem most secure and befitting. + + “_From our Lower Court in the Great Tollgate of Destruction: from the + year of the restoration of my Kingdom_, _1670_.” + +After hearing all this, I was itching to know what manner of folk these +seven might be, seeing that the devils themselves feared them so much. +But ere long, the Clerk to the Crown calls them by name, as follows: +“Mister Busybody, alias Finger-in-every-pie.” This fellow was so fussily +and busily directing the others, that he had no leisure to answer to his +name until Death threatened to sunder him with his dart. Then, “Mr. +Slanderer, alias Foe-of-Good-Fame,” was called, but no response came. +“He is rather bashful to hear his titles,” said the third, “he can’t +abide the nicknames.” “Have you no titles, I wonder?” asked the +Slanderer, “call Mr. Honey-tongued Swaggerer, alias Smoothgulp, alias +Venomsmile.” “Here,” cried a woman, who was standing near, pointing to +the Swaggerer. “Ha, Madam Huntress!” cried he, “your humble servant; I +am glad to see you well, I never saw a more beautiful woman in breeches, +but woe’s me to think how pitiable is the country, having lost in you +such an unrivalled ruler; and yet, your pleasant company will make hell +itself somewhat better.” “Oh, thou scion of evil,” cried she, “no one +need a worse hell than to be with thee—thou art enough.” Then the crier +called, “Huntress, alias Mistress o’ the Breeches.” “Here,” answered +someone else, she herself not saying a word because they did not “madam” +her. Next was called the Schemer, alias Jack-of-all-Trades. But he, +too, failed to answer, for he was assiduously plotting to escape the Land +of Despair. “Here, here,” cried someone behind him, “here he is spying +for a place to break out of your great court, and unless you be on your +guard, he has a considerable plot against you.” “Then,” said the +Schemer, “Let him also be called, to wit, The Accuser-of-his-Brethren, +alias Faultfinder, alias Complaint-monger.” “Here, here he is,” cried +the Litigious Wrangler—for each one knew the other’s name, but none would +acknowledge his own. “You are also called,” said the Accuser, “Mr. +Litigious Wrangler, alias Cumber-of-Courts.” “Witness, witness, all of +you, what names the knave has given me,” cried the Wrangler. “Ha, ha, +’tis not according to the font, but according to the fault, that +everybody is named in this land,” said Death, “and with your permission, +Mr. Wrangler, these names must stick to you for evermore.” “Indeed,” +quoth the Wrangler, “by the devil, I’ll make it hot for you; although you +may put me to death, you have no right to nickname me. I shall enter a +plaint for this and for false imprisonment, against you and your kinsman +Lucifer, in the Court of Justice.” + +By this I could see the armies of Death in array and armed, looking to +the king for the word of command. Then the king, standing erect on his +throne, spoke as follows: “My terrible and invincible hosts, spare +neither care nor haste to despatch these prisoners out of my territories, +lest they corrupt my country; throw them in bonds headlong over the +hopeless precipice. But as to the eighth, this cumbrous fellow who +menaces me, let him free on the brink beneath the Court of Justice, so +that he may make good his charge against me, if he can.” No sooner had +he sat down than the whole deadly armies surrounded and bound the +prisoners, and led them towards their appointed dwelling. And when I, +having gone out, half-turned to look at them. “Come hither,” cried +Sleep, and flew with me to the top of the loftiest tower on the court; +from whence I saw the prisoners going forth to their everlasting doom. +Before long a sudden whirlwind arose, and drove away the pitch-dark mist +usually hovering over the Land of Oblivion, and in the wan light, I could +see myriads of livid candles, and by their gleam, I obtained a far-off +view of the mouth of the bottomless abyss. But if that was a horrible +sight, overhead was one still more horrible—Justice, on her throne, +guarding the portal of hell, and holding a special tribunal above the +entrance thereto, to pronounce the doom of the damned as they arrive. I +beheld the seven hurled headlong over the terrible verge, and the +Wrangler, too, rushing to throw himself over, lest he should once look on +the Court of Justice, for, alas, the sight thereof was intolerable to +guilty eyes. I was only gazing from a distance, yet I beheld more +dreadful horrors than I can now relate, nor then could endure; for my +spirit so strove and panted through exceeding fear, and struggled so +violently, that all the bonds of Sleep were burst; my soul returned to +its wonted functions, and I rejoiced greatly to perceive myself still +among the living, and resolved to lead a better life, for I would rather +suffer affliction an hundred years in the paths of holiness than, +perforce, take another glance at the horrors of that night. + + 1 Must I leave home and fatherland, + And every charm and pleasure? + Leave honored name and high degree + Enjoyed in life’s brief measure? + + 2 Leave beauty, strength, and wisdom, too, + All won in hard employment,— + All I have learnt, and all I’ve loved, + And all this world’s enjoyment. + + 3 Can I evade the stroke of Death + That rends all ties asunder? + Do not his awful shambles gape + For me to be his plunder? + + 4 Ye gilded men would fain enjoy + The wealth your souls engrossing, + But ye must bow to him and go + The journey of his choosing. + + 5 Ye favored fair, whose lightest word + Has caused ten thousand errors, + Think not your garish, tinselled charms + Can blind the King of Terrors. + + 6 Ye who rejoice in heedless youth + And follow fleeting pleasures, + Know that ye cannot conquer Death + By valor, arts, or treasures. + + 7 Ye who exult in madding song + The giddy dances treading, + Think not that all the mirth of France + Can thwart the fate you’re dreading. + + 8 Ye who have roamed the wide world o’er, + Where have ye found the tower, + With walls and portals strong enough + To check Death’s awful power? + + 9 Statesmen and learned sages, all + Of godlike understanding, + What will your craft and skill avail? + ’Tis Death who is commanding. + + 10 The greatest foes of man are now + The world, the flesh, the devil; + And yet, ere long, we’ll surely find + In Death a greater evil. + + 11 How little now it seems to die— + To gain the suit or lose it? + But when the doom is of thyself + How great thy care to chose it? + + 12 We care, at present, not a jot + Which way our gains may turn us; + Eternal life, howe’er so great, + We think can not concern us. + + 13 But when thou’rt hedged on every side + And Death himself is nearest, + For one brief, ling’ring space we’ll give + Whate’er to us is dearest. + + 14 Think not that thou canst make thy terms + For thine eternal dwelling, + On either side of that dread gulf, + With death thy steps compelling. + + 15 Repentence, faith, and righteousness, + Alone are thy Salvation, + And in the agony of Death + Shall be thy consolation. + + 16 And when the world is passing by, + Its joys and pleasures ending, + Infinite thou wilt deem their worth + When to the bourne descending! + + + +III.—THE VISION OF HELL. + + +One April morning, bright and mild, when earth was with verdure laden, +and Britain, like a paradise, had donned its brilliant livery, +foretelling summer’s sunshine, I sauntered along the banks of the Severn, +while around me, chaunting their sweet carols, the forest’s little +songsters in rivalry poured forth songs of praise to their Maker; and I, +who was far more bounden than they to give praise, at one while lifted up +my voice with the gentle winged choristers, and at another read “_The +Practice of Piety_.” {67} For all that, my previous visions would not +from my mind, but time after time broke in upon every other thought. +They continued to trouble me until after careful reasoning I concluded +that every vision is a heaven-sent warning against sin, and that +therefore it was my duty to write them down as a warning to others also. +And whilst occupied with this work, and sadly endeavouring to recall some +of those awful memories, there fell upon me at my task such drowsiness +that soon opened the way for Master Sleep to glide in perforce. No +sooner had sleep taken possession of my senses than there drew nigh unto +me a glorious apparition upon the form of a young man, tall and exceeding +fair; his raiments were whiter sevenfold than snow, the brightness of his +face darkened the sun, his wavy, golden locks rested on his brow in two +shining coronal wreaths. “Come with me, thou mortal being,” he +exclaimed, when he had drawn near. “Who art thou, Lord?” said I. “I am +the Angel of the realms of the North,” answered he, “guardian of Britain +and its queen. I am one of the princes who stand below the throne of the +Lamb, receiving his commands to protect the Gospel against all its +enemies in Hell, in Rome and in France, in Constantinople, in Africa and +in India, and wherever else they may be, devising plans for its +destruction. I am the Angel who saved thee beneath the Castle of Belial, +and who showed thee the vanity and madness of all the earth, the City of +Destruction and the splendor of Emmanuel’s City; and again have I come at +his bidding to show thee greater things, because thou art seeking to make +good use of what thou hast seen erstwhile.” “How can it be, Lord,” asked +I, “that your glorious highness, guardian of kings and kingdoms, does +condescend to associate with carrion such as I?” “Ah,” said he, “in our +sight a beggar’s virtue is more than a king’s majesty. What if I am +greater than all the kings of earth, and supreme to many of the countless +lords of heaven? Yet, since our eternal Sovereign vouchsafed to take +upon Himself such unutterable humiliation—put on one of your bodies, +lived in your midst, and died to save you, how dare I deem it otherwise +than too sublime for my office to serve thee and the meanest of men, who +are so high in my Master’s favor? Hence, spirit, cast off thine earthy +mould!” he cried, gazing upwards: and at the word, I beheld him fall free +of all bodily form, and snatch me up to the vault of heaven, through the +region of thunder and lightning, and all the glowing armouries of the +empyrean; higher, immeasureably higher than I had previously been with +him, and where the earth appeared scarcely wider than a stack-yard. +Having allowed me to rest awhile, he hurried me upwards a myriad miles, +until the sun appeared far beneath us; through the milky way, past +Pleiades, and many other stars of appalling magnitude, catching a distant +glimpse of other worlds. And after journeying for a long time, we come +at last to the confines of the great eternity, in sight of the two courts +of the vauntful King of Death—one to the right, the other to the left, +but very far apart from one another as there lay an immense void between +them. I asked whether I might go and see the court on my right hand, for +I observed that this was not at all like the other I had previously seen. +“Thou shalt perchance,” said he, “see, somewhile, more of the difference +there is between them. But now we must proceed in another direction.” +At that we turned away from the little world, and across the intervening +space we let ourselves descend into the Eternal Realm between the two +courts, into the formless void, a boundless tract, most deep and dark, +chaotic and uninhabited, at one time cold, at another hot, {69} now +silent, now resounding with the roaring of cataracts falling and +quenching the fires, and anon of the fire bursting out and burning up the +water. Thus, there was neither order nor completeness, nor life nor +form: nought but this dazing dissonance, this mysterious stupor which +would have made me for ever blind, had not my friend laid bare once more +his vesture of heavenly sheen. By the light he gave I saw before me to +the left the Land of Oblivion, and the borders of the Wilds of +Destruction; and to my right, methought, the base of the ramparts of +Glory. “This is the great abysm between Abraham and Dives,” said he, +“which is called Chaos: this is the land of the matter which God did +first create, and here is the seed of every living thing; of these the +Almighty Word created your world and all it doth contain—water, fire, +air, earth, beasts, fishes, insects, birds and the human body; but your +souls are of a higher and nobler origin and stock.” + +Through the huge, frightful chaos we at length broke forth to the left; +and ere we had journey’d far therein where every object grew uglier and +uglier, I felt my heart in my throat, and my hair erect like a hedgehog’s +bristles, even before perceiving anything; but what I did perceive was a +sight no tongue can describe nor the mind of a mortal dwell upon. I +fainted. Oh, that limitless abyss, so dire and terrible, opening out +upon another world! How those awful flames crackled incessantly as they +darted upwards above the banks of the accursed ravine, and the shafts of +impetuous lightning rent the thick, black smoke which the yawning chasm +belched forth! When my beloved companion awoke me, he gave me ambrosial +water to drink, of most excellent flavor and color. After drinking this +heavenly water I felt some wonderful power within me,—wit, courage, +faith, and many other divine virtues. Thereupon I drew nigh with him +unfearingly to the edge of the precipice, shrouded in the veil, whilst +the flames parted asunder around us, and dared not touch denizens of the +supernal regions. Then from the edge of that dread gulf, we let +ourselves descend, like two stars falling from the canopy of heaven, +down, down for myriad millions of miles, over many sulphurous rocks, and +many a hideous cataract and fiery precipice, where all things bent +downwards ever, with impending aspect; yet they all avoided us, except +when once I poked my nose out of the veil, there struck me such a +stifling and choking stench as would have ended me had he not saved me +out of hand with the reviving water. When I had recovered, I could see +that we were come to a halt, for in all that stupenduous chasm no sooner +stay were possible, so sheer and slippery was it. There my Guide allowed +me once more to rest; and during that respite it chanced that the thunder +and the fierce whirlwinds were a little hushed, and above the roar of the +foaming cataracts, {71} I could hear from afar, louder than all, the +noise of such awful shrieks, wails, cries, and loud groans, of swearing, +cursing and blaspheming, that I would rather have set a bargain upon my +ears than listen. And before we had moved an inch, we heard from above +such _hip-drip-drop_ that had we not straightway stepped aside, there +would have fallen upon us hundreds of unhappy men whom a host of fiends +were hurling headlong, and too hurriedly to a woful fate. “Ho, slowly +sir!” quoth one sprite, “lest you displace your curly lock;” and to +another “Madam, will you have your soft cushion? I fear me you will be +much disordered before you reach your resting-place.” + +The strangers were most reluctant to advance, insisting that they were on +the wrong road; still, onward they went, up to the bank of a wide, dark +torrent, whilst we followed in their wake and crossed over with them, my +companion, meanwhile, holding the water to my nostrils to protect me from +the stench rising out of the river. When I beheld some of the +inhabitants (for till now I had not seen a single devil, though I had +heard their voices) I asked: “What, pray, my Guide, is the name of this +death-like stream?” “The river of the Evil One,” answered he, “wherein +all his subjects are immersed to render them accustomed to the country; +its cursed waters changed their countenance, washing away every relic of +goodness, every shadow of hope and happiness.” And on seeing the horde +pass through, I could perceive no difference in loathsomeness between the +devils and the damned. Some wished to crouch at the bottom of the river, +there to remain in suffocation to all eternity, rather than find further +on a worse dwelling; but as the proverb says: “He whom the devil urges +must run,” so these damned beings, thrust on by the demons, were swiftly +borne along the stream of destruction to their eternal ruin; where I too +saw at the first glimpse more tortures and torments than man’s heart can +imagine, far less a tongue repeat; to see one of which was enough to +cause one’s hair to stand on an end, his blood to freeze, his flesh to +melt, his bones to give way, yea and his spirit to swoon within him. Why +speak I of such deeds as the impaling or sawing of men alive, the tearing +of the flesh in pieces with iron pincers or the broiling of it, chop by +chop, with candles, or the jambing of skulls as flat as a slate, in a +press, and all the most frightful degradation the earth ever witnessed? +All such are but pleasures compared with one of these. Here, a million +shrieks, harsh groans and deep sighs; there, fierce lamentations and loud +cries in answer: the howling of dogs were sweet, delightful music +compared with these voices. Before we had gone far from the shores of +that accursed river into wild Perdition, we could see by the light of +their own fire, here and there, men and women without number, whom a +countless host of devils unceasingly and with all their might kept always +torturing; and as the devils were shrieking from the intensity of their +own suffering, they made the damned give response to the utmost. I +observed the part nearest me more minutely: there, the devils with +pitchforks hurled them head foremost upon poisonous hatchels formed of +terrible, barbed darts, thereon to struggle by their brains; then +shortly, they threw them together, layer on layer, upon the summit of one +of the burning crags, there to blaze like a bonfire. Thence they were +snatched away up the ravines amidst the eternal ice and snow; {73} then +plunged again into an enormous flood of seething brimstone to be parched, +stifled, and choked by the direful stench; thence to a quagmire of +vermin, to embrace hellish reptiles far more noxious than serpents or +vipers. After that the devils took knotted rods of fiery steel from the +furnace, wherewith they beat them so that their howls resounded +throughout all Hell, so inexpressibly excruciating was the pain, and then +they seized hot irons to sear the bloody wounds. No swoon or trance is +there to beguile with a moment’s respite, but an unchanging strength to +suffer and to feel; though one would have thought that after one awful +wail there never could be the strength to raise another as weirdly-loud; +yet never will their key be lowered, with the devils ever answering: +“This is your welcome for aye.” And worse, were it possible, than the +pain, was the scorn and bitterness of the devils’ mockery and derision, +but worst of all, their own conscience was now thoroughly awakened, and +devoured them more relentlessly than a thousand infernal lions. + +Still down we go, down afar—the further we go the worse the plight; at +the first view I saw a horrid prison wherein a great many men were +uttering blasphemous groans beneath the scourges of the devils: “Who are +all these?” asked I; “This,” answered the Angel, “this is the abode of +Woe-that-I-had-not.” “Woe that I had not been cleansed of all manner of +sin in good time,” quoth one. “Woe is me that I had not believed and +repented before my coming here,” quoth another. Next to the cell of +Too-late-a-repentance, and of Pleading-after-judgment, was the prison of +the Procrastinators, who were always promising to mend their ways, but +who never fulfilled the promise. “When this trouble is past,” saith one, +“I will turn over a new leaf.” “When this hinderance goes by, I’ll be +another man yet,” said another. But when that comes about, they are no +nearer; some other obstacle ever and anon occurs to preventing their +starting towards the gate of holiness; and if sometimes a start is made, +it takes but little to turn them back again. Next to these was the +prison of Presumption, full of those who, whenever they were urged of old +to be rid of their Wantonness, or drunkenness, or avarice, would say: +“God is merciful, and better than His word; He will never damn his own +creature upon a cause so trivial.” But here they yelped blasphemy, +asking: “Where is that mercy boasted to be infinite?” “Silence, ye +whelps!” said a huge, crabbed devil who heard them, “Silence! would he +have mercy who did nought to obtain it? Would ye that Truth should make +its word a lie, merely to gain the company of dross so vile as ye? Was +too much mercy shewn you, a Saviour, a Comforter given you, and the +angels, books, sermons and good examples? Will ye not cease plaguing us +now, prating of mercy where it never was.” + +While making our exit from this glaring pit, I heard one moaning and +crying dolefully: “I knew no better; no pains were ever taken to teach me +to read my duties, nor could I spare the time to read and pray whereof I +had need in order to earn bread for myself and my poor family.” +“Indeed,” quoth a crookback devil who stood close at hand, “hadst thou no +leisure to tell merry tales, no idle roasting before thy fire through the +long winter evenings when I was up the chimney, so that no time might +have been given to learning to read or pray? What of thy Sabbaths? Who +was it that was wont to accompany me to the alehouse rather than the +parson to the church? How many a Sunday afternoon was spent in vain, +noisy talk of worldly things, or in sleeping, instead of in learning to +meditate and pray? Didst thou act according to thy knowledge? Silence, +sirrah, with thy lying chatter!” “Thou raving bloodhound!” exclaimed the +condemned, “’tis not long since thou wert whispering other words in mine +ear; hadst thou said this another day, it is not likely I would have come +hither.” “Ah!” said the devil, “it matters not that we tell you the +hateful truth here; for there is no fear of your returning hence now to +carry tales.” + +Lower down I could see a deep, valley whence arose the bluish glare of +what seemed to be a countless number of enormous, burning mounds; and +after drawing nigh, I knew by their howling that they were men piled +mountains high with terrible flames crackling through them. “That +hollow,” said the Angel, “is the abode of those who after committing some +heinous deeds, exclaim: ‘Well, I am not the first—I have plenty of +companions,’ and thus thou see’st they have plenty, to verify their words +and add to their affliction.” Opposite this was a large cellar where I +saw men tortured just as withes are twisted or wet sheets wrung. “Who, +prithee, are these?” asked I. “They are the Mockers,” said he, “and the +devils from pure derision essay to find whether they can be twisted as +pliantly as their tales.” A little below, but scarcely visible, was +another gloomy dungeon-cell, wherein was what had once been men, but now +with the faces of wolf-hounds, up to their lips in a morass, madly +howling blasphemy and lies as often as they got their tongues clear of +the mire. Just then a legion of devils passed by, and some attempted to +bite the heels of ten or twelve of the devils that had brought them +there: “Woe and ruin take you, ye hell-hounds!” exclaimed one of the +bitten devils, at the same time stamping upon the quagmire until they +sank in the reeking depths. “Who more deserving of hell than ye, who +gossipped and imagined all manner of tales, who retailed lies from house +to house so that ye might laugh, after setting the entire neighbourhood +at war? What more would one of us have done?” “This,” said the Angel, +“is the abode of the slanderers, defamers and backbiters, and of all +envious cowards who always do hurt in word or deed behind one’s back.” + +From thence we went past an enormous lair, the vilest I had yet seen, and +the fullest of vermin, of soot, and of stench. “This,” said he, “is the +place of those who hoped for heaven because they were harmless, in other +words, because they were neither good nor bad.” Next to this foul pit I +saw a great multitude sitting down, whose groans were more fierce than +anything I had heard hitherto in hell. “Save us all!” cried I, “what +makes these complain more than all others, seeing there be no pain, nor +demon near them?” “Ah,” answered the Angel, “if the pain without is +less, that which is within is more,—here are stubborn heretics, the +godless and unchristian, many of the worldy-wise, of apostates, of the +persecutors of the church, and millions such as they, who have utterly +been given over to the more bitterly painful punishment of the +conscience, which now without let or ceasing has its full sway over them. +“I will not this time,” quoth conscience, “be drowned in beer, or blinded +by rewards, or deafened by song and good company, or hushed or stupified +by a thoughtless torpor; now I will be heard, and never shall the truth, +the stinging truth, cease dinning in your ears.” The will creates a +desire for the lost paradise, the memory reproaches them with the ease +wherewith it might have been gained, and the reason shews the greatness +of the loss, and the certainty that nought awaits them but this +unspeakable gnawing for ever and ever; so by these three means, +conscience rends them more terribly than would all the devils in hell. + +Coming out of that wondrous defile, I heard much talking, and for every +word such wild horse-laughter as if some five hundred devils would shed +their horns with laughing. But after I had drawn near to behold the very +rare sight of a smile in hell, what was it but two gentlemen, lately +arrived, appealing for the respect due to their rank, and the merriment +was intended only to give affront to them. A pot-bellied squire stood +there with an enormous roll of parchment, his genealogical chart, +declaring from how many of the Fifteen Tribes of Gwynedd he had sprung, +how many justices of the peace, and how many sheriffs there had been of +his house. “Ha ha,” cried one of the devils, “we know the merit of most +of your forebears, were you like your father, or great-great-grandsire, +we would not have deigned to touch you. But thou, thou art but the heir +of utter darkness, vile whelp, thou art hardly worth a night’s lodging; +and yet thou shalt have some nook to await the dawn.” And at the word +the impetuous monster pierces him with his pitchfork, and after whirling +him thirty times through the fiery welkin, hurled him into a hole out of +sight. “That is right enough for a half-blood squire,” said the other, +“but I hope ye will be better mannered towards a knight who has served +the king in person; twelve earls and fifty knights can I recount from +mine own ancient line.” “If thine ancestors, and thy long pedigree are +all thy plea, thou canst go the same gate,” quoth a devil, “for we +remember scarce one old estate of large extent which some oppressor, some +murderer or robber has not founded, leaving it to others as arrant as +they, to idle blockheads or to drunken swine. To maintain lavish pomp, +they had to grind their vassals and tenants, and if there be a beautiful +pony or a fine cow which my lady covets, she will have them, and well it +happens if the daughters, yea, even the wives, escape the lust of their +lord. And the small free-holders around them must either vainly follow +or give bail for them, resulting in their own ruin, the loss of their +possessions, and the sale of their patrimony, or expect to be hated and +despised, and forced to every idle pursuit. Oh how nobly they swear to +gain the confidence of their minions or of their tradesmen, and when +decked out in their finery, how contemptuously they look upon many an +officer of importance in church and state, as if such were mere worms +compared with them. Woe’s me, is not all blood of one color? Was it not +the same way that ye all entered the world?” “For all that, craving your +pardon,” said the knight, “there are some births purer than others.” +“For the great doom all your carcases are the same,” said the imp, +“everyone of you is defiled by the sin that took its origin in Adam.” +“But, sir,” continued he, “if your blood is aught better than another, +the less scum will there be when shortly it will be bubbling through your +body, and if there be more, we must examine you, part by part, through +fire and through water.” Thereupon, a devil in the shape of a fiery +chariot receives him, and the other mockingly lifts him thereinto, and +away he goes with the speed of lightning. Ere long the angel bade me +look, and I saw the poor knight most horribly sodden in an enormous +boiling furnace with Cain, Nimrod, Esau, Tarquin, Nero, Caligula, and +others who first established lineage, and emblazoned family arms. + +After wending our way onward a little, my guide bade me peer through a +riven wall, and within I saw a group of coquetts busily primming up, +doing and undoing the deeds of folly they were formerly wont to do on +earth; some puckering their lips, some plucking their eyebrows with +irons, some anointing themselves, some patching their faces with black +spots to make the yellow look whiter, and some endeavouring to crack the +mirror; and after all the pains to color and adorn, upon seeing their +faces far uglier than the devils’, they would tear away with tooth and +nail all the false coloring, the spots, the skin and the flesh all at +once, and would shriek most dismally. “Accursed be my father,” said one, +“it was he who forced me when a girl to wed an old shrivelling, and it +was his kindling my desires with no power to satiate them, that doomed me +to this place.” “A thousand curses on my parents,” cried another, “for +sending me to a monastery to be taught to live a life of chastity; they +might as well have sent me to a Roundhead to learn how to be generous, or +to a Quaker to be taught good manners, as to a Papist to be taught +honesty.” “Fell ruin seize my mother,” shrieked a third, “whose covetous +pride refused me a husband at my need, and so drove me to obtain by +stealth what I might have honestly obtained.” “Hell, a double hell to +the raging bull of a nobleman who first tempted me,” cried another, “had +he not by fair and foul broken through all bounds, I would not have +become a common chattel, nor would I have come to this infernal place;” +and then would they lacerate themselves again. + +I made all haste to leave their loathsome kennel, but I had not proceeded +far before I observed, to my astonishment, another prison full of women, +still more abominable; some had become frogs; some, dragons; some, +serpents, and there they swam about, hissing and foaming, and butting one +another, in a fœtid, stagnant pool that was much larger than Bala Lake. +“Pray, what can these be?” asked I. “There are here,” said he, “four +chief classes of women, not to mention their minions—_Firstly_: Panders, +who maintained harlots to sell their virginity an hundred times, and the +worst of these around them. _Secondly_: Mistresses of gossip, surrounded +by thousands of tale-bearing hags. _Thirdly_: Huntresses followed by a +pack of cowardly, skulking hounds, for no man ever dared approach them, +unless in fear of them. _Fourthly_: The scolds, become a hundredfold +more horrid than snakes, always grinding and gnashing their venomous +stings.” “I would have deemed Lucifer too gracious a monarch to place a +noble lady of my rank with these vulgar furies,” complained one, who much +resembled the others, but was far more hideous than a winged serpent. +“Oh, that he would send hither seven hundred of the basest demons of hell +in exchange for thee, thou poisonous hellworm,” cried another ugly viper. +“Many thanks to you,” quoth a gigantic devil, overhearing them, “we +regard our place and worth as something better; though ye would cause +everyone as much pain as we, yet we do not choose to be deprived of our +office in your favor.” “And Lucifer hath another reason,” whispered the +Angel, “for keeping strict guard over these, and that is, lest on +breaking loose, they might send all hell into utter confusion.” + +Thence we still descended until I saw an immense cavern wherein was such +fearful clamor that I had never heard the like before—swearing, cursing, +blaspheming, snarling, groaning and yelling. “Whom have we here?” I +asked. “This,” answered he, “is the Den of Thieves; here are myriads of +foresters, lawyers and stewards, with old Judas in their midst.” And it +grieved them sorely to behold a pack of tailors and weavers above them in +a more comfortable chamber. Hardly had I turned round when a demon, in +the shape of a steed, bore in a physician, and an apothecary, and hurled +them into the midst of the pedlars and horse cheats, because they had +sold worthless drugs. And they too began murmuring against being +allotted to such low society. “Stay, stay,” cried one of the devils, “ye +deserve a better place,” and he pitched them down amongst conquerors and +murderers. There were vast numbers in here for playing false dice and +cheating at cards, but before I had time to observe them closely, I could +hear by the door a huge crowd in wild tumult and shouts—_hai_, _hw_, +_ptrw-how-ho-o-o-p_—as of cattle being driven along. I turned round to +see the cause of it, but could perceive only the hornèd demons. I +enquired of my Guide if there were cuckolds with the devils. “No,” said +he, “they are in another cell; these are drovers who wished to escape to +the prison of the Sabbath-breakers, and are sent here against their +will.” Thereupon I look and saw that they had on their heads the horns +of sheep and kine; and those that were driving them on, cast them down +beneath the feet of blood-stained robbers. “Lie there,” said one, +“however much ye feared footpads on the London road erstwhile, ye +yourselves were the very worst class of highwaymen, who made your living +on the road and on robbery, yea and by the perishing of many a poor +family whom ye left in hunger, vainly hoping for the sustenance of their +possessions, while ye were in Ireland or in the King’s Bench laughing at +them, or on the road with your wine and lemans.” On leaving the +furnace-like cave, I caught a glimpse of a haunt, which for loathsome, +stinking abomination, went beyond anything (with one sole exception) that +I had set my eyes upon in hell,—where an accursed herd of drunken swine +lay weltering in the foulest slime. + +The next den was the abode of Gluttony, where Dives and his companions, +wallowing on their bellies, devoured dirt and fire alternately, with +never a drop to drink. A little below this, was a very extensive +roasting-kitchen, where some were being roasted and boiled, others +broiling and flaming in a fiery chimney. “This is the place of the +merciless and the unfeeling,” said the Angel. Turning a little to the +left, where there was a cell lighter than any I had so far seen, I asked +what place it was: “The abode of the Infernal Dragons,” said he, “which +growl and rage, rush about and rend one another every instant.” I drew +near and oh! what an indescribable sight they were! It was the glowing +fire of their eyes that gave all that light. “These are the descendants +of Adam,” said my Guide, “scolds and raving, wrathful men; but yonder are +some of the ancient seed of the great Dragon, Lucifer;” but verily I +could not perceive any difference in loveliness between them. In the +next dungeon dwell the misers in awful torment, being linked by their +hearts to chests of burning coin, the rust of which was consuming them +without end, just as they had never thought of an end to the piling of +them, and now they were tearing themselves to pieces with more than +madness through grief and remorse. Below this was a charnel vault where +some of the apothecaries had been ground down and stuffed into +earthenware pots with _Album graecum_, dung, and many a stale ointment. + +Ever downward we were journeying through the wilderness of ruin, in the +midst of untold and eternal tortures, from cell to cell, from dungeon to +dungeon, the last alway surpassing in monstrous ghastliness, until +finally we came within view of an enormous entrance hall, most unsightly +of all that I had previously seen. It was very spacious and terribly +steep, running in the direction of a gloomy red corner, full of the most +inconceivable abominations and horrors: it was the royal court. At the +upper end of the king’s accursed hall, amidst thousands of other dread +sights, by the light my companion shed, I could see in the darkness two +feet of prodigious size, and so enormous as to overcast the whole +infernal firmament. I inquired of my Guide what such immensities might +be. “Thou shalt have a fuller view of this monster when returning,” said +he, “but, come now, let us to see the court.” As we were going down that +awful entrance hall, we heard behind us the noise as of very many people +advancing; on stepping aside to let them pass I noticed four divers host, +and upon enquiry I learnt that it was the four princesses of the City of +Destruction leading their subjects as an offering to their sire. I +distinguished the troop of the Princess of Pride, not only because they +insisted upon the foremost position, but also because they stumbled now +and then from want of keeping their eyes upon the ground. She led +captive kings without number, princes, courtiers, noblemen and braggarts, +many Quakers, and women innumerable and of all grades. Next to these +came the Princess of Lucre with her sly and crafty followers—a great many +of the brood of Simon Skinflint, money lenders, lawyers, userers, +stewards, foresters, harlots, and some of the clergy. Then came the +gracious Princess of Pleasure and her daughter Folly, leading her +subjects—players of dice, cards and back-gammon, conjurers, bards, +minstrels, storytellers, drunkards, bawds, balladmongers and pedlars with +their trinkets in countless number, to be at length instruments of +punishment to the damned fools. + +When these three had taken their captives into the court to receive +judgment, Hypocrisy, last of all, brings in a more numerous troop than +any of the others, of every nation and age, from town and country, +patrician and plebeian, men and women. In the rear of this double-faced +legion we came within sight of the court; passing through the midst of +many dragons and hornèd demons, and hell’s giants, the dusky porters of +the devil-hunted fire; I, the while, carefully hiding within the veil, we +entered that direful edifice: wonderful, and of amazing roughness was +every part of it; the walls were cruel rocks of burning adamant; the +floor was one unendurable extent of sharp-cutting flint, the roof of +fiery steel, meeting in an arch of greenish and blood-red flames, +similar, except in its size and heat, to a tremendous circular oven. +Opposite the door, upon a flame-encompassed throne sat the Evil One with +the lost archangels around him, seated on benches of terrible fire, +according to the rank they formerly bore in the region of light—the +lovely whelps—it would only be a waste of words to attempt to describe +how atrociously ugly they were, and the longer I gazed upon them, +sevenfold more frightful did they become. In the centre above Lucifer’s +head was a huge hand grasping an awful bolt. The princesses, after +paying their courtesy, immediately returned to their duties on earth. No +sooner had they departed than at the King’s bidding, a gigantic devil +with cavernous jaws set up a roar, louder than the discharge of a hundred +cannon, and as loud, were it possible, as the last trump, to proclaim the +infernal Parliament, and behold, without delay, the court and hall are +filled by the rabble of hell in every shape, each upon the form and image +of that particular sin he was wont to urge upon men. After enjoining +silence, Lucifer, looking steadfastly upon the chieftains nearest him, +began and spake these gracious words:— + +“Ye peers of this profoundest gulf, princes of the hopeless gloom, if we +have lost the place we erst possessed, when, clothed with brightness, we +dwelt in those celestial, happy realms; yet, however great our fall, +’twas glorious, nought less than all did we hazard, nor is all lost—for, +behold regions wide and deep extending to the utmost bounds of desolate +Perdition still ’neath our sway. ’Tis true we reign while racked with +raging torment, yet, for spirits of our majesty, ’tis better to reign in +hell than serve in heaven. {85a} And what is more, we have well nigh won +another world, a greater than a fifth of earth has been for long beneath +my standard. And although our Omnipotent Enemy sent his own Son to die +for them, I, by my pleasing guile, gain ten for every one He gains +through his crucified Son. Though we cannot aspire to do hurt to Him on +high who hurls His all-conquering thunder, yet revenge by whatsoever +means is sweet. {85b} Let us then bring ruin on the rest of men who +adore our Destroyer. Well do I recollect the time when ye caused them, +their armies and their cities, to be consumed in horrible combustion, yea +and caused nigh all the dwellers on the earth to fall through the +whelming waters into this fire. But now, although your strength and +innate cruelty are no whit less, ye have been somewhat listless; were it +not for this, we would have long ago destroyed the godly few, and brought +the earth one with this our vast domain. But know this, ye grim +ministers of my wrath, if ye henceforth be not up and doing, valiantly +and with all haste, seeing the brevity of our alloted time, I swear by +Hell and by Perdition, and by the vast, eternal gloom, that upon you, +yourselves, my ire first shall fall, with pain the like of which the +oldest amongst you hath never proved.” Whereupon he frowned until the +court became sevenfold darker than before. + +Next him, Moloch one of the infernal potentates, stood up, and after +making due obeisance to his king, spake thus:—“Oh Emperor of the Sky, +great ruler of the darkness, none ever doubted my desire to practice +utmost bale and cruelty, for that has always been my pleasure; no sound +was more delightful to mine years than the shrieks of children perishing +in the flames outside Jerusalem, where in former days they were +sacrificed to me. And also after our crucified foe had returned to his +celestial home, I, during the reigns of ten emperors, continued as long +as it availed me, slaying and burning his followers in my attempt to +sweep the Christians off the face of the earth. And afterwards in Paris, +in England, and in several other places, did I cause many a massacre of +them; but what have we gained? The tree whose branches are lopped off +grows but the quicker; we snarl without the power of biting.” + +“Pshaw!” exclaimed Lucifer, “shame! cowardly hosts that ye are! Never +more will I place my trust in you. This work I myself will perform, this +enterprise none shall partake with me. {87} In mine own imperial majesty +will I descend upon the earth, and alone will I devour all therein +contained; henceforth no man shall there be found to worship the Most +High.” Thereon he gave one terrific flying leap to start—a blaze of +living fire, but the hand overhead whirls the terrible dart so that he +trembles notwithstanding his rage, and ere he had gone far, an invisible +hand drags the brute back by the chain for all his struggles; his rage +becomes sevenfold more vehement, his eyes more fierce than dragons, thick +black clouds of smoke issue from his nostrils, livid flames from his +mouth and bowels, while he gnaws his chain in his grief, and mutters +fearful blasphemy and awful oaths. + +At last, finding how futile was his attempt to sunder his bonds and how +unavailing to contend against the Almighty, he returned to his throne and +resumed his speech, in words somewhat more calm, but twice as malignant: +“Though none but the Omnipotent Thunderer could overcome my power and my +guile, to Him I am unwillingly constrained to submit; but I can pour +forth the vials of my wrath here below, nearer at hand, and let loose my +ire upon those who are already under my banner, and within the length of +my chain. Arise, ye too, ministers of destruction, lords of the +unquenchable fires, and as my anger and my venom overflow, and my malice +rush forth, do ye assiduously scatter all broadcast among the damned, and +chiefly among the Christians; urge on the engines of torture to their +uttermost; devise and invent; increase the heat of the fire and the +ebullition, until the hissing flood of the cauldrons overwhelms them; and +when their unutterable woes are extremest, then sneer at them and +mockingly reproach them, and when ye have exhausted all your store of +scorn and gall, hie to me and ye shall be replenished.” + +A great stillness had brooded over hell for some time, while the pains +grew far more unbearable by being given no vent. But now the silence +which Lucifer had enjoined was broken, when the fierce butchers, like +bears maddened by hunger, fell upon their captives; then there arose such +doleful cries, such dismal howling, from every quarter, louder than the +roar of rushing torrents, than the rumble of an earthquake, till hell +itself became ten times more horrible. I would have died, had not my +friend saved me. “Quaff deep this time,” said he, “to give thee strength +to behold things yet more dire.” Hardly were the words from his lips, +when lo! heavenly Justice, who sits above the abyss, guardian of the +gates of Hell, advanced scourging three men with rods of fiery scorpions. +“Ha ha,” cried Lucifer, “here are three reverend gentlemen whom Justice +thought worthy himself to conduct to my kingdom.” “Woe’s me,” said one +of the three, “who ever wanted him to take the trouble?” “That matters +not,” answered he, with a look that made the fiends wax pale, and tremble +so that they knocked one against the other, “it was the will of the +Infinite Creator that I myself should lead to their home such accursed +murderers.” “Sirrah,”—addressing one of the demons,—“open me the fold of +the assassins, where Cain, Nero, Bradshaw, Bonner, Ignatius and +innumerable others like them dwell.” “Alack, alack! we have never slain +any man,” cried one. “No thanks to you that you did not, for time only +was wanting,” said Justice. When the den was opened, there came out such +a hideous blast of blood-red flames, and such a shriek as if a thousand +dragons were uttering their death-wail. As Justice was passing by on his +return, in an instant he caused such a tempest of fiery whirlwinds to +fall upon the Evil One and his princes that Lucifer was swept away, and +with him Beelzebub, Satan, Moloch, Abadon, Asmodai, Dagon, Apolyon, +Belphegor, Mephistopheles, and all their compeers, and they were hurled +headlong into a whirlpool which opened and closed in the centre of the +court and which, both in aspect and in the execrable stench that arose +from it, was a hundredfold more foul and horrid than anything I had ever +seen. Before I could ask aught, quoth the Angel: “This is the gulf that +reaches to another great world.” “What, pray, is that world called?” I +enquired. “’Tis called the bottomless pit or the Nethermost Hell, the +home of the devils, whither they now have gone. And those vast, dreary +wilds, parts of which thou hast traversed, are called the Region of +Despair, ordained for the condemned until the Judgment Day; then it will +become one with the utmost, bottomless Hell; then will one of us come and +seal up the devils and the damned together, never more to open upon them, +never to all eternity. In the meantime they have leave to come to this +colder country to torment lost souls. Yea, often are they suffered to +wander through the air, and about the earth, to tempt men into the +pernicious ways that lead to this horrible prison whence no man returns.” + +While listening to this account, and wondering that the entrance of +Perdition should differ so from that of the Upper Hell, I heard the +tremendous clash of arms, and the roar of artillery, from one quarter, +and what seemed like loud-rumbling thunder answering from another +quarter, while the deadly rocks resounded. “This is the turmoil of war!” +I cried, “if there be war in hell.” “There is,” said he, “there cannot +be but continuous warfare here.” When we were on the point of going out +to know of the affair, I beheld the jaws of the Pit open and belch forth +thousands of hideous, greenish candles—for such had Lucifer and his +chiefs become after surviving the tempest. But when he heard the din of +war he turned more livid than Death, and began to call out, and levy +armies of his proven veterans to suppress the tumult. While thus +occupied he came across a little imp, who had escaped between the feet of +the warriors. “What is the matter?” demanded the King. “Such a matter +as will endanger your crown, an you look not to it.” Close upon this +one’s heels another devilish courier in a harsh voice cries: “You that +plan the disquietude of others, look now to your own peace; yonder are +the Turks, the Papists and the murderous Roundheads in three armies, +filling the whole plain of Darkness, committing every outrage and turning +everything topsy-turvey.” “How came they out?” demanded the Evil One, +frowning more terribly than Demigorgon. “The Papists,” said the +messenger, “somehow or other broke out of their purgatory, and then, to +pay off old scores, went to unhinge the portals of Mahomet’s paradise, +and let loose the Turks from their prison, and afterwards in the +confusion, through some ill chance, Cromwell’s crew escaped from their +cells.” Then Lucifer turned and peered beneath his throne, where every +damned king lay, and commanded that Cromwell himself should be kept +secure in his kennel, and that all the sultans should be guarded. +Accordingly, Lucifer and his host hurried across the sombre wilds of +darkness, each one’s own person furnishing light and heat; guided by the +tumultuous clangor he marched fearlessly upon them. Silence was +proclaimed in the King’s name, and Lucifer demanded the cause of such +uproar in his realm. “May it please your infernal majesty,” said +Mahomet, “a quarrel arose between myself and Pope Leo as to which had +done you the better service—my Koran or the Romish religion; and when +this was going on a pack of Roundheads, who had broken out of their +prison during the disorder, joined in and clamoured that their Solemn +League and Covenant deserved more respect at your hands than either; so, +from striving to striking from words to blows. But now, since your +majesty hath returned from hell, I lay the matter for your decision.” +“Stay, we’ve not done with you yet,” cried Pope Julius, and madly they +engage once more, tooth and nail, until the strokes clashed like +earthquakes; the three armies of the damned tore each other piecemeal, +and like snakes became whole again, and spread far and wide over the +jagged, burning crags, until Lucifer bade his veterans, the giants of +Hell, separate them, which indeed was no easy task. + +When the conflict ceased, Pope Clement spake—“Thou Emperor of Horrors, no +throne has ever performed more faithful and universal service to the +infernal crown than have the bishops of Rome, throughout a large portion +of the world, for eleven centuries, and I hope you will allow none to vie +with them for your favor.” “Well,” said a Scotch-man of Cromwell’s gang, +“however great has been the service of the Koran for these eight hundred +years, and of popish superstitions for a longer period, yet the Covenant +has done far more since its appearance, and everyone begins to doubt the +others and be weary of them, but we are still increasing, the wide world +over, and have much power in the island of your foes, that is, in Britain +and in London, the happiest city under the sun.” “Ha ha,” exclaimed +Lucifer, “if I hear rightly ye too are about to suffer disgrace there. +But whatever ye may have done in other kingdoms, I will have none of your +rioting in mine. Wherefore make your peace forthwith under the penalty +of more woes, bodily and spiritual.” And at the word I could see many of +the fiends and all the damned, with their tails between their hoofs, +steal away to their holes in fear of a change for the worse. + +Then after ordering all to be locked up in their lairs, and punishing and +dismissing the officers whose carelessness had allowed them to break +loose, Lucifer and his counsellors returned to the court, and sat once +more upon the fiery thrones, according to their rank; and when silence +had been obtained, and the court cleared, a burly, lob-shouldered devil +threw down at the bar a fresh load of prisoners. “Is this the way to +Paradise?” asked one (for they had no idea where they were). “Or if this +be Purgatory,” said another, “I have a dispensation under the Pope’s own +signet to pass straight on to Paradise, without a moment’s delay +anywhere; wherefore show us the way, or by the Pope’s toe, we will have +him punish you.” “Ha ha,” laughed a thousand demons, and Lucifer himself +opened his tusked jaws some half a yard in scornful laughter. At which +the new comers were sore amazed. “Look ye,” said one, “if we have missed +our way in the dark, we will pay for guidance.” “Ha ha,” cried Lucifer, +“ye shall not hence till ye have paid the uttermost farthing.” But on +searching them it was found that they had one and all left their trouser +behind. “Ye went past Paradise on the left above those mountains there,” +said the Evil One, “and although it is easy to descend hither, to return +is next to impossible, so dark and intricate is the country, so many +steep ascents of flaming iron are there on the way, and huge imminent +rocks, overhanging glaciers of insurmountable ice, and here and there, a +headlong cataract, all too difficult to clamber over, if ye have not +nails as long as a devil’s. Ho there! convey these blockheads to our +paradise to their companions.” Just then I heard voices drawing nigh, +swearing and cursing fearfully. “Fiends’ blood! a myriad devils seize me +if ever I go!” and immediately the noisy crew were cast down before the +court. “There,” exclaimed the steed that bore them, “there is fuel with +the best in hell.” “What are they?” asked Lucifer. “Past masters in the +gentle art of swearing and cursing,” said he, “who knew the language of +hell as well as we do.” “A lie to your face, i’ the devil’s name!” cried +one. “Sirrah! wilt take my name in vain?” said the Evil One. “Ho, seize +them and hook them by their tongues, to that burning precipice, and be at +hand to serve them; if on one devil they call, or on a thousand, they +shall have their fill.” + +When these had departed, a gigantic fiend calls loudly for clearing the +bar, and throws down thereat a man who was a load in himself. “What hast +thou there?” demanded Lucifer. “An innkeeper,” answered he. “What?” +cried the King, “only one innkeeper, when they used to come by the +thousands. Hast thou, sirrah, not been out for ten years, and dost bring +hither but one, and such an one as would serve us in the world better +than thee, foul lazy hound!” “You are too just to condemn me before +hearing me,” pleaded he, “he was the only one laid to my charge, and now +I am rid of him. But I despatched you from his house many an idler who +drank his family’s maintenance, and now and then a dicer, and card +player, a fine swearer, an innocent glutton, a negligent tapster and a +maid, harsh in the kitchen, but never a kinder abed or in the cellar.” +“Although this fellow deserves to be with the flatterers beneath,” said +the Evil One, “natheless take him to his comrades in the cell of the +liquid-poisoners, among the apothecaries and drugsters who have concocted +drinks to murder their customers; boil him well for that he did not brew +better beer.” “By your leave,” began the innkeeper tremblingly, “I +deserve no such treatment, the trade must be carried on.” “Couldst thou +not have lived,” quoth the Evil One, “without allowing rioting and +gambling, wantonness and drunkenness, oaths and quarrels, slanders and +lies? and wouldst thou, old hell-hound, now live better than we? +Prithee, tell what evil have we here which thou hadst not at thine home, +save the punishment alone? Indeed, to speak the plain truth here, the +infernal heat and cold are nothing new to thee. Hast thou not seen +sparks of our fire upon the tongues of the cursers and the scolds, whilst +dragging their husbands home? Was there not a deal of the undying flame +on the drunkard’s lips or in the eyes of the angry? And couldst thou not +perceive a trace of hellish cold in the rake’s generosity, and especially +in thine own kindness towards him as long as he had anything in his +possession; in the mocker’s jest; in the praise of the envious and of the +defamer, in the promises of the lecherous, or in the limbs of thy boon +companions, benumbed beneath thy tables? Is hell strange to thee whose +very home is a hell? Aroint thee, flamhound, to thy penance!” + +After that ten devils, panting heavily, drop their burdens upon the fiery +floor. “What have ye?” asked Lucifer. “We have what a day or two ago +were called kings,” answered one of the fiendish steeds. (I sought +carefully to see whether Lewis of France were among them.) “Throw them +here,” bade the King; and at that they were thrown amongst the other +crowned heads that lay beneath Lucifer’s feet; and following the monarchs +came their courtiers and their flatterers to receive sentence. Before I +had time to ask any question, I heard the blast of brazen trumpets and +shouts. “Make way, make way,” and at once there came in view a herd of +assize-men and devils bearing the train of six justices, and millions of +their race—barristers, {95a} attorneys, clerks, recorders, bailiffs, +catchpolls, and the litigous busybody. I wondered that none of them was +examined; but in truth, they knew the matter had gone too far against +them, so none of the learned counsels opened their lips, but the busybody +threatened that he would bring an action for false imprisonment against +Lucifer. “Thou shalt have good cause of complaint now,” said the Evil +One, “and never see a court at all.” Then he donned his red cap, and +with unbearable, haughty mien, said: “Go, take the justices to the hall +of Pontius Pilate, to Master Bradshaw, who condemned King Charles; pack +the barristers with the assassins of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, {95b} and +their other false co-partners who simulate mutual contention, merely in +order to slay whomsoever might interpose. Go, greet that prudent lawyer, +who, when dying offered a thousand pounds for a good conscience, and ask +whether he is now willing to give more. Roast the lawyers by the fire of +their own parchments and papers till their learned bowels burst forth; +let the litigous busybodies hang above them with their nostrils deepest +down the roasting chimneys, in order to inhale the noxious vapors arising +thence, to see if they will ever get their fill of law. Throw the +recorders amongst the retailers who prevent or forestall the sale of +corn, who mix it and sell the mixture at double the price of the pure +corn: similarly, they demand for wrong double the fees formerly given for +right. As to the catchpolls, let them free to hunt about and lie in the +ravines and bushes of the earth, to capture those that are debtors to the +infernal crown; for what devil of you could do the work better than +they?” + +Shortly there appear twenty demons, like Scotch-men, with packs across +their shoulders, which they cast down before the throne of despair, and +which turned out to be gipsies. “Ho there!” cried Lucifer, “how was it +that ye who knew the fortune of others so well, did not know that your +own fortune was leading you hither?” No answer was given, for they were +amazed at seeing here beings uglier than themselves. “Throw the +tan-faced loons to the witches,” bade the King, “there are no cats or +rush-lights here for them, but divide a frog between them every ten +thousand years, if they will be quiet and not deafen us with their +barbarous chatter.” + +After them came, methought, thirty labourers. Everybody wondered to see +so many of that honest calling, so seldom did any of them appear; but +they did not all come from the same parts nor for like faults—some for +raising prices, many for withholding their tithes, and defrauding the +parson of his dues, others for leaving their work to follow after the +gentry, and who in trying to stride along with their masters, strained +themselves, some for doing work on the Sabbath, some for thinking of +their sheep and kine in church, instead of giving attention to the +reading of Holy Writ, and others for wrongful bargains. When Lucifer +began to question them, lo! they were all as pure as gold, and not one of +them found anything amiss in himself so as to deserve such a dwelling +place. One can scarcely believe what neat excuses each one had to hide +his sin, although they were already in hell for it, offering them merely +out of evil disposition to thwart Lucifer and to accuse the righteous +Judge, who had condemned them, of injustice. But it was still more +astonishing to see how cleverly the Evil One exposed their foul sins, and +how he answered with a home-thrust their false excuses. When these were +about to receive their infernal doom, forty scholars were borne forward +by porpoise-shaped fiends, uglier, if possible, than Lucifer himself. +And when they heard the labourers pleading, they too waxed bold to give +excuses, but what ready answers the old Serpent had for them with all +their knavery and learning! As it happened that I heard similar pleas in +another court of justice I will hereafter recount them together, and now +proceed with what I saw in the meantime. + +Lucifer had barely pronounced their sentence—that they should be driven +to the great glacier in the land of eternal ice, a doom that set their +teeth a-gnashing, even before they saw their prison, when suddenly, hell +again most marvellously resounded with the crash of terrible bolts, with +loud-rolling thunder, and with every noise of war. Lucifer loured and +grew pale; in a moment, there flew in a wry-footed imp, panting and +trembling. “What is the matter?” cried Lucifer. “A matter fraught with +the greatest peril for you since hell is hell,” said the dwarf, “all the +ends of the kingdom of darkness have risen up against you and against +each other, especially those between whom there was longstanding enmity, +who are already locked together fang to fang, so that it is impossible to +pull them apart. Soldiers have attacked the doctors for taking away +their trade of slaughter; a myriad userers have fallen upon the lawyers, +for claiming a share in the business of robbery; the busybodies and the +swindlers are tearing the gentlemen, limb-meal, for unnecessary swearing +and cursing, whereby they gained their living. Harlots and their +minions, and a million other old friends and former comrades have fallen +out with one another irreconcilably. But worst of all is the fray raging +between the misers and their own offspring, for wasting the goods and +money which, the old pinchfists aver, ‘cost us much pain on earth, and +here endless anguish.’ Their sons, on the other hand, cursing and +rending them outrageously, call for eternal ruin upon their heads for +leaving overmuch wealth to madden them with pride and riotous living, +when a little, under the blessing of heaven, would have rendered them +happy in both worlds.” “Enough, enough,” cried Lucifer, “there is more +need of arms than words. Return, sirrah, and play the spy in every watch +to find the where and why of this great negligence, for there’s some +treachery in the air we wot not of as yet.” The imp departed at his +bidding, and in the meantime Lucifer and his compeers arose in terror and +exceeding fear, and ordered the levying of the bravest armies of the +black angels; and having disposed them, he himself started foremost to +quell the rebellion, his chieftains and their hosts going other ways. +The royal army, like shafts of lightning across the hideous gloom, +advanced (and we in their rear); ere long the uproar falls upon their +ears; a fiendish bellower cries, “Silence, in the King’s name!” to no +purpose, it would be an easier task to hale apart old beavers than one of +these. But when Lucifer’s veterans dashed into their midst, the growls, +and blows, and battering lessened. “Silence in Lucifer’s name!” roared +the devil a second time. “What is this,” demanded the King, “and who are +these?” “Nothing, sire, but that in the general confusion, the drovers +came across the cuckolds, and set a-butting to prove whose horns were the +harder; it might have turned out seriously, had not your horned giants +joined in the affray.” “Well,” said Lucifer, “since ye are all so ready +with your arms, come with me to trounce the other rebels.” But when the +rumour reached these that Lucifer was approaching with three horned +armies, everyone made for his lair. + +So he marched on across the desolate plains unresisted, and seeking in +vain the cause of the revolt. After a while, however, one of the King’s +spies returns, quite out of breath: “Most noble, Lucifer! Moloch, your +prince, hath subdued part of the North, and hath cut thousands to pieces +upon the glaciers, but there are three or four dangerous evils still +threatening you.” “Whom meanest thou?” asked Lucifer. “The Slanderer, +the Busybody, and the Lawmonger, have broken out of their prisons and got +free.” “No wonder then,” said the Evil One, “if further troubles arise.” +Then there comes another spy from the South, informing that matters would +soon reach a dire pass in that quarter if the three who had already +thrown the West into utter confusion be not taken, namely, the Huntress, +the Rogue and the Swaggerer. “Since the day I tempted Adam from his +garden,” said Satan, who stood next but one to Lucifer, “I have never +seen so many evils of his race at liberty together. The Huntress, the +Swaggerer, the Rogue, on the one hand, and on the other, the Slanderer, +the Lawmonger and the Busybody—a mixture would make devils reach.” +“Little wonder, verily,” said Lucifer, “that they were so much hated by +all on earth, seeing that they are capable of causing such trouble to us +here.” Not long after, the Huntress comes to meet the King upon the way. +“Ho! grandam o’ the breeches,” cries a shrill-voiced demon, “good night +to you.” “Thy grandam on which side, prithee?” said she, displeased +because he did not “madam” her. “You are a fine king, Lucifer, to keep +such impudent rascals about you; a thousand pities that such a vast realm +should be under so impotent a ruler; would that I might be made its +regent.” Then comes the Swaggerer, nodding in the dark—“Your humble +servant, sir,” saith he to one, over his shoulder; “Are you quite well?” +to another; “Can I be of any service to you?” addressing a third, with a +leering smirk, and to the Huntress: “Your beauty quite fascinates me, +madam.” “Oh oh,” cried she, “away with the hell-hound;” and all join in +the shout: “Away with this new tormentor, hell on hell that he is!” “Let +both be bound together hand and foot,” commanded Lucifer. Soon after the +Lawmonger comes on the scene between two devils. “Ho, ho, thou angel of +peace,” exclaimed Lucifer, “hast thou come? Keep him safe, guards, at +your peril!” Before we had gone far, the Rogue and the Slanderer +appeared, chained between forty devils, and whispering to one another. +“Most noble Lucifer,” began the Rogue, “I am very sorry there is so much +disturbance in your kingdom; but if I may be heard, I will teach you a +better method. Under the pretence of holding a Parliament, you can cite +all the damned into the burning Evildom, and then bid the devils hurl +them headlong to bottomless perdition, and lock them up in its vortex, to +trouble you no more.” “But the Common Meddler is still missing,” said +Lucifer, frowning most darkly at the Rogue. When we reached once more +the entrance of the infernal court, who should come straight to meet the +King but the Busybody. “Ah, your majesty, I have a word with you.” “And +I have one or two with you, peradventure,” said the Evil One. “I have +been over the half of Hell,” said he, “to see how your affairs went. You +have many officers in the East who are remiss, and take their ease +instead of attending to the torturing of their prisoners and to their +safe keeping; it was this that gave rise to the great rebellion. And +moreover many of your fiends, and of the lost whom you sent to the world +to tempt men, have not returned, although their time is up, and others +have come, but hide rather than give an account of their doings.” + +Then commanded Lucifer his herald to summon a second Parliament, and in +the twinkling of an eye all the potentates and their officers were again +in attendance at their infernal _Eisteddfod_. The first thing done was +to change the officers, and to order a place to be made round the mouth +of the pit for the Swaggerer and the Huntress, linked face to face, and +for the other rebels, bound topsy-turvy together; and a law was published +that whosoever of the demons or of the damned thenceforth transgressed +his duty should be thrown into their midst till doomsday. At these words +all the fiends and even Lucifer himself trembled and were sore perturbed. +Then next came the trial of the devils and the lost who had been sent to +earth to find “associates and co-partners of their loss;” the devils gave +a clear account, but the statement of the damned was so hazy and +uncertain, that they were driven to the ever-burning school, and there +scourged with fiery, knotted serpents to teach them their task the +better. “Here’s a wench that’s pretty enough when dressed up,” said an +imp, “she was sent up into the world to gain you new subjects; and whom +should she first tempt but a weary ploughman, homeward wending his way, +late from his toils, who, instead of succumbing to her wiles, went on his +knees praying to be saved from the devil and his angels.” “Ho there!” +cried Lucifer, “throw her to that worthless losel who long ago loved +Einion ab Gwalchmai of Mona.” {102} “Stay, stay,” pleaded the fair one, +“this is but my first offence; there is yet scarcely a year since the day +when all was over with me, when I was condemned to your cursed state, Oh +king of woes!” “No, there is not yet three weeks,” said the demon that +had brought her there. “How therefore,” said she, “would you have me be +as skilled as those lost beings who have been here three or four +centuries hunting their prey? If you desire better service at my hands, +let me go free into the world once more to roam about uncensured; and if +I bring you not twenty adulterers for every year I am out, mete me what +punishment you list.” Nevertheless the verdict went against her, and she +was doomed to live a hundred long years under chastisement, that she +might be more careful a second time. Presently, another devil entered, +pushing to the front a man. “Here is a fine messenger,” he said, “who +wandering the other night in his old neighbourhood above, saw a thief +stealing a stallion, but could not help him even to catch the foal +without showing himself; and the thief, when he saw him, abandoned that +career for ever.” “Begging the court’s pardon,” said the man, “if the +thief’s child was endowed with power from above to see me, could I help +that? Moreover, this is only a single case; ’t is not a hundred years +since that day which put an end to all my hopes for ever, and how many of +my own family and of my neighbours have I enticed here after me in that +time? Perdition hold me, if I am not as dutiful to my trade as the best +of you, but the wisest is sometimes at fault.” Then said Lucifer: “Throw +him into the school of the fairies, who are still under castigation for +their mischievous tricks in days gone by, when they were wont to strangle +and threaten their neighbours, and so awaken them from their torpor; for +their fear probably had more influence upon them than forty sermons.” + +Then came four constables, an accuser, and fifteen of the damned, +dragging forward two devils. “Lest you lay the blame of every wrongful +service upon the children of Adam,” said the accuser, “here are two of +your old angels who misspent their time above as much as the two who were +last before the court. Here is a rogue quite as worthless as that one at +Shrewsbury the other day, when the Interlude of _Doctor Faustus_ was +being played, amidst all manner of most wanton and lascivious revelries, +and where many things were going on conducive to the welfare of your +realm; when they were busiest, the devil himself appeared to play his +part, and so drove all away from pleasure to prayers. Even so this one, +in his wanderings over the world: he heard some people talk of walking +round the church {104} to see their sweethearts, and what should the fool +do but show himself to the simpletons in his own natural form, and though +their fright was great they recovered their senses, and made a vow to +leave that vanity for ever; whereas had he only assumed the form of some +vile jades, they would have held themselves bound to accept those; and so +the foul fiend might have been master of the household with both parties, +since he himself had mated them. And here is another, who went, last +Twelfth Night, to visit two Welsh lasses who were turning their shifts, +and instead of enticing them to wantonness in the form of a fair youth, +to one he took a bier, to make her thoughts more serious; to the other, +he went with the tumult of war in a hellish whirlwind, to make her madder +than before; and this was quite needless. Nor was this all; for after he +had entered the maiden, and had thrown her about, and sorely tormented +her, some of our learned enemies were sent for to pray for her and to +cast him out, and instead of tempting her to despair and endeavouring to +win over the preachers, he began to preach to them, and to disclose the +mysteries of your kingdom, thus aiding their salvation instead of +hindering it.” At the word “salvation” I saw some leaping up, a living +fire of rage. “Every tale is fair till the other side be told,” quoth +the devil, “I hope Lucifer will not allow one of the earth-born race of +Adam to contend with me, who am an angel of far superior kind and stock.” +“His punishment is certain,” said Lucifer, “but do thou, sirrah, give +clear and ready answer to these charges; or by hopeless Hell I will—.” +“I have led hither,” said he, “many a soul since Satan was in the Garden +of Eden, and I ought to understand my business, better than this upstart +accuser.” “Blood of infernal firebrands,” cried Lucifer, “did I not bid +thee answer clearly and readily?” “By your leave,” said the demon, “I +have preached a hundred times, and have denounced many of the various +ways that lead to your confines, and yet at the same breath, have quietly +brought them hither safe and sound by some other delusive path, just as I +did while preaching recently in the German States, in one of the Faro +Isles, and in several other places. In this manner, through my preaching +have many Papist beliefs, and old traditions come first into the world, +and all in the guise of goodness. For who ever would swallow a baitless +hook? Who ever gained credence for a tale which had not some truth +mingled with the false, or some little good overshadowing the bad? So, +if whilst preaching I can instil one counsel of mine own among a hundred +that are good and true, by means of that one, through heedlessness or +superstition, will more weal betide your kingdom than woe through all the +others ever.” “Well,” said Lucifer, “since thou canst do so much good in +the pulpit, I bid thee dwell seven years in the mouth of a barndoor +preacher who always utter what first comes to his mind; there thou wilt +have an opportunity of putting in a word now and then to thine own +purpose.” + +There were many more devils and damned darting to and fro like lightning +about the awful throne, to count and to receive offices. But suddenly +without any warning there came a command for all the messengers and +prisoners to depart from the court, each one to his den, leaving the King +and his chief counsellors alone together. “Is it not better for us also +to depart, lest they find us?” I asked my friend. “Thou needest have no +fear,” answered the angel, “no unclean spirit can ever pierce this veil.” +Wherefore we remained there invisible, to see the issue. + +Then Lucifer began graciously to address his peers thus:—“Ye mightiest +spirits of evil, ye archfiends of hellish guile, the utmost of your +malicious wiles am I now constrained to demand. All here know that +Britain and its adjacent isles is the realm most dangerous to my state, +and fullest of mine enemies; and what is a hundredfold worse, there +reigns now a queen most dangerous of all, who has never once inclined +hither, nor along the old way of Rome on the one hand nor yet along the +way of Geneva on the other: to think what great good the Pope has for a +long time done us there and Oliver even to this day! What therefore +shall we do? I fear me we shall entirely lose our ancient possession of +that mart unless we instantly set-to to pave a new way for them to travel +over, for they know too well all the old roads that lead hitherwards. +Since this invincible hand shortens my chain, and prevents me from going +myself to the earth, your advice I pray. Whom shall I appoint my viceroy +to oppose yon hateful queen, Our Enemy’s vicegerent?” + +“Oh! thou great Emperor of Darkness,” said Cerberus, {106} the demon of +tobacco, “’tis I that supply the third of that country’s maintenance, I +shall go, and I will despatch you a hundred thousand of your foemen’s +souls through a pipe stem.” “In sooth,” said Lucifer, “thou hast done me +some good service, what with causing the slaughter of the owners in India +and poisoning those that indulge in it, through the saliva, sending many +to wander with it idly from house to house, others to steal in order to +obtain it, and millions to grow that fond of it that they cannot spend a +single day without it, and be in their right mind. For all this, go and +do thy best, but thou art nought to our present purpose.” + +Whereupon Cerberus sat down; then rose Mammon, the devil of money, and +with surly skulking mien began: “’T was I who pointed out the first mine +whence money was to be obtained, and ever since I am praised and +worshipped more than God, and men lay their pain and peril, all their +mind, their affection and their trust upon me, yea, there is no man +content, but all crave more of my favor; the more they obtain, the +further still are they from rest, until at last, while seeking ease, they +come to this region of everlasting woes. How many a crafty old miser +have I enticed hither over paths that were harder to traverse than those +that lead to the realm of bliss? Whenever a fair was held, a market, +assize or election, or any other concourse, who had more subjects than I +or greater power and authority? Cursing, swearing, fighting, litigation, +falsehood and deceit, beating, clawing, murdering and robbing one +another, Sabbath-breaking, perjury, cruelty, and what black mark besides, +which stamps men as of Lucifer’s fold, that I have not had a hand in +placing? For which reason have I been called ‘the root of all evil.’ +Wherefore, an it please your majesty, I will go.” + +He ceased. Then Apolyon uprose and spoke: “I know of nought more certain +to lead them hither than what brought you here, {107} and that is Pride; +once it plants its straight stake in them and puffs them up, there is no +need to fear that they will condescend to bear the cross or go through +the narrow gate. I will go with your daughter Pride, and before they can +realise where they are, I will drive the Welsh hither headlong while +admiring the pomp of the English, and the English while imitating the +vivacity of the French.” + +After him arose Asmodai, the devil of lust: “’T is not unknown to you, +mightiest King of the deep, nor to you, princes of the land of despair, +how many of the gulfs of hell have I filled through voluptuousness and +lewdness. What of the time I kindled such a flame of lust over all the +world that the deluge had needs be sent to clear the earth of men, and to +sweep them all into our unquenchable fire? What of Sodoma and Gomorrah, +fine and fair cities, which I so consumed with licentiousness that a +hell-shower blazed in their infernal lusts and beat them down here alive, +to burn for ages on ages. And what of the great hosts of the Assyrians, +who were all slain in one night on my account? I disappointed Sarah of +seven husbands’ {108} and Solomon and many a thousand other kings did I +bring to shame through women. Wherefore let me and this sweet sin go, +and I will kindle the hellish spark so generally that it will at length +become one with this inextinguishable flame, for scarce one will ever +return from following me to walk in the paths of life.” At that he sat +down. + +Then Belphegor, chief of sloth and idleness, stood up and spake thus: “I +am the great prince of listlessness and sloth, who have great influence +upon millions of all sorts and conditions of men; I am that stagnant pond +where the spawn of every evil is bred, where the dregs of every +corruption and baleful slime grows rank. What good wouldst thou be, +Asmodai, or ye, chief damned evils, were I not? I, who keep the windows +open and unguarded that ye may enter into the man when ye will, through +his eyes, his ears and his mouth. I will go and roll them all over the +precipice unto you in their sleep.” + +Then Satan, the devil of delusion, who was on Lucifer’s left hand, arose, +and turning his grim visage to the king, began: “It is unnecessary for me +to recount my deeds to thee, Oh lost Archangel, or to you, swarthy +princes of Destruction: for ’twas I who dealt the first blow to man, and +mighty was that blow, to be the cause of death from the beginning of the +world to its end. Is it likely that I, who erst ravaged all the earth, +could not now give advice that would serve one little isle? Could not I, +who deceived Eve in Paradise, overcome Anne in Britain? If inborn craft +and continuous experience for five thousand years profit aught, my advice +is that you adorn your daughter Hypocrisy to deceive Britain and its +queen: you have no other as serviceable as she; her sway extends more +widely than that of all the rest of your daughters, and her subjects are +more numerous. Was it not through her that I beguiled the first woman? +And ever since she has remained on earth and waxed very great therein, so +that by now the world is hardly anything but one mass of hypocrisy. And +were it not for the craftiness of Hypocrisy how could anyone of us do +business in any part of the world? For what man would ever have aught to +do with sin, did he once behold it in its true color and under its own +proper name? He would sooner clasp a devil in his own infernal shape and +garb. If it were not that Hypocrisy can disguise the name and nature of +every evil under the semblance of some good, and give a bad name to every +goodness, no man at all would put forth his hand to do evil or would lust +after it. Walk through the entire city of Destruction and ye will +perceive her greatness in every quarter. Go to the street of Pride and +ask for an arrogant man or for a penny-worth of affectation mixed through +pride: ‘Woe is me,’ exclaims Hypocrisy, ‘there is no such thing here,’ +no, nor for a devil, anything else in the whole street save proud +demeanour. Or walk into the street of Lucre and enquire for the miser’s +house: pshaw, there is no one of the kind therein; or for the dwelling of +the murderer among the doctors, or for the abode of highwaymen amongst +the drovers; thou wouldst sooner be thrown to prison for asking than that +one should confess to his own name. Yea, Hypocrisy crawls in between a +man and his own heart, and so skilfully does she hide every wrong under +the name and guise of some virtue that she has caused well nigh all to +lose cognisance of their own selves. Greed she calls thrift; in her +tongue riotous living is innocent joy; pride is courtesy; the froward, a +clever, courageous man; the drunkard, a boon companion; and adultery is a +mere freak of youth. On the other hand, if she and her scholars’ {110} +are to be believed, the godly is a hypocrite or a fool; the gentle, a +coward; the abstemious, a churl, and so for every other quality. Send +her thither in all her adornment, and I warrant you she will deceive +everyone; she will blinden the counsellors, the soldiers, and all the +officers of church and state, and will draw them hither in hurrying +multitudes with the varicolored mask upon their eyes.” Whereupon he too +sat down. + +Then Beelzebub, the devil of thoughtlessness stood up, and in a harsh +voice said: “I am the great prince of heedlessness whose duty it is to +prevent a man taking reflective heed of his state; I am chief of the +incessant hell-flies who utterly amaze men, ever dinning in their ears +concerning their possessions or their pleasures, and never willingly +allowing them a moment’s leisure to think of their ways or of their end. +No one of you must dare enter the lists against me in feats serviceable +to the realm of darkness. For what is tobacco, but one of my meanest +weapons to stupefy the brain? What is Mammon’s kingdom but a part of my +great dominion? Yea, were I to loosen the bonds I have upon the subjects +of Mammon and Pride, and even of Asmodai, Belphegor and Hypocrisy, no man +would for an instant abide their domination. Wherefore I will do the +work and let no one of you ever utter a word.” + +Then great Lucifer himself arose from his burning seat, and having turned +his hideous face to both sides, thus began: “Ye chief spirits of the +Eternal Night, princes of hopeless guile, although the vasty gloom and +the wilds of Destruction are more bounden to none for their inhabitants +than to mine own supreme majesty—for it was I who erewhile wishing to +usurp the Almighty’s throne, drew myriads of you, my swarthy angels, at +my tail into these deadly horrors, and afterwards drew unto you myriads +of men to share this region—yet there is no gainsay that ye all have done +your share in maintaining and extending this great infernal empire.” +Then he began to answer them one by one: “Considering thy recent origin, +Cerberus, I will not deny but that thou hast gained for us much prey in +the island of our foes through tobacco. For they that carry, mix, and +weigh it, practise all manner of fraud; and by its indulgence some are +led on to habitual drinking, some to curse and swear, and some to seek it +through blandishment, and to lie in denying their use of it—not to speak +of the injury it inflicts upon many, and its immoderate use upon all, +body as well as soul. And better than that, myriads of the poor, whom +else we never should touch, sink hither through laying the burden of +their affection upon tobacco, and allowing it to be their master, to +steal the bread from their children’s mouth. Then, brother Mammon, your +power is so universal and so well-known on earth that it is a proverb, +‘Everything may be had for money.’ And without doubt,” said he, turning +to Apolyon, “my beloved daughter Pride is most serviceable to us, for +what can there be more pernicious to a man’s estate, to his body and +soul, than that proud, obdurate opinion which will make him squander a +hundred pounds rather than yield a crown to secure peace. She keeps them +all so stiff-necked and so intent on things on high that it is amusing to +see them, while gazing upwards, and ‘extolling their heads to the stars’ +fall straightway into the depths of hell. You too, Asmodai, we all +remember your great services in the past; there is none more resolute +than you to keep safe his prisoners under lock and key, nor any so +unimpeachable. Nowadays a wanton freak provokes only a little laughter, +but you came near perishing there from famine during the recent years of +dearth. And you, my son Belphegor, verminous prince of sloth, no one has +afforded us more pleasure than you; your influence is exceeding great +among noblemen and also among the common people, even to the beggar. And +were it not for the skill of my daughter Hypocrisy in coloring and +adorning, who ever would swallow a single one of our hooks? But after +all, if it were not for the unwearying courage of my brother Beelzebub in +keeping men in heedless dazedness, ye all would not be worth a straw. +Let us once more recapitulate. What good wouldst thou be, Cerberus, with +thy foreign whiff, if Mammon did not succour thee? What merchant would +ever run such risks to obtain thy paltry leaves from India, except for +Mammon’s sake? And only for him what king would receive them, especially +into Britain, and who but for his sake would carry them to every part of +the kingdom? Yet how worthless thou too wouldst be, Mammon, if Pride did +not lavish thee upon fair mansions, fine clothes, needless lawsuits, +gardens and horses, extravagant relatives, numerous dishes, floods of +beer and ale, beyond the power and station of their owner; for if money +were spent within the limit of necessity and of becoming moderation, what +would Mammon avail us? Thus thou art nought without Pride; and little +would Pride profit without Wantonness, for bastards are the most numerous +and the most fierce of all the subjects of my daughter Pride. And thou, +Asmodai, what wouldst thou profit us were it not for Sloth and Idleness? +Where wouldst thou obtain a night’s lodging? Thou wouldst not dare +expect it from a laborer or diligent student. And who, for the dishonor +and the shame, would ever give thee, Belphegor the Slothful, a moment’s +welcome, if Hypocrisy did not disguise thy foulness under the name of an +internal disease, or as a good intent or a seeming despisal of wealth or +the like. She too—my dear daughter Hypocrisy—what good is or ever would +she be, notwithstanding her skill as a seamstress, and her boldness, +without thy aid, my eldest brother, Beelzebub, great chief of +Distraction: if he gave people peace and leisure to reflect seriously +upon the nature of things and their differences, how long would it take +them to find holes in the folds of Hypocrisy’s golden garments, and to +see the hooks through the bait? What man in his senses would gather +together toys and fleeting pleasures, surfeiting, vain and disgraceful, +and choose them in preference to a calm conscience and the bliss of a +glorious eternity? Who would refuse to suffer the pangs of martyrdom for +his faith for an hour or a day, or affliction for forty or sixty years, +if he considered that his neighbours suffer here in an hour more than he +could suffer on earth for ever. Tobacco is nothing without Money, or +Money without Pride, and Pride is but a weakling without Wantonness, nor +is Wantonness aught without Sloth, nor Sloth without Hypocrisy, nor +Hypocrisy without Thoughtlessness. Wherefore, now,” said Lucifer, +lifting his infernal hoofs on their claw-ends, “to give my own opinion: +however excellent all these may be, I have a friend better suited than +all to our foe of Britain.” Then could I see all the archfiends open +wide their horrid mouths upon Lucifer in eager expectation as to what +this could possibly be, while I too was as anxious as they. “A friend,” +continued Lucifer, “whose true worth I have too long neglected, just as +thou, Satan, tempting Job of yore, didst foolishly turn upon him with +severity. This, my kinswoman, I now appoint regent in all matters +appertaining to my kingdom on earth, next to myself. Her name is +Prosperity: she has damned more than all of you together, and little +would ye avail without her presence. For who in war or peril, in famine +or in plague, would lay any value by tobacco, or by money or by the +sprightliness of pride, or who would deign welcome licentiousness or +sloth? And men in such straits are too wide-awake to be distraught by +Hypocrisy, or even by Thoughtlessness; none of the infernal vermin of +Distraction dare show himself in one such storm. Whereas Prosperity, +with its ease and comfort, is the nurse of all of you; beneath her +peaceful shadow and upon her tranquil bosom ye all are nourished, and +every other hellish worm that has its place in the conscience and will be +for ever here gnawing its possessor. As long as one is at ease, there is +no talk but of merriment, of feasts, bargains, genealogies, tales, news +and the like; the name of God is never mentioned except in profane oaths +and curses, whereas the poor and the afflicted have His name upon their +lips and in their hearts always. Go ye, the seven of you, and follow her +and be mindful to keep all a-slumbering and in peace, in good fortune, in +ease and in perfect carelessness; then shall ye see the honest poor +become an untractable, arrogant knave, once he has quaffed of the +alluring cup of Prosperity; ye shall behold the diligent laborer become a +careless babbler and everything else that pleases you. For all seek and +love happy Prosperity; she neither hearkens to advice nor fears censure; +the good she knows not, the bad she nurtures. But this is the greatest +mishap: the man that escapes her sweet charms must be given up in +despair, we must bid farewell to his company for ever. Prosperity then +is my earthly vicegerent; follow her to Britain, and obey her as ye would +our own royal majesty.” + +At that instant the huge bolt was whirled, and Lucifer and his chief +counsellors were swept away into the vortex of Uttermost Perdition; woe’s +me, how terrible it was to behold the jaws of Hell yawning wide to +receive them! “Come now,” said the Angel, “we will return, but what thou +hast seen is as nothing compared with all that is within the bounds of +Hell; and if thou didst see everything therein that again would be as +nought when compared with the unutterable woe of the Bottomless Pit; for +it is impossible to have any conception of the life in the Uttermost +Hell.” Then suddenly the heavenly Eagle caught me up into the vault of +the accursed gloom by a way I knew not, where, from the court, across the +entire firmament of dark-burning Perdition, and all the land of oblivion +up to the ramparts of the City of Destruction, I obtained full view of +the hideous monster of a giantess whose feet I had previously observed. +“Words fail me to describe her ways and means; but of herself I can tell +thee, that she was a three-faced ogress: one villainous face turned +towards Heaven, yelping and snarling and belching forth cursèd +abomination against the heavenly King; another face (and this was fair to +look upon) towards earth, to allure men beneath her baneful shadow; and +the other direful face towards the infernal abyss, to torture all therein +for ages without end. She is greater than the earth in its entirety, and +still continuously increases; she is a hundredfold more hideous than all +Hell which she herself created and which she peoples. If Hell were rid +of her, the vasty deep would be a Paradise; if she were driven from the +earth, the little world would become a heaven; and if she ascended into +Heaven, she would make an uttermost hell of that blissful realm. There +is nought in all the worlds which God has not created, save her alone. +She is the mother of the four deadly enchantresses; she is the mother of +Death and of all evil and misery, and her terrible grasp is upon every +living being. Her name is Sin. Blessed, ever blessed be he who escapes +from her clutches,” said the Angel. Thereupon he departed, and I could +hear the distant echo of his voice saying; “Write down what thou hast +seen; and whosoever readeth it thoughtfully will never repent.” + + + +WITH HEAVY HEART. + + + With heavy heart I sought th’ infernal coast + And saw the vale of everlasting woes, + The awful home of fiends and of the lost + Where torments rage and never grant repose— + A lake of fire whence horrid flames arose + And whither tended every wayward path + Its prey to lead ’midst cruel dragon-foes; + Yet, though I wandered through withouten scath, + A world I’d spurn, to view again that scene of wrath. + + With heavy heart oft I recall to mind + How many a loving friend unwarnèd fell + To bottomless perdition, there to find + A dread abode where he for aye must dwell; + Who erst were men are now like hounds of Hell + And with unceasing energy entice + To dire combustion all with wily spell, + And to themselves have ta’en the devils’ guise, + Their power and skill all ill to do in every wise. + + With heavy heart I roamed the dismal land + That is ordained the sinner’s end to be; + What mighty waves surge wild on every hand! + What gloomy shadows haunt its canopy! + What horrors fall on high and mean degree! + How hideous is the mien of its fell lords, + What shrieks rise from that boundless glowing sea, + How fierce the curses of the damnèd hordes, + No mortal ken can e’er conceive or paint in words. + + With heavy heart we mourn true friends or kin + And grieve the loss of home, of liberty, + Of that good name which all aspire to win + Or health and ease and sweet tranquility; + When dim, dark clouds enshroud our memory + And pass ’tween us and heaven’s gracious smiles, + ’Tis sadder far to wake to misery + And feel that Pleasure now no more beguiles, + That sin has left nought but the wounds of its base wiles. + + With heavy heart the valiantest of men + Lays low his head beneath th’ impending doom; + In terror he descends death’s awsome glen; + While there appear flashing through the gloom + The lurid shades of deeds which in the bloom + Of youth he dared; at last the conscience cries + With ruthless voice: “There’s life beyond the tomb;” + His dying thoughts all vanities despise + As on the threshold of Eternity he lies. + + The heavy heart that suffers all such grief + May, while the breath of life doth still remain, + Hope for a joyous peace and blest relief; + But if grim Death his fated victim gain, + Woe’s him that entereth the realm of pain— + For e’er on him its frowning portals close, + Nor gleam of hope shall he perceive again, + For in that vast eternal night he knows + A woe awaits that far surpasseth earthly woes. + + The heavy heart beneath its weight is crushed, + And at its very name—Damnation writ, + All men their vain and froward clamors hushed; + But when within the fiery gaping pit + Whose flaming ramparts none will ever quit, + Above the thunder’s roar th’ accursed host + Raise such loud cries, it passeth human wit + To dream of aught so dire, for at the most, + All woes of earth as pleasures seem unto the lost. + + From every vain complaining, cease, my friend, + Since thou art yet not numbered with the dead + But turn thy thoughts unto thy destined end, + Behold thy Fates spin out the vital thread, + And oftèn as thy mind to Hell be led, + To contemplate the doleful gloom aglow, + There will forthwith possess thee such a dread, + Which Christ’s unbounded mercy doth bestow, + Lest thou be doomed to that eternal realm of woe. + + + + +NOTES + + +In the book this note section contains footnotes for the preceding text. +Each note is numbered by the page on which it occurs and as such are just +footnotes poorly done. They have been turned back into footnotes in the +eBook.—DP. + + * * * * * + +{0} The genealogical tables in the book are in graphical form. The +content is reproduced below as text—DP. + + ELLIS WYNNE’S PEDIGREE + +William Wynne of Glyn [Cywarch]. Sheriff of Merioneth 1618 & 1637. D. +1658. 12th in direct male descent from Osborn Wyddel = Catherine, +daughter of William Lewis Anwyl of Park. Died 1638. Child: Ellis Wynne +[1], 3rd son who probably lived at Maes-y-garnedd, Llanbedr. + +Ellis Wynne [1] = Lowri, only daughter and heiress of Ed. Jones of +Maes-y-garnedd, eldest borther of Col. Jones, Cromwell’s brother-in-law +who was executed in 1660 as a regicide. Children: Edward Wynne [1] + +Edward Wynne [1] = . . . heiress of Glasynys. Children: daughter; ELLIS +WYNNE [2]. + +ELLIS WYNNE [2] = Lowri Llwyd of Hafod-lwyfog Beddgelert. Children: +William [1] Rector of Llanaber; Ellis, died 1752; Catherine, died young; +Edward [1], Rector of Penmorfa; Mary [1]. + +William [1] = . . . Lloyd of Trallwyn. Children: Daughter [1]. + +Daughter [1] = Robert Puw of Garth Maelan: Child: John Wynne Puw. + +John Wynne Puw’s children: Robert and John. + +Edward [1] had children: Frances; Ellis [3], Rector of Llanferres. + +Ellis [3] had children: Elizabeth; Ann; Edward; John, Rector of +Llandrillo; Frances; Ellis. + +Mary [1] = Robert Own of Tygwyn Dolgellau. + + THE RELATION BETWEEN ELLIS WYNNE & BISHOP HUMPHREYS. + +Meredydd ap Evan ap Robert (11th in male descent from Owen Gwynedd). +Died 1525. = Margaret, daughter of Morris ap John ap Meredydd of +Clunnenau. Child: Humphrey Wynne ap Meredydd [1] of Gesail-gyfarch. + +Humphrey Wynne ap Meredydd [1] = Catherine, daughter and heiress of Evan +ap Griffith of Cwmbowydd. Children: John Wynne ap Humphrey [1] of +Gesail-gyfarch; Evan Llwyd [1] of Hafod-lwyfog. + +John Wynne ap Humphrey [1] = Catherine, daughter of William Wynne ap +William of Cochwillan. Child: Robert Wynne [1] died 1637. + +Robert Wynne [1] = Mary, daughter of Ellis ap Cadwaladr of Ystumllyn. +Children: John Wynne [2]; Margaret, [2] succeeded to Gesail-gyfarch on +her nephew’s death. + +John Wynne [2] = Jane, daughter of Evan Llwyd of Dylase. Child: Robert +Wynne of Gesail-gyfarch, Barr.-at-law. Ob. s. p. 1685. + +Margaret [2] = Richard Humphreys of Hendref Gwenllian, Penrhyndeudraeth. +Desceneded in male line from Marchweithian. An Officer in the Royal Army +through Civil War. Died 1699. Children: HUMPHREY [1]. Born 1648. +Dean of Bangor, 1680, Bishop 1689. Bishop of Hereford, 1701. Died 1712; +John, died at Oxford; Catherine. + +HUMPHREY [1] = Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Morgan Bishop of Bangor 1678, +son of Rd. Morgan, M.P. for Montgomery Boroughs. Children: Ann, ob. s. +p. 1698; Margaret [1], died 1759. + +Margaret [1] = John Llwyd of Penylan, Barr.-at-law, son of Dr. W. Lloyd, +Bishop of Norwich, deprived in 1691 as one of the Nonjurors. + +Evan Llwyd [1] = Catherine, Daughter of Griffith Wynne of Penyberth. +Child: John [3] + +John [3] had children: Griffith [1] and Evans. + +Griffith [1] had children: William ob. s. p.; LOWRI. + +LOWRI = ELLIS WYNNE. + +{0a} “A Catalogue of Graduates in the University of Oxford between 1659 +and 1850” contains the following entry:—“Wynne (Ellis) Jes. BA., Oct. 14, +1718, MA., June 13, 1722.” But one can hardly suppose this to have been +the _Bardd Cwsr_, as in 1718 he would be 47 years of age. + +{0b} The following entries are taken from the register at +Llanfair-juxta-Harlech:—“_Elizaeus Wynne Generosus de Lâsynys et Lowria +Lloyd de Havod-lwyfog in agro Arvonensi in matrimonio conjuncti fuere +decimo quarto die Feb. 1702_.” + +{0c} “_Elizaeus Wynne junr. de Lâsynys sepultus est decimo die Octobris +A.D. 1732_.” + +{0d} “_Owenus Edwards cler. nuper Rector hums ecclesiae sepultus est +tricesimo die Maii A.D. 1711_.” (From the Llanfair parish register.) + +{0e} “_Lowria Uxor Elizaei Wynne cler. de Lasynys vigesimo quarto die +Augti. sepulta est Ano. Dom. 1720_.” + +“_Elizaeus Wynne Cler. nuper Rector dignissimus huius ecclesiae sepultus +est 17mo. die Julii 1734_.” (From the parish register at Llanfair.) + +{0f} “_The Visions of the Sleeping Bard_. First Part. Printed in +London by E. Powell for the Author, 1703.” + +{1a} _The opening lines_.—Ellis Wynne opens his vision as so many early +English poets are wont, with a description of the season when, and the +circumstances under which he fell asleep. Compare especially Langland’s +Visions, _prologus_: + + In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne + I went wyde in this world wondres to here, + Ac on a May mornynge on Malvern hulles + Me befel a ferly of fairy me thoughte, + I was wery forwandred and went me to reste + Under a brode bank bi a bornes side + And as I lay and leued and loked in the wateres + I slombred in a slepyng it sweyved so merye. + +{1b} _One of the mountains_.—The scene these opening lines describe was +one with which the Bard was perfectly familiar. He had often climbed the +slopes of the Vale of Ardudwy to view the glorious panorama around him +from Bardsey Isle to Strumble Head, the whole length of rock-bound coast +lay before him, while behind was the Snowdonian range, from Snowdon +itself to Cader Idris; and often, no doubt, he had watched the sun +sinking “far away over the Irish Sea, and reaching his western ramparts” +beyond the Wicklow Hills. + +{1c} _Master Sleep_.—Cp.: + + Such sleepy dulness in that instant weigh’d + My senses down. + + —_Dante: Inf. C.I._ (_Cary’s trans_.) + + Now leaden slumber with life’s strength doth fight. + + —_Shakespere_: _Lucrece_, _124_. + +{4a} _Such a fantastic rout_.—Literally “such a battle of Camlan.” This +was the battle fought between Arthur and his nephew Medrod about the year +540 on the banks of the Camel between Cornwall and Somerset, where Arthur +received the wounds of which he died. The combatants being relatives and +former friends, it was characterised with unwonted ferocity, and has +consequently come to be used proverbially for any fray or scene of more +than usual tumult and confusion. + + So all day long the noise of battle roll’d + Among the mountains by the winter sea, + Until King Arthur’s table, man by man, + Had fallen in Lyonness about their Lord. + + —_Tennyson_: _Morte d’Arthur_. + +{4b} _To lampoon my king_.—The Bard commenced this Vision in the reign +of William III. (v. also p. 17, “to drink the King’s health”) and +completed it in that of Queen Anne, who is mentioned towards the end of +the Vision. + +{7} _The Turk and old Lewis of France_.—The Sultan Mustapha and Lewis +XIV. are thus referred to. + +{14} _Clippers_.—The context seems to demand this meaning, that is, +“those who debase coin of the realm,” rather than “beggars” from the +Welsh “_clipan_.” + +{20} _Backgammon and dice_.—These games, together with chess, were +greatly in vogue in mediæval Wales, and are frequently alluded to in the +Mabinogion and other early works. The four minor games or feats +(_gogampau_) among the Welsh were playing the harp, chess, backgammon, +and dice. The word “_ffristial a disiau_” are here rendered by the one +word “dice”—_ffristial_ meaning either the dice-box, or the game itself, +and _disiau_, the dice. + +{21} _This wailing is for pay_.—Cp. + + Ut qui conducti plorant in funere dicunt + et faciunt prope plora dolentibus ex animo. + + —_Horace_: _Ars Poetica_, _430–1_. + +{23} _The butt of everybody_.—Whenever a number of bards, in the course +of their peregrinations from one patron’s hall to another, met of a +night, their invariable custom was to appoint one of the company to be +the butt of their wit, and he was expected to give ready answer in verse +and parry the attacks of his brethren. It is said of Dafydd ap Gwilym +that he satirized one unfortunate butt of a bard so fiercely that he fell +dead at his feet. + +{24} _Congregation of mutes_.—At the time Ellis Wynne wrote, the Quakers +were very numerous in Merioneth and Montgomery and especially in his own +immediate neighbourhood, where they probably had a burying-ground and +conventicle. They naturally became the objects of cruel persecution at +the hands of the dominant church as well as of the state; their meetings +were broken up, their members imprisoned and maltreated, until at last +they were forced to leave their fatherland and seek freedom of worship +across the Atlantic. + +{25} _Speak no ill_.—A Welsh proverb; _v. Myv. Arch. III. 182_. + +{26} _We came to a barn_.—The beginning of Nonconformity in Wales. In +the Author’s time there were already many adherents to the various +dissenting bodies in North Wales. Walter Cradoc, Morgan Llwyd and others +had been preaching the Gospel many years previously throughout the length +and breadth of Gwynedd; and it was their followers that now fell under +the Bard’s lash. + +{28a} _Corruption of the best_.—A Welsh adage; _v. Myv. Arch. III. 185_. + +{28b} _Some mocking_.—Compare Bunyan’s Christian starting from the City +of Destruction: “So he looked not behind him, but fled towards the middle +of the plain. The neighbours came out to see him run, and as he ran, +some mocked, others threatened and some cried after him to return.” + +{29} _Who is content_.—Cp. + + Qui fit, Maecenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortem + Seu ratio dederit seu fors obiecerit, illa + Contentus vivat, laudet diversa sequentes? + + —_Horace_: _Sat. I. i._ + +{34} _Increases his own penalty_.—Cp. + + —the will + And high permission of all-ruling heaven + Left him at large to his own dark designs, + That with reiterated crimes he might + Heap on himself damnation, while he sought + Evil to others. + + —_Par. Lost_: _I. 211–6_. + +{36} _Royal blood_—referring to the execution of Charles I. + +{37} _The Pope and his other son_.—The concluding lines of this Vision +were evidently written amidst the rejoicings of the nation at the +victories of Marlborough over the French and of Charles XII. over the +Muscovites + +{43a} _Glyn Cywarch_.—The ancestral home of the Author’s father, situate +in a lonely glen about three miles from Harlech. + +{43b} _Our brother Death_.—This idea of the kinship of Death and Sleep +is common to all poets, ancient and modern; cp. the “_Consanguineus Leti +Sopor_” of Vergil (Æneid: VI. 278); and also: + + Oh thou God of Quiet! + Look like thy brother, Death, so still,—so stirless— + For then we are happiest, as it may be, we + Are happiest of all within the realm + Of thy stern, silent, and unawakening twin. + + —_Byron_: _Sardanapulus_, _IV_. + +{44} _An extensive domain_.—Compare what follows with Vergil’s +description (Dryden’s trans.): + + Just in the gate and in the jaws of Hell, + Revengeful cares and sullen sorrows dwell, + And pale diseases and repining age— + Want, fear, and famine’s unresisted rage; + Here toils and death, and death’s half-brother, Sleep, + Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep. + + —_Æneid_: _VI. 273–8_ + +{48a} _Merlin_.—A bard or seer who is supposed to have flourished about +the middle of the fifth century, when Arthur was king. He figures +largely in early tales and traditions, and many of his prophecies are to +be found in later Cymric poetry, to one of which Tennyson refers in his +_Morte d’Arthur_: + + I think that we + Shall never more, at any future time, + Delight our souls with talks of knightly deeds + Walking about the gardens and the halls + Of Camelot, as in the days that were. + I perish by this people which I made— + Though Merlin sware that I should come again + To rule once more—but let what will be, be. + +{48b} _Brutus_, _the son of Silvius_.—According to the Chronicles of the +Welsh Kings, Brwth (Brutus) was the son of Selys (Silvius), the son of +Einion or Æneas who, tradition tells, was the first king of Prydain. In +these ancient chronicles we find many tales recorded of Brutus and his +renowned ancestors down to the fall of Troy and even earlier. + +{48c} _A huge_, _seething cauldron_.—This was the mystical cauldron of +Ceridwen which Taliesin considered to be the source of poetic +inspiration. Three drops, he avers, of the seething decoction enabled +him to forsee all the secrets of the future. + +{48d} _Upon the face of earth_.—These lines occur in a poem of Taliesin +where he gives an account of himself as existing in various places, and +contemporary with various events in the early eras of the world’s +history—an echo of the teachings of Pythagoras: + + Morte carent animae; semperque priore relicta + Sede, novis habitant domibus vivuntque receptae. + + —_Ovid_: _Metam. XV. 158–9_. + +{48e} _Taliesin_.—Taliesin is one of the earliest Welsh bards whose +works are still extant. He lived sometime in the sixth century, and was +bard of the courts of Urien and King Arthur. + +{49a} _Maelgwn Gwynedd_.—He became lord over the whole of Wales about +the year 550 and regained much territory that had once been lost to the +Saxons. Indeed Geoffrey of Monmouth asserts that at one time Ireland, +Scotland, the Orkneys, Norway and Denmark acknowledged his supremacy. +Whatever truth there be in this assertion, it is quite certain that he +built a powerful navy whereby his name became a terror to the Vikings of +the North. In his reign, however, the country was ravaged by a more +direful enemy—the Yellow Plague; “whoever witnessed it, became doomed to +certain death. Maelgwn himself, through Taliesin’s curse, saw the _Vad +Velen_ through the keyhole in Rhos church and died in consequence.” +(_Iolo MSS._) + +{49b} _Arthur’s quoit_.—The name given to several _cromlechau_ in Wales; +there is one so named, near the Bard’s home, in the parish of Llanddwywe, +“having the print of a large hand, dexterously carved by man or nature, +on the side of it, as if sunk in from the weight of holding it.” (_v. +Camb. Register_, _1795_.) + +{54} _In the Pope’s favor_.—Clement XI. became Pope in 1700, his +predecessor being Innocent XII. + +{55} _Their hands to the bar_.—Referring to the custom (now practically +obsolete) whereby a prisoner on his arraignment was required to lift up +his hands to the bar for the purpose of identification. Ellis Wynne was +evidently quite conversant with the practice of the courts, though there +is no proof of his ever having intended to enter the legal profession or +taken a degree in law as one author asserts. (_v. Llyfryddiaeth y +Cymry_, sub. tit. Ellis Wynne.) + +{67} “_The Practice of Piety_.”—Its author was Dr. Bayley, Bishop of +Bangor; a Welsh translation by Rowland Vaughan, of Caergai, appeared in +1630, “printed at the signe of the Bear, in Saint Paul’s Churchyard, +London.” + +{69} _At one time cold_.—Cp.: + + I come + To take you to the other shore across, + Into eternal darkness, there to dwell + In fierce heat and in ice. + + —_Dante_: _Inf. c. III._ (_Cary’s trans._). + +{71} _Above the roar_.—Cp.: + + The stormy blast of Hell + With restless fury drives the spirits on: + When they arrive before the ruinous sweep + There shrieks are heard, there lamentations, moans, + And blasphemies. + + —_Dante: Inf. c. V._ (_Cary’s trans._). + +{73} _Amidst eternal ice_.—Cp.: + + Thither . . . all the damned are brought + . . . and feel by turns the bitter change + Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce! + From beds of raging fire to starve in ice + Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine + Immoveable, infix’d and frozen round + Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire. + + —_Par. Lost_, _II. 597–603_. + +{85a} _Better to reign_.—This speech of Lucifer is very Miltonic; +compare especially— + + —in my choice + To reign is worth ambition, though in hell; + Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. + + —_Par. Lost_, _I. 261–3_. + +{85b} _Revenge is sweet_.—Cp.: + + Revenge, at first though sweet + Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils. + + —_Par. Lost_, _IX. 171–2_. + +{87} _This enterprize_.—Cp.: + + —this enterprize + None shall partake with me. + + —_Par. Lost_, _II. 465_. + +{95a} _Barristers_.—The word _cyfarthwyr_, here rendered “barristers,” +really means “those who bark,” which is probably only a pun of the Bard’s +on _cyfarchwyr_—“those who address (the court).” + +{95b} _Sir Edmundbury Godfrey_.—A London magistrate who took prominent +part against the Catholics in the reign of Charles II. At the time the +panic which the villainy of Titus Oates had fomented was at its height, +Sir Edmundbury was found dead on Primrose Hill, with his sword through +his body; his tragic end was attributed to the Papists, and many innocent +persons suffered torture and death for their supposed complicity in his +murder. + +{102} _Einion the son of Gwalchmai_.—This is a reference to a fable +entitled “Einion and the Lady of the Greenwood,” where the bard is led +astray by “a graceful, slender lady of elegant growth and delicate +feature, her complexion surpassing every red and every white in early +dawn, the snow-flake on the mountain-side, and every beauteous colour in +the blossoms of wood, meadow, and hill.” (_v. Iolo MSS._) Einion was an +Anglesey bard, flourishing in the twelfth century. + +{104} _Walking round the church_.—Referring to a superstitious custom in +vogue in some parts of Wales as late as the beginning of the present +century. On All Souls’ Night the women-folk gathered together at the +parish church, each with a candle in her hand; the sexton then came round +and lit the candies, and as these burnt brightly or fitfully, so would +the coming year prove prosperous or adverse. When the last candle died +out, they solemnly march round the church twice or thrice, then home in +silence, and in their dreams that night, their fated husbands would +appear to them. + +{106} _Cerberus_, _et seq._—Compare the seven deadly sins in Langland’s +_Vision of Piers Plowman_, Pride, Luxury (_lecherie_), Envy, Wrath, +Covetousness, Gluttony, and Sloth. See also Chaucer’s Persones Tale, +_passim_. A description of these seven sins occurs very frequently in +old authors. + +{107} _What brought you here_.—Pride is the greatest of all the deadly +sins. Compare Spenser’s _Faery Queen I. c. IV_, where “proud Lucifera, +as men did call her,” was attended by “her six sage counsellors”—the +other sins. Shakespere names this sin Ambition: + + Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition, + For by this sin fell the angels. + +{108} _Sarah_.—v. Apocrypha, the book of Tobit, c. VI. + +{110} If she and her scholars—Cp.: + + At nos virtutes ipsas invertimus atque + sincerum cupimus vas incrustare. probus quis + nobiscum vivit multum demissus homo: illi + tardo cognomen pingui damus. his fugit omnes + insidias nullique malo latus obdit apertum pro bene sano + at non incauto fictum astutumque vocamus. + + —_Horace_: _Sat. I. iii_. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD*** + + +******* This file should be named 5671-0.txt or 5671-0.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/6/7/5671 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Visions of the Sleeping Bard + + +Author: Ellis Wynne + + + +Release Date: July 10, 2014 [eBook #5671] +[This file was first posted on August 6, 2002] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1897 Welsh National Press Company edition +by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/coverb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Book cover" +title= +"Book cover" +src="images/covers.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/fpb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Glasynys, The Birthplace of Ellis Wynne" +title= +"Glasynys, The Birthplace of Ellis Wynne" +src="images/fps.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h1>THE VISIONS<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF THE</span><br /> +SLEEPING BARD</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">BEING</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center">ELLIS WYNNE’S</p> +<p style="text-align: center">“<i>Gweledigaetheu y Bardd +Cwsc</i>”</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">TRANSLATED +BY</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center">ROBERT GWYNEDDON DAVIES</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">LONDON: +SIMPKIN, MARHSALL & CO., LIMITED.</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">CARNARVON: +THE WELSH NATIONAL PRESS COMPANY, LIMITED</span></p> + +<div class="gapshortline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="GutSmall">MDCCCXCVII</span></p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">TO</span><br +/> +PROFESSOR JOHN RHŶS, M.A., LL.D.<br /> +<span class="GutSmall">PRINCIPAL OF JESUS COLLEGE, +OXFORD</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">AND</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY +COLLEGE</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OF NORTH WALES,</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">IN TOKEN OF</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">His Distinguished Scholarship and +Unrivalled</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Services</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">TO</span><br /> +CELTIC LITERATURE<br /> +<span class="smcap">This Translation</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">IS</span><br /> +<span class="smcap">Respectfully Dedicated</span></p> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<p><span class="smcap">At</span> the National Eisteddfod of 1893, +a prize was offered by Mr. Lascelles Carr, of the <i>Western +Mail</i>, for the best translation of Ellis Wynne’s +<i>Vision of Hell</i>. The Adjudicators (Dean Howell and +the Rev. G. Hartwell Jones, M.A.), awarded the prize for the +translation which is comprised in the present volume. The +remaining Visions were subsequently rendered into English, and +the complete work is now published in the hope that it may prove +useful to those readers, who, being unacquainted with the Welsh +language, yet desire to obtain some knowledge of its +literature.</p> +<p>My best thanks are due to the Rev. J. W. Wynne Jones, M.A., +Vicar of Carnarvon, for much help and valuable criticism; to the +Rev. R Jones, MA., Rector of Llanfair-juxta-Harlech, through +whose courtesy I am enabled to produce (from a photograph by +Owen, Barmouth) a page of the register of that parish, containing +entries in Ellis Wynne’s handwriting; and to Mr. Isaac +Foulkes, Liverpool, for the frontispiece, which appeared in his +last edition of the <i>Bardd Cwsc</i>.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">R. GWYNEDDON DAVIES.</p> +<p><i>Caernarvon</i>,<br /> + <i>1st July</i>, <i>1897</i>.</p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">PAGE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p>Frontispiece</p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p>Genealogical Tables</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#pagexii">xii</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p>Introduction:—</p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">I.</p> +</td> +<td><p>The Author’s Life</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#pagexv">xv</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">II.</p> +</td> +<td><p>The Text</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#pagexx">xx</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right">III.</p> +</td> +<td><p>The Summary</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#pagexxiv">xxiv</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p>Facsimile of Ellis Wynne’s +Handwriting</p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p>Vision of the World</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page3">3</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p>Vision of Death</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page43">43</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p>Vision of Hell</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page67">67</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="3"><p>Notes</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span class="indexpageno"><a +href="#page123">123</a></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2><a name="pagexii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xii</span>GENEALOGICAL TABLES. <a name="citation0"></a><a +href="#footnote0" class="citation">[0]</a></h2> +<h3>ELLIS WYNNE’S PEDIGREE.</h3> +<p><sub>*</sub><sup>*</sup><sub>*</sub> (<i>I am indebted to E. +H. Owen</i>, <i>Esqr.</i>, <i>F.S.A.</i>, <i>Tycoch</i>, +<i>Carnarvon</i>, <i>for most of the information compiled in the +following tables</i>.)</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/pedb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Ellis Wynne’s Pedigree" +title= +"Ellis Wynne’s Pedigree" +src="images/peds.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h3><a name="pagexiii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xiii</span>THE RELATION BETWEEN ELLIS WYNNE & BISHOP +HUMPHREYS.</h3> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/relb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"The Relation between Ellis Wynne & Bishop Humphreys" +title= +"The Relation between Ellis Wynne & Bishop Humphreys" +src="images/rels.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="pagexv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xv</span>INTRODUCTION.</h2> +<h3>I.—THE AUTHOR’S LIFE.</h3> +<p><span class="smcap">Ellis Wynne</span> was born in 1671 at +Glasynys, near Harlech; his father, Edward Wynne, came of the +family of Glyn Cywarch (mentioned in the second Vision), his +mother, whose name is not known, was heiress of Glasynys. +It will be seen from the accompanying table that he was descended +from some of the best families in his native county, and through +<i>Osborn Wyddel</i>, from the Desmonds of Ireland. His +birth-place, which still stands, and is shown in the frontispiece +hereto, is situate about a mile and a half from the town of +Harlech, in the beautiful Vale of Ardudwy. The natural +scenery amidst which he was brought up, cannot have failed to +leave a deep impression upon his mind; and in the Visions we come +across unmistakeable descriptions of scenes and places around his +home. Mountain and sea furnished him with many a graphic +picture; the precipitous heights and dark ravines of Hell, its +caverns and its cliffs, are all evidently drawn from +nature. The neighbourhood is also rich in romantic lore and +historic associations; Harlech Castle, some twenty-five years +before his birth, had been the scene of many a fray between +Roundheads and Cavaliers, and of the last stand made by the Welsh +for King Charles. These events were fresh in the memory of +his elders, whom he had, no doubt, often heard speaking of those +stirring times; members of his own family had, perhaps, fought in +the ranks of the rival parties; his father’s grand-uncle, +Col. John Jones, was one of those “who erstwhile drank of +royal blood.”</p> +<p>It is not known where he received his early education, and it +has been generally stated by his biographers that he was not +known to <a name="pagexvi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xvi</span>have entered either of the Universities; but, as the +following notice proves, he at least matriculated at +Oxford:—</p> +<blockquote><p><span class="smcap">Wynne</span>, <span +class="smcap">Ellis</span>, s. Edw. of Lasypeys, co. Merioneth, +pleb. Jesus Coll. matric. 1st March 1691–2, aged 21; rector +of Llandanwg, 1705, & of Llanfair-juxta-Harlech (both) co. +Merioneth, 1711. (<i>Vide</i> Foster’s <i>Index +Eccles</i>.)</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Probably his stay at the University was brief, and that he +left without taking his degree, for I have been unable to find +anything further recorded of his academic career. <a +name="citation0a"></a><a href="#footnote0a" +class="citation">[0a]</a> The Rev. Edmund Prys, Vicar of +Clynnog-Fawr, in a prefatory <i>englyn</i> to Ellis Wynne’s +translation of the “<i>Holy Living</i>” says that +“in order to enrich his own, he had ventured upon the study +of three other tongues.” This fact, together with +much that appears in the Visions, justifies the conclusion that +his scholarly attainments were of no mean order. But how +and where he spent the first thirty years of his life, with the +possible exception of a period at Oxford, is quite unknown, the +most probable surmise being that they were spent in the enjoyment +of a simple rural life, and in the pursuit of his studies, of +whatever nature they may have been.</p> +<p>According to Rowlands’s <i>Cambrian Bibliography</i> his +first venture into the fields of literature was a small volume +entitled, <i>Help i ddarllen yr Yscrythur Gyssegr-Lân</i> +(“Aids to reading Holy Writ”), being a translation of +the <i>Whole Duty of Man</i> “by E. W., a clergyman of the +Church of England,” published at Shrewsbury in 1700. +But as Ellis Wynne was not ordained until 1704, this work must be +ascribed to some other author who, both as to name and calling, +answered to the description on the title-page quoted above. +But in 1701 an accredited work of his appeared, namely, a +translation into Welsh of Jeremy Taylor’s <i>Rules and +Exercises of Holy Living</i>, a 12mo. volume published in +London. It was dedicated to the Rev. Humphrey Humphreys, +D.D., Bishop of Bangor, who was a native of the same district of +Merionethshire as Ellis Wynne, and, as is shown in the +genealogical table hereto, was connected by marriage with his +family.</p> +<p><a name="pagexvii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xvii</span>In +1702 <a name="citation0b"></a><a href="#footnote0b" +class="citation">[0b]</a> he was married to Lowri +Llwyd—<i>anglicè</i>, Laura Lloyd—of +Hafod-lwyfog, Beddgelert, and had issue by her, two daughters and +three sons; one of the daughters, Catherine, died young, and the +second son, Ellis, predeceased his father by two years. <a +name="citation0c"></a><a href="#footnote0c" +class="citation">[0c]</a> His eldest son, Gwilym, became +rector of Llanaber, near Barmouth, and inherited his ancestral +home; his youngest son, Edward, also entered the Church and +became rector of Dolbenmaen and Penmorfa, Carnarvonshire. +Edward Wynne’s son was the rector of Llanferres, +Denbighshire, and his son again was the Rev. John Wynne, of +Llandrillo in Edeyrnion, who died only a few years ago.</p> +<p>The following year (1703), he published the present +work—his <i>magnum opus</i>—which has secured him a +place among the greatest names in Welsh Literature. It will +be noticed that on the title-page to the first edition the words +“<i>Y Rhann Gyntaf</i>” (“The First +Part”) appear; the explanation given of this is that Ellis +Wynne did actually write a second part, entitled, <i>The Vision +of Heaven</i>, but that on hearing that he was charged with +plagiarism in respect of his other Visions, he threw the +manuscript into the fire, and so destroyed what, judging from the +title, might have proved a greater success than the first part, +as affording scope for lighter and more pleasing flights of the +imagination.</p> +<p>It is said by his biographers that he was induced to abandon +the pursuit of the law, to which he was educated, and to take +holy orders, by Bishop Humphreys, who had recognised in his +translation of the <i>Holy Living</i> marked ability and piety, +and that he was ordained deacon and priest the same day by the +Bishop, at Bangor, in 1701, and presented on the following day to +the living of Llanfair-juxta-Harlech and subsequently to +Llandanwg.</p> +<p>All these statements appear to be incorrect. To deal +with them categorically: I find no record at the Diocesan +Registry of his having been ordained at Bangor at all; the +following entry in the parish register of Llanfair shows that he +was not in holy orders in <a name="pagexviii"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. xviii</span>July, 1704: “<i>Gulielmus +filius Elizaei Wynne generosi de Lâs ynys et uxoris suis +baptizatus fuit quindecimo die Julii</i>, +<i>1704</i>.—<i>W. Wynne Rr.</i>, <i>O. Edwards</i>, +<i>Rector</i>.” His first living was Llandanwg, and +not Llanfair, to which he was collated on January 1st, +1705. Moreover, the above-named Owen Edwards was the rector +of Llanfair until his death which took place in 1711. <a +name="citation0d"></a><a href="#footnote0d" +class="citation">[0d]</a> From that date on to 1734, the +entries in the register at Llanfair church are all in Ellis +Wynne’s handwriting; these facts prove conclusively that it +was in 1711 he became rector of the latter parish.</p> +<p>In 1710 he edited a new and revised edition of the Book of +Common Prayer, at the request of his patron, the Bishop of +Hereford (Dr. Humphreys) and the four Welsh bishops,—a +clear proof of the confidence reposed in him by the dignitaries +of his church as a man of learning and undoubted piety. He +himself published nothing more, but <i>A Short Commentary on the +Catechism</i> and a few hymns and carols were written by him and +published posthumously by his son, Edward, being included in a +volume of his own, entitled <i>Prif Addysc y Cristion</i>, issued +in 1755.</p> +<p>The latter part of his life is as completely obscure as the +earlier; he lapsed again into the silence from which he had only +just emerged with such signal success, and confined his efforts +as a Christian worker within the narrow limits of his own native +parts, exercising, doubtlessly, an influence for good upon his +immediate neighbourhood through force of character and noble +personality, as upon his fellow-countrymen at large by means of +his published works. His wife died in 1720, and his son, +Ellis, in 1732; two years later he himself died and was buried +under the communion table in Llanfair church, on the 17th day of +July, 1734. <a name="citation0e"></a><a href="#footnote0e" +class="citation">[0e]</a> There is no marble or +“perennial brass” to mark the last resting-place of +the Bard, nor was there, until recent years, any memorial of him +in either of his parish churches, when the late Rev. John Wynne +set up a fine stained-glass window at Llanfair church in memory +of his illustrious ancestor.</p> +<p><a name="pagexix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xix</span>Ellis +Wynne appeared at a time when his country had sore need of him, +when the appointed teachers of the nation were steeped in apathy +and corruption, when ignorance and immorality overspread the +land—the darkest hour before the dawn. He was one of +the early precursors of the Methodist revival in Wales, a voice +crying in the wilderness, calling upon his countrymen to +repent. He neither feared nor favored any man or class, but +delivered his message in unfaltering tone, and performed his +alloted task honestly and faithfully. How deeply our +country is indebted to him who did her such eminent service in +the days of adversity and gloom will never be known. And +now, in the time of prosperity, Wales still remembers her +benefactor, and will always keep honored the name of Ellis Wynne, +the <span class="smcap">Sleeping Bard</span>.</p> +<h3><a name="pagexx"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xx</span>II.—THE TEXT.</h3> +<p>The <i>Bardd Cwsc</i> was first published in London in 1703, a +small 24mo. volume of some 150 pages, with the following +title-page</p> +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">Gweledigaetheu y Bardd +Cwsc</span>. Y Rhann Gyntaf. Argraphwyd yn Llundain +gan E. Powell i’r Awdwr, 1703.” <a +name="citation0f"></a><a href="#footnote0f" +class="citation">[0f]</a></p> +</blockquote> +<p>A second edition was not called for until about 1742, when it +was issued at Shrewsbury; but in the thirty years following, as +many as five editions were published, and in the present century, +at least twelve editions (including two or three by the Rev. +Canon Silvan Evans) have appeared. The text followed in +this volume is that of Mr. Isaac Foulkes’ edition, but +recourse has also been had to the original edition for the +purpose of comparison. The only translation into English +hitherto has been that of George Borrow, published in London in +1860, and written in that charming and racy style which +characterises his other and better known works. He has, +however, fallen into many errors, which were only natural, seeing +that the Visions abound in colloquial words and phrases, and in +idiomatic forms of expression which it would be most difficult +for one foreign to our tongue to render correctly.</p> +<p>The author’s name is not given in the original nor in +any subsequent edition previous to the one published at Merthyr +Tydfil in 1806, where the <i>Gweledigaetheu</i> are said to be by +“Ellis Wynne.” But it was well known, even +before his death, that he was the author; the fact being probably +deduced from the similarity in style between the Visions and an +acknowledged work, namely, his translation of the <i>Holy +Living</i>. The most likely reason for his preferring +anonymity is not far to seek; his scathing denunciation of the +sins of certain classes and, possibly, even of certain +individuals, would be almost sure to draw upon the author their +most bitter attacks. Many of the characters he depicts +would be identified, rightly or wrongly, with certain of his +contemporaries, and many more, whom he never had in his mind at +all, would imagine themselves the objects of his satire; he had +nothing to gain by imperilling himself <a +name="pagexxi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxi</span>at the +hands of such persons, or by coming into open conflict with them; +he had his message to deliver to his fellow-countrymen, his +Visions a purpose to fulfil, the successful issue of which could +not but be frustrated by the introduction of personal hatred and +ill-will. Ellis Wynne was only too ready to forego the +honor of being the acknowledged author of the Visions if thereby +he could the better serve his country.</p> + +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p>The <i>Bardd Cwsc</i> is not only the most popular of Welsh +prose works, but it has also retained its place among the best of +our classics. No better model exists of the pure idiomatic +Welsh of the last century, before writers became influenced by +English style and method. Vigorous, fluent, crisp, and +clear, it shows how well our language is adapted to description +and narration. It is written for the people, and in the +picturesque and poetic strain which is always certain to +fascinate the Celtic mind. The introduction to each Vision +is evidently written with elaborate care, and exquisitely +polished—“<i>ne quid possit per leve +morari</i>,” and scene follows scene, painted in words +which present them most vividly before one’s eyes, whilst +the force and liveliness of his diction sustain unflagging +interest throughout. The reader is carried onward as much +by the rhythmic flow of language and the perfect balance of +sentences, as by the vivacity of the narrative and by the reality +with which Ellis Wynne invests his adventures and the characters +he depicts. The terrible situations in which we find the +Bard, as the drama unfolds, betoken not only a powerful +imagination, but also an intensity of feeling which enabled him +to realise the conceptions of such imagination. We follow +the Bard and his heavenly guide through all their perils with +breathless attention; the demons and the damned he so clothes +with flesh and blood that our hatred or our sympathy is instantly +stirred; his World is palpitating with life, his Hell, with its +gloom and glare, is an awful, haunting dream. But besides +being the possessor of a vivid imagination, Ellis Wynne was +endowed with a capacity for transmitting his own experience in a +picturesque and life-like manner. The various descriptions +of scenes, such as Shrewsbury fair, the parson’s revelry +and the deserted mansions; of natural scenery, as in the +beginning of the first and last Visions; of personages, such as +the portly alderman, and the young lord and his retinue, all are +evidently drawn from the Author’s own experience. <a +name="pagexxii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxii</span>He was +also gifted with a lively sense of humor, which here and there +relieves the pervading gloom so naturally associated with the +subject of his Visions. The humorous and the severe, the +grotesque and the sublime, the tender and the terrible, are alike +portrayed by a master hand.</p> +<p>The leading feature of the Visions, namely the personal +element which the Author infuses into the recital of his distant +travels, brings the reader into a closer contact with the tale +and gives continuity to the whole work, some parts of which would +otherwise appear disconnected. This telling of the tale +<i>in propria persona</i> with a guide of shadowy or celestial +nature who points out what the Bard is to see, and explains to +him the mystery of the things around him, is a method frequently +adopted by poets of all times. Dante is the best known +instance, perhaps; but we find the method employed in Welsh, as +in “The Dream of Paul, the Apostle,” where Paul is +led by Michael to view the punishments of Hell <i>(vide</i> Iolo +MSS.). Ellis Wynne was probably acquainted with Vergil and +Dante, and adopted the idea of supernatural guidance from them; +in fact, apart from this, we meet with several passages which are +eminently reminiscent of both these great poets.</p> +<p>But now, casting aside mere speculation, we come face to face +with the indisputable fact that Ellis Wynne is to a considerable +degree indebted to the <i>Dreams</i> of Gomez de Quevedo y +Villegas, a voluminous Spanish author who flourished in the early +part of the 17th century. In 1668, Sir Roger +L’Estrange published his translation into English of the +<i>Dreams</i>, which immediately became very popular. +Quevedo has his Visions of the World, of Death and her +(<i>sic</i>) Empire, and of Hell; the same characters are +delineated in both, the same classes satirized, the same +punishments meted out. We read in both works of the +catchpoles and wranglers, the pompous knights and lying +knaves—in fine, we cannot possibly come to any other +conclusion than that Ellis Wynne has “read, marked and +inwardly digested” L’Estrange’s translation of +Quevedo’s <i>Dreams</i>. But admitting so much, the +<i>Bardd Cwsc</i> still remains a purely Welsh classic; whatever +in name and incident Ellis Wynne has borrowed from the Spaniard +he has dressed up in Welsh home-spun, leaving little or nothing +indicative of foreign influence. The sins he preached +against, the sinners he condemned, were, he knew too <a +name="pagexxiii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxiii</span>well, +indigenous to Welsh and Spanish soil. George Borrow sums up +his comments upon the two authors in the following words: +“Upon the whole, the Cymric work is superior to the +Spanish; there is more unity of purpose in it, and it is far less +encumbered with useless matter.”</p> +<p>The implication contained in the foregoing remarks of +Borrow—that the <i>Bardd Cwsc</i> is encumbered to a +certain degree with useless matter, is no doubt well +founded. There is a tendency to dwell inordinately upon the +horrible, more particularly in the Vision of Hell; a tiring +sameness in the descriptive passages, an occasional lapse from +the tragic to the ludicrous, and an intrusion of the common-place +in the midst of a speech or a scene, marring the dignity of the +one and the beauty of the other.</p> +<p>The most patent blemish, however, is the unwarranted +coarseness of expression to which the Author sometimes +stoops. It is true that he must be judged according to the +times he lived in; his chief object was to reach the ignorant +masses of his countrymen, and to attain this object it was +necessary for him to adopt their blunt and unveneered +speech. For all that, one cannot help feeling that he has, +in several instances, descended to a lower level than was +demanded of him, with the inevitable result that both the +literary merit and the good influence of his work in some measure +suffer. Many passages which might be considered coarse and +indecorous according to modern canons of taste, have been omitted +from this translation.</p> +<p>From the literary point of view <span class="smcap">The +Visions of the Sleeping Bard</span> has from the first been +regarded as a masterpiece, but from the religious, two very +different opinions have been held concerning it. One, +probably the earlier, was, that it was a book with a good +purpose, and fit to stand side by side with Vicar +Pritchard’s <i>Canwyll y Cymry</i> and <i>Llyfr yr +Homiliau</i>; the other, that it was a pernicious book, +“<i>llyfr codi cythreuliaid</i>”—a +devil-raising book. A work which in any shape or form bore +even a distant relationship to fiction, instantly fell under the +ban of the Puritanism of former days. To-day neither +opinion is held, the <i>Bardd Cwsc</i> is simply a classic and +nothing more.</p> +<p>The Visions derive considerable value from the light they +throw upon the moral and social condition of our country two +centuries <a name="pagexxiv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xxiv</span>ago. Wales, at the time Ellis Wynne wrote was in +a state of transition: its old-world romance was passing away, +and ceasing to be the potent influence which, in times gone by, +had aroused our nation to chivalrous enthusiasm, and led it to +ennobling aspirations. Its place and power, it is true, +were shortly to be taken by religion, simple, puritanic, and +intensely spiritual; but so far, the country was in a condition +of utter disorder, morally and socially. Its national life +was at its lowest ebb, its religious life was as yet undeveloped +and gave little promise of the great things to come. The +nation as a whole—people, patrician, and priest—had +sunk to depths of moral degradation; the people, through +ignorance and superstition; the patrician, through contact with +the corruptions of the England of the Restoration; while the +priesthood were</p> +<blockquote><p>“Blind mouths, that scarce themselves knew +how to hold<br /> +A sheep-hook, or had learnt aught else the least<br /> +That to the faithful herdman’s art belongs.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>All the sterner and darker aspects of the period are +chronicled with a grim fidelity in the Visions, the wrongs and +vices of the age are exposed with scathing earnestness. +Ellis Wynne set himself the task of endeavouring to arouse his +fellow-countrymen and bring them to realize the sad condition +into which the nation had fallen. He entered upon the work +endowed with keen powers of perception, a wide knowledge of life, +and a strong sense of justice. He was no respecter of +person; all orders of society, types of every rank and class, in +turn, came under castigation; no sin, whether in high places or +among those of low degree, escaped the lash of his biting +satire. On the other hand, it must be said that he lacked +sympathy with erring nature, and failed to recognize in his +administration of justice that “to err is human, to +forgive, divine.” His denunciation of wrong and +wrong-doer is equally stern and pitiless; mercy and love are +rarely, if ever, brought on the stage. In this mood, as in +the gloomy pessimism which pervades the whole work, he reflects +the religious doctrines and beliefs of his times. In fine, +when all has been said, favourably and adversely, the Visions, it +will readily be admitted, present a very faithful picture of +Welsh life, manners, and ways of thought, in the 17th century, +and are, in every sense, a true product of the country and the +age in which they were written.</p> +<h3><a name="pagexxv"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xxv</span>III.—A BRIEF SUMMARY.</h3> +<h4>I. VISION OF THE WORLD.</h4> +<p>One summer’s day, the Bard ascends one of the mountains +of Wales, and gazing a long while at the beautiful scene, falls +asleep. He dreams and finds himself among the fairies, whom +he approaches and requests permission to join. They snatch +him up forthwith and fly off with him over cities and realms, +lands and seas, until he begins to fear for his life. They +come to a huge castle—Castle Delusive, where an Angel of +light appears and rescues him from their hands. The Angel, +after questioning him as to himself, who he was and where he came +from, bids him go with him, and resting in the empyrean, he +beholds the earth far away beneath them. He sees an immense +City made up of three streets; at the end of which are three +gates and upon each gate a tower and in each tower a fair +woman. This is the City of Destruction and its streets are +named after the daughters of Belial—Pride, Lucre and +Pleasure. The Angel tells him of the might and craftiness +of Belial and the alluring witchery of his daughters, and also of +another city on higher ground—the City of +Emmanuel—whereto all may fly from Destruction. They +descend and alight in the Street of Pride amidst the ruined and +desolate mansions of absentee landlords. They see there +kings, princes, and noblemen, coquettes and fops; there is a +city, too, on seven hills, and another opposite, with a crescent +on a golden banner above it, and near the gate stands the Court +of Lewis XIV. Much traffic is going on between these +courts, for the Pope, the Sultan and the King of France are +rivals for the Princesses’ hands.</p> +<p>They next come to the Street of Lucre, full of Spaniards, +Dutchmen and Jews, and here too, are conquerors and their +soldiers, justices and their bribers, doctors, misers, merchants +and userers, shopmen, clippers, taverners, drovers, and the +like. An election of Treasurer to the Princess is going +on—stewards, money-lenders, lawyers and merchants being +candidates, and whoso was proved the richest should obtain the +post. The Bard then comes to the Street of Pleasure, where +all manner of seductive joys abound. He passes <a +name="pagexxvi"></a><span class="pagenum">p. xxvi</span>through +scenes of debauchery and drunken riot, and comes to a veritable +Bedlam, where seven good fellows—a tinker, a dyer, a smith +and a miner, a chimney-sweep, a bard and a parson—are +enjoying a carousal. He beholds the Court of Belial’s +second daughter, Hypocrisy, and sees a funeral go by where all +the mourners are false. A noble lord appears, with his lady +at his side, and has a talk with old Money-bags who has lent him +money on his lands—all three being apt pupils of +Hypocrisy.</p> +<p>The Angel then takes him to the churches of the City; and +first they come to a pagan temple where the human form, the sun +and moon, and various other objects are worshipped. Thence +they come to a barn where Dissenters imitate preaching, and to an +English church where many practise all manner of hypocrisy. +The Bard then leaves the City of Destruction and makes for the +celestial City. He beholds one man part from his friends +and, refusing to be persuaded by them, hasten towards +Emmanuel’s City. The gateway is narrow and mean, +while on the walls are watchmen urging on those that are fleeing +from Destruction. Groups from the various streets arrive +and claim admittance, but, being unable to leave their sins, have +to return. The Bard and his Guide enter, and passing by the +Well of Repentance come in view of the Catholic Church, the +transept of which is the Church of England, with Queen Anne +enthroned above, holding the Sword of Justice in the left hand, +and the Sword of the Spirit in the right. Suddenly there is +a call to arms, the sky darkens, and Belial himself advances +against the Church, with his earthly princes and their +armies. The Pope and Lewis of France, the Turks and +Muscovites fall upon England and her German allies, but, the +angels assisting, they are vanquished; the infernal hosts, too, +give way and are hurled headlong from the sky; whereupon the Bard +awakes.</p> +<h4>II. THE VISION OF DEATH.</h4> +<p>It is a cold, winter’s night and the Bard lies abed +meditating upon the brevity of life, when Sleep and his sister +Nightmare pay him a visit, and after a long parley, constrain him +to accompany them to the Court of their brother Death. +Hieing away through forests and dales, and over rivers and rocks, +they alight at one of the rear portals of the City of Destruction +which opens upon a <a name="pagexxvii"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. xxvii</span>murky region—the chambers of +Death. On all hands are myriads of doors leading into the +Land of Oblivion, each guarded by the particular death-imp, whose +name was inscribed above it. The Bard passes by the portals +of Hunger, where misers, idlers and gossips enter, of Cold, where +scholars and travellers go through, of Fear, Love, Envy and +Ambition.</p> +<p>Suddenly he finds himself transported into a bleak and barren +land where the shades flit to and fro. He is straightway +surrounded by them, and, on giving his name as the +“Sleeping Bard,” a shadowy claimant to that name sets +upon him and belabours him most unmercifully until Merlin bid him +desist. Taliesin then interviews him, and an ancient +manikin, “Someone” by name, tells him his tale of +woe. After that he is taken into the presence of the King +of Terrors himself, who, seated on a throne with Fate and Time on +either hand, deals out their doom to the prisoners as they come +before him. Four fiddlers, a King from the neighbourhood of +Rome with a papal dispensation to pass right through to Paradise, +a drunkard and a harlot, and lastly seven corrupt recorders, are +condemned to the land of Despair.</p> +<p>Another group of seven prisoners have just been brought to the +bar, when a letter comes from Lucifer concerning them; he +requests that Death should let these seven return to the world or +else keep them within his own realm—they were far too +dangerous to be allowed to enter Hell. Death hesitates, +but, urged by Fate, he indites his answer, refusing to comply +with Lucifer’s request. The seven are then called and +Death bids his hosts hasten to convey them beyond his +limits. The Bard sees them hurled over the verge beneath +the Court of Justice and his spirit so strives within him at the +sight that the bonds of Sleep are sundered and his soul returns +to its wonted functions.</p> +<h4>III. THE VISION OF HELL.</h4> +<p>The Bard is sauntering, one April morning, on the banks of the +Severn, when his previous visions recur to his mind and he +resolves to write them as a warning to others, and while at this +work he falls asleep, and the Angel once more appears and bears +him aloft into space. They reach the confines of Eternity +and descend through <a name="pagexxviii"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. xxviii</span>Chaos for myriads of miles. +A troop of lost beings are swept past them towards the shores of +a death-like river—the river of the Evil One. After +passing through its waters, the Bard witnesses the tortures the +damned suffer at the hands of the devils, and visits their +various prisons and cells. Here is the prison of +Woe-that-I-had-not, of Too-late-a-repentance and of the +Procrastinators. There the Slanderers, Backbiters, and +other envious cowards are tormented in a deep and dark +dungeon. He hears much laughter among the devils and +turning round finds that the cause of their merriment are two +noblemen who have just arrived and are claiming the respect due +to their rank. Further on is a crowd of harlots calling +down imprecations upon those that ruined them; and in a huge +cavern are lawyers, doctors, stewards and other such +rogues. The Princesses of the City of Destruction bring +batches of their subjects as gifts to their sire.</p> +<p>A parliament is summoned and Lucifer addresses his princes, +calling upon them to do their utmost to destroy the rest of +mankind. Moloch makes his reply, reciting all that he has +done, when Lucifer in rage starts off to do the work himself, but +is drawn back by an invisible hand. He speaks again, +exhorting them to greater activity and cruelty. Justice +brings three prisoners to Hell and returning causes such a rush +of fiery whirlwinds that all the infernal lords are swept away +into the Uttermost Hell.</p> +<p>The Bard hears the din of arms and news comes that the Turks, +Papists, and Roundheads are advancing in three armies. +Lucifer and his hosts immediately set out to meet them and after +a stubborn contest succeed in quelling the rebellion. More +prisoners are brought before the King—Catholics, who had +missed the way to Paradise, an innkeeper, five kings, assize-men +and lawyers, gipsies, laborers and scholars. Scarcely is +judgment passed on these than war again breaks out—soldiers +and doctors, lawyers and userers, misers and their own offspring, +are fighting each other. The leaders of this revolt having +been taken, another parliament is called and more prisoners yet +brought to trial.</p> +<p>Lucifer asks the advice of his peers as to whom he should +appoint his viceroy in Britain. Cerberus, first of all, +offers the service of Tobacco; then Mammon speaks in praise of +Gold and Apolyon tells what Pride can do; Asmodai, the demon of +Lust, <a name="pagexxix"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xxix</span>Belphegor, the demon of Sloth, and Satan, devil of +Delusion, each pleads for his own pet sin; and after Beelzebub +has spoken in favour of Thoughtlessness, Lucifer sums up, weighs +their arguments, and finally announces that it is another he has +chosen as his vicegerent in Britain. This other is +Prosperity, and her he bids them follow and obey. Then the +lost Archangel and his counsellors are hurled into the Bottomless +Pit, and the Angel takes the Bard up to the vault of Hell where +he has full view of a three-faced ogress, Sin, who would make of +heaven, a hell, and thence departing, a heaven of hell. The +Angel then leaves him, bidding him, as he went, to write down +what he had seen for the benefit of others.</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><a name="pagexxxi"></a><span +class="pagenum">p. xxxi</span> +<a href="images/handb.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Facsimile of Ellis Wynne’s Handwriting" +title= +"Facsimile of Ellis Wynne’s Handwriting" +src="images/hands.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<h2><a name="pagexxxiii"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +xxxiii</span>TO THE READER.</h2> +<p class="poetry"> Let whoso reads, consider;<br +/> + Considering, remember,<br /> + And from remembering, do,<br /> + And doing, so continue.<br /> +Whoso abides in Virtue’s paths,<br /> +And ever strives until the end<br /> +From sinful bondage to be free,<br /> +Ne’er shall possess wherewith to feed<br /> +The direful flame, nor weight of sin<br /> +To sink him in th’ infernal mire;<br /> +Nor will he come to that dread realm<br /> +Where Wrong and Retribution meet.<br /> +But, woe to that poor, worthless wight<br /> +Who lives a bitter, stagnant life,<br /> +Who follows after every ill<br /> +And knows not either Faith or Love,<br /> +(For Faith in deeds alone doth live).<br /> +Eternal woe shall be his doom—<br /> +More torments he shall then behold<br /> +Yea, in the twinkling of an eye<br /> +Than any age can e’er conceive.</p> +<h2><a name="page3"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +3</span><i>The</i><br /> +<span class="smcap"><i>Visions of the Sleeping +Bard</i></span></h2> +<h3>I.—VISION OF THE WORLD.</h3> +<p>On <a name="citation1a"></a><a href="#footnote1a" +class="citation">[1a]</a> the fine evening of a warm and mellow +summer I betook me up one of the mountains of Wales, <a +name="citation1b"></a><a href="#footnote1b" +class="citation">[1b]</a> spy-glass in hand, to enable my feeble +sight to see the distant near, and to make the little to loom +large. Through the clear, tenuous air and the calm, +shimmering heat, I beheld far, far away over the Irish Sea many a +fair scene. At last, when mine eyes had taken their fill of +all the beauty around me, and the sun well nigh had reached his +western ramparts, I lay down on the sward, musing how fair and +lovely compared with mine own land were the distant lands of +whose delightful plains I had just obtained a glimpse; how fine +it would be to have full view thereof, and how happy withal are +they, besides me and my sort, who have seen the world’s +course. So, from the long journeying of mine eye, and +afterwards of my mind, came weariness, and beneath the cloak of +weariness came my good Master Sleep <a name="citation1c"></a><a +href="#footnote1c" class="citation">[1c]</a> stealthily to bind +me, and with his leaden keys safe and sound he locked the windows +of mine eyes and all mine other senses. But it was in vain +he tried to lock up the soul which can exist and travel without +the body; for upon the wings of fancy my spirit soared free from +out the straitened corpse, and the first thing I perceived close +by was a dancing-knoll and such a fantastic rout <a +name="citation4a"></a><a href="#footnote4a" +class="citation">[4a]</a> in blue petticoats and red caps, +briskly footing a sprightly dance. I stood awhile +hesitating whether I should approach them or not, for in my +confusion I feared they were a pack of hungry gipsies and that +the least they would do, would be to kill me for their supper, +and devour me saltless. But gazing steadfastly upon them I +perceived that they were of better and fairer complexion than +that lying, tawny crew; so I plucked up courage and drew near +them, slowly, like a hen treading on hot coals, in order to find +out what they might be; and at last I addressed them over my +shoulder, thus, “Pray you, good friends, I understand that +ye come from afar, would ye take into your midst a bard who +wishes to travel?” Whereupon the din instantly +ceased, every eye was turned upon me, and in shrill tones +“a bard” quoth one, “to travel,” said +another, “into our midst,” a third exclaimed. +By then I had recognised those who were looking at me most +fiercely, and they commenced whispering one to another some +secret charms, still keeping their gaze upon me; the hubbub then +broke out again and everyone laying hands upon me, lifted me +shoulder-high, like a knight of the shire, and off like the wind +we go, over houses and lands, cities and realms, seas and +mountains, unable to notice aught so swiftly were they +flying. And to make matters worse, I began to have doubts +of my companions from the way they frowned and scowled when I +refused to lampoon my king <a name="citation4b"></a><a +href="#footnote4b" class="citation">[4b]</a> at their +bidding.</p> +<p>“Well, now,” said I to myself, “farewell to +life; these accursed, arrant sorcerers will bear me to some +nobleman’s larder or cellar and leave me there to pay +penalty by my neck for their robbery, or peradventure they will +leave me stark-naked and benumbed on Chester Marsh or some other +bleak and remote place.” But on considering that +those whose faces I knew had long been buried, and that some were +thrusting me forward, and others upholding me above every ravine, +it dawned upon me that they were not witches but what are called +the Fairies. Without delay I found myself close to a huge +castle, the finest I had ever seen, with a deep moat surrounding +it, and here they began discussing my doom. “Let us +take him as a gift to the castle,” suggested one. +“Nay, let us throw the obstinate gallows-bird into the +moat, he is not worth showing to our great prince,” said +another. “Will he say his prayers before +sleeping,” asked a third. At the mention of prayer, I +breathed a groaning sigh heavenwards asking pardon and aid; and +no sooner had I thought the prayer than I saw a light, Oh! so +beautiful, breaking forth in the distance. As this light +approached, my companions grew dark and vanished, and in a trice +the Shining One made for us straight over the castle: whereupon +they let go their hold of me and departing, turned upon me a +hellish scowl, and had not the Angel supported me I should have +been ground fine enough to make a pie long before reaching the +earth.</p> +<p>“What is thy errand here?” asked the Angel. +“In sooth, my lord,” cried I, “I wot not what +place here is, nor what mine errand, nor what I myself am, nor +what has made off with mine other part; I had a head and limbs +and body, but whether I left ’em at home or whether the +Fairies, if fair their deed, have cast me into some deep pit (for +I mind my passing over many a rugged gorge) an’ I be +hanged, Sir, I know not.” “Fairly, +indeed,” said he, “they would have dealt with thee, +had I not come in time to save thee from the toasting-forks of +the brood of hell. Since thou hast such a great desire to +see the course of this little world, I am commanded to give thee +the opportunity to realize thy wish, so that thou mayest see the +folly of thy discontent with thine own lot and country. +Come now!” he bade, and at the word, with the dawn just +breaking, he snatched me up far away above the castle; and upon a +white cloudledge we rested in the empyrean to see the sun rising, +and to look at my heavenly companion, who was far brighter than +the sun, save that his radiance only shone upwards, being hidden +from all beneath by a veil. When the sun waxed strong, I +beheld in the refulgence of the two our great, encircled earth as +a tiny ball in the distance below. “Look +again,” said the Angel, and he gave me a better spy-glass +than the one I had on the mountain-side. When I looked +through this I saw things in a different light and clearer than +ever before.</p> +<p>I could see one city of enormous magnitude, with thousands of +cities and kingdoms within it, the wide ocean like a whirlpool +around it, and other seas, like rivers, dividing it into +parts. After gazing a longwhile, I observed that it was +made up of three tremendously long streets, with a large and +splendid gateway at the lower end of each street; on each +gateway, a magnificent tower, and on each tower, in sight of all +the street, a woman of exceeding beauty; and the three towers at +the back of the ramparts reached to the foot of that great +castle. Of the same length as these immense streets, but +running in a contrary direction, I saw another street which was +but narrow and mean compared with them, though it was clean and +upon higher ground than they, and leading upwards to the east, +whilst the other three led downwards northerly to the great +towers. I could no longer withhold from asking my +friend’s permission to speak. “What +then,” said the Angel, “if thou wilt speak, listen +carefully, so that there be no need of telling thee a thing +twice.” “I will, my lord, and prithee,” +asked I, “what castle is that, away yonder to the +north?” “That castle aloft in the sky,” +said he, “belongs to Belial, prince of the power of the +air, and ruler of all that vast city below; it is called Castle +Delusive: for an arch-deluder is Belial, and it is through +delusion that he is able to keep under his sway all that thou +see’st with the exception of that little bye-street +yonder. He is a powerful prince, with thousands of princes +under him. What was Cæsar or Alexander the Great +compared with him? What are the Turk and old Lewis of +France <a name="citation7"></a><a href="#footnote7" +class="citation">[7]</a> but his servants? Great, aye, +exceedingly great is the might, craftiness and diligence of +Prince Belial and of the countless hosts he hath in the lower +region.” “Why do those women stand +there?” I asked, “and who are they?” +“Slowly,” cried the Angel, “one question at a +time; they stand there in order to be loved and +worshipped.” “No wonder, in sooth,” said +I, “so lovely are they that were I the possessor of hands +and feet as once I was, I too would go and love or worship +them.” “Hush! hush!” cried he, “if +that is what thou wouldst do with thy members ’tis well +thou’rt wanting them: know, foolish spirit, that these +three princesses are no other than three destroying +enchantresses, daughters of Prince Belial; and that all the +beauty and gentleness which dazzles the streets, is nought else +but a gloss over ugliness and cruelty; the three within are like +their sire, full of deadly venom.” “Woe’s +me, is’t possible,” cried I sorrowfully, “that +their love wounds?” “’Tis true, the more +the pity,” said he, “thou art delighted with the way +the three beam on their adorers: well, there is in that ray of +light many a wondrous charm, it blindens them so that they cannot +see the hook; it stupifies them so that they pay no heed to their +danger, and consumes them with an insatiate lust for more, even +though it be a deadly poison, breeding diseases which no +physician, yea, not death itself can ever heal, nor aught at all +unless a heavenly medicine called Repentance be had to purge the +evil in good time ere it become too deeply rooted, through gazing +upon them too long.” “Wherefore will not Belial +have this adoration to himself?” asked I. “It +is the same thing,” said he, “for so long as a man +adheres to these or to one of them, that man is sure to bear the +mark of Belial and wear his livery.”</p> +<p>“By what names are these three enchantresses +called?” “The furthest away is called Pride, +the eldest daughter of Belial; the second is Pleasure, and the +nearest to us is Lucre; these three are the trinity the world +adores.” “I would fain know the name of this +vast, madding city,” said I, “hath it a better name +than great Bedlam?” “Yea, ’tis called the +City of Destruction.” “Alas!” I cried, +“are all that dwell therein ruined and lost?” +“All,” said he, “save a few that flee from it +into yon upper city which is King Emmanuel’s.” +“Woe is me and mine! how shall they escape while ever +staring at what makes them more and more blind, and preys upon +them in their blindness?” “It would be utterly +impossible for any man to escape hence were it not that Emmanuel +sends his ministers from on high, night and morn, to persuade +them to leave the rebels and turn to Him, their true Sovereign, +and sends to some a gift of precious ointment called Faith to +anoint their eyes, and whoso obtains that genuine ointment (for +there is an imitation of this as of everything else in the City +of Destruction) and anoints himself therewith, at once becomes +aware of his own wounds and madness, and will not tarry here a +moment longer, even though Belial gave him his three daughters, +yea, or his fourth who is greatest of all, for +staying.”</p> +<p>“What are the names of these immense streets?” I +enquired. “They are called, each according to the +name of the princess who rules therein; furthest is the Street of +Pride, the middle, the Street of Pleasure, and next, the Street +of Lucre.” “Who, prithee, dwell in these +streets? What tongue is spoken there? Wherefrom and +of what nations are their inhabitants?” “Many +people,” answered he, “of every language, religion, +and nation under the sun dwell there; many a one lives in each of +the three streets at different seasons, and everyone as near the +gateway as he can; and very often do they change about, being +unable to stay long in the one because they so greatly love the +princess of the other street. And the old renard, slyly +looking on, lets everyone love whichever he prefers, or the three +if he will—all the more certain is he of him.”</p> +<p>“Come nearer to them,” said the Angel, snatching +me downwards in the veil through the noxious vapours rising from +the city. We alighted in the Street of Pride, on the top of +a great, roofless mansion with its eyes picked out by the dogs +and crows, and its owners gone to England or France, there to +seek what might be gotten with far less trouble at home; thus in +place of the good old country-family of days gone by, so full of +charity and benevolence, none keep possession now but the stupid +owl, the greedy crows, or the proud-pied magpies or the like, to +proclaim the deeds of the present owners. There were +thousands of such deserted palaces, which but for pride might +still be the resort of noblemen, a refuge for the weak, a school +of peace and all goodness, and a blessing to the thousands of +cottages surrounding them. From the top of these ruins we +had plenty of room and quietness to see the whole street on both +sides. The houses were very fine, and of wonderful height +and grandeur, and good reason why, for emperors and kings lived +there, princes in hundreds, noblemen and gentlemen in thousands, +and a great many women of all grades. I could see many a +horned coquette, like a full-rigged ship, strutting as if set in +a frame with a fair store of pedlery about her, and pearls in her +ears to the value of a good-sized farm: some were singing so as +to be praised for their voices, some dancing, to show their +figures; others coloring, to improve their complexion, others +having been a good three hours before a mirror trimming +themselves, learning to smile, pinning and unpinning, making +grimaces and striking attitudes. Many a coy wench was there +who knew not how to open her lips to speak, much less to eat, or +from very ceremony, how to look under foot; and many a ragged +shrew who would contend that she was equal to the best lady in +the street, and many an ambling fop who might winnow beans by the +wind of his train.</p> +<p>Whilst I was looking from afar at these and a hundred similar +things, lo! there came by us a gaudy, strapping quean of arrogant +mien, and after whom a hundred eyes were turned; some made +obeisance, as if in worship of her, a few put something in her +hand. I could not make out what she was, and so I +enquired. “Oh,” said my friend, “she is +one whose entire dowry is on show, and yet thou see’st how +many fools there are who seek her, and the meanest is received +notwithstanding all the demand there is for her; whom she will, +she cannot have, and whom she can, she will not; she will only +speak to her betters because her mother told her that a young +woman can make no greater mistake than to be humble in +courtship.” Thereupon a burly Falstaff, who had been +alderman and in many offices, came out from beneath us, spreading +out his wings as if to fly, when he could scarcely limp along +like a pack-horse, on account of his huge paunch, and the gout, +and many other gentlemanly complaints; but for all that you could +not get a single glance from him except as a great favour, +remembering the while to address him by all his title and +offices. From him I turned my eyes to the other side of the +street, and saw a bluff young nobleman with a numerous following, +smiling graciously and bowing low to everyone he met. +“It is strange,” said I, “that these two should +belong to the same street.” “It is the same +princess—Pride, who governs them both,” answered he, +“this one’s errand is but to speak fair; he is now +making a bid for fame with the intent thereby to attain the +highest office in the State; he is most ready to weep with the +people, and tell them how greatly they are wronged through the +oppression of wicked ministers; yet it is his own exaltation, and +not the common weal that is the main object of his +pursuit.”</p> +<p>After looking for a longwhile I saw close by the Porch of +Pride a fair city on seven hills, and over its magnificent court +the triple crown, the swords and cross-keys. “Well, +here is Rome,” quoth I, “here lives the Pope, is it +not?” “Yes, most often,” said the Angel, +“but he hath a court in each of the other +streets.” Over against Rome I could see a city with a +very fine court, whereon was raised on high a crescent on a +golden banner, by which I knew the Turk was there. After +these came the court of Lewis XIV. of France, as I perceived by +his arms—the three fleur-de-lys on a silver banner reared +high. Whilst admiring the loftiness and magnificence of +these palaces, I observed that there was much traversing from one +court to another, and asked the reason. “Oh, there is +many a dark reason,” said the Angel, “existing +between these three potent and crafty monarchs, but though they +deem themselves fitting peers to the three princesses up yonder, +their power and guile is nought compared with theirs. Yea +more, great Belial deems the whole city, notwithstanding the +number of its kings, unsuitable for his daughters. Although +he offers them in marriage to everybody, he has never actually +given them to anyone. Keen rivalry has existed between +these three for their hands; the Turk, who calls himself the god +of earth, would have the eldest, Pride, to wife. +“Nay,” said the king of France, “she is mine, +for I keep all my subjects in her street, and bring her many from +England and many other realms.” Spain would have the +Princess of Lucre, spite of Holland and all the Jews, and +England, the Princess of Pleasure in spite of the Pagans. +But the Pope claimed the three, and for better reasons than all +the others; and Belial admits him next to them in each +street.” “Is that the cause of this +commerce?” said I. “No,” said he, +“Belial has made peace between them upon that matter long +ago. But now he has bid the three put their heads together +to consider how they can the soonest destroy yon bye-street; that +is the City of Emmanuel, and especially one great mansion +therein, out of mere jealousy, perceiving it to be a finer +edifice than any in all the City of Destruction. And Belial +promises half his kingdom during his life, and the whole on his +decease, to him who succeeds in doing so. But +notwithstanding the magnitude of his power, the depth of his +wiles, and the number of emperors, kings and crafty rulers that +are beneath his sceptre in that huge City of Destruction, +notwithstanding the courage of his countless hosts beyond the +gates in the lower region, that task will prove too difficult for +them; however great, powerful and untiring his majesty may be, in +yon small street is a greater than he.”</p> +<p>I was not able to give very close attention to his angelic +reasons, being occupied in watching the frequent falls people +were having on the slippery street. Some I could see with +ladders scaling the tower, and having reached the highest rung, +falling headlong to the bottom. “Where do those fools +try to get to?” I asked. “To a place that is +high enough—they are endeavouring to break into the +treasury of the princess.” “I warrant it be +full,” quoth I. “Yes,” answered he, +“of everything that belongs to this street, to be +distributed among its denizens: all kinds of weapons for invading +and extending territories; all kinds of coats-of-arms, banners, +escutcheons, books of genealogy, sayings of the ancients, and +poems, all sorts of gorgeous raiments, boastful tales and +flattering mirrors; every pigment and lotion to beautify the +face; every high office and title—in short, everything is +there which makes a man think better of himself and worse of +others than he ought. The chief officers of this treasury +are masters of the ceremonies, roysters, heralds, bards, orators, +flatterers, dancers, tailors, gamblers, seamstresses and the +like.”</p> +<p>From this street we went to the next where the Princess of +Lucre rules supreme; this street was crowded and enormously +wealthy; yet not half so magnificent and clean as the Street of +Pride, nor its people so foolishly haughty, for here they were +for the most part skulking and sly. Thousands of Spaniards, +Dutchmen, Venetians, and Jews were here, and also a great many +aged people. “Prithee, sir,” said I, +“what manner of men might these be?” +“They are pinchfists one and all. In the lower end +thou shalt see the Pope once more together with conquerors of +kingdoms and their soldiery, oppressors, foresters, obstructors +of public paths, justices and their bribers, and all their +progeny from the barrister to the constable; on the other side, +physicians, apothecaries, leeches, misers, merchants, +extortioners, money lenders, withholders of tithes, wages, rents +or doles left to schools, almhouses and the like; drovers, +dealers who regulate the market for their own benefit; shopmen +(or rather, sharpers) who profit on the need or ignorance of +their customers; stewards of all grades; clippers <a +name="citation14"></a><a href="#footnote14" +class="citation">[14]</a> and innkeepers who despoil the +idlers’ family of their goods and the country of its +barley, which would otherwise be made into bread for the +poor. All these are arrant robbers, the others in the upper +end of the street are mostly small fry, such as highwaymen, +tailors, weavers, millers, grocers and so on.”</p> +<p>In the midst of this I could hear a terrible commotion towards +the far end of the street, and a great crowd of people thronging +the gate, and such pushing and quarelling as made me think that +there was a general riot afoot, until I asked my friend what was +the matter. “There is very valuable treasure in that +tower,” said the Angel, “and the reason for this +tumult is that they are about to choose a treasurer for the +Princess, instead of the Pope, who has been driven from +office.” So we went to see the election.</p> +<p>The candidates for the post were the stewards, the +money-lenders, the lawyers, and the merchants, and it was the +wealthiest of these that was to have it (for the more thou hast, +the more wilt thou have and seek for—an insatiate complaint +pertaining to this street). The stewards were rejected at +the outset, lest they might impoverish the whole street and, just +as they had erected their mansions upon their masters’ +ruins, in the end dispossess the princess herself. The +contest then lay between the other three. The merchants had +more silk, the lawyers more mortgages on land, and the +money-lenders more bills and bonds and fuller purses. +“Ho, they won’t agree this night,” said the +Angel, “come away; the lawyers are richer than the +merchants, the money-lenders than the lawyers, the stewards than +the money-lenders, and Belial richer than all; for they and all +that belongs to them are his.” “Why does the +princess keep these robbers about her?” “What +more befitting, seeing that she herself is +arch-robber?” I was amazed to hear him call the +princess by such name, and the proudest gentry in the land arrant +robbers. “Why, pray my lord,” said I, “do +you consider these great noblemen worse thieves than +highwaymen?” “Thou art a simpleton—think +on that knave who roves the wide world over, sword in hand, and +with his ravagers at his back, slaying and burning, and depriving +the true possessors of their states, and afterwards expecting to +be worshipped as conqueror; is he not worse than the petty thief +who takes a purse on the highway? What is a tailor who +filches a piece of cloth compared to a squire who steals from the +mountain-side half a parish? Ought the latter not be called +a worse robber than the former, who only takes a shred from him, +while he deprives the poor of pasture for his beast, and +consequently of the means of livelihood for himself, and those +depending upon him? What is the stealing a handful of flour +in the mill compared with the storing up of a hundred bushels to +rot, in order to obtain later on for one bushel the price of +four? What is a threadbare soldier who robs thee of thy +clothes at the swords’ point when compared with the lawyer +who despoils thee of thy whole estate with the stroke of a quill, +and against whom thou canst claim no recompense or remedy? +What is a pickpocket who steals a five-pound in comparison to a +dice-sharper who robs thee of a hundred pounds in the third part +of a night? And what the swindler that deceives thee in a +worthless old hack compared with the apothecary who swindles thee +of thy money and life too, for some effete, medicinal +stuff? And moreover, what are all these robbers compared +with that great arch-robber who deprives them all of everything, +yea, of their hearts and souls after the fair is over?”</p> +<p>From this foul and disorderly street we proceeded to the +street of the Princess of Pleasure wherein I saw many English, +French, Italians and Paynims. The Princess is very fair to +behold, with mixed wine in one hand, and a fiddle and a harp in +the other; and in her treasury, innumerable pleasures and toys to +gain the custom of everybody, and retain them in her +father’s service. Yea, many were wont to escape to +this pleasant street to drown their grief for losses and debts +they had incurred in the others. It was exceedingly +crowded, especially with young people; whilst the Princess is +careful to please everyone, and to have an arrow ready for every +mark. If thou art thirsty, here thou will find thy favorite +beverage; if thou lovest song and dance, here thou shalt have thy +fill. If the beauty of the Princess has kindled thy lust, +thou need’st but beckon one of her sire’s officers +(who, although invisible, always surround her) and they will +immediately attend thy behest. There are here fair +mansions, fine gardens, full orchards, shady groves fit for every +secret intrigue, or to trap birds or a white rabbit or twain; +clear streams, most pleasant to fish in; rich, boundless plains, +whereon to hunt the hare and fox. Along the street we could +see them playing interludes, juggling and conjuring, singing lewd +songs to the sound of the harp and ballads, and all manner of +jesting. Men and women of handsome appearance danced and +sang, and many came hither from the Street of Pride in order to +be praised and worshipped. Within the houses we perceived +some on silken beds wallowing in debauchery; some at the +gaming-table, cursing and swearing, others tossing dice and +shuffling cards. Some from the Street of Lucre, having a +room here, ran hither to count their money, but stayed not long +lest aught of the countless geegaws that are here should entice +them to part with their money without interest. Others I +saw at tables feasting with somewhat of every created thing +before them; and when everyone, mess after mess, had guzzled as +much of the dainties as would afford a moderate man a feast for a +whole week, grace followed in the form of blasphemous howling; +then the king’s health was called for, and that of every +boon companion, and so on to quench the taste of the viands, and +drown their cares. Then came tobacco, and then each one +began to talk scandal of his neighbour—whether true or +false it mattered not as long as it was humorous or fresh, or, +best of all, degrading. At last, what with a round of +blasphemy, and the whole crowd with clay pistols belching smoke +and fire and slander of their neighbours, and the floor already +befouled with dregs and spittle, I feared lest viler deeds should +happen, and craved to depart.</p> +<p>Thence we went where we heard a loud noise, beating and +clamouring, crying and laughing, shouting and singing. +“Well, here’s Bedlam and no mistake,” quoth +I. By the time we got in, the turmoil had ceased; one man +lay like a log on the ground, another was vomiting, another +nodding his head over a hearth full of battered flagons, and +broken pipes and mugs. On enquiring, what should it be but +a carousal of seven thirsty neighbours—a tinker, a dyer, a +blacksmith, a miner, a chimney-sweep, a bard, and a parson who +had come to preach sobriety, and to show in his own person how +repulsive drunkenness is; and the beginning of the recent +altercation was a discussion and dispute they had as to which of +the seven callings loved best the pot and pipe; the bard had +beaten all but the parson and, due regard being observed for the +cloth, he was adjudged victor and worthy to be leader of his good +comrades, and so the bard wound up the discussion thus:</p> +<blockquote><p>“Where can ye find such thirsty seven,<br /> + Search every clime and land?<br /> +And quaffing off the ruddy ale,<br /> + Bard and parson lead the band.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Thoroughly tired of these drunken swine, we drew nearer the +gate in order to spy out the blemishes in the magnificent court +of Love, the purblind king, wherein it is easy to enter, but +difficult to get out again, and where are chambers +innumerable. In the hall opposite the door stood giddy +Cupid, with two arrows in his bow, darting a languishing venom +called lust. Along the floor I saw many fair and comely +women walking with measured steps, and following them, wretched +youths gazing upon their beauty, and each one begging a glance +from his mistress, fearing a frown even more than death; now and +then one, bowing to the ground, would place a letter in his +goddess’ hand, and another a sonnet, the while in fear +expectant, like schoolboys showing their task to the +master. They in return would favour their adorers with a +simpering smile or two, just to keep their desires on edge, but +granting nought more lest their lust be sated and they depart +healed of the disease. Going on into the parlour I saw them +having lessons in dancing and singing, with voice and hand, in +order to make their lovers sevenfold madder than before; on again +into the dining hall where they were taught coy smartness in +eating; into the cellar, where potent love philtres were being +mixed of nail parings and the like; in the upper rooms we could +see one in a secret chamber twisting himself into all shapes, +practising gentlemanly behaviour when in his mistress’ +presence; another before a mirror learning how to smile correctly +without showing his teeth too prominently to his ladylove; +another preparing his tale to tell her, repeating the same thing +an hundred times. Wearied with this insipid babbling we +came to another cell: here a nobleman had sent for a poet from +the Street of Pride to indite him a sonnet of praise to his +angel, and an eulogy of himself; the bard was discoursing of his +art: “I can,” said he, “liken her to everything +red and everything white under the sun, and her tresses to an +hundred things more yellow than gold, and as for your poem, I can +trace your lineage through many knights and princes, and through +the water of the deluge right up to Adam.” +“Well, here’s a poet,” quoth I, “who is a +better genealogist than I.” “Come, come,” +said the Angel, “their intention is to deceive the woman, +but, once in her presence, you may be sure they will have to meet +trick with trick.”</p> +<p>Upon leaving these we had a glimpse of cells where fouler +deeds were being done than modesty permits to mention, and which +caused my companion to snatch me away in anger from this fatuous +court into the princess’ treasury (for we went where we +list notwithstanding doors and locks). There we saw myriads +of fair women, all kinds of beverages, fruits and dainties, +stringed instruments and books of songs,—harps, pipes, odes +and carols, all sorts of games,—backgammon, dice <a +name="citation20"></a><a href="#footnote20" +class="citation">[20]</a> and cards; pictures of various lands, +towns and persons, inventions and amusing tricks; all kinds of +waters, perfumes, pigments and spots to make the ugly fair, and +the old look young, and the leman’s malodorous bones smell +sweet for the nonce. In short, the shadow of pleasure and +the guise of happiness in every conceivable form was to be found +there; and sooth to say, I almost think I too had been enticed by +the place had not my friend instantly hurried me away far from +the three alluring towers to the top end of the streets, and set +me down near an immense palatial castle, the front view of which +seemed fair, but the further side was mean and terribly ugly, +though it was scarcely to be seen at all. It had a myriad +portals—all splendid without but rotten within. +“An’t please you, my lord,” asked I, +“what is this wondrous place?” “This is +the court of Belials’ second daughter whose name is +Hypocrisy; here she keeps her school, and there is no man or +woman throughout the whole city who has not been a pupil of hers, +and most of them have imbibed their learning remarkably well; so +that her lessons are discernible as a second nature intertwined +with all their thoughts, words, and deeds from very childhood +almost.” I had been looking awhile on the falsity of +every part of the edifice when a funeral came by with many +weeping and sighing, and many men and horses in mourning +trappings; and shortly the poor widow, veiled so as not to see +this cruel world any more, came along with piping voice and weary +sighs, and fainting fits at intervals. In truth, I could +not help but weep a little out of pity for her. “Nay, +nay,” said the Angel, “keep thy tears for a more +worthy occasion; these voices are only what Hypocrisy has taught, +and these mourning weeds were fashioned in her great +school. Not one of these weep sincerely; the widow, even +before the body had left the house, let in another husband to her +heart; were she rid of the expenses connected with the corpse she +would not care a straw if his soul were at the bottom of hell; +nor do his own kindred care any more than she: for when it went +hardest with him, instead of giving him good counsel and +earnestly praying for mercy upon him, they were talking of his +property, his will or his pedigree; or what a handsome robust man +he was, and such talk; and now this wailing <a +name="citation21"></a><a href="#footnote21" +class="citation">[21]</a> on the part of some is for mere +ceremony and custom, on the part of others for company’s +sake or for pay.”</p> +<p>Scarcely had these gone by than another throng came in sight: +a most gallant lord with his lady at his side, slowly advancing +in state, to whom many men of position doffed, and many were on +tiptoe with eagerness to show him obeisance and reverence. +“Here is a noble lord,” said I, “who is worthy +such respect from all these!” “Wert thou to +take everything to consideration thou wouldst speak +differently. This lord comes from the Street of Pleasure, +she is of the Street of Pride, and yon old man who is conversing +with him comes from the Street of Lucre, and has a mortgage on +almost every acre of my lord’s, and is come to-day to +complete the loan.” We drew nigh to hear the +conversation. “In sooth, sir,” Old Money-bags +was saying, “I would not for all that I possess that you +should lack anything which lies in my power to enable you to +appear your own true self this day, especially seeing that you +have met so beautiful and lovely a lady as madam here” (the +wily dog knowing full well what she was). “By the +— by the —,” said the lord, “next to +gazing at her beauty, my greatest pleasure was to hearken to your +fair reasons; I had liefer pay you interest than get money +elsewhere free.” “Indeed, my lord,” said +one of his chief friends called Flatterer, “nuncle pays you +not a whit less respect than is due to you, but an it please you, +he has bestowed upon her ladyship scarce the half her mead of +praise. I defy any man,” quoth he, “to show a +lovelier woman in all the Street of Pride, or a nobler than you +in all the Street of Pleasure, or a kinder than you, good mine +uncle, in all the Street of Lucre.” “Ah, that +is your good opinion,” said my lord, “but I cannot +believe that any couple were ever more united in the bonds of +love than we twain.” As they went on the crowd +increased, and everyone had a pleasant smile and low bow for the +other, and hastened to salute each other with their noses to the +ground, like a pair of gamecocks on the point of striking. +“Know then,” said the Angel, “that thou hast +seen naught of civility nor heard one word which Hypocrisy has +not taught. There is no one here, after all this +gentleness, who has a hap’orth of love one to another, yea, +many of them are sworn foes. This lord is the butt <a +name="citation23"></a><a href="#footnote23" +class="citation">[23]</a> of everybody, and all have their dig at +him. The lady looks only to his greatness and high degree, +so that she may thereby ascend a step above many of her +neighbours. Old Money-bags has his eye on my lord’s +lands for his own son, and all the others on the money he +received as dowry; for they are all his dependants, his +merchants, tailors, cobblers and other craftsmen, who have decked +him out and maintained him in this splendor, and have never had a +brass farthing for it, nor are likely to get aught save smooth +words and sometimes threats perhaps. How many layers, how +many folds had Hypocrisy laid over the face of Truth! He, +promising greatness to his love, while his lands were on the +point of being sold; she, promising him dower and beauty, while +her beauty is but artificial, and cancer is consuming both her +dowry and her body.” “Well, this teaches +us,” said I, “never to judge by +appearances.” “Yes verily,” said he, +“but come on and I will show thee more.”</p> +<p>At the word he transported me up to where the churches of the +City of Destruction were; for everyone therein, even the +unbelieving, has a semblance of religion. And it was to the +temple of the unbelievers that we first came, and there I saw +some worshipping a human form, others the sun, the moon and a +countless other like gods down to onions and garlic; and a great +goddess called Deceit was universally worshipped. However, +there were some traces of the influence of Christianity to be +found in most of these religions. Thence we came to a +congregation of mutes, <a name="citation24"></a><a +href="#footnote24" class="citation">[24]</a> where there was +nothing but sighing and quaking and beating the breast. +“Here,” said the Angel, “is the appearance of +great repentance and humility, but which in reality is +perversity, stubbornness, pride and utter darkness; although they +talk much about the light within, they have not even the +spectacles of nature which the heathen thou erstwhile saw, +possess.”</p> +<p>From these dumb dogs we chanced to turn into an immense, +roofless church, with thousands of shoes lying at the porch, +whereby I learnt it was a Turkish mosque. These had but +very dark and misty spectacles called the Koran; yet through +these they gazed intently from the summit of their church for +their prophet, who falsely promised to return and visit them long +ago, but has left his promise unfulfilled.</p> +<p>From thence we entered the Jewish synagogue—these too +were unable to flee from the City of Destruction, although they +had grey-tinted spectacles, for when they look a film comes over +their eyes from want of anointing them with that precious +ointment—faith.</p> +<p>Next we came to the Papists. “Here is the church +that beguiles the nations,” exclaimed the Angel, “it +was Hypocrisy that built this church at her own cost. For +the Papists encourage, yea, command men to break an oath with a +heretic even though sworn on the sacraments.” From +the chancel we went through the keyholes, up to the top of a +certain cell which was full of candles, though it was broad +daylight, and where we could see a tonsured priest walking about +as if expecting someone to come to him; and ere long there comes +a buxom matron, with a fair maid in her wake, bending their knees +before him to confess their sins. “My spiritual +father,” said the good wife, “I have a burthen too +heavy to bear unless I obtain your mercy to lighten it: I married +a member of the Church of England!” +“What!” cried the shorn-pate, “married a +heretic! wedded to an enemy? forgiveness can never be +obtained!” At these words she fainted, while he kept +calling down imprecations upon her head. “Woe’s +me, and what is worse,” cried she when come to herself, +“I killed him!” “Oh ho! thou hast killed +him? Well, that’s something towards gaining the +reconciliation of the Church; I tell thee now, hadst thou not +slain him, thou wouldst never have obtained absolution nor +purgatory, but a straight gate and a leaden weight to the +devil. But where’s your offering, you jade?” he +demanded with a snarl. “Here,” said she, +handing him a considerable bag of money. +“Well,” said he, “now I’ll make your +reconciliation: your penance is to remain always a widow lest you +should make another bad bargain.” When she was gone, +the maiden also came forward to make her confession. +“Your pardon, father confessor,” cried she, “I +conceived a child and slew it.” “A fair deed, +i’faith,” said the confessor, “and who might +the father be?” “Indeed ’twas one of your +monks.” “Hush, hush,” he cried, +“speak no ill of churchmen. <a name="citation25"></a><a +href="#footnote25" class="citation">[25]</a> What +satisfaction have you for the Church?” “Here it +is,” said she and handed him a gold trinket. +“You must repent, and your penance will be to watch at my +bedside to-night,” he said with a leer. Hereupon four +other shavelings entered, dragging before the confessor a poor +wretch, who came about as willingly as he would to the +gallows. “Here’s for you a rogue,” cried +one of the four, “who must do penance for disclosing the +secrets of the Catholic Church.” “What!” +exclaimed the confessor, looking towards a dark cell near at +hand: “but come, villain, confess what thou hast +said?” “Indeed,” began the poor fellow, +“a neighbour asked me whether I had seen the souls that +were groaning underneath the altar on All-souls’ day; and I +said I had heard the voice, but had seen nothing.” +“So, sirrah, come now, tell everything.” +“I said moreover,” he continued, “that I had +heard that you were playing tricks on us unlettered hinds, that, +instead of souls, there was nothing but crabs making a row under +the carpet.” “Oh, thou hell-hound! cursed +knave!” cried the confessor, “but, proceed, +mastiff.” “And that it was a wire that turned +the image of St. Peter, and that it was along a wire the Holy +Ghost descended from the roodloft upon the priest.” +“Thou heir of hell!” cried the shriver, “Ho +there, torturers, take him and cast him into that smoky chimney +for tale-bearing.” “Well, this is the church +Hypocrisy insists upon calling the Catholic Church, and she avers +that these only are saved,” said the Angel; “they +once had the proper spectacles, but they cut the glass into a +thousand forms; they once had true faith, but they mixed that +salve with substances of their own, so that they see no better +than the unbelieving.”</p> +<p>Leaving the cell we came to a barn <a name="citation26"></a><a +href="#footnote26" class="citation">[26]</a> where someone was +delivering a mock sermon extempore, sometimes repeating the same +thing thrice in succession. “These,” said the +Angel, “have the right sort of spectacles to see ‘the +things which belong unto their peace,’ but there is wanting +in their ointment one of the most necessary ingredients, namely, +perfect love. People come hither for various reasons; some +out of respect to their elders, some from ignorance, and many for +worldly gain. One would think, looking at their faces, that +they are on the point of choking, but they will swallow frogs +sooner than starve; for so does Princess Hypocrisy teach those +meeting in barns.</p> +<p>“Pray tell,” said I, “where may the Church +of England be?” “Oh, it is yonder in the upper +city, forming a large part of the Catholic Church, but there are +in this city a few probationary churches belonging to the Church +of England, where the Welsh and English stay for a time on +probation, so that they may become fit to have their names +enrolled as members of the Catholic Church, and ever blessed be +he who shall have his name so enrolled. Yet, more’s +the pity, there are but few who befit themselves for its +citizenship. For too many, instead of looking thitherwards, +allow themselves to be blinded by the three princesses down +below; Hypocrisy too, keeps many with one eye on the upper city +and the other on the lower; yea, Hypocrisy is clever enough to +beguile many who have withstood the other enchantresses. +Enter here, and thou shalt see more,” he said, and snatched +me up into the roodloft in one of the Welsh churches, when the +people were at service; there we saw some busily whispering, some +laughing, some staring at pretty women, others prying their +neighbour’s dress from top to toe; others, in eagerness for +the position due to their rank, keep shoving forward and showing +their teeth at one another, others dozing, others assiduous at +their devotions, and many of these too, dissimulating. +“Thou hast not yet seen, nay, not even among infidels +shamelessness so barefaced and public as this,” said the +Angel, “but so it is, I am sorry to say, there is no worse +corruption than the corruption of the best.” <a +name="citation28a"></a><a href="#footnote28a" +class="citation">[28a]</a> Then they went to communion, and +everybody appeared fairly reverent before the altar; yet through +my friend’s glass I could see one taking unto himself with +the bread the form of a mastiff, another, that of a mole, +another, that of an eagle, a pig or a winged serpent, and a few, +ah, how few, received a ray of bright light with the bread and +wine. “There,” he pointed out, “is a +Roundhead, who is going to be sheriff, and because the law calls +upon a man to receive the sacrament in the Church before taking +office he has come here rather than lose it, and although there +are some here who rejoice on seeing him, we have felt no joy at +his conversion, because he has only become converted for the +occasion. Thus thou perceivest that Hypocrisy, with +exceeding boldness, approaches the altar in the presence of the +God that cannot be deceived. But though she wields great +power in the City of Destruction, she is of no avail in the City +of Emmanuel beyond those ramparts.”</p> +<p>Upon that we turned our faces from the great City of +Destruction and ascended towards the other city, which was +considerably less; and on our way we met several at the upper end +of the streets who had made a move as of turning away from the +temptations of the gates of Destruction, and making for the gate +of life. But they either failed to find it or grew weary on +the way; very few went through—one man of rueful +countenance, ran in earnest while crowds on all sides derided +him, some mocking, <a name="citation28b"></a><a +href="#footnote28b" class="citation">[28b]</a> some threatening +him, and his kindred clinging to him, begging him not to condemn +himself to lose the whole world at one stroke. “I +lose but a small portion of it, and were I to lose all, what +loss, I pray you, would it be? For what is there in the +world to be desired, unless it be deceit, oppression and squalor, +wickedness, folly and madness? Contentment and rest is +man’s supreme happiness—this is not to be found in +your city. For who of you is content? <a +name="citation29"></a><a href="#footnote29" +class="citation">[29]</a> ‘Higher, higher,’ is +the aim of all in the Street of Pride, ‘More, more’ +cry all that dwell in the Street of Lucre, ‘Sweet, sweet, +yet more’ is the voice of everybody in the Street of +Pleasure. And as for rest, where is it, and who hath +obtained it? If a man is of high degree, adulation and envy +almost kill him; if poor, everybody is ready to trample and +despise him. If one would prosper, he must set his mind +upon being an intriguer; if one would gain respect, let him be a +boaster or braggart; if one would be godly, and attend church and +approach the altar, he is dubbed a hypocrite, if he abstain from +doing so, he becomes at once an antichrist or a heretic; if he is +light-hearted, he is called a scoffer, if silent, a morose cur; +if he practises honesty, he is but a good-for-nothing fool; if +well dressed, he is proud, if not, he is a pig; if gentle of +speech, he is double-faced and a rogue, whom none can fathom; if +rough, he is an arrogant and froward devil. This is the +world you make so much of, and pray you take my share of it and +welcome,” and at the word he shook himself free of them +all, and away he sped boldly to the narrow gate, and spite of +all, pushing onwards he entered, and we too at his heels. +Upon the battlements on either side of the gate were many men +dressed in black, encouraging the man and applauding him. +“Who are those in black up yonder?” I asked. +“They are the watchmen of King Emmanuel,” answered +he, “who in their sovereign’s name invite men hither +and help them through the gate.”</p> +<p>By this we were at the gate: it was very low and narrow, and +mean, compared with the lower gates; around the door the Ten +Commandments were graven—the first table on the right hand +and above it, “Thou shalt love God with all thy +heart,” and above the other table on the left, “Thou +shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” and above the whole +“Love not the world neither the things that are in the +world.” I had not been looking on long before the +watchmen began calling in a loud voice upon the condemned men: +“Flee, flee for your lives!” But it was few +that gave any heed at all to them, though some enquired, +“What are we to flee from?” “From the +prince of this world, who ruleth in the children of disobedience; +from the corruption that is in the world through the lust of the +flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; from the +wrath that is coming upon you.” “What is your +beloved city?” cried a watchman, “but a huge charred +roof over the mouth of hell, and were ye here ye should see the +conflagration beyond your walls ready to burst in and consume you +even unto the bottomless pit.” Some mocked, others, +menacing, bade them have done with their wicked nonsense; yet one +here and there would ask, “Whither shall we +flee?” “Hither,” answered the watchmen, +“flee hither to your rightful king, who through us still +offers you reconciliation, if ye return to your allegiance, and +leave that rebel Belial and his bewitching daughters. +However fair they appear, it is all sham; Belial is but a very +poor prince at home; he has nought but you as faggots for the +fire and for food, both roast and boiled, and never will ye +suffice him; never will his hunger be appeased or your pain +cease. Who would ever in a moment of madness enter the +service of such a malignant slaughterer, and suffer eternal +torments, when he might live well under a king who is merciful +and kind to his subjects, and who hath never done them aught but +good on all sides, and kept them from Belial, so that in the end +he might give to each one a kingdom in the realm of light. +Oh, ye fools, will ye have that terrible foe, whose lips are +parched with thirst for your blood, and reject the compassionate +prince who hath given his own blood to save you?” Yet +these reasons which would melt the rock seemed to have no good +effect upon them, and chiefly because few had the time to listen +to them, the others were too intently gazing at the gates; and of +those listening, very few reflected thereon, and of these again, +many soon forgot them; some would not believe they served Belial, +others would not have it that this untrodden little hole was the +gate of Life, and that the other bright portals, and this castle, +were a delusion to prevent them seeing their doom before coming +face to face with it.</p> +<p>Just then, behold a troop of people from the Street of Pride, +knocking boldly enough at the gate; but they were all so +stiff-necked that they could never enter a place so low without +soiling their periwigs and horns, so they sulkily retraced their +steps. In their wake there came up a group from the Street +of Lucre: “And is this the Gate of Life?” asked one; +“Yea,” said the watchman overhead. “What +must be done to enter?” he enquired. “Read what +is inscribed above the doorway and ye shall know.” +The miser read the Ten Commandments through: “Who will say +that I have broken one of these?” he exclaimed. But +when he looked up, and saw the words, “Love not the world, +nor the things that are in the world,” he was amazed, and +could not swallow that hard saying. There was one, +green-eyed and envious, who turned back when he read: “Thou +shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” There was a +gossip and a slanderer who became dazed on reading: “Thou +shalt not bear false witness.” When he read, +“Thou shalt not kill,” “This is not the place +for me” quoth the physician. In short, everybody saw +something which troubled him, and so they all returned together +to consider the matter. I saw no one yet come back who had +conned his lesson; they had so many bags and scripts tightly +bound to them, that they could never have got through such a +narrow needle’s eye, even if they had tried to. After +that a drove from the Street of Pleasure walked up to the +gate. “Where, pray, does this road lead to?” +asked one of the watchmen. “This,” answered he, +“is the way that leads to eternal joy and +happiness.” Whereupon all strove to enter, but +failed, for some were too stout to pass through such a strait +opening; others too weak to struggle, being enfeebled through +debauchery. “Oh, ye must not attempt to take your +baubles with you,” said the watchman, observing them; +“ye must leave behind your pots and dishes, your minions, +and all other things, and then hasten on.” “How +shall we live?” asked the fiddler, who would have been +through long since but that he feared to smash his fiddle. +“Ye must trust the king’s promise to send after you +as many of these things as will do you good,” said the +watchman. This made them all prick their ears, “Oh, +oh!” said one, “a bird in hand is worth two in the +bush,” and at that they with one accord turned back.</p> +<p>“Let us enter then,” said the Angel, and drew me +in; and there in the porch I first of all perceived a large +baptismal font, and hard by, a well of salt water. +“What is this doing in the middle of the road?” I +asked. “Because everybody must wash therein before +obtaining citizenship in the Court of Emmanuel; it is called the +well of repentance.” Overhead I could see inscribed +“This is the gate of the Lord.” The gateway, +and street also, widened and became less steep as we went on, and +after proceeding a short distance I heard a voice behind me +slowly saying, “That is the way, walk ye in +it.” The street trended upwards, but was very clean +and straight, and though the houses there were not so lofty as +those in the City of Destruction, they were fairer to behold; if +there was less wealth, there was also less dissension and care; +if the choice dishes were fewer, pain was more rare; if there was +less turmoil, there was less grief and more undoubtedly of true +joy. I wondered at the silence and sweet tranquility there, +when thinking of what was going on below. Instead of the +cursing and swearing, the scoffing, debauchery and drunkenness, +instead of the pride and vanity, the torpitude of one quarter and +the violence of another, yea, for all the bustle and the pomp, +the hurly-burly and the brawl which there unceasingly bewildered +men, and for the innumerable and unvarying sins, there was +nothing to be seen here but sobriety, kindness and cheerfulness, +peace and thankfulness, compassion, innocence and contentment +stamped upon the face of every man, except where one or two +silently wept, grieving that they had tarried so long in the +enemy’s city. There was no hatred or anger, except +towards sin, and this was certain to be overcome; no fear, but of +displeasing their king, who was more ready to be reconciled than +to be angry with his subjects; no sound, but that of psalms of +praise to their Saviour. By this we had come in sight of an +exceedingly fine building, oh, so magnificent! No one in +the City of Destruction, neither the Turk nor the Mogul nor any +one else, has anything equal to it. “This is the +Catholic Church,” said the Angel. “Is it here +Emmanuel holds his court?” asked I. “Yes, this +is the only royal court he has on earth.” “Are +there many crowned heads beneath his sway?” “A +few—thy queen, some of the princes of Scandinavia and +Germany, and a few other petty princes.” “What +is that compared with those over whom great Belial +rules—emperors and kings without number?” +“For all that,” said the Angel, “not one of +them can move a finger without Emmanuel’s +permission—no, not even Belial himself. For Emmanuel +is his rightful liege too, only that he rebelled, and was in +consequence bound in chains to all eternity; although he is still +allowed for a short period to visit the City of Destruction where +he entices all he can into like rebellion, and to bear a share of +his punishment; and though he well knows that by so doing he +increases his own penalty, <a name="citation34"></a><a +href="#footnote34" class="citation">[34]</a> yet malice and envy +urge him on whenever he has a pretext, and so much does he love +evil that he seeks to destroy this city and this edifice, +although he knows of yore that its Saviour is +invincible.”</p> +<p>“Prithee, my lord,” said I, “may we approach +so as to obtain a better view of this magnificent royal +court” (for my heart waxed warm towards the place since +first I had beheld it). “Oh yes, easily,” +answered the Angel, “for therein is my place, my duty and +my work.” The nearer I came thereto the more I +wondered at the height, strength, splendour, grandeur, and beauty +of its every part, how skilful the work was, and how apt the +materials. Its base was an enormous rock wondrously +fashioned, and of strength impregnable; upon it were living +stones, laid and joined in such perfect order that no stone could +possibly appear finer elsewhere than in its own place. One +part of the church projected in the form of a wonderfully +handsome cross, and the Angel saw me looking at it, and said, +“Dost thou recognise that part?” I knew not +what to answer. “That is the Church of +England,” he said. I was somewhat startled, and +looking up beheld Queen Anne on the church-top enthroned, with a +sword in each hand—the one in the left called +“Justice,” to defend her subjects against the +inhabitants of the City of Destruction, the one in the right, to +preserve them from Belial and his spiritual evils, and this was +called “the sword of the Spirit,” or the Word of +God. Beneath the left sword lay the statute book of +England, and beneath the other, a big Bible. The sword of +the Spirit was fiery, and of immense length, and would kill +further away than the other would touch. I could see the +other princes with like arms defending their part of the church, +but I deemed mine own queen fairest of all, and her arms the +brightest. At her right hand I observed throngs clad in +black—archbishops, bishops, and learned men upholding with +her the sword of the Spirit, while soldiers and officials, with a +few lawyers, supported the other sword. I was allowed to +rest awhile, by one of the magnificent doors where people came in +to obtain membership in the Universal Church, and whereat a tall +angel was doorkeeper. The interior of the church was lit up +so brilliantly that Hypocrisy dared not show her face therein, +and though sometimes she appeared at the threshold she never +entered. Just as I saw, in the space of a quarter of an +hour, a Papist, who thought that the Catholic Church belonged to +the Pope, came and claimed its freedom. “What have +you to prove your right?” demanded the porter. +“I have plenty of the traditions of the fathers, and of +councils of the church,” he answered, “but what need +I more certain than the word of the Pope, who sits in the +infallible chair?” Then the doorkeeper opened a huge +Bible—a load in itself; “This,” said he, +“is our only statute book—prove your right from this +or go.” And he straightway departed.</p> +<p>Then came a flock of Quakers, who wished to enter with their +hats on, but were turned away for being so ill-mannered. +After them some of the barn-folk, who had been there only a short +while, began to speak: “We have the same statute book as ye +have,” they averred, “and therefore show us our +privileged place.” “Stay,” said the +bright porter, steadfastly gazing on their foreheads, “I +will show you something: see yon mark of the rent ye made in the +church when leaving it without cause or reason? And would +ye now have a place therein? Get ye back to the narrow +gate, and wash thoroughly in the well of repentance, to see if ye +will reach some of the royal blood ye erstwhile drank <a +name="citation36"></a><a href="#footnote36" +class="citation">[36]</a> and bring some of the water of that +well to moisten the clay, so as to make up yonder rent and then +ye are welcome.”</p> +<p>Before we had gone a rood westward I heard a noise coming from +above, from among the princes, and everybody, great and small, +was taking up arms and donning his armour as if for war, and ere +I had time to cast about me for a refuge, the whole sky became +black, and the city darker than when an eclipse befalls; the +thunder roared, the lightning flashed to and fro, and ceaseless +showers of deadly shafts were directed from the lower gates +against the Catholic Church, and had there not been in each +man’s hand a shield to receive the fiery darts, and had the +foundation rock not been so strong that nothing could ever harm +it, we all would have become one burning mass. But alack, +this was but a prologue or foretaste of what was to follow; for +suddenly the darkness became sevenfold more intense, and Belial +himself advanced in the densest cloud, and around him his chief +officers both earthly and infernal, ready to receive and +accomplish his behest at their several posts. He had +entrusted the Pope and his other son of France <a +name="citation37"></a><a href="#footnote37" +class="citation">[37]</a> with the destruction of the Church of +England and its queen; the Turks and Muscovites were to strike at +the other sections of the Church, and slay the people, and +especially the queen and the other princes, and above all to burn +the Bible. The first thing the queen and the other saints +did was to bend the knee and tell of their wrongs to the King of +Kings in these words: “The stretching out of his wings +shall fill the breadth of thy land, oh Emmanuel.” And +immediately a voice replied: “Resist the devil and he will +flee from you.” And then commenced the greatest and +most terrible conflict that ever took place on earth. When +the sword of the Spirit began to be whirled round, Belial and his +infernal hosts began to retreat; then the Pope began to waver, +while the King of France still held out, though he too was almost +giving up heart, seeing the queen and her subjects so united, +while he himself was losing ships and men on the one hand, and on +the other many of his subjects were in open revolt; and the +onslaught of the Turk also was becoming less fierce. Just +then, woe’s me, I saw my beloved companion shooting away +from me into the welkin to join a myriad other bright +princes. Thereupon the Pope and the other earthly +commanders began to slink off and become prostrate through fear, +and the infernal princes to fall by the thousands. The +noise of each one falling seemed to me as if a great mountain +fell into the depths of the sea, and between this noise and the +agitation on losing my friend, I awoke from sleep, and returned +to this oppressive sod, most unwillingly, so pleasant and +enjoyable it was to be a free spirit, and above all to be in such +company, notwithstanding the great danger I was in. Now I +had no one to comfort me save the Muse, and she was rather +moody—scarcely could I get her to bray out these lines that +follow:—</p> +<p class="poetry"> Behold this wondrous +edifice,<br /> + Both heaven and earth +comprising,<br /> + The universe and all that is<br /> + At God’s command +arising—<br /> +This world, with ramparts wide from pole to pole,<br /> + Down from its starry, brilliant dome,<br /> +E’en to the depths where angry billows roll,<br /> + And beasts that through the forest roam—<br /> + All things that sea and sky +afford,<br /> + Thy faithful subjects eke to be;<br /> + A lesser heaven, a home for thee<br /> + Oh! man, creation’s +lord.</p> +<p class="poetry"> But once that thou desired to +know<br /> + The ways of sin, seductive,<br /> + The hellish tempter, to our woe,<br /> + Became a power destructive;<br /> +He cursed our earth and ruin brought on all,<br /> + Yea, very nature felt the bane—<br /> +Its blighted walls now totter to their fall,<br /> + And soon disorder rules again.<br /> + This earthly palace then at +last,<br /> + Unroofed, dismantled and decayed,<br /> + A hideous, barren waste is laid<br /> + By desolation’s blast.</p> +<p class="poetry"> Behold oh, man! this glorious +place<br /> + In the empyrean hovering<br /> + While all is but a treach’rous face<br /> + Foul swamps and quagmires +covering.<br /> +Thy sin, that whelmed this earth in days of yore,<br /> + Shall draw upon it quenchless fire<br /> +With flaming torrents wildly rushing o’er—<br /> + A prey to conflagration dire;<br /> + If thou wouldst ’scape this +dreadful fate,<br /> + I pray thee counsel take from me,<br /> + To Mercy’s city straightway flee<br /> + For life within its gate.</p> +<p class="poetry"> Behold that city’s +peerless might<br /> + Withstanding all +oppression—<br /> + Then flee thereto in thy sad plight,<br /> + Be free from sin’s +possession.<br /> +Behold thy refuge in this dreary land<br /> + Where all may find true, peaceful rest,<br /> +A rock, impregnable on every hand,<br /> + Where perfect love reigns ever blest;<br /> + We sinful men, the way must +search,<br /> + And there in faith for pardon pray,<br /> + And live a blissful, tranquil day<br /> + Within the Holy Church.</p> +<h3><a name="page43"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +43</span>II.—THE VISION OF DEATH IN HIS NETHERMOST +COURT.</h3> +<p>One long, cold, and dark winter’s night, when +one-eye’d Phœbus well nigh had reached his utmost +limit in the south and, from afar, lowered upon Great Britain and +all the Northern land, and when it was much warmer in the kitchen +of Glyn Cywarch <a name="citation43a"></a><a href="#footnote43a" +class="citation">[43a]</a> than at the top of Cader Idris, and +better in a cosy room with a warm bedfellow than in a shroud in +the lychgate, I was meditating upon a talk I had had by the +fireside with a neighbour concerning the brevity of human life, +and how certain it was that death would come to all, and yet how +uncertain its coming. Thus engaged, I had just lain down, +and was half-asleep, when I felt a heavy weight stealthily +creeping over me, from head to heel, so that I could not move a +finger—my tongue only was unbound. I perceived, +methought, a man upon my chest, and above him, a woman. +After eyeing him carefully I recognised by his strong odours, +dewy locks and blear eyes, that the man was no other than my good +Master Sleep. “I pray you, sir,” cried I, +squeaking, “what have I done to you that you bring that +witch here to torment me?” “Hush,” said +he, “it is only my sister Nightmare; we twain are going to +pay our brother Death <a name="citation43b"></a><a +href="#footnote43b" class="citation">[43b]</a> a visit, and want +a third to accompany us, and lest thou shouldst resist we came +upon thee, just as he does, unawares. Consequently come +thou must, willy-nilly.” “Alas,” I cried, +“must I die?” “Nay,” said +Nightmare, “we will spare thee this time.” +“But an’t please you,” said I, “your +brother Death has never spared anyone yet who came beneath his +stroke—he who wrestled with the Lord of Life himself, +though it was little he gained by that contest.” +Nightmare, at that word, rose up angrily and departed. +“Come along,” cried Sleep, “thou wilt never +repent of thy journey.” “Well,” said I, +“may there never be night in Sleepton, and may Nightmare +never have rest save on an awl’s point if ye bring me not +back where ye found me.”</p> +<p>Then away we went over hills and through forests, across seas +and valleys, over castles and towers, rivers and rocks, and where +should we alight but at one of the gates of the daughters of +Belial, at the rear of the City of Destruction, where I noticed +that the three gateways of Destruction contracted into one at the +back, and opened upon the same place—a murky, vaporous, +pestilent place, full of noisome mists, and terrible lowering +clouds. “Prithee, good sir,” asked I, +“what place be this?” “The chambers of +Death,” replied Sleep. And no sooner had I asked than +I could hear some wailing, groaning, and sighing; some +deliriously muttering to themselves or feebly moaning, others in +great travail, and with all the signs of man’s departure +from life; and, now and then, would one give a long-drawn gasp, +and lapse into silence. At that moment, I heard a key being +turned in a lock, and at the noise I looked around for the door, +and gazing steadfastly, perceived thousands upon thousands of +doors, seemingly afar off but really close at hand. +“Please, Master Sleep, where do these doors open +upon?” asked I. “Upon the land of +Oblivion,” was the answer, “an extensive domain <a +name="citation44"></a><a href="#footnote44" +class="citation">[44]</a> under the sceptre of my brother Death, +and this great rampart is the boundary of vast +Eternity.” By this I could see that there was a +little death-imp at every door, each one bearing arms, and a name +different from that of his fellows; though it was evident that +they, one and all, were the ministers of the same king. +Nevertheless they were continually quarrelling about the sick; +one would snatch the patient to take him as a gift through his +own door, while another strove to take him through his.</p> +<p>On our approach, I observed that over each door the name of +the Death who kept it was written, and also that at each door +were an hundred various things left all of a heap, showing +plainly that those who went through were in haste. Over one +door I saw “Hunger,” and yet on the floor close by +were full purses, and bags, and brass-nailed trunks. +“This is the Porch of Misers,” said Sleep. +“Whom do those rags belong to?” “To the +misers, mostly,” he replied, “but there are some +which belong to idlers, gossipmongers and others, who, poor in +everything except in spirit, preferred to die of hunger rather +than ask for help.” Next door was Death-by-Cold, and +when I came opposite him I could hear much shuddering and +shivering, and at his door, were many books, pots and flagons, a +few sticks and bludgeons, compasses, cords and ship’s +tackle. “Scholars have gone this way,” said +I. “Yea, lonely and helpless, far from the succour of +those who loved them, their very garments stolen from them. +Those,” he continued, pointing to the pots, “are +relics of the boon companions, whose feet were benumbed under the +benches, while their heads were seething in drink and noise; +those things over there belonged to those who journeyed amid +snow-clad mountains, and to North Sea traders.” The +next was a lanky skeleton called Fear-Death—so transparent +you could see he had no heart; at his door, too, there were bags +and chests, bars and strongholds. Through this one went +userers and traitors, oppressors and murderers, though many of +these last called at the next door, at which was a Death named +Gallows, with a rope ready round his neck. Next to him was +Love-Death, and at his feet thousands of musical instruments and +song-books, love-letters, spots and pigments to beautify the +face, and hundreds of tinselled toys for the same purpose, +together with a few swords: “With these rivals have fought +duels for their mistresses, and some have killed +themselves,” said Sleep. I could see that this Death +was sandblind. At the next door was a Death whose colour +was worst of all, and whose liver was entirely gone—his +name was Envy. “This is the Death,” said Sleep, +“which brings hither those who have lost money, slanderers, +and a rideress or two, who are jealous of the law which demands +that a wife should submit herself unto her husband.” +“Pray, sir, what is a rideress?” “A +rideress is a woman who will over-ride her husband, her +neighbourhood, and the whole country if she can, and by dint of +long riding, at last, rides a devil from that door down to the +bottomless pit.” Next was the door of Ambition-Death +for those who hold their heads high, and break their necks, for +want of looking on the ground they tread on; at this door lay +crowns, sceptres, standards, petitions for offices, and all +manner of arms of heraldry and war.</p> +<p>But before I had time to notice any more of these innumerable +doors, I heard a voice bidding me by name to be dissolved, and at +the word I felt myself beginning to melt like a snowball in the +heat of the sun; then my master gave me a sleeping draught, so +that I slumbered; and when I awoke, he had taken me by some road +or other far away on the other side of the castle. I +perceived myself in a pitch-dark vale of infinite radius, +methought, and shortly, I saw by a few bluish lights, like the +flickering flame of a candle, countless, ah! countless shades of +men, some afoot and some on horseback, rushing back and fro like +the wind, in awful silence and solemnity; the land was barren, +bleak and blasted, without either grass or hay, trees or animals, +save deadly beasts and poisonous vermin of every +kind—serpents, snakes, lice, frogs, worms, locusts, gids +and all such that exist on man’s corruption. Through +a myriad shades and reptiles, graves, churchyards and tombs, we +made our way to view the land unmolested, until I happened to see +some turning round and looking at me; in an instant, +notwithstanding the prevailing silence, a whisper passed from one +to another that there was a man from earth there. “A +man from earth!” cried one, “a man from earth,” +exclaimed another, while they crowded round me, like +caterpillars, from every quarter. “Which way came +you, sirrah?” asked a morkin of a death-imp. +“Indeed, sir,” said I, “I know not any more +than you do.” “What is your name?” he +asked. “Call me here in your own country what ye +will, but at home I am called the Sleeping Bard.”</p> +<p>At that word I could see an ancient mannikin, bent double, +head to feet, like a bramble, straightening himself, and looking +at me more malignantly than the red devil, and without a word he +hurled a big skull at my head, but, thanks to a sheltering +tombstone, missed me. “Truce, sir, I pray you,” +cried I, “to a stranger who was never here before, and will +never come again, could I but once find the way +home.” “I’ll make you remember +you’ve been here,” quoth he, and, again setting upon +me with a thighbone, he beat me most unmercifully, while I dodged +about as best as I could. “Ho ho!” I cried, +“this country is very unmannerly towards strangers; is +there no justice of the peace here?” “Peace, +indeed,” said he, “thou, surely, hast no right to sue +for peace, who disturbest the dead in their graves.” +“Pray, sir, might I know your name, for I wot not that I +have ever molested anyone from this country?” +“Sirrah!” cried he, “know then that I, and not +you, am the Sleeping Bard, and have been left in peace these nine +centuries by all but you,” and again he set upon me. +“Withhold, brother,” said Merlin <a +name="citation48a"></a><a href="#footnote48a" +class="citation">[48a]</a> who stood near, “be not too +hasty; thank him rather for that he hath kept your name in +respected memory on earth.” “In great respect, +forsooth,” quoth he, “by such a blockhead as +this. Are you, sirrah, versed in the four and twenty +metres? Can you trace the line of Gog and Magog and of +Brutus son of Silvius <a name="citation48b"></a><a +href="#footnote48b" class="citation">[48b]</a> down to a century +before the destruction of Troy? Can you prophesy when, and +how the wars between the lion and the eagle, and between the stag +and the red deer will end? Can you?” “Ho +there! let me ask him a question,” said another who stood +by a huge seething cauldron, <a name="citation48c"></a><a +href="#footnote48c" class="citation">[48c]</a> “draw near, +and tell me the meaning of this:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“Upon the face of earth I’ll be<br /> + Until the judgment day,<br /> +And whether I be fish or flesh<br /> + No man can ever say.” <a +name="citation48d"></a><a href="#footnote48d" +class="citation">[48d]</a></p> +</blockquote> +<p>“I would know your name, sir,” said I, “so +that I might the more befittingly give answer.” +“I am Taliesin, Chief of the Western Bards, <a +name="citation48e"></a><a href="#footnote48e" +class="citation">[48e]</a> and those are lines from my +mystery-song.” “I know not what your meaning +may be, if it be not the yellow plague which destroyed Maelgwn +Gwynedd, <a name="citation49a"></a><a href="#footnote49a" +class="citation">[49a]</a> slew you upon the sea, and divided you +between the ravens and fishes.” “Tush, you +fool,” cried he, “I was foretelling of my two +callings—as lawyer and poet—and which sayest thou now +bears greatest resemblance, whether a lawyer to a raven, or a +poet to a whale? How many will a single lawyer lay bare of +flesh to swell his own paunch, and oh! so callously doth he shed +blood and leave the man half dead! The poet, too, what fish +can gulp as much as he? And though he hath always a sea +round him, not all the ocean can quench his thirst. And +when a man is both a poet and a lawyer, who can tell whether he +is fish or flesh, and especially if he be a courtier as well, as +I was, and had to change his taste with every mouth. But +tell me, are there many of these folk now on earth?” +“Yes, plenty,” answered I, “if a man can patch +together any sort of metre, straightway he becomes a chaired +bard. And of the others, there is such a plague of +barristers, petty lawyers, and clerks that the locusts of Egypt +preyed less heavily on the country than they. In your time, +sir, there were only roadside bargains and a hands-breadth of +writing on the purchase of a hundred pound farm, and a cairn or +an Arthur’s quoit <a name="citation49b"></a><a +href="#footnote49b" class="citation">[49b]</a> raised as a +memorial of the purchase and boundaries. People have not +the courage to do so nowadays, but more cunning, knavery, and +written parchment, wide as a cromlech, is necessary to bind the +bargain, and for all that it would be strange if no flaw existed +or were contrived therein.” “Well, well,” +said Taliesin, “I would not be worth a straw there, I may +as well be here; truth will never be found where there are many +bards, nor justice where many lawyers, until health be found +where there be many doctors.”</p> +<p>Upon this a grey-haired, writhled shrimp, who had heard of the +presence of an earthly man, came and fell at my feet, weeping +profusely. “Alack, poor fellow,” cried I, +“what art thou?” “One who suffers too +much wrong on earth day by day,” he replied, “and +your soul must obtain me justice.” “What is thy +name?” I enquired. “I am called Someone,” +was the answer, “and there is no love-message, slander, +lie, or tale to breed quarrels, but that I am blamed for most of +them. ‘In sooth,’ said one, ‘she is an +excellent wench, and has spoken highly of you to Someone, +although someone great was seeking her.’ ‘I +heard Someone,’ said another, ‘reckoning a debt of +nine hundred pounds on such and such an estate.’ +‘I saw Someone yesterday,’ said the beggar, +‘with a mottled neckerchief, like a sailor, who had come +with a grain vessel to the next port;’ and so every rag and +tag mauls me to suit his own evil purpose. Some call me +‘Friend.’ ‘A friend told me,’ saith +one, ‘that so and so does not intend leaving a single +farthing to his wife, and that there is no love lost between +them.’ Others further disgrace me and call me a crow: +‘a crow tell me there is some trickery going on,’ +they say. Yea, some call me by a more honoured +name—Old Man, and yet not a half of the omens, prophecies, +and cures attributed to me are really mine. I never +counselled walking the old way if the new were better, and I +never intended forbidding men to church by saying: +‘Frequent not the place where thou art most welcome,’ +and a hundred such. But Someone is the name generally given +me, and most often heard of when anything uncommonly bad happens; +for if you ask one where that scandalous lie was told and who +told it. ‘Indeed,’ he will say, ‘I know +not, but Someone in the company said it,’ and if you +enquire of all the company concerning the story, all have heard +it of Someone, but no one knows of whom. Is it not a +shameful wrong?” he cried, “I beg of you to inform +everybody who names me that I uttered nought of such +things. I never invented or repeated a lie to disgrace +anyone, nor a single tale to cause kinsmen to fly at each +other’s throats; I do not come near them; I know nothing of +their scandal, or business, or accursed secrets—they must +not charge me with their evils, but their own corrupt +brains.”</p> +<p>Hereupon a little Death, one of the King’s secretaries, +asked me my name, and bade Master Sleep carry me at once into the +King’s presence. I had to go, though most unwilling, +by reason of the power that took me up like a whirlwind, +’twixt high and low, thousands of miles back on our left, +till we came, a second time, in sight of the boundary wall, and +in an enclosed corner we could see a vast palace, roofless and in +ruins, extending to the wall wherein were the countless doors, +all of which led to this terrible court. Its walls were +built of human skulls with hideous, grinning teeth; the clay was +black with mingled tears and sweat, the lime ruddy with +gore. On the summit of each tower stood a Deathling, with a +quivering heart on the point of his shaft. Around the court +were a few trees—a poisonous yew or twain, or a deadly +cypress, and in these owls, ravens, vampires and the like, make +their nests, and cry unceasingly for flesh, although the whole +place is but one vast, putrid shamble. The pillars of the +hall were made of thighbones, and those of the parlour of +shinbones, while the floors were formed of layer upon layer of +all manner of charnel.</p> +<p>I had not to wait a longwhile ere I came in view of a +tremendous altar, where we could see the King of Terrors +devouring human flesh and blood, while a thousand impish deaths, +from every hole, were continually feeding him with warm, fresh +meat. “Here is a rogue,” said the Death that +led me thither, “whom I found in the midst of the land of +Oblivion, having approached so light-footed that your majesty +never tasted a bite of him,” “How can that +be?” demanded the king, opening his jaws, wide as a chasm, +to swallow me. Whereupon I turned trembling to Sleep. +“It was I who brought him hither,” said he. +“Well then, for my brother Sleep’s sake,” said +the awful and lanky monarch, “you can retrace your steps +for the nonce; but beware of me the next time.” +Having been for some time cramming his gluttonous maw with +carrion, he caused his subjects to be called together, and moved +from the altar to a very lofty and dreadful throne, to adjudge +newly-arrived prisoners. In an instant, lo! the dead in +countless multitudes paid homage to the king, and took their +places in wonderful array. King Death was in his regal robe +of brilliant scarlet, whereon depicted were wives and children +weeping and husbands sighing; on his head a dark-red, +three-cornered cap, a gift his cousin Lucifer had sent him, on +the corners of which were written Grief, Sorrow, and Woe. +Above his head were a myriad pictures of battles on land and sea, +of towns aflame, of the earth yawning, and of the waters of the +deluge; the ground beneath his feet was nought else than the +crowns and sceptres of all the kings he had ever conquered. +At his right hand sat Fate with a morose and scowling visage, +reading an enormous tome that lay before him; at his left, was an +old man called Time, warping innumerable threads of gold, silver, +copper, and many of iron—some threads were growing better +towards the end, a myriad worse; along the threads were marked +hours, days and years, and Fate, at his book, cut the thread of +life and opened the doors in the boundary wall between the two +worlds.</p> +<p>I had not been looking about me long, when I heard four +fiddlers, just dead, summoned to the bar. “How is +it,” asked the King of Terrors, “that ye, who are so +found of joy, did not stay on yonder side of the chasm? For +on this side joy never existed.” “We have done +no man ever any hurt,” said one of the minstrels, +“but on the contrary have made them merry, and quietly took +whatever was given us for our pains.” “Have ye +caused no one,” said Death, “to lose time from his +work, or to absent himself from church, eh?” +“No,” replied another, “unless we were some +Sundays after service in an inn till the morrow, or in summer +time on the village green, and indeed we had a better and more +beloved congregation than the parson.” “Away, +with them to the land of Oblivion,” cried the terrible +king, “bind the four, back to back, and pitch them to their +partners, to dance barefoot on glowing hearths, and scrape their +fiddles for ever without praise or pay.”</p> +<p>The next to come to the bar was a king from near Rome. +“Raise thy hand, caitiff,” bade one of the +officers. “I hope,” said he, “ye have +somewhat better manners and favor for a king.” +“Sirrah, you too,” said Death, “ought to have +kept on the other side of the gulf where everybody is king; but +know that, on this side, there are none besides myself and +another, who dwelleth down below, and you shall see that that +king and myself will set no value upon the degree of your +greatness, but rather upon the degree of your wickedness, and so +make your punishment proportionate to your crimes; therefore give +answer to the questions.” “Sir, allow me to +tell you that you have no authority to arrest and examine +me,” said he, “I hold a pardon under the Pope’s +own hand for all my sins. Because I served him faithfully, +he gave me a dispensation to go straight to Paradise, without a +moment’s stay in Purgatory.” At that the king, +and all the lean jaws, gave a dismal grin in imitation of +laughter, and the other, angered at their laughing, ordered them +to show him the way. “Silence, lost fool!” +cried Death, “Purgatory lies behind thee, on the other side +of the wall, for it was in life thou hadst ought to have purified +thyself, and Paradise is on the right, beyond that chasm. +Now there is no way of escape for thee, neither across this abyss +to Paradise, nor through the boundary wall back to earth; for +wert thou to give thy kingdom—though thou hast not a +ha’penny to give—the warder of those doors would not +let thee look once, even through the keyhole. This is +called the irremeable wall, for once it is passed there is no +hope of return. But since you are so high in the +Pope’s favor, <a name="citation54"></a><a +href="#footnote54" class="citation">[54]</a> you shall go and get +his bed ready with his predecessor, and there you may kiss his +toe for ever, and he, the toe of Lucifer.” At the +word, four death-imps raised him up, now trembling like an aspen +leaf, and snatched him away out of sight, with the speed of +lightning.</p> +<p>Next after him, came a man and woman; he had been a boon +companion, and she a kind and lavish maid, but there they were +called by their plain, unvarnished names, a drunkard and a +harlot. “I hope,” said the drunkard, “I +may obtain some favor in your eyes, for I despatched hither on a +flood of good ale many a fatted prey, and when I failed to slay +others, I willingly came myself to feed you.” +“By the court’s leave,” said the minion, +“not half so many as I have despatched to you as a burnt +offering ready for table.” “Ha, ha,” +exclaimed Death, “it was to feed your own accursed lusts, +and not me, that all this was done. Let them be bound +together and hurled into the land of darkness.” And +so they too were hurried away headlong.</p> +<p>Next to them came seven recorders, who, on being bidden to +raise their hands <a name="citation55"></a><a href="#footnote55" +class="citation">[55]</a> to the bar, pretended not to hear the +command, for their palms were so thickly greased. One of +them, bolder than the rest, began to argue, “We ought to +have had fair citation, in order to prepare our reply, instead of +being attacked unawares.” “Oh, we are not bound +to give you any particular notice,” said Death, +“because ye have, everywhere, and everywhile throughout +your lives, warning of my advent. How many sermons on the +mortality of man have ye heard? How many books, how many +graves, knells and fevers, how many messages and signs, have ye +seen? What is your Sleep but my brother? Your heads +but my image? Your daily food but dead creatures? +Seek not to lay the blame of your ill hap on my +shoulders—ye would not hear of the summons, although ye had +it an hundred times.” “Pray what have you +against us?” asked one ruddy recorder. “What +indeed?” exclaimed Death, “the drinking the sweat and +blood of the poor, and the doubling your fees.” +“Here is an honest man,” he said, pointing to a +wrangler behind them, “who knows I never did aught but what +was fair, and it is not fair in you to detain us here, seeing you +have no specific charge to prove against us.” +“Ha, ha!” cried Death, “ye shall bring proof +against yourselves; place them on the verge of the precipice +before the throne of Justice; there they will obtain justice, +though they practised it not.”</p> +<p>There were yet seven other prisoners, who kept up such +commotion and clamour—some blandishing, gnashing the teeth +and uttering threats, others giving advice and so on. +Scarcely had they been summoned to the bar than the whole court +darkened sevenfold more hideously than before, a murmuring and +great confusion arose around the throne, and Death became more +livid than ever. Upon enquiry it seemed that one of +Lucifer’s envoys had arrived, bearing a letter to Death, +concerning these seven prisoners; and shortly, Fate called for +silence to read the letter which, as far as I can recollect, was +as follows:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">Lucifer</span>, <i>King +of the Kings of Earth</i>, <i>Prince of Perdition and Archruler +of the Deep</i>, <i>To our natural son</i>, <i>mightiest and most +terrible King Death</i>, <i>greeting</i>, <i>wishing you +supremacy and booty without end</i>:</p> +<p>“Whereas some of our swift messengers, who are always +out espying, have informed us that there lately came into your +royal court seven prisoners of the seven most worthless and +dangerous species in the world, and that you are about to hurl +them over the precipice into my realm: our advice is, that you +endeavour, by every possible way, to let them return to the +earth; there they will be more serviceable—to you, in the +matter of food, to me, for supplying better company. We had +too much trouble with their partners in days gone by, and our +kingdom is, even now, unsettled. Wherefore, turn them back +or retain them yourself; for, by the infernal crown, if thou cast +them hither, I will undermine the foundations of thy kingdom, +until it fall and become one with mine own great realm.</p> +<p>“<i>From our Court</i>, <i>on the miry Swamp in the +glowing Evildom</i>, <i>in the year of our reign</i>, +<i>5425</i>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>King Death, his visage green and livid, stood for a time +undecided. But while he was meditating, Fate turned upon +him such a grim frown that he trembled. “Sire,” +said Fate, “consider well what you are about to do. I +dare not allow anyone to repass the bounds of Eternity—the +insurmountable ramparts, nor deign you harbour any here, +wherefore, send them on to their doom, spite of the great Evil +One. He has been able to array in a moment many a haul of a +thousand or ten thousand souls, and allot each one his place, and +what difficulty will he have with these seven now, however +dangerous they may be? Whatever happen, even if they +overturn the infernal government, send them thither instantly, +lest I be commanded to crush thee to untimely nothingness. +As for his menaces, they are false, and although thy doom, and +that of yon ancient (looking at Time), are not many pages hence, +yet, thou need have no fear of sinking down to Lucifer, for +however glad everybody there would be to have thee, they never +will; for the eternal rocks of steel and adamant, which roof +Hell, are somewhat too firm to be shattered.” +Whereupon Death, in great agitation, called for someone to indite +thus his reply:—</p> +<blockquote><p>“<span class="smcap">Death</span>, <i>King +of Terrors</i>, <i>Conqueror of Conquerors</i>, <i>To our most +revered kinsman and neighbour</i>, <i>Lucifer</i>, <i>Monarch of +the Endless Night</i>, <i>and Emperor of the Sheer Vortex</i>, +<i>Salutation</i>:</p> +<p>“After giving earnest thought to this your royal wish, +it seemeth to us more advantageous, not only to our state, but +also to your vast realm, that these prisoners be sent to the +furthest point possible from the portals of the impervious wall, +left their putrid odour should so terrify the entire City of +Destruction that no one would ever enter Eternity from that side +of the gulf, and I, in consequence, would be unable to cool my +sting, and you should have no commerce betwixt earth and +hell. But I leave you to judge them, and to cast them into +the cells you deem most secure and befitting.</p> +<p>“<i>From our Lower Court in the Great Tollgate of +Destruction: from the year of the restoration of my Kingdom</i>, +<i>1670</i>.”</p> +</blockquote> +<p>After hearing all this, I was itching to know what manner of +folk these seven might be, seeing that the devils themselves +feared them so much. But ere long, the Clerk to the Crown +calls them by name, as follows: “Mister Busybody, alias +Finger-in-every-pie.” This fellow was so fussily and +busily directing the others, that he had no leisure to answer to +his name until Death threatened to sunder him with his +dart. Then, “Mr. Slanderer, alias +Foe-of-Good-Fame,” was called, but no response came. +“He is rather bashful to hear his titles,” said the +third, “he can’t abide the nicknames.” +“Have you no titles, I wonder?” asked the Slanderer, +“call Mr. Honey-tongued Swaggerer, alias Smoothgulp, alias +Venomsmile.” “Here,” cried a woman, who +was standing near, pointing to the Swaggerer. “Ha, +Madam Huntress!” cried he, “your humble servant; I am +glad to see you well, I never saw a more beautiful woman in +breeches, but woe’s me to think how pitiable is the +country, having lost in you such an unrivalled ruler; and yet, +your pleasant company will make hell itself somewhat +better.” “Oh, thou scion of evil,” cried +she, “no one need a worse hell than to be with +thee—thou art enough.” Then the crier called, +“Huntress, alias Mistress o’ the +Breeches.” “Here,” answered someone else, +she herself not saying a word because they did not +“madam” her. Next was called the Schemer, alias +Jack-of-all-Trades. But he, too, failed to answer, for he +was assiduously plotting to escape the Land of Despair. +“Here, here,” cried someone behind him, “here +he is spying for a place to break out of your great court, and +unless you be on your guard, he has a considerable plot against +you.” “Then,” said the Schemer, +“Let him also be called, to wit, The +Accuser-of-his-Brethren, alias Faultfinder, alias +Complaint-monger.” “Here, here he is,” +cried the Litigious Wrangler—for each one knew the +other’s name, but none would acknowledge his own. +“You are also called,” said the Accuser, “Mr. +Litigious Wrangler, alias Cumber-of-Courts.” +“Witness, witness, all of you, what names the knave has +given me,” cried the Wrangler. “Ha, ha, +’tis not according to the font, but according to the fault, +that everybody is named in this land,” said Death, +“and with your permission, Mr. Wrangler, these names must +stick to you for evermore.” “Indeed,” +quoth the Wrangler, “by the devil, I’ll make it hot +for you; although you may put me to death, you have no right to +nickname me. I shall enter a plaint for this and for false +imprisonment, against you and your kinsman Lucifer, in the Court +of Justice.”</p> +<p>By this I could see the armies of Death in array and armed, +looking to the king for the word of command. Then the king, +standing erect on his throne, spoke as follows: “My +terrible and invincible hosts, spare neither care nor haste to +despatch these prisoners out of my territories, lest they corrupt +my country; throw them in bonds headlong over the hopeless +precipice. But as to the eighth, this cumbrous fellow who +menaces me, let him free on the brink beneath the Court of +Justice, so that he may make good his charge against me, if he +can.” No sooner had he sat down than the whole deadly +armies surrounded and bound the prisoners, and led them towards +their appointed dwelling. And when I, having gone out, +half-turned to look at them. “Come hither,” +cried Sleep, and flew with me to the top of the loftiest tower on +the court; from whence I saw the prisoners going forth to their +everlasting doom. Before long a sudden whirlwind arose, and +drove away the pitch-dark mist usually hovering over the Land of +Oblivion, and in the wan light, I could see myriads of livid +candles, and by their gleam, I obtained a far-off view of the +mouth of the bottomless abyss. But if that was a horrible +sight, overhead was one still more horrible—Justice, on her +throne, guarding the portal of hell, and holding a special +tribunal above the entrance thereto, to pronounce the doom of the +damned as they arrive. I beheld the seven hurled headlong +over the terrible verge, and the Wrangler, too, rushing to throw +himself over, lest he should once look on the Court of Justice, +for, alas, the sight thereof was intolerable to guilty +eyes. I was only gazing from a distance, yet I beheld more +dreadful horrors than I can now relate, nor then could endure; +for my spirit so strove and panted through exceeding fear, and +struggled so violently, that all the bonds of Sleep were burst; +my soul returned to its wonted functions, and I rejoiced greatly +to perceive myself still among the living, and resolved to lead a +better life, for I would rather suffer affliction an hundred +years in the paths of holiness than, perforce, take another +glance at the horrors of that night.</p> +<p class="poetry">1 Must I leave home and fatherland,<br /> + And every charm and pleasure?<br /> +Leave honored name and high degree<br /> + Enjoyed in life’s brief measure?</p> +<p class="poetry">2 Leave beauty, strength, and wisdom, +too,<br /> + All won in hard employment,—<br /> +All I have learnt, and all I’ve loved,<br /> + And all this world’s enjoyment.</p> +<p class="poetry">3 Can I evade the stroke of Death<br /> + That rends all ties asunder?<br /> +Do not his awful shambles gape<br /> + For me to be his plunder?</p> +<p class="poetry">4 Ye gilded men would fain enjoy<br /> + The wealth your souls engrossing,<br /> +But ye must bow to him and go<br /> + The journey of his choosing.</p> +<p class="poetry">5 Ye favored fair, whose lightest word<br +/> + Has caused ten thousand errors,<br /> +Think not your garish, tinselled charms<br /> + Can blind the King of Terrors.</p> +<p class="poetry">6 Ye who rejoice in heedless youth<br /> + And follow fleeting pleasures,<br /> +Know that ye cannot conquer Death<br /> + By valor, arts, or treasures.</p> +<p class="poetry">7 Ye who exult in madding song<br /> + The giddy dances treading,<br /> +Think not that all the mirth of France<br /> + Can thwart the fate you’re dreading.</p> +<p class="poetry">8 Ye who have roamed the wide world +o’er,<br /> + Where have ye found the tower,<br /> +With walls and portals strong enough<br /> + To check Death’s awful power?</p> +<p class="poetry">9 Statesmen and learned sages, all<br /> + Of godlike understanding,<br /> +What will your craft and skill avail?<br /> + ’Tis Death who is commanding.</p> +<p class="poetry">10 The greatest foes of man are now<br /> + The world, the flesh, the devil;<br /> +And yet, ere long, we’ll surely find<br /> + In Death a greater evil.</p> +<p class="poetry">11 How little now it seems to +die—<br /> + To gain the suit or lose it?<br /> +But when the doom is of thyself<br /> + How great thy care to chose it?</p> +<p class="poetry">12 We care, at present, not a jot<br /> + Which way our gains may turn us;<br /> +Eternal life, howe’er so great,<br /> + We think can not concern us.</p> +<p class="poetry">13 But when thou’rt hedged on every +side<br /> + And Death himself is nearest,<br /> +For one brief, ling’ring space we’ll give<br /> + Whate’er to us is dearest.</p> +<p class="poetry">14 Think not that thou canst make thy +terms<br /> + For thine eternal dwelling,<br /> +On either side of that dread gulf,<br /> + With death thy steps compelling.</p> +<p class="poetry">15 Repentence, faith, and +righteousness,<br /> + Alone are thy Salvation,<br /> +And in the agony of Death<br /> + Shall be thy consolation.</p> +<p class="poetry">16 And when the world is passing by,<br +/> + Its joys and pleasures ending,<br /> +Infinite thou wilt deem their worth<br /> + When to the bourne descending!</p> +<h3><a name="page67"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +67</span>III.—THE VISION OF HELL.</h3> +<p>One April morning, bright and mild, when earth was with +verdure laden, and Britain, like a paradise, had donned its +brilliant livery, foretelling summer’s sunshine, I +sauntered along the banks of the Severn, while around me, +chaunting their sweet carols, the forest’s little songsters +in rivalry poured forth songs of praise to their Maker; and I, +who was far more bounden than they to give praise, at one while +lifted up my voice with the gentle winged choristers, and at +another read “<i>The Practice of Piety</i>.” <a +name="citation67"></a><a href="#footnote67" +class="citation">[67]</a> For all that, my previous visions +would not from my mind, but time after time broke in upon every +other thought. They continued to trouble me until after +careful reasoning I concluded that every vision is a heaven-sent +warning against sin, and that therefore it was my duty to write +them down as a warning to others also. And whilst occupied +with this work, and sadly endeavouring to recall some of those +awful memories, there fell upon me at my task such drowsiness +that soon opened the way for Master Sleep to glide in +perforce. No sooner had sleep taken possession of my senses +than there drew nigh unto me a glorious apparition upon the form +of a young man, tall and exceeding fair; his raiments were whiter +sevenfold than snow, the brightness of his face darkened the sun, +his wavy, golden locks rested on his brow in two shining coronal +wreaths. “Come with me, thou mortal being,” he +exclaimed, when he had drawn near. “Who art thou, +Lord?” said I. “I am the Angel of the realms of +the North,” answered he, “guardian of Britain and its +queen. I am one of the princes who stand below the throne +of the Lamb, receiving his commands to protect the Gospel against +all its enemies in Hell, in Rome and in France, in +Constantinople, in Africa and in India, and wherever else they +may be, devising plans for its destruction. I am the Angel +who saved thee beneath the Castle of Belial, and who showed thee +the vanity and madness of all the earth, the City of Destruction +and the splendor of Emmanuel’s City; and again have I come +at his bidding to show thee greater things, because thou art +seeking to make good use of what thou hast seen +erstwhile.” “How can it be, Lord,” asked +I, “that your glorious highness, guardian of kings and +kingdoms, does condescend to associate with carrion such as +I?” “Ah,” said he, “in our sight a +beggar’s virtue is more than a king’s majesty. +What if I am greater than all the kings of earth, and supreme to +many of the countless lords of heaven? Yet, since our +eternal Sovereign vouchsafed to take upon Himself such +unutterable humiliation—put on one of your bodies, lived in +your midst, and died to save you, how dare I deem it otherwise +than too sublime for my office to serve thee and the meanest of +men, who are so high in my Master’s favor? Hence, +spirit, cast off thine earthy mould!” he cried, gazing +upwards: and at the word, I beheld him fall free of all bodily +form, and snatch me up to the vault of heaven, through the region +of thunder and lightning, and all the glowing armouries of the +empyrean; higher, immeasureably higher than I had previously been +with him, and where the earth appeared scarcely wider than a +stack-yard. Having allowed me to rest awhile, he hurried me +upwards a myriad miles, until the sun appeared far beneath us; +through the milky way, past Pleiades, and many other stars of +appalling magnitude, catching a distant glimpse of other +worlds. And after journeying for a long time, we come at +last to the confines of the great eternity, in sight of the two +courts of the vauntful King of Death—one to the right, the +other to the left, but very far apart from one another as there +lay an immense void between them. I asked whether I might +go and see the court on my right hand, for I observed that this +was not at all like the other I had previously seen. +“Thou shalt perchance,” said he, “see, +somewhile, more of the difference there is between them. +But now we must proceed in another direction.” At +that we turned away from the little world, and across the +intervening space we let ourselves descend into the Eternal Realm +between the two courts, into the formless void, a boundless +tract, most deep and dark, chaotic and uninhabited, at one time +cold, at another hot, <a name="citation69"></a><a +href="#footnote69" class="citation">[69]</a> now silent, now +resounding with the roaring of cataracts falling and quenching +the fires, and anon of the fire bursting out and burning up the +water. Thus, there was neither order nor completeness, nor +life nor form: nought but this dazing dissonance, this mysterious +stupor which would have made me for ever blind, had not my friend +laid bare once more his vesture of heavenly sheen. By the +light he gave I saw before me to the left the Land of Oblivion, +and the borders of the Wilds of Destruction; and to my right, +methought, the base of the ramparts of Glory. “This +is the great abysm between Abraham and Dives,” said he, +“which is called Chaos: this is the land of the matter +which God did first create, and here is the seed of every living +thing; of these the Almighty Word created your world and all it +doth contain—water, fire, air, earth, beasts, fishes, +insects, birds and the human body; but your souls are of a higher +and nobler origin and stock.”</p> +<p>Through the huge, frightful chaos we at length broke forth to +the left; and ere we had journey’d far therein where every +object grew uglier and uglier, I felt my heart in my throat, and +my hair erect like a hedgehog’s bristles, even before +perceiving anything; but what I did perceive was a sight no +tongue can describe nor the mind of a mortal dwell upon. I +fainted. Oh, that limitless abyss, so dire and terrible, +opening out upon another world! How those awful flames +crackled incessantly as they darted upwards above the banks of +the accursed ravine, and the shafts of impetuous lightning rent +the thick, black smoke which the yawning chasm belched +forth! When my beloved companion awoke me, he gave me +ambrosial water to drink, of most excellent flavor and +color. After drinking this heavenly water I felt some +wonderful power within me,—wit, courage, faith, and many +other divine virtues. Thereupon I drew nigh with him +unfearingly to the edge of the precipice, shrouded in the veil, +whilst the flames parted asunder around us, and dared not touch +denizens of the supernal regions. Then from the edge of +that dread gulf, we let ourselves descend, like two stars falling +from the canopy of heaven, down, down for myriad millions of +miles, over many sulphurous rocks, and many a hideous cataract +and fiery precipice, where all things bent downwards ever, with +impending aspect; yet they all avoided us, except when once I +poked my nose out of the veil, there struck me such a stifling +and choking stench as would have ended me had he not saved me out +of hand with the reviving water. When I had recovered, I +could see that we were come to a halt, for in all that +stupenduous chasm no sooner stay were possible, so sheer and +slippery was it. There my Guide allowed me once more to +rest; and during that respite it chanced that the thunder and the +fierce whirlwinds were a little hushed, and above the roar of the +foaming cataracts, <a name="citation71"></a><a href="#footnote71" +class="citation">[71]</a> I could hear from afar, louder than +all, the noise of such awful shrieks, wails, cries, and loud +groans, of swearing, cursing and blaspheming, that I would rather +have set a bargain upon my ears than listen. And before we +had moved an inch, we heard from above such <i>hip-drip-drop</i> +that had we not straightway stepped aside, there would have +fallen upon us hundreds of unhappy men whom a host of fiends were +hurling headlong, and too hurriedly to a woful fate. +“Ho, slowly sir!” quoth one sprite, “lest you +displace your curly lock;” and to another “Madam, +will you have your soft cushion? I fear me you will be much +disordered before you reach your resting-place.”</p> +<p>The strangers were most reluctant to advance, insisting that +they were on the wrong road; still, onward they went, up to the +bank of a wide, dark torrent, whilst we followed in their wake +and crossed over with them, my companion, meanwhile, holding the +water to my nostrils to protect me from the stench rising out of +the river. When I beheld some of the inhabitants (for till +now I had not seen a single devil, though I had heard their +voices) I asked: “What, pray, my Guide, is the name of this +death-like stream?” “The river of the Evil +One,” answered he, “wherein all his subjects are +immersed to render them accustomed to the country; its cursed +waters changed their countenance, washing away every relic of +goodness, every shadow of hope and happiness.” And on +seeing the horde pass through, I could perceive no difference in +loathsomeness between the devils and the damned. Some +wished to crouch at the bottom of the river, there to remain in +suffocation to all eternity, rather than find further on a worse +dwelling; but as the proverb says: “He whom the devil urges +must run,” so these damned beings, thrust on by the demons, +were swiftly borne along the stream of destruction to their +eternal ruin; where I too saw at the first glimpse more tortures +and torments than man’s heart can imagine, far less a +tongue repeat; to see one of which was enough to cause +one’s hair to stand on an end, his blood to freeze, his +flesh to melt, his bones to give way, yea and his spirit to swoon +within him. Why speak I of such deeds as the impaling or +sawing of men alive, the tearing of the flesh in pieces with iron +pincers or the broiling of it, chop by chop, with candles, or the +jambing of skulls as flat as a slate, in a press, and all the +most frightful degradation the earth ever witnessed? All +such are but pleasures compared with one of these. Here, a +million shrieks, harsh groans and deep sighs; there, fierce +lamentations and loud cries in answer: the howling of dogs were +sweet, delightful music compared with these voices. Before +we had gone far from the shores of that accursed river into wild +Perdition, we could see by the light of their own fire, here and +there, men and women without number, whom a countless host of +devils unceasingly and with all their might kept always +torturing; and as the devils were shrieking from the intensity of +their own suffering, they made the damned give response to the +utmost. I observed the part nearest me more minutely: +there, the devils with pitchforks hurled them head foremost upon +poisonous hatchels formed of terrible, barbed darts, thereon to +struggle by their brains; then shortly, they threw them together, +layer on layer, upon the summit of one of the burning crags, +there to blaze like a bonfire. Thence they were snatched +away up the ravines amidst the eternal ice and snow; <a +name="citation73"></a><a href="#footnote73" +class="citation">[73]</a> then plunged again into an enormous +flood of seething brimstone to be parched, stifled, and choked by +the direful stench; thence to a quagmire of vermin, to embrace +hellish reptiles far more noxious than serpents or vipers. +After that the devils took knotted rods of fiery steel from the +furnace, wherewith they beat them so that their howls resounded +throughout all Hell, so inexpressibly excruciating was the pain, +and then they seized hot irons to sear the bloody wounds. +No swoon or trance is there to beguile with a moment’s +respite, but an unchanging strength to suffer and to feel; though +one would have thought that after one awful wail there never +could be the strength to raise another as weirdly-loud; yet never +will their key be lowered, with the devils ever answering: +“This is your welcome for aye.” And worse, were +it possible, than the pain, was the scorn and bitterness of the +devils’ mockery and derision, but worst of all, their own +conscience was now thoroughly awakened, and devoured them more +relentlessly than a thousand infernal lions.</p> +<p>Still down we go, down afar—the further we go the worse +the plight; at the first view I saw a horrid prison wherein a +great many men were uttering blasphemous groans beneath the +scourges of the devils: “Who are all these?” asked I; +“This,” answered the Angel, “this is the abode +of Woe-that-I-had-not.” “Woe that I had not +been cleansed of all manner of sin in good time,” quoth +one. “Woe is me that I had not believed and repented +before my coming here,” quoth another. Next to the +cell of Too-late-a-repentance, and of Pleading-after-judgment, +was the prison of the Procrastinators, who were always promising +to mend their ways, but who never fulfilled the promise. +“When this trouble is past,” saith one, “I will +turn over a new leaf.” “When this hinderance +goes by, I’ll be another man yet,” said +another. But when that comes about, they are no nearer; +some other obstacle ever and anon occurs to preventing their +starting towards the gate of holiness; and if sometimes a start +is made, it takes but little to turn them back again. Next +to these was the prison of Presumption, full of those who, +whenever they were urged of old to be rid of their Wantonness, or +drunkenness, or avarice, would say: “God is merciful, and +better than His word; He will never damn his own creature upon a +cause so trivial.” But here they yelped blasphemy, +asking: “Where is that mercy boasted to be +infinite?” “Silence, ye whelps!” said a +huge, crabbed devil who heard them, “Silence! would he have +mercy who did nought to obtain it? Would ye that Truth +should make its word a lie, merely to gain the company of dross +so vile as ye? Was too much mercy shewn you, a Saviour, a +Comforter given you, and the angels, books, sermons and good +examples? Will ye not cease plaguing us now, prating of +mercy where it never was.”</p> +<p>While making our exit from this glaring pit, I heard one +moaning and crying dolefully: “I knew no better; no pains +were ever taken to teach me to read my duties, nor could I spare +the time to read and pray whereof I had need in order to earn +bread for myself and my poor family.” +“Indeed,” quoth a crookback devil who stood close at +hand, “hadst thou no leisure to tell merry tales, no idle +roasting before thy fire through the long winter evenings when I +was up the chimney, so that no time might have been given to +learning to read or pray? What of thy Sabbaths? Who +was it that was wont to accompany me to the alehouse rather than +the parson to the church? How many a Sunday afternoon was +spent in vain, noisy talk of worldly things, or in sleeping, +instead of in learning to meditate and pray? Didst thou act +according to thy knowledge? Silence, sirrah, with thy lying +chatter!” “Thou raving bloodhound!” +exclaimed the condemned, “’tis not long since thou +wert whispering other words in mine ear; hadst thou said this +another day, it is not likely I would have come +hither.” “Ah!” said the devil, “it +matters not that we tell you the hateful truth here; for there is +no fear of your returning hence now to carry tales.”</p> +<p>Lower down I could see a deep, valley whence arose the bluish +glare of what seemed to be a countless number of enormous, +burning mounds; and after drawing nigh, I knew by their howling +that they were men piled mountains high with terrible flames +crackling through them. “That hollow,” said the +Angel, “is the abode of those who after committing some +heinous deeds, exclaim: ‘Well, I am not the first—I +have plenty of companions,’ and thus thou see’st they +have plenty, to verify their words and add to their +affliction.” Opposite this was a large cellar where I +saw men tortured just as withes are twisted or wet sheets +wrung. “Who, prithee, are these?” asked +I. “They are the Mockers,” said he, “and +the devils from pure derision essay to find whether they can be +twisted as pliantly as their tales.” A little below, +but scarcely visible, was another gloomy dungeon-cell, wherein +was what had once been men, but now with the faces of +wolf-hounds, up to their lips in a morass, madly howling +blasphemy and lies as often as they got their tongues clear of +the mire. Just then a legion of devils passed by, and some +attempted to bite the heels of ten or twelve of the devils that +had brought them there: “Woe and ruin take you, ye +hell-hounds!” exclaimed one of the bitten devils, at the +same time stamping upon the quagmire until they sank in the +reeking depths. “Who more deserving of hell than ye, +who gossipped and imagined all manner of tales, who retailed lies +from house to house so that ye might laugh, after setting the +entire neighbourhood at war? What more would one of us have +done?” “This,” said the Angel, “is +the abode of the slanderers, defamers and backbiters, and of all +envious cowards who always do hurt in word or deed behind +one’s back.”</p> +<p>From thence we went past an enormous lair, the vilest I had +yet seen, and the fullest of vermin, of soot, and of +stench. “This,” said he, “is the place of +those who hoped for heaven because they were harmless, in other +words, because they were neither good nor bad.” Next +to this foul pit I saw a great multitude sitting down, whose +groans were more fierce than anything I had heard hitherto in +hell. “Save us all!” cried I, “what makes +these complain more than all others, seeing there be no pain, nor +demon near them?” “Ah,” answered the +Angel, “if the pain without is less, that which is within +is more,—here are stubborn heretics, the godless and +unchristian, many of the worldy-wise, of apostates, of the +persecutors of the church, and millions such as they, who have +utterly been given over to the more bitterly painful punishment +of the conscience, which now without let or ceasing has its full +sway over them. “I will not this time,” quoth +conscience, “be drowned in beer, or blinded by rewards, or +deafened by song and good company, or hushed or stupified by a +thoughtless torpor; now I will be heard, and never shall the +truth, the stinging truth, cease dinning in your +ears.” The will creates a desire for the lost +paradise, the memory reproaches them with the ease wherewith it +might have been gained, and the reason shews the greatness of the +loss, and the certainty that nought awaits them but this +unspeakable gnawing for ever and ever; so by these three means, +conscience rends them more terribly than would all the devils in +hell.</p> +<p>Coming out of that wondrous defile, I heard much talking, and +for every word such wild horse-laughter as if some five hundred +devils would shed their horns with laughing. But after I +had drawn near to behold the very rare sight of a smile in hell, +what was it but two gentlemen, lately arrived, appealing for the +respect due to their rank, and the merriment was intended only to +give affront to them. A pot-bellied squire stood there with +an enormous roll of parchment, his genealogical chart, declaring +from how many of the Fifteen Tribes of Gwynedd he had sprung, how +many justices of the peace, and how many sheriffs there had been +of his house. “Ha ha,” cried one of the devils, +“we know the merit of most of your forebears, were you like +your father, or great-great-grandsire, we would not have deigned +to touch you. But thou, thou art but the heir of utter +darkness, vile whelp, thou art hardly worth a night’s +lodging; and yet thou shalt have some nook to await the +dawn.” And at the word the impetuous monster pierces +him with his pitchfork, and after whirling him thirty times +through the fiery welkin, hurled him into a hole out of +sight. “That is right enough for a half-blood +squire,” said the other, “but I hope ye will be +better mannered towards a knight who has served the king in +person; twelve earls and fifty knights can I recount from mine +own ancient line.” “If thine ancestors, and thy +long pedigree are all thy plea, thou canst go the same +gate,” quoth a devil, “for we remember scarce one old +estate of large extent which some oppressor, some murderer or +robber has not founded, leaving it to others as arrant as they, +to idle blockheads or to drunken swine. To maintain lavish +pomp, they had to grind their vassals and tenants, and if there +be a beautiful pony or a fine cow which my lady covets, she will +have them, and well it happens if the daughters, yea, even the +wives, escape the lust of their lord. And the small +free-holders around them must either vainly follow or give bail +for them, resulting in their own ruin, the loss of their +possessions, and the sale of their patrimony, or expect to be +hated and despised, and forced to every idle pursuit. Oh +how nobly they swear to gain the confidence of their minions or +of their tradesmen, and when decked out in their finery, how +contemptuously they look upon many an officer of importance in +church and state, as if such were mere worms compared with +them. Woe’s me, is not all blood of one color? +Was it not the same way that ye all entered the +world?” “For all that, craving your +pardon,” said the knight, “there are some births +purer than others.” “For the great doom all +your carcases are the same,” said the imp, “everyone +of you is defiled by the sin that took its origin in +Adam.” “But, sir,” continued he, +“if your blood is aught better than another, the less scum +will there be when shortly it will be bubbling through your body, +and if there be more, we must examine you, part by part, through +fire and through water.” Thereupon, a devil in the +shape of a fiery chariot receives him, and the other mockingly +lifts him thereinto, and away he goes with the speed of +lightning. Ere long the angel bade me look, and I saw the +poor knight most horribly sodden in an enormous boiling furnace +with Cain, Nimrod, Esau, Tarquin, Nero, Caligula, and others who +first established lineage, and emblazoned family arms.</p> +<p>After wending our way onward a little, my guide bade me peer +through a riven wall, and within I saw a group of coquetts busily +primming up, doing and undoing the deeds of folly they were +formerly wont to do on earth; some puckering their lips, some +plucking their eyebrows with irons, some anointing themselves, +some patching their faces with black spots to make the yellow +look whiter, and some endeavouring to crack the mirror; and after +all the pains to color and adorn, upon seeing their faces far +uglier than the devils’, they would tear away with tooth +and nail all the false coloring, the spots, the skin and the +flesh all at once, and would shriek most dismally. +“Accursed be my father,” said one, “it was he +who forced me when a girl to wed an old shrivelling, and it was +his kindling my desires with no power to satiate them, that +doomed me to this place.” “A thousand curses on +my parents,” cried another, “for sending me to a +monastery to be taught to live a life of chastity; they might as +well have sent me to a Roundhead to learn how to be generous, or +to a Quaker to be taught good manners, as to a Papist to be +taught honesty.” “Fell ruin seize my +mother,” shrieked a third, “whose covetous pride +refused me a husband at my need, and so drove me to obtain by +stealth what I might have honestly obtained.” +“Hell, a double hell to the raging bull of a nobleman who +first tempted me,” cried another, “had he not by fair +and foul broken through all bounds, I would not have become a +common chattel, nor would I have come to this infernal +place;” and then would they lacerate themselves again.</p> +<p>I made all haste to leave their loathsome kennel, but I had +not proceeded far before I observed, to my astonishment, another +prison full of women, still more abominable; some had become +frogs; some, dragons; some, serpents, and there they swam about, +hissing and foaming, and butting one another, in a fœtid, +stagnant pool that was much larger than Bala Lake. +“Pray, what can these be?” asked I. +“There are here,” said he, “four chief classes +of women, not to mention their minions—<i>Firstly</i>: +Panders, who maintained harlots to sell their virginity an +hundred times, and the worst of these around them. +<i>Secondly</i>: Mistresses of gossip, surrounded by thousands of +tale-bearing hags. <i>Thirdly</i>: Huntresses followed by a +pack of cowardly, skulking hounds, for no man ever dared approach +them, unless in fear of them. <i>Fourthly</i>: The scolds, +become a hundredfold more horrid than snakes, always grinding and +gnashing their venomous stings.” “I would have +deemed Lucifer too gracious a monarch to place a noble lady of my +rank with these vulgar furies,” complained one, who much +resembled the others, but was far more hideous than a winged +serpent. “Oh, that he would send hither seven hundred +of the basest demons of hell in exchange for thee, thou poisonous +hellworm,” cried another ugly viper. “Many +thanks to you,” quoth a gigantic devil, overhearing them, +“we regard our place and worth as something better; though +ye would cause everyone as much pain as we, yet we do not choose +to be deprived of our office in your favor.” +“And Lucifer hath another reason,” whispered the +Angel, “for keeping strict guard over these, and that is, +lest on breaking loose, they might send all hell into utter +confusion.”</p> +<p>Thence we still descended until I saw an immense cavern +wherein was such fearful clamor that I had never heard the like +before—swearing, cursing, blaspheming, snarling, groaning +and yelling. “Whom have we here?” I +asked. “This,” answered he, “is the Den +of Thieves; here are myriads of foresters, lawyers and stewards, +with old Judas in their midst.” And it grieved them +sorely to behold a pack of tailors and weavers above them in a +more comfortable chamber. Hardly had I turned round when a +demon, in the shape of a steed, bore in a physician, and an +apothecary, and hurled them into the midst of the pedlars and +horse cheats, because they had sold worthless drugs. And +they too began murmuring against being allotted to such low +society. “Stay, stay,” cried one of the devils, +“ye deserve a better place,” and he pitched them down +amongst conquerors and murderers. There were vast numbers +in here for playing false dice and cheating at cards, but before +I had time to observe them closely, I could hear by the door a +huge crowd in wild tumult and shouts—<i>hai</i>, <i>hw</i>, +<i>ptrw-how-ho-o-o-p</i>—as of cattle being driven +along. I turned round to see the cause of it, but could +perceive only the hornèd demons. I enquired of my +Guide if there were cuckolds with the devils. +“No,” said he, “they are in another cell; these +are drovers who wished to escape to the prison of the +Sabbath-breakers, and are sent here against their +will.” Thereupon I look and saw that they had on +their heads the horns of sheep and kine; and those that were +driving them on, cast them down beneath the feet of blood-stained +robbers. “Lie there,” said one, “however +much ye feared footpads on the London road erstwhile, ye +yourselves were the very worst class of highwaymen, who made your +living on the road and on robbery, yea and by the perishing of +many a poor family whom ye left in hunger, vainly hoping for the +sustenance of their possessions, while ye were in Ireland or in +the King’s Bench laughing at them, or on the road with your +wine and lemans.” On leaving the furnace-like cave, I +caught a glimpse of a haunt, which for loathsome, stinking +abomination, went beyond anything (with one sole exception) that +I had set my eyes upon in hell,—where an accursed herd of +drunken swine lay weltering in the foulest slime.</p> +<p>The next den was the abode of Gluttony, where Dives and his +companions, wallowing on their bellies, devoured dirt and fire +alternately, with never a drop to drink. A little below +this, was a very extensive roasting-kitchen, where some were +being roasted and boiled, others broiling and flaming in a fiery +chimney. “This is the place of the merciless and the +unfeeling,” said the Angel. Turning a little to the +left, where there was a cell lighter than any I had so far seen, +I asked what place it was: “The abode of the Infernal +Dragons,” said he, “which growl and rage, rush about +and rend one another every instant.” I drew near and +oh! what an indescribable sight they were! It was the +glowing fire of their eyes that gave all that light. +“These are the descendants of Adam,” said my Guide, +“scolds and raving, wrathful men; but yonder are some of +the ancient seed of the great Dragon, Lucifer;” but verily +I could not perceive any difference in loveliness between +them. In the next dungeon dwell the misers in awful +torment, being linked by their hearts to chests of burning coin, +the rust of which was consuming them without end, just as they +had never thought of an end to the piling of them, and now they +were tearing themselves to pieces with more than madness through +grief and remorse. Below this was a charnel vault where +some of the apothecaries had been ground down and stuffed into +earthenware pots with <i>Album graecum</i>, dung, and many a +stale ointment.</p> +<p>Ever downward we were journeying through the wilderness of +ruin, in the midst of untold and eternal tortures, from cell to +cell, from dungeon to dungeon, the last alway surpassing in +monstrous ghastliness, until finally we came within view of an +enormous entrance hall, most unsightly of all that I had +previously seen. It was very spacious and terribly steep, +running in the direction of a gloomy red corner, full of the most +inconceivable abominations and horrors: it was the royal +court. At the upper end of the king’s accursed hall, +amidst thousands of other dread sights, by the light my companion +shed, I could see in the darkness two feet of prodigious size, +and so enormous as to overcast the whole infernal +firmament. I inquired of my Guide what such immensities +might be. “Thou shalt have a fuller view of this +monster when returning,” said he, “but, come now, let +us to see the court.” As we were going down that +awful entrance hall, we heard behind us the noise as of very many +people advancing; on stepping aside to let them pass I noticed +four divers host, and upon enquiry I learnt that it was the four +princesses of the City of Destruction leading their subjects as +an offering to their sire. I distinguished the troop of the +Princess of Pride, not only because they insisted upon the +foremost position, but also because they stumbled now and then +from want of keeping their eyes upon the ground. She led +captive kings without number, princes, courtiers, noblemen and +braggarts, many Quakers, and women innumerable and of all +grades. Next to these came the Princess of Lucre with her +sly and crafty followers—a great many of the brood of Simon +Skinflint, money lenders, lawyers, userers, stewards, foresters, +harlots, and some of the clergy. Then came the gracious +Princess of Pleasure and her daughter Folly, leading her +subjects—players of dice, cards and back-gammon, conjurers, +bards, minstrels, storytellers, drunkards, bawds, balladmongers +and pedlars with their trinkets in countless number, to be at +length instruments of punishment to the damned fools.</p> +<p>When these three had taken their captives into the court to +receive judgment, Hypocrisy, last of all, brings in a more +numerous troop than any of the others, of every nation and age, +from town and country, patrician and plebeian, men and +women. In the rear of this double-faced legion we came +within sight of the court; passing through the midst of many +dragons and hornèd demons, and hell’s giants, the +dusky porters of the devil-hunted fire; I, the while, carefully +hiding within the veil, we entered that direful edifice: +wonderful, and of amazing roughness was every part of it; the +walls were cruel rocks of burning adamant; the floor was one +unendurable extent of sharp-cutting flint, the roof of fiery +steel, meeting in an arch of greenish and blood-red flames, +similar, except in its size and heat, to a tremendous circular +oven. Opposite the door, upon a flame-encompassed throne +sat the Evil One with the lost archangels around him, seated on +benches of terrible fire, according to the rank they formerly +bore in the region of light—the lovely whelps—it +would only be a waste of words to attempt to describe how +atrociously ugly they were, and the longer I gazed upon them, +sevenfold more frightful did they become. In the centre +above Lucifer’s head was a huge hand grasping an awful +bolt. The princesses, after paying their courtesy, +immediately returned to their duties on earth. No sooner +had they departed than at the King’s bidding, a gigantic +devil with cavernous jaws set up a roar, louder than the +discharge of a hundred cannon, and as loud, were it possible, as +the last trump, to proclaim the infernal Parliament, and behold, +without delay, the court and hall are filled by the rabble of +hell in every shape, each upon the form and image of that +particular sin he was wont to urge upon men. After +enjoining silence, Lucifer, looking steadfastly upon the +chieftains nearest him, began and spake these gracious +words:—</p> +<p>“Ye peers of this profoundest gulf, princes of the +hopeless gloom, if we have lost the place we erst possessed, +when, clothed with brightness, we dwelt in those celestial, happy +realms; yet, however great our fall, ’twas glorious, nought +less than all did we hazard, nor is all lost—for, behold +regions wide and deep extending to the utmost bounds of desolate +Perdition still ’neath our sway. ’Tis true we +reign while racked with raging torment, yet, for spirits of our +majesty, ’tis better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. +<a name="citation85a"></a><a href="#footnote85a" +class="citation">[85a]</a> And what is more, we have well +nigh won another world, a greater than a fifth of earth has been +for long beneath my standard. And although our Omnipotent +Enemy sent his own Son to die for them, I, by my pleasing guile, +gain ten for every one He gains through his crucified Son. +Though we cannot aspire to do hurt to Him on high who hurls His +all-conquering thunder, yet revenge by whatsoever means is sweet. +<a name="citation85b"></a><a href="#footnote85b" +class="citation">[85b]</a> Let us then bring ruin on the +rest of men who adore our Destroyer. Well do I recollect +the time when ye caused them, their armies and their cities, to +be consumed in horrible combustion, yea and caused nigh all the +dwellers on the earth to fall through the whelming waters into +this fire. But now, although your strength and innate +cruelty are no whit less, ye have been somewhat listless; were it +not for this, we would have long ago destroyed the godly few, and +brought the earth one with this our vast domain. But know +this, ye grim ministers of my wrath, if ye henceforth be not up +and doing, valiantly and with all haste, seeing the brevity of +our alloted time, I swear by Hell and by Perdition, and by the +vast, eternal gloom, that upon you, yourselves, my ire first +shall fall, with pain the like of which the oldest amongst you +hath never proved.” Whereupon he frowned until the +court became sevenfold darker than before.</p> +<p>Next him, Moloch one of the infernal potentates, stood up, and +after making due obeisance to his king, spake +thus:—“Oh Emperor of the Sky, great ruler of the +darkness, none ever doubted my desire to practice utmost bale and +cruelty, for that has always been my pleasure; no sound was more +delightful to mine years than the shrieks of children perishing +in the flames outside Jerusalem, where in former days they were +sacrificed to me. And also after our crucified foe had +returned to his celestial home, I, during the reigns of ten +emperors, continued as long as it availed me, slaying and burning +his followers in my attempt to sweep the Christians off the face +of the earth. And afterwards in Paris, in England, and in +several other places, did I cause many a massacre of them; but +what have we gained? The tree whose branches are lopped off +grows but the quicker; we snarl without the power of +biting.”</p> +<p>“Pshaw!” exclaimed Lucifer, “shame! cowardly +hosts that ye are! Never more will I place my trust in +you. This work I myself will perform, this enterprise none +shall partake with me. <a name="citation87"></a><a +href="#footnote87" class="citation">[87]</a> In mine own +imperial majesty will I descend upon the earth, and alone will I +devour all therein contained; henceforth no man shall there be +found to worship the Most High.” Thereon he gave one +terrific flying leap to start—a blaze of living fire, but +the hand overhead whirls the terrible dart so that he trembles +notwithstanding his rage, and ere he had gone far, an invisible +hand drags the brute back by the chain for all his struggles; his +rage becomes sevenfold more vehement, his eyes more fierce than +dragons, thick black clouds of smoke issue from his nostrils, +livid flames from his mouth and bowels, while he gnaws his chain +in his grief, and mutters fearful blasphemy and awful oaths.</p> +<p>At last, finding how futile was his attempt to sunder his +bonds and how unavailing to contend against the Almighty, he +returned to his throne and resumed his speech, in words somewhat +more calm, but twice as malignant: “Though none but the +Omnipotent Thunderer could overcome my power and my guile, to Him +I am unwillingly constrained to submit; but I can pour forth the +vials of my wrath here below, nearer at hand, and let loose my +ire upon those who are already under my banner, and within the +length of my chain. Arise, ye too, ministers of +destruction, lords of the unquenchable fires, and as my anger and +my venom overflow, and my malice rush forth, do ye assiduously +scatter all broadcast among the damned, and chiefly among the +Christians; urge on the engines of torture to their uttermost; +devise and invent; increase the heat of the fire and the +ebullition, until the hissing flood of the cauldrons overwhelms +them; and when their unutterable woes are extremest, then sneer +at them and mockingly reproach them, and when ye have exhausted +all your store of scorn and gall, hie to me and ye shall be +replenished.”</p> +<p>A great stillness had brooded over hell for some time, while +the pains grew far more unbearable by being given no vent. +But now the silence which Lucifer had enjoined was broken, when +the fierce butchers, like bears maddened by hunger, fell upon +their captives; then there arose such doleful cries, such dismal +howling, from every quarter, louder than the roar of rushing +torrents, than the rumble of an earthquake, till hell itself +became ten times more horrible. I would have died, had not +my friend saved me. “Quaff deep this time,” +said he, “to give thee strength to behold things yet more +dire.” Hardly were the words from his lips, when lo! +heavenly Justice, who sits above the abyss, guardian of the gates +of Hell, advanced scourging three men with rods of fiery +scorpions. “Ha ha,” cried Lucifer, “here +are three reverend gentlemen whom Justice thought worthy himself +to conduct to my kingdom.” “Woe’s +me,” said one of the three, “who ever wanted him to +take the trouble?” “That matters not,” +answered he, with a look that made the fiends wax pale, and +tremble so that they knocked one against the other, “it was +the will of the Infinite Creator that I myself should lead to +their home such accursed murderers.” +“Sirrah,”—addressing one of the +demons,—“open me the fold of the assassins, where +Cain, Nero, Bradshaw, Bonner, Ignatius and innumerable others +like them dwell.” “Alack, alack! we have never +slain any man,” cried one. “No thanks to you +that you did not, for time only was wanting,” said +Justice. When the den was opened, there came out such a +hideous blast of blood-red flames, and such a shriek as if a +thousand dragons were uttering their death-wail. As Justice +was passing by on his return, in an instant he caused such a +tempest of fiery whirlwinds to fall upon the Evil One and his +princes that Lucifer was swept away, and with him Beelzebub, +Satan, Moloch, Abadon, Asmodai, Dagon, Apolyon, Belphegor, +Mephistopheles, and all their compeers, and they were hurled +headlong into a whirlpool which opened and closed in the centre +of the court and which, both in aspect and in the execrable +stench that arose from it, was a hundredfold more foul and horrid +than anything I had ever seen. Before I could ask aught, +quoth the Angel: “This is the gulf that reaches to another +great world.” “What, pray, is that world +called?” I enquired. “’Tis called the +bottomless pit or the Nethermost Hell, the home of the devils, +whither they now have gone. And those vast, dreary wilds, +parts of which thou hast traversed, are called the Region of +Despair, ordained for the condemned until the Judgment Day; then +it will become one with the utmost, bottomless Hell; then will +one of us come and seal up the devils and the damned together, +never more to open upon them, never to all eternity. In the +meantime they have leave to come to this colder country to +torment lost souls. Yea, often are they suffered to wander +through the air, and about the earth, to tempt men into the +pernicious ways that lead to this horrible prison whence no man +returns.”</p> +<p>While listening to this account, and wondering that the +entrance of Perdition should differ so from that of the Upper +Hell, I heard the tremendous clash of arms, and the roar of +artillery, from one quarter, and what seemed like loud-rumbling +thunder answering from another quarter, while the deadly rocks +resounded. “This is the turmoil of war!” I +cried, “if there be war in hell.” “There +is,” said he, “there cannot be but continuous warfare +here.” When we were on the point of going out to know +of the affair, I beheld the jaws of the Pit open and belch forth +thousands of hideous, greenish candles—for such had Lucifer +and his chiefs become after surviving the tempest. But when +he heard the din of war he turned more livid than Death, and +began to call out, and levy armies of his proven veterans to +suppress the tumult. While thus occupied he came across a +little imp, who had escaped between the feet of the +warriors. “What is the matter?” demanded the +King. “Such a matter as will endanger your crown, an +you look not to it.” Close upon this one’s +heels another devilish courier in a harsh voice cries: “You +that plan the disquietude of others, look now to your own peace; +yonder are the Turks, the Papists and the murderous Roundheads in +three armies, filling the whole plain of Darkness, committing +every outrage and turning everything topsy-turvey.” +“How came they out?” demanded the Evil One, frowning +more terribly than Demigorgon. “The Papists,” +said the messenger, “somehow or other broke out of their +purgatory, and then, to pay off old scores, went to unhinge the +portals of Mahomet’s paradise, and let loose the Turks from +their prison, and afterwards in the confusion, through some ill +chance, Cromwell’s crew escaped from their +cells.” Then Lucifer turned and peered beneath his +throne, where every damned king lay, and commanded that Cromwell +himself should be kept secure in his kennel, and that all the +sultans should be guarded. Accordingly, Lucifer and his +host hurried across the sombre wilds of darkness, each +one’s own person furnishing light and heat; guided by the +tumultuous clangor he marched fearlessly upon them. Silence +was proclaimed in the King’s name, and Lucifer demanded the +cause of such uproar in his realm. “May it please +your infernal majesty,” said Mahomet, “a quarrel +arose between myself and Pope Leo as to which had done you the +better service—my Koran or the Romish religion; and when +this was going on a pack of Roundheads, who had broken out of +their prison during the disorder, joined in and clamoured that +their Solemn League and Covenant deserved more respect at your +hands than either; so, from striving to striking from words to +blows. But now, since your majesty hath returned from hell, +I lay the matter for your decision.” “Stay, +we’ve not done with you yet,” cried Pope Julius, and +madly they engage once more, tooth and nail, until the strokes +clashed like earthquakes; the three armies of the damned tore +each other piecemeal, and like snakes became whole again, and +spread far and wide over the jagged, burning crags, until Lucifer +bade his veterans, the giants of Hell, separate them, which +indeed was no easy task.</p> +<p>When the conflict ceased, Pope Clement spake—“Thou +Emperor of Horrors, no throne has ever performed more faithful +and universal service to the infernal crown than have the bishops +of Rome, throughout a large portion of the world, for eleven +centuries, and I hope you will allow none to vie with them for +your favor.” “Well,” said a Scotch-man of +Cromwell’s gang, “however great has been the service +of the Koran for these eight hundred years, and of popish +superstitions for a longer period, yet the Covenant has done far +more since its appearance, and everyone begins to doubt the +others and be weary of them, but we are still increasing, the +wide world over, and have much power in the island of your foes, +that is, in Britain and in London, the happiest city under the +sun.” “Ha ha,” exclaimed Lucifer, +“if I hear rightly ye too are about to suffer disgrace +there. But whatever ye may have done in other kingdoms, I +will have none of your rioting in mine. Wherefore make your +peace forthwith under the penalty of more woes, bodily and +spiritual.” And at the word I could see many of the +fiends and all the damned, with their tails between their hoofs, +steal away to their holes in fear of a change for the worse.</p> +<p>Then after ordering all to be locked up in their lairs, and +punishing and dismissing the officers whose carelessness had +allowed them to break loose, Lucifer and his counsellors returned +to the court, and sat once more upon the fiery thrones, according +to their rank; and when silence had been obtained, and the court +cleared, a burly, lob-shouldered devil threw down at the bar a +fresh load of prisoners. “Is this the way to +Paradise?” asked one (for they had no idea where they +were). “Or if this be Purgatory,” said another, +“I have a dispensation under the Pope’s own signet to +pass straight on to Paradise, without a moment’s delay +anywhere; wherefore show us the way, or by the Pope’s toe, +we will have him punish you.” “Ha ha,” +laughed a thousand demons, and Lucifer himself opened his tusked +jaws some half a yard in scornful laughter. At which the +new comers were sore amazed. “Look ye,” said +one, “if we have missed our way in the dark, we will pay +for guidance.” “Ha ha,” cried Lucifer, +“ye shall not hence till ye have paid the uttermost +farthing.” But on searching them it was found that +they had one and all left their trouser behind. “Ye +went past Paradise on the left above those mountains +there,” said the Evil One, “and although it is easy +to descend hither, to return is next to impossible, so dark and +intricate is the country, so many steep ascents of flaming iron +are there on the way, and huge imminent rocks, overhanging +glaciers of insurmountable ice, and here and there, a headlong +cataract, all too difficult to clamber over, if ye have not nails +as long as a devil’s. Ho there! convey these +blockheads to our paradise to their companions.” Just +then I heard voices drawing nigh, swearing and cursing +fearfully. “Fiends’ blood! a myriad devils +seize me if ever I go!” and immediately the noisy crew were +cast down before the court. “There,” exclaimed +the steed that bore them, “there is fuel with the best in +hell.” “What are they?” asked +Lucifer. “Past masters in the gentle art of swearing +and cursing,” said he, “who knew the language of hell +as well as we do.” “A lie to your face, +i’ the devil’s name!” cried one. +“Sirrah! wilt take my name in vain?” said the Evil +One. “Ho, seize them and hook them by their tongues, +to that burning precipice, and be at hand to serve them; if on +one devil they call, or on a thousand, they shall have their +fill.”</p> +<p>When these had departed, a gigantic fiend calls loudly for +clearing the bar, and throws down thereat a man who was a load in +himself. “What hast thou there?” demanded +Lucifer. “An innkeeper,” answered he. +“What?” cried the King, “only one innkeeper, +when they used to come by the thousands. Hast thou, sirrah, +not been out for ten years, and dost bring hither but one, and +such an one as would serve us in the world better than thee, foul +lazy hound!” “You are too just to condemn me +before hearing me,” pleaded he, “he was the only one +laid to my charge, and now I am rid of him. But I +despatched you from his house many an idler who drank his +family’s maintenance, and now and then a dicer, and card +player, a fine swearer, an innocent glutton, a negligent tapster +and a maid, harsh in the kitchen, but never a kinder abed or in +the cellar.” “Although this fellow deserves to +be with the flatterers beneath,” said the Evil One, +“natheless take him to his comrades in the cell of the +liquid-poisoners, among the apothecaries and drugsters who have +concocted drinks to murder their customers; boil him well for +that he did not brew better beer.” “By your +leave,” began the innkeeper tremblingly, “I deserve +no such treatment, the trade must be carried on.” +“Couldst thou not have lived,” quoth the Evil One, +“without allowing rioting and gambling, wantonness and +drunkenness, oaths and quarrels, slanders and lies? and wouldst +thou, old hell-hound, now live better than we? Prithee, +tell what evil have we here which thou hadst not at thine home, +save the punishment alone? Indeed, to speak the plain truth +here, the infernal heat and cold are nothing new to thee. +Hast thou not seen sparks of our fire upon the tongues of the +cursers and the scolds, whilst dragging their husbands +home? Was there not a deal of the undying flame on the +drunkard’s lips or in the eyes of the angry? And +couldst thou not perceive a trace of hellish cold in the +rake’s generosity, and especially in thine own kindness +towards him as long as he had anything in his possession; in the +mocker’s jest; in the praise of the envious and of the +defamer, in the promises of the lecherous, or in the limbs of thy +boon companions, benumbed beneath thy tables? Is hell +strange to thee whose very home is a hell? Aroint thee, +flamhound, to thy penance!”</p> +<p>After that ten devils, panting heavily, drop their burdens +upon the fiery floor. “What have ye?” asked +Lucifer. “We have what a day or two ago were called +kings,” answered one of the fiendish steeds. (I +sought carefully to see whether Lewis of France were among +them.) “Throw them here,” bade the King; and at +that they were thrown amongst the other crowned heads that lay +beneath Lucifer’s feet; and following the monarchs came +their courtiers and their flatterers to receive sentence. +Before I had time to ask any question, I heard the blast of +brazen trumpets and shouts. “Make way, make +way,” and at once there came in view a herd of assize-men +and devils bearing the train of six justices, and millions of +their race—barristers, <a name="citation95a"></a><a +href="#footnote95a" class="citation">[95a]</a> attorneys, clerks, +recorders, bailiffs, catchpolls, and the litigous busybody. +I wondered that none of them was examined; but in truth, they +knew the matter had gone too far against them, so none of the +learned counsels opened their lips, but the busybody threatened +that he would bring an action for false imprisonment against +Lucifer. “Thou shalt have good cause of complaint +now,” said the Evil One, “and never see a court at +all.” Then he donned his red cap, and with +unbearable, haughty mien, said: “Go, take the justices to +the hall of Pontius Pilate, to Master Bradshaw, who condemned +King Charles; pack the barristers with the assassins of Sir +Edmundbury Godfrey, <a name="citation95b"></a><a +href="#footnote95b" class="citation">[95b]</a> and their other +false co-partners who simulate mutual contention, merely in order +to slay whomsoever might interpose. Go, greet that prudent +lawyer, who, when dying offered a thousand pounds for a good +conscience, and ask whether he is now willing to give more. +Roast the lawyers by the fire of their own parchments and papers +till their learned bowels burst forth; let the litigous +busybodies hang above them with their nostrils deepest down the +roasting chimneys, in order to inhale the noxious vapors arising +thence, to see if they will ever get their fill of law. +Throw the recorders amongst the retailers who prevent or +forestall the sale of corn, who mix it and sell the mixture at +double the price of the pure corn: similarly, they demand for +wrong double the fees formerly given for right. As to the +catchpolls, let them free to hunt about and lie in the ravines +and bushes of the earth, to capture those that are debtors to the +infernal crown; for what devil of you could do the work better +than they?”</p> +<p>Shortly there appear twenty demons, like Scotch-men, with +packs across their shoulders, which they cast down before the +throne of despair, and which turned out to be gipsies. +“Ho there!” cried Lucifer, “how was it that ye +who knew the fortune of others so well, did not know that your +own fortune was leading you hither?” No answer was +given, for they were amazed at seeing here beings uglier than +themselves. “Throw the tan-faced loons to the +witches,” bade the King, “there are no cats or +rush-lights here for them, but divide a frog between them every +ten thousand years, if they will be quiet and not deafen us with +their barbarous chatter.”</p> +<p>After them came, methought, thirty labourers. Everybody +wondered to see so many of that honest calling, so seldom did any +of them appear; but they did not all come from the same parts nor +for like faults—some for raising prices, many for +withholding their tithes, and defrauding the parson of his dues, +others for leaving their work to follow after the gentry, and who +in trying to stride along with their masters, strained +themselves, some for doing work on the Sabbath, some for thinking +of their sheep and kine in church, instead of giving attention to +the reading of Holy Writ, and others for wrongful bargains. +When Lucifer began to question them, lo! they were all as pure as +gold, and not one of them found anything amiss in himself so as +to deserve such a dwelling place. One can scarcely believe +what neat excuses each one had to hide his sin, although they +were already in hell for it, offering them merely out of evil +disposition to thwart Lucifer and to accuse the righteous Judge, +who had condemned them, of injustice. But it was still more +astonishing to see how cleverly the Evil One exposed their foul +sins, and how he answered with a home-thrust their false +excuses. When these were about to receive their infernal +doom, forty scholars were borne forward by porpoise-shaped +fiends, uglier, if possible, than Lucifer himself. And when +they heard the labourers pleading, they too waxed bold to give +excuses, but what ready answers the old Serpent had for them with +all their knavery and learning! As it happened that I heard +similar pleas in another court of justice I will hereafter +recount them together, and now proceed with what I saw in the +meantime.</p> +<p>Lucifer had barely pronounced their sentence—that they +should be driven to the great glacier in the land of eternal ice, +a doom that set their teeth a-gnashing, even before they saw +their prison, when suddenly, hell again most marvellously +resounded with the crash of terrible bolts, with loud-rolling +thunder, and with every noise of war. Lucifer loured and +grew pale; in a moment, there flew in a wry-footed imp, panting +and trembling. “What is the matter?” cried +Lucifer. “A matter fraught with the greatest peril +for you since hell is hell,” said the dwarf, “all the +ends of the kingdom of darkness have risen up against you and +against each other, especially those between whom there was +longstanding enmity, who are already locked together fang to +fang, so that it is impossible to pull them apart. Soldiers +have attacked the doctors for taking away their trade of +slaughter; a myriad userers have fallen upon the lawyers, for +claiming a share in the business of robbery; the busybodies and +the swindlers are tearing the gentlemen, limb-meal, for +unnecessary swearing and cursing, whereby they gained their +living. Harlots and their minions, and a million other old +friends and former comrades have fallen out with one another +irreconcilably. But worst of all is the fray raging between +the misers and their own offspring, for wasting the goods and +money which, the old pinchfists aver, ‘cost us much pain on +earth, and here endless anguish.’ Their sons, on the +other hand, cursing and rending them outrageously, call for +eternal ruin upon their heads for leaving overmuch wealth to +madden them with pride and riotous living, when a little, under +the blessing of heaven, would have rendered them happy in both +worlds.” “Enough, enough,” cried Lucifer, +“there is more need of arms than words. Return, +sirrah, and play the spy in every watch to find the where and why +of this great negligence, for there’s some treachery in the +air we wot not of as yet.” The imp departed at his +bidding, and in the meantime Lucifer and his compeers arose in +terror and exceeding fear, and ordered the levying of the bravest +armies of the black angels; and having disposed them, he himself +started foremost to quell the rebellion, his chieftains and their +hosts going other ways. The royal army, like shafts of +lightning across the hideous gloom, advanced (and we in their +rear); ere long the uproar falls upon their ears; a fiendish +bellower cries, “Silence, in the King’s name!” +to no purpose, it would be an easier task to hale apart old +beavers than one of these. But when Lucifer’s +veterans dashed into their midst, the growls, and blows, and +battering lessened. “Silence in Lucifer’s +name!” roared the devil a second time. “What is +this,” demanded the King, “and who are +these?” “Nothing, sire, but that in the general +confusion, the drovers came across the cuckolds, and set +a-butting to prove whose horns were the harder; it might have +turned out seriously, had not your horned giants joined in the +affray.” “Well,” said Lucifer, +“since ye are all so ready with your arms, come with me to +trounce the other rebels.” But when the rumour +reached these that Lucifer was approaching with three horned +armies, everyone made for his lair.</p> +<p>So he marched on across the desolate plains unresisted, and +seeking in vain the cause of the revolt. After a while, +however, one of the King’s spies returns, quite out of +breath: “Most noble, Lucifer! Moloch, your prince, +hath subdued part of the North, and hath cut thousands to pieces +upon the glaciers, but there are three or four dangerous evils +still threatening you.” “Whom meanest +thou?” asked Lucifer. “The Slanderer, the +Busybody, and the Lawmonger, have broken out of their prisons and +got free.” “No wonder then,” said the +Evil One, “if further troubles arise.” Then +there comes another spy from the South, informing that matters +would soon reach a dire pass in that quarter if the three who had +already thrown the West into utter confusion be not taken, +namely, the Huntress, the Rogue and the Swaggerer. +“Since the day I tempted Adam from his garden,” said +Satan, who stood next but one to Lucifer, “I have never +seen so many evils of his race at liberty together. The +Huntress, the Swaggerer, the Rogue, on the one hand, and on the +other, the Slanderer, the Lawmonger and the Busybody—a +mixture would make devils reach.” “Little +wonder, verily,” said Lucifer, “that they were so +much hated by all on earth, seeing that they are capable of +causing such trouble to us here.” Not long after, the +Huntress comes to meet the King upon the way. “Ho! +grandam o’ the breeches,” cries a shrill-voiced +demon, “good night to you.” “Thy grandam +on which side, prithee?” said she, displeased because he +did not “madam” her. “You are a fine +king, Lucifer, to keep such impudent rascals about you; a +thousand pities that such a vast realm should be under so +impotent a ruler; would that I might be made its +regent.” Then comes the Swaggerer, nodding in the +dark—“Your humble servant, sir,” saith he to +one, over his shoulder; “Are you quite well?” to +another; “Can I be of any service to you?” addressing +a third, with a leering smirk, and to the Huntress: “Your +beauty quite fascinates me, madam.” “Oh +oh,” cried she, “away with the hell-hound;” and +all join in the shout: “Away with this new tormentor, hell +on hell that he is!” “Let both be bound +together hand and foot,” commanded Lucifer. Soon +after the Lawmonger comes on the scene between two devils. +“Ho, ho, thou angel of peace,” exclaimed Lucifer, +“hast thou come? Keep him safe, guards, at your +peril!” Before we had gone far, the Rogue and the +Slanderer appeared, chained between forty devils, and whispering +to one another. “Most noble Lucifer,” began the +Rogue, “I am very sorry there is so much disturbance in +your kingdom; but if I may be heard, I will teach you a better +method. Under the pretence of holding a Parliament, you can +cite all the damned into the burning Evildom, and then bid the +devils hurl them headlong to bottomless perdition, and lock them +up in its vortex, to trouble you no more.” “But +the Common Meddler is still missing,” said Lucifer, +frowning most darkly at the Rogue. When we reached once +more the entrance of the infernal court, who should come straight +to meet the King but the Busybody. “Ah, your majesty, +I have a word with you.” “And I have one or two +with you, peradventure,” said the Evil One. “I +have been over the half of Hell,” said he, “to see +how your affairs went. You have many officers in the East +who are remiss, and take their ease instead of attending to the +torturing of their prisoners and to their safe keeping; it was +this that gave rise to the great rebellion. And moreover +many of your fiends, and of the lost whom you sent to the world +to tempt men, have not returned, although their time is up, and +others have come, but hide rather than give an account of their +doings.”</p> +<p>Then commanded Lucifer his herald to summon a second +Parliament, and in the twinkling of an eye all the potentates and +their officers were again in attendance at their infernal +<i>Eisteddfod</i>. The first thing done was to change the +officers, and to order a place to be made round the mouth of the +pit for the Swaggerer and the Huntress, linked face to face, and +for the other rebels, bound topsy-turvy together; and a law was +published that whosoever of the demons or of the damned +thenceforth transgressed his duty should be thrown into their +midst till doomsday. At these words all the fiends and even +Lucifer himself trembled and were sore perturbed. Then next +came the trial of the devils and the lost who had been sent to +earth to find “associates and co-partners of their +loss;” the devils gave a clear account, but the statement +of the damned was so hazy and uncertain, that they were driven to +the ever-burning school, and there scourged with fiery, knotted +serpents to teach them their task the better. +“Here’s a wench that’s pretty enough when +dressed up,” said an imp, “she was sent up into the +world to gain you new subjects; and whom should she first tempt +but a weary ploughman, homeward wending his way, late from his +toils, who, instead of succumbing to her wiles, went on his knees +praying to be saved from the devil and his angels.” +“Ho there!” cried Lucifer, “throw her to that +worthless losel who long ago loved Einion ab Gwalchmai of +Mona.” <a name="citation102"></a><a href="#footnote102" +class="citation">[102]</a> “Stay, stay,” +pleaded the fair one, “this is but my first offence; there +is yet scarcely a year since the day when all was over with me, +when I was condemned to your cursed state, Oh king of +woes!” “No, there is not yet three +weeks,” said the demon that had brought her there. +“How therefore,” said she, “would you have me +be as skilled as those lost beings who have been here three or +four centuries hunting their prey? If you desire better +service at my hands, let me go free into the world once more to +roam about uncensured; and if I bring you not twenty adulterers +for every year I am out, mete me what punishment you +list.” Nevertheless the verdict went against her, and +she was doomed to live a hundred long years under chastisement, +that she might be more careful a second time. Presently, +another devil entered, pushing to the front a man. +“Here is a fine messenger,” he said, “who +wandering the other night in his old neighbourhood above, saw a +thief stealing a stallion, but could not help him even to catch +the foal without showing himself; and the thief, when he saw him, +abandoned that career for ever.” “Begging the +court’s pardon,” said the man, “if the +thief’s child was endowed with power from above to see me, +could I help that? Moreover, this is only a single case; +’t is not a hundred years since that day which put an end +to all my hopes for ever, and how many of my own family and of my +neighbours have I enticed here after me in that time? +Perdition hold me, if I am not as dutiful to my trade as the best +of you, but the wisest is sometimes at fault.” Then +said Lucifer: “Throw him into the school of the fairies, +who are still under castigation for their mischievous tricks in +days gone by, when they were wont to strangle and threaten their +neighbours, and so awaken them from their torpor; for their fear +probably had more influence upon them than forty +sermons.”</p> +<p>Then came four constables, an accuser, and fifteen of the +damned, dragging forward two devils. “Lest you lay +the blame of every wrongful service upon the children of +Adam,” said the accuser, “here are two of your old +angels who misspent their time above as much as the two who were +last before the court. Here is a rogue quite as worthless +as that one at Shrewsbury the other day, when the Interlude of +<i>Doctor Faustus</i> was being played, amidst all manner of most +wanton and lascivious revelries, and where many things were going +on conducive to the welfare of your realm; when they were +busiest, the devil himself appeared to play his part, and so +drove all away from pleasure to prayers. Even so this one, +in his wanderings over the world: he heard some people talk of +walking round the church <a name="citation104"></a><a +href="#footnote104" class="citation">[104]</a> to see their +sweethearts, and what should the fool do but show himself to the +simpletons in his own natural form, and though their fright was +great they recovered their senses, and made a vow to leave that +vanity for ever; whereas had he only assumed the form of some +vile jades, they would have held themselves bound to accept +those; and so the foul fiend might have been master of the +household with both parties, since he himself had mated +them. And here is another, who went, last Twelfth Night, to +visit two Welsh lasses who were turning their shifts, and instead +of enticing them to wantonness in the form of a fair youth, to +one he took a bier, to make her thoughts more serious; to the +other, he went with the tumult of war in a hellish whirlwind, to +make her madder than before; and this was quite needless. +Nor was this all; for after he had entered the maiden, and had +thrown her about, and sorely tormented her, some of our learned +enemies were sent for to pray for her and to cast him out, and +instead of tempting her to despair and endeavouring to win over +the preachers, he began to preach to them, and to disclose the +mysteries of your kingdom, thus aiding their salvation instead of +hindering it.” At the word “salvation” I +saw some leaping up, a living fire of rage. “Every +tale is fair till the other side be told,” quoth the devil, +“I hope Lucifer will not allow one of the earth-born race +of Adam to contend with me, who am an angel of far superior kind +and stock.” “His punishment is certain,” +said Lucifer, “but do thou, sirrah, give clear and ready +answer to these charges; or by hopeless Hell I +will—.” “I have led hither,” said +he, “many a soul since Satan was in the Garden of Eden, and +I ought to understand my business, better than this upstart +accuser.” “Blood of infernal firebrands,” +cried Lucifer, “did I not bid thee answer clearly and +readily?” “By your leave,” said the +demon, “I have preached a hundred times, and have denounced +many of the various ways that lead to your confines, and yet at +the same breath, have quietly brought them hither safe and sound +by some other delusive path, just as I did while preaching +recently in the German States, in one of the Faro Isles, and in +several other places. In this manner, through my preaching +have many Papist beliefs, and old traditions come first into the +world, and all in the guise of goodness. For who ever would +swallow a baitless hook? Who ever gained credence for a +tale which had not some truth mingled with the false, or some +little good overshadowing the bad? So, if whilst preaching +I can instil one counsel of mine own among a hundred that are +good and true, by means of that one, through heedlessness or +superstition, will more weal betide your kingdom than woe through +all the others ever.” “Well,” said +Lucifer, “since thou canst do so much good in the pulpit, I +bid thee dwell seven years in the mouth of a barndoor preacher +who always utter what first comes to his mind; there thou wilt +have an opportunity of putting in a word now and then to thine +own purpose.”</p> +<p>There were many more devils and damned darting to and fro like +lightning about the awful throne, to count and to receive +offices. But suddenly without any warning there came a +command for all the messengers and prisoners to depart from the +court, each one to his den, leaving the King and his chief +counsellors alone together. “Is it not better for us +also to depart, lest they find us?” I asked my +friend. “Thou needest have no fear,” answered +the angel, “no unclean spirit can ever pierce this +veil.” Wherefore we remained there invisible, to see +the issue.</p> +<p>Then Lucifer began graciously to address his peers +thus:—“Ye mightiest spirits of evil, ye archfiends of +hellish guile, the utmost of your malicious wiles am I now +constrained to demand. All here know that Britain and its +adjacent isles is the realm most dangerous to my state, and +fullest of mine enemies; and what is a hundredfold worse, there +reigns now a queen most dangerous of all, who has never once +inclined hither, nor along the old way of Rome on the one hand +nor yet along the way of Geneva on the other: to think what great +good the Pope has for a long time done us there and Oliver even +to this day! What therefore shall we do? I fear me we +shall entirely lose our ancient possession of that mart unless we +instantly set-to to pave a new way for them to travel over, for +they know too well all the old roads that lead hitherwards. +Since this invincible hand shortens my chain, and prevents me +from going myself to the earth, your advice I pray. Whom +shall I appoint my viceroy to oppose yon hateful queen, Our +Enemy’s vicegerent?”</p> +<p>“Oh! thou great Emperor of Darkness,” said +Cerberus, <a name="citation106"></a><a href="#footnote106" +class="citation">[106]</a> the demon of tobacco, +“’tis I that supply the third of that country’s +maintenance, I shall go, and I will despatch you a hundred +thousand of your foemen’s souls through a pipe +stem.” “In sooth,” said Lucifer, +“thou hast done me some good service, what with causing the +slaughter of the owners in India and poisoning those that indulge +in it, through the saliva, sending many to wander with it idly +from house to house, others to steal in order to obtain it, and +millions to grow that fond of it that they cannot spend a single +day without it, and be in their right mind. For all this, +go and do thy best, but thou art nought to our present +purpose.”</p> +<p>Whereupon Cerberus sat down; then rose Mammon, the devil of +money, and with surly skulking mien began: “’T was I +who pointed out the first mine whence money was to be obtained, +and ever since I am praised and worshipped more than God, and men +lay their pain and peril, all their mind, their affection and +their trust upon me, yea, there is no man content, but all crave +more of my favor; the more they obtain, the further still are +they from rest, until at last, while seeking ease, they come to +this region of everlasting woes. How many a crafty old +miser have I enticed hither over paths that were harder to +traverse than those that lead to the realm of bliss? +Whenever a fair was held, a market, assize or election, or any +other concourse, who had more subjects than I or greater power +and authority? Cursing, swearing, fighting, litigation, +falsehood and deceit, beating, clawing, murdering and robbing one +another, Sabbath-breaking, perjury, cruelty, and what black mark +besides, which stamps men as of Lucifer’s fold, that I have +not had a hand in placing? For which reason have I been +called ‘the root of all evil.’ Wherefore, an it +please your majesty, I will go.”</p> +<p>He ceased. Then Apolyon uprose and spoke: “I know +of nought more certain to lead them hither than what brought you +here, <a name="citation107"></a><a href="#footnote107" +class="citation">[107]</a> and that is Pride; once it plants its +straight stake in them and puffs them up, there is no need to +fear that they will condescend to bear the cross or go through +the narrow gate. I will go with your daughter Pride, and +before they can realise where they are, I will drive the Welsh +hither headlong while admiring the pomp of the English, and the +English while imitating the vivacity of the French.”</p> +<p>After him arose Asmodai, the devil of lust: “’T is +not unknown to you, mightiest King of the deep, nor to you, +princes of the land of despair, how many of the gulfs of hell +have I filled through voluptuousness and lewdness. What of +the time I kindled such a flame of lust over all the world that +the deluge had needs be sent to clear the earth of men, and to +sweep them all into our unquenchable fire? What of Sodoma +and Gomorrah, fine and fair cities, which I so consumed with +licentiousness that a hell-shower blazed in their infernal lusts +and beat them down here alive, to burn for ages on ages. +And what of the great hosts of the Assyrians, who were all slain +in one night on my account? I disappointed Sarah of seven +husbands’ <a name="citation108"></a><a href="#footnote108" +class="citation">[108]</a> and Solomon and many a thousand other +kings did I bring to shame through women. Wherefore let me +and this sweet sin go, and I will kindle the hellish spark so +generally that it will at length become one with this +inextinguishable flame, for scarce one will ever return from +following me to walk in the paths of life.” At that +he sat down.</p> +<p>Then Belphegor, chief of sloth and idleness, stood up and +spake thus: “I am the great prince of listlessness and +sloth, who have great influence upon millions of all sorts and +conditions of men; I am that stagnant pond where the spawn of +every evil is bred, where the dregs of every corruption and +baleful slime grows rank. What good wouldst thou be, +Asmodai, or ye, chief damned evils, were I not? I, who keep +the windows open and unguarded that ye may enter into the man +when ye will, through his eyes, his ears and his mouth. I +will go and roll them all over the precipice unto you in their +sleep.”</p> +<p>Then Satan, the devil of delusion, who was on Lucifer’s +left hand, arose, and turning his grim visage to the king, began: +“It is unnecessary for me to recount my deeds to thee, Oh +lost Archangel, or to you, swarthy princes of Destruction: for +’twas I who dealt the first blow to man, and mighty was +that blow, to be the cause of death from the beginning of the +world to its end. Is it likely that I, who erst ravaged all +the earth, could not now give advice that would serve one little +isle? Could not I, who deceived Eve in Paradise, overcome +Anne in Britain? If inborn craft and continuous experience +for five thousand years profit aught, my advice is that you adorn +your daughter Hypocrisy to deceive Britain and its queen: you +have no other as serviceable as she; her sway extends more widely +than that of all the rest of your daughters, and her subjects are +more numerous. Was it not through her that I beguiled the +first woman? And ever since she has remained on earth and +waxed very great therein, so that by now the world is hardly +anything but one mass of hypocrisy. And were it not for the +craftiness of Hypocrisy how could anyone of us do business in any +part of the world? For what man would ever have aught to do +with sin, did he once behold it in its true color and under its +own proper name? He would sooner clasp a devil in his own +infernal shape and garb. If it were not that Hypocrisy can +disguise the name and nature of every evil under the semblance of +some good, and give a bad name to every goodness, no man at all +would put forth his hand to do evil or would lust after it. +Walk through the entire city of Destruction and ye will perceive +her greatness in every quarter. Go to the street of Pride +and ask for an arrogant man or for a penny-worth of affectation +mixed through pride: ‘Woe is me,’ exclaims Hypocrisy, +‘there is no such thing here,’ no, nor for a devil, +anything else in the whole street save proud demeanour. Or +walk into the street of Lucre and enquire for the miser’s +house: pshaw, there is no one of the kind therein; or for the +dwelling of the murderer among the doctors, or for the abode of +highwaymen amongst the drovers; thou wouldst sooner be thrown to +prison for asking than that one should confess to his own +name. Yea, Hypocrisy crawls in between a man and his own +heart, and so skilfully does she hide every wrong under the name +and guise of some virtue that she has caused well nigh all to +lose cognisance of their own selves. Greed she calls +thrift; in her tongue riotous living is innocent joy; pride is +courtesy; the froward, a clever, courageous man; the drunkard, a +boon companion; and adultery is a mere freak of youth. On +the other hand, if she and her scholars’ <a +name="citation110"></a><a href="#footnote110" +class="citation">[110]</a> are to be believed, the godly is a +hypocrite or a fool; the gentle, a coward; the abstemious, a +churl, and so for every other quality. Send her thither in +all her adornment, and I warrant you she will deceive everyone; +she will blinden the counsellors, the soldiers, and all the +officers of church and state, and will draw them hither in +hurrying multitudes with the varicolored mask upon their +eyes.” Whereupon he too sat down.</p> +<p>Then Beelzebub, the devil of thoughtlessness stood up, and in +a harsh voice said: “I am the great prince of heedlessness +whose duty it is to prevent a man taking reflective heed of his +state; I am chief of the incessant hell-flies who utterly amaze +men, ever dinning in their ears concerning their possessions or +their pleasures, and never willingly allowing them a +moment’s leisure to think of their ways or of their +end. No one of you must dare enter the lists against me in +feats serviceable to the realm of darkness. For what is +tobacco, but one of my meanest weapons to stupefy the +brain? What is Mammon’s kingdom but a part of my +great dominion? Yea, were I to loosen the bonds I have upon +the subjects of Mammon and Pride, and even of Asmodai, Belphegor +and Hypocrisy, no man would for an instant abide their +domination. Wherefore I will do the work and let no one of +you ever utter a word.”</p> +<p>Then great Lucifer himself arose from his burning seat, and +having turned his hideous face to both sides, thus began: +“Ye chief spirits of the Eternal Night, princes of hopeless +guile, although the vasty gloom and the wilds of Destruction are +more bounden to none for their inhabitants than to mine own +supreme majesty—for it was I who erewhile wishing to usurp +the Almighty’s throne, drew myriads of you, my swarthy +angels, at my tail into these deadly horrors, and afterwards drew +unto you myriads of men to share this region—yet there is +no gainsay that ye all have done your share in maintaining and +extending this great infernal empire.” Then he began +to answer them one by one: “Considering thy recent origin, +Cerberus, I will not deny but that thou hast gained for us much +prey in the island of our foes through tobacco. For they +that carry, mix, and weigh it, practise all manner of fraud; and +by its indulgence some are led on to habitual drinking, some to +curse and swear, and some to seek it through blandishment, and to +lie in denying their use of it—not to speak of the injury +it inflicts upon many, and its immoderate use upon all, body as +well as soul. And better than that, myriads of the poor, +whom else we never should touch, sink hither through laying the +burden of their affection upon tobacco, and allowing it to be +their master, to steal the bread from their children’s +mouth. Then, brother Mammon, your power is so universal and +so well-known on earth that it is a proverb, ‘Everything +may be had for money.’ And without doubt,” said +he, turning to Apolyon, “my beloved daughter Pride is most +serviceable to us, for what can there be more pernicious to a +man’s estate, to his body and soul, than that proud, +obdurate opinion which will make him squander a hundred pounds +rather than yield a crown to secure peace. She keeps them +all so stiff-necked and so intent on things on high that it is +amusing to see them, while gazing upwards, and ‘extolling +their heads to the stars’ fall straightway into the depths +of hell. You too, Asmodai, we all remember your great +services in the past; there is none more resolute than you to +keep safe his prisoners under lock and key, nor any so +unimpeachable. Nowadays a wanton freak provokes only a +little laughter, but you came near perishing there from famine +during the recent years of dearth. And you, my son +Belphegor, verminous prince of sloth, no one has afforded us more +pleasure than you; your influence is exceeding great among +noblemen and also among the common people, even to the +beggar. And were it not for the skill of my daughter +Hypocrisy in coloring and adorning, who ever would swallow a +single one of our hooks? But after all, if it were not for +the unwearying courage of my brother Beelzebub in keeping men in +heedless dazedness, ye all would not be worth a straw. Let +us once more recapitulate. What good wouldst thou be, +Cerberus, with thy foreign whiff, if Mammon did not succour +thee? What merchant would ever run such risks to obtain thy +paltry leaves from India, except for Mammon’s sake? +And only for him what king would receive them, especially into +Britain, and who but for his sake would carry them to every part +of the kingdom? Yet how worthless thou too wouldst be, +Mammon, if Pride did not lavish thee upon fair mansions, fine +clothes, needless lawsuits, gardens and horses, extravagant +relatives, numerous dishes, floods of beer and ale, beyond the +power and station of their owner; for if money were spent within +the limit of necessity and of becoming moderation, what would +Mammon avail us? Thus thou art nought without Pride; and +little would Pride profit without Wantonness, for bastards are +the most numerous and the most fierce of all the subjects of my +daughter Pride. And thou, Asmodai, what wouldst thou profit +us were it not for Sloth and Idleness? Where wouldst thou +obtain a night’s lodging? Thou wouldst not dare +expect it from a laborer or diligent student. And who, for +the dishonor and the shame, would ever give thee, Belphegor the +Slothful, a moment’s welcome, if Hypocrisy did not disguise +thy foulness under the name of an internal disease, or as a good +intent or a seeming despisal of wealth or the like. She +too—my dear daughter Hypocrisy—what good is or ever +would she be, notwithstanding her skill as a seamstress, and her +boldness, without thy aid, my eldest brother, Beelzebub, great +chief of Distraction: if he gave people peace and leisure to +reflect seriously upon the nature of things and their +differences, how long would it take them to find holes in the +folds of Hypocrisy’s golden garments, and to see the hooks +through the bait? What man in his senses would gather +together toys and fleeting pleasures, surfeiting, vain and +disgraceful, and choose them in preference to a calm conscience +and the bliss of a glorious eternity? Who would refuse to +suffer the pangs of martyrdom for his faith for an hour or a day, +or affliction for forty or sixty years, if he considered that his +neighbours suffer here in an hour more than he could suffer on +earth for ever. Tobacco is nothing without Money, or Money +without Pride, and Pride is but a weakling without Wantonness, +nor is Wantonness aught without Sloth, nor Sloth without +Hypocrisy, nor Hypocrisy without Thoughtlessness. +Wherefore, now,” said Lucifer, lifting his infernal hoofs +on their claw-ends, “to give my own opinion: however +excellent all these may be, I have a friend better suited than +all to our foe of Britain.” Then could I see all the +archfiends open wide their horrid mouths upon Lucifer in eager +expectation as to what this could possibly be, while I too was as +anxious as they. “A friend,” continued Lucifer, +“whose true worth I have too long neglected, just as thou, +Satan, tempting Job of yore, didst foolishly turn upon him with +severity. This, my kinswoman, I now appoint regent in all +matters appertaining to my kingdom on earth, next to +myself. Her name is Prosperity: she has damned more than +all of you together, and little would ye avail without her +presence. For who in war or peril, in famine or in plague, +would lay any value by tobacco, or by money or by the +sprightliness of pride, or who would deign welcome licentiousness +or sloth? And men in such straits are too wide-awake to be +distraught by Hypocrisy, or even by Thoughtlessness; none of the +infernal vermin of Distraction dare show himself in one such +storm. Whereas Prosperity, with its ease and comfort, is +the nurse of all of you; beneath her peaceful shadow and upon her +tranquil bosom ye all are nourished, and every other hellish worm +that has its place in the conscience and will be for ever here +gnawing its possessor. As long as one is at ease, there is +no talk but of merriment, of feasts, bargains, genealogies, +tales, news and the like; the name of God is never mentioned +except in profane oaths and curses, whereas the poor and the +afflicted have His name upon their lips and in their hearts +always. Go ye, the seven of you, and follow her and be +mindful to keep all a-slumbering and in peace, in good fortune, +in ease and in perfect carelessness; then shall ye see the honest +poor become an untractable, arrogant knave, once he has quaffed +of the alluring cup of Prosperity; ye shall behold the diligent +laborer become a careless babbler and everything else that +pleases you. For all seek and love happy Prosperity; she +neither hearkens to advice nor fears censure; the good she knows +not, the bad she nurtures. But this is the greatest mishap: +the man that escapes her sweet charms must be given up in +despair, we must bid farewell to his company for ever. +Prosperity then is my earthly vicegerent; follow her to Britain, +and obey her as ye would our own royal majesty.”</p> +<p>At that instant the huge bolt was whirled, and Lucifer and his +chief counsellors were swept away into the vortex of Uttermost +Perdition; woe’s me, how terrible it was to behold the jaws +of Hell yawning wide to receive them! “Come +now,” said the Angel, “we will return, but what thou +hast seen is as nothing compared with all that is within the +bounds of Hell; and if thou didst see everything therein that +again would be as nought when compared with the unutterable woe +of the Bottomless Pit; for it is impossible to have any +conception of the life in the Uttermost Hell.” Then +suddenly the heavenly Eagle caught me up into the vault of the +accursed gloom by a way I knew not, where, from the court, across +the entire firmament of dark-burning Perdition, and all the land +of oblivion up to the ramparts of the City of Destruction, I +obtained full view of the hideous monster of a giantess whose +feet I had previously observed. “Words fail me to +describe her ways and means; but of herself I can tell thee, that +she was a three-faced ogress: one villainous face turned towards +Heaven, yelping and snarling and belching forth cursèd +abomination against the heavenly King; another face (and this was +fair to look upon) towards earth, to allure men beneath her +baneful shadow; and the other direful face towards the infernal +abyss, to torture all therein for ages without end. She is +greater than the earth in its entirety, and still continuously +increases; she is a hundredfold more hideous than all Hell which +she herself created and which she peoples. If Hell were rid +of her, the vasty deep would be a Paradise; if she were driven +from the earth, the little world would become a heaven; and if +she ascended into Heaven, she would make an uttermost hell of +that blissful realm. There is nought in all the worlds +which God has not created, save her alone. She is the +mother of the four deadly enchantresses; she is the mother of +Death and of all evil and misery, and her terrible grasp is upon +every living being. Her name is Sin. Blessed, ever +blessed be he who escapes from her clutches,” said the +Angel. Thereupon he departed, and I could hear the distant +echo of his voice saying; “Write down what thou hast seen; +and whosoever readeth it thoughtfully will never +repent.”</p> +<h3>WITH HEAVY HEART.</h3> +<p class="poetry"> With heavy heart I sought +th’ infernal coast<br /> + And saw the vale of everlasting woes,<br /> + The awful home of fiends and of the lost<br /> + Where torments rage and never grant repose—<br +/> + A lake of fire whence horrid flames arose<br /> + And whither tended every wayward path<br /> + Its prey to lead ’midst cruel dragon-foes;<br +/> + Yet, though I wandered through withouten scath,<br +/> +A world I’d spurn, to view again that scene of wrath.</p> +<p class="poetry"> With heavy heart oft I recall +to mind<br /> + How many a loving friend unwarnèd fell<br /> + To bottomless perdition, there to find<br /> + A dread abode where he for aye must dwell;<br /> + Who erst were men are now like hounds of Hell<br /> + And with unceasing energy entice<br /> + To dire combustion all with wily spell,<br /> + And to themselves have ta’en the devils’ +guise,<br /> +Their power and skill all ill to do in every wise.</p> +<p class="poetry"> With heavy heart I roamed the +dismal land<br /> + That is ordained the sinner’s end to be;<br /> + What mighty waves surge wild on every hand!<br /> + What gloomy shadows haunt its canopy!<br /> + What horrors fall on high and mean degree!<br /> + How hideous is the mien of its fell lords,<br /> + What shrieks rise from that boundless glowing +sea,<br /> + How fierce the curses of the damnèd +hordes,<br /> +No mortal ken can e’er conceive or paint in words.</p> +<p class="poetry"> With heavy heart we mourn +true friends or kin<br /> + And grieve the loss of home, of liberty,<br /> + Of that good name which all aspire to win<br /> + Or health and ease and sweet tranquility;<br /> + When dim, dark clouds enshroud our memory<br /> + And pass ’tween us and heaven’s gracious +smiles,<br /> + ’Tis sadder far to wake to misery<br /> + And feel that Pleasure now no more beguiles,<br /> +That sin has left nought but the wounds of its base wiles.</p> +<p class="poetry"> With heavy heart the +valiantest of men<br /> + Lays low his head beneath th’ impending +doom;<br /> + In terror he descends death’s awsome glen;<br +/> + While there appear flashing through the gloom<br /> + The lurid shades of deeds which in the bloom<br /> + Of youth he dared; at last the conscience cries<br +/> + With ruthless voice: “There’s life +beyond the tomb;”<br /> + His dying thoughts all vanities despise<br /> +As on the threshold of Eternity he lies.</p> +<p class="poetry"> The heavy heart that suffers +all such grief<br /> + May, while the breath of life doth still remain,<br +/> + Hope for a joyous peace and blest relief;<br /> + But if grim Death his fated victim gain,<br /> + Woe’s him that entereth the realm of +pain—<br /> + For e’er on him its frowning portals close,<br +/> + Nor gleam of hope shall he perceive again,<br /> + For in that vast eternal night he knows<br /> +A woe awaits that far surpasseth earthly woes.</p> +<p class="poetry"> The heavy heart beneath its +weight is crushed,<br /> + And at its very name—Damnation writ,<br /> + All men their vain and froward clamors hushed;<br /> + But when within the fiery gaping pit<br /> + Whose flaming ramparts none will ever quit,<br /> + Above the thunder’s roar th’ accursed +host<br /> + Raise such loud cries, it passeth human wit<br /> + To dream of aught so dire, for at the most,<br /> +All woes of earth as pleasures seem unto the lost.</p> +<p class="poetry"> From every vain complaining, +cease, my friend,<br /> + Since thou art yet not numbered with the dead<br /> + But turn thy thoughts unto thy destined end,<br /> + Behold thy Fates spin out the vital thread,<br /> + And oftèn as thy mind to Hell be led,<br /> + To contemplate the doleful gloom aglow,<br /> + There will forthwith possess thee such a dread,<br +/> + Which Christ’s unbounded mercy doth bestow,<br +/> +Lest thou be doomed to that eternal realm of woe.</p> +<h2><a name="page123"></a><span class="pagenum">p. +123</span>NOTES</h2> +<p>In the book this note section contains footnotes for the +preceding text. Each note is numbered by the page on which +it occurs and as such are just footnotes poorly done. They +have been turned back into footnotes in the eBook.—DP.</p> + +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p><a name="footnote0"></a><a href="#citation0" +class="footnote">[0]</a> The genealogical tables in the +book are in graphical form. The content is reproduced below +as text—DP.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">ELLIS WYNNE’S PEDIGREE</p> +<p>William Wynne of Glyn [Cywarch]. Sheriff of Merioneth +1618 & 1637. D. 1658. 12th in direct male descent +from Osborn Wyddel = Catherine, daughter of William Lewis Anwyl +of Park. Died 1638. Child: Ellis Wynne [1], 3rd son +who probably lived at Maes-y-garnedd, Llanbedr.</p> +<p>Ellis Wynne [1] = Lowri, only daughter and heiress of Ed. +Jones of Maes-y-garnedd, eldest borther of Col. Jones, +Cromwell’s brother-in-law who was executed in 1660 as a +regicide. Children: Edward Wynne [1]</p> +<p>Edward Wynne [1] = . . . heiress of Glasynys. Children: +daughter; <span class="smcap">Ellis Wynne</span> [2].</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Ellis Wynne</span> [2] = Lowri Llwyd of +Hafod-lwyfog Beddgelert. Children: William [1] Rector of +Llanaber; Ellis, died 1752; Catherine, died young; Edward [1], +Rector of Penmorfa; Mary [1].</p> +<p>William [1] = . . . Lloyd of Trallwyn. Children: +Daughter [1].</p> +<p>Daughter [1] = Robert Puw of Garth Maelan: Child: John +Wynne Puw.</p> +<p>John Wynne Puw’s children: Robert and John.</p> +<p>Edward [1] had children: Frances; Ellis [3], Rector of +Llanferres.</p> +<p>Ellis [3] had children: Elizabeth; Ann; Edward; John, Rector +of Llandrillo; Frances; Ellis.</p> +<p>Mary [1] = Robert Own of Tygwyn Dolgellau.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">THE RELATION BETWEEN ELLIS WYNNE +& BISHOP HUMPHREYS.</p> +<p>Meredydd ap Evan ap Robert (11th in male descent from Owen +Gwynedd). Died 1525. = Margaret, daughter of Morris ap John +ap Meredydd of Clunnenau. Child: Humphrey Wynne ap Meredydd +[1] of Gesail-gyfarch.</p> +<p>Humphrey Wynne ap Meredydd [1] = Catherine, daughter and +heiress of Evan ap Griffith of Cwmbowydd. Children: John +Wynne ap Humphrey [1] of Gesail-gyfarch; Evan Llwyd [1] of +Hafod-lwyfog.</p> +<p>John Wynne ap Humphrey [1] = Catherine, daughter of William +Wynne ap William of Cochwillan. Child: Robert Wynne [1] +died 1637.</p> +<p>Robert Wynne [1] = Mary, daughter of Ellis ap Cadwaladr of +Ystumllyn. Children: John Wynne [2]; Margaret, [2] +succeeded to Gesail-gyfarch on her nephew’s death.</p> +<p>John Wynne [2] = Jane, daughter of Evan Llwyd of Dylase. +Child: Robert Wynne of Gesail-gyfarch, Barr.-at-law. Ob. s. +p. 1685.</p> +<p>Margaret [2] = Richard Humphreys of Hendref Gwenllian, +Penrhyndeudraeth. Desceneded in male line from +Marchweithian. An Officer in the Royal Army through Civil +War. Died 1699. Children: <span +class="smcap">Humphrey</span> [1]. Born 1648. +Dean of Bangor, 1680, Bishop 1689. Bishop of Hereford, +1701. Died 1712; John, died at Oxford; Catherine.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Humphrey</span> [1] = Elizabeth, daughter +of Dr. Morgan Bishop of Bangor 1678, son of Rd. Morgan, M.P. for +Montgomery Boroughs. Children: Ann, ob. s. p. 1698; +Margaret [1], died 1759.</p> +<p>Margaret [1] = John Llwyd of Penylan, Barr.-at-law, son of Dr. +W. Lloyd, Bishop of Norwich, deprived in 1691 as one of the +Nonjurors.</p> +<p>Evan Llwyd [1] = Catherine, Daughter of Griffith Wynne of +Penyberth. Child: John [3]</p> +<p>John [3] had children: Griffith [1] and Evans.</p> +<p>Griffith [1] had children: William ob. s. p.; <span +class="smcap">Lowri</span>.</p> +<p><span class="smcap">Lowri</span> = <span class="smcap">Ellis +Wynne</span>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0a"></a><a href="#citation0a" +class="footnote">[0a]</a> “A Catalogue of Graduates +in the University of Oxford between 1659 and 1850” contains +the following entry:—“Wynne (Ellis) Jes. BA., Oct. +14, 1718, MA., June 13, 1722.” But one can hardly +suppose this to have been the <i>Bardd Cwsr</i>, as in 1718 he +would be 47 years of age.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0b"></a><a href="#citation0b" +class="footnote">[0b]</a> The following entries are taken +from the register at +Llanfair-juxta-Harlech:—“<i>Elizaeus Wynne Generosus +de Lâsynys et Lowria Lloyd de Havod-lwyfog in agro +Arvonensi in matrimonio conjuncti fuere decimo quarto die Feb. +1702</i>.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote0c"></a><a href="#citation0c" +class="footnote">[0c]</a> “<i>Elizaeus Wynne junr. de +Lâsynys sepultus est decimo die Octobris A.D. +1732</i>.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote0d"></a><a href="#citation0d" +class="footnote">[0d]</a> “<i>Owenus Edwards cler. +nuper Rector hums ecclesiae sepultus est tricesimo die Maii A.D. +1711</i>.” (From the Llanfair parish register.)</p> +<p><a name="footnote0e"></a><a href="#citation0e" +class="footnote">[0e]</a> “<i>Lowria Uxor Elizaei +Wynne cler. de Lasynys vigesimo quarto die Augti. sepulta est +Ano. Dom. 1720</i>.”</p> +<p>“<i>Elizaeus Wynne Cler. nuper Rector dignissimus huius +ecclesiae sepultus est 17mo. die Julii 1734</i>.” +(From the parish register at Llanfair.)</p> +<p><a name="footnote0f"></a><a href="#citation0f" +class="footnote">[0f]</a> “<i>The Visions of the +Sleeping Bard</i>. First Part. Printed in London by +E. Powell for the Author, 1703.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote1a"></a><a href="#citation1a" +class="footnote">[1a]</a> <i>The opening +lines</i>.—Ellis Wynne opens his vision as so many early +English poets are wont, with a description of the season when, +and the circumstances under which he fell asleep. Compare +especially Langland’s Visions, <i>prologus</i>:</p> +<blockquote><p>In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne<br /> +I went wyde in this world wondres to here,<br /> +Ac on a May mornynge on Malvern hulles<br /> +Me befel a ferly of fairy me thoughte,<br /> +I was wery forwandred and went me to reste<br /> +Under a brode bank bi a bornes side<br /> +And as I lay and leued and loked in the wateres<br /> +I slombred in a slepyng it sweyved so merye.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote1b"></a><a href="#citation1b" +class="footnote">[1b]</a> <i>One of the +mountains</i>.—The scene these opening lines describe was +one with which the Bard was perfectly familiar. He had +often climbed the slopes of the Vale of Ardudwy to view the +glorious panorama around him from Bardsey Isle to Strumble Head, +the whole length of rock-bound coast lay before him, while behind +was the Snowdonian range, from Snowdon itself to Cader Idris; and +often, no doubt, he had watched the sun sinking “far away +over the Irish Sea, and reaching his western ramparts” +beyond the Wicklow Hills.</p> +<p><a name="footnote1c"></a><a href="#citation1c" +class="footnote">[1c]</a> <i>Master +Sleep</i>.—Cp.:</p> +<blockquote><p>Such sleepy dulness in that instant +weigh’d<br /> +My senses down.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Dante: Inf. C.I.</i> +(<i>Cary’s trans</i>.)</p> +<p>Now leaden slumber with life’s strength doth fight.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Shakespere</i>: +<i>Lucrece</i>, <i>124</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote4a"></a><a href="#citation4a" +class="footnote">[4a]</a> <i>Such a fantastic +rout</i>.—Literally “such a battle of +Camlan.” This was the battle fought between Arthur +and his nephew Medrod about the year 540 on the banks of the +Camel between Cornwall and Somerset, where Arthur received the +wounds of which he died. The combatants being relatives and +former friends, it was characterised with unwonted ferocity, and +has consequently come to be used proverbially for any fray or +scene of more than usual tumult and confusion.</p> +<blockquote><p>So all day long the noise of battle +roll’d<br /> +Among the mountains by the winter sea,<br /> +Until King Arthur’s table, man by man,<br /> +Had fallen in Lyonness about their Lord.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Tennyson</i>: <i>Morte +d’Arthur</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote4b"></a><a href="#citation4b" +class="footnote">[4b]</a> <i>To lampoon my +king</i>.—The Bard commenced this Vision in the reign of +William III. (v. also p. 17, “to drink the King’s +health”) and completed it in that of Queen Anne, who is +mentioned towards the end of the Vision.</p> +<p><a name="footnote7"></a><a href="#citation7" +class="footnote">[7]</a> <i>The Turk and old Lewis of +France</i>.—The Sultan Mustapha and Lewis XIV. are thus +referred to.</p> +<p><a name="footnote14"></a><a href="#citation14" +class="footnote">[14]</a> <i>Clippers</i>.—The +context seems to demand this meaning, that is, “those who +debase coin of the realm,” rather than +“beggars” from the Welsh +“<i>clipan</i>.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote20"></a><a href="#citation20" +class="footnote">[20]</a> <i>Backgammon and +dice</i>.—These games, together with chess, were greatly in +vogue in mediæval Wales, and are frequently alluded to in +the Mabinogion and other early works. The four minor games +or feats (<i>gogampau</i>) among the Welsh were playing the harp, +chess, backgammon, and dice. The word “<i>ffristial a +disiau</i>” are here rendered by the one word +“dice”—<i>ffristial</i> meaning either the +dice-box, or the game itself, and <i>disiau</i>, the dice.</p> +<p><a name="footnote21"></a><a href="#citation21" +class="footnote">[21]</a> <i>This wailing is for +pay</i>.—Cp.</p> +<blockquote><p>Ut qui conducti plorant in funere dicunt<br /> +et faciunt prope plora dolentibus ex animo.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Horace</i>: <i>Ars +Poetica</i>, <i>430–1</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote23"></a><a href="#citation23" +class="footnote">[23]</a> <i>The butt of +everybody</i>.—Whenever a number of bards, in the course of +their peregrinations from one patron’s hall to another, met +of a night, their invariable custom was to appoint one of the +company to be the butt of their wit, and he was expected to give +ready answer in verse and parry the attacks of his +brethren. It is said of Dafydd ap Gwilym that he satirized +one unfortunate butt of a bard so fiercely that he fell dead at +his feet.</p> +<p><a name="footnote24"></a><a href="#citation24" +class="footnote">[24]</a> <i>Congregation of +mutes</i>.—At the time Ellis Wynne wrote, the Quakers were +very numerous in Merioneth and Montgomery and especially in his +own immediate neighbourhood, where they probably had a +burying-ground and conventicle. They naturally became the +objects of cruel persecution at the hands of the dominant church +as well as of the state; their meetings were broken up, their +members imprisoned and maltreated, until at last they were forced +to leave their fatherland and seek freedom of worship across the +Atlantic.</p> +<p><a name="footnote25"></a><a href="#citation25" +class="footnote">[25]</a> <i>Speak no ill</i>.—A +Welsh proverb; <i>v. Myv. Arch. III. 182</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote26"></a><a href="#citation26" +class="footnote">[26]</a> <i>We came to a +barn</i>.—The beginning of Nonconformity in Wales. In +the Author’s time there were already many adherents to the +various dissenting bodies in North Wales. Walter Cradoc, +Morgan Llwyd and others had been preaching the Gospel many years +previously throughout the length and breadth of Gwynedd; and it +was their followers that now fell under the Bard’s +lash.</p> +<p><a name="footnote28a"></a><a href="#citation28a" +class="footnote">[28a]</a> <i>Corruption of the +best</i>.—A Welsh adage; <i>v. Myv. Arch. III. 185</i>.</p> +<p><a name="footnote28b"></a><a href="#citation28b" +class="footnote">[28b]</a> <i>Some +mocking</i>.—Compare Bunyan’s Christian starting from +the City of Destruction: “So he looked not behind him, but +fled towards the middle of the plain. The neighbours came +out to see him run, and as he ran, some mocked, others threatened +and some cried after him to return.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote29"></a><a href="#citation29" +class="footnote">[29]</a> <i>Who is +content</i>.—Cp.</p> +<blockquote><p>Qui fit, Maecenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortem<br /> +Seu ratio dederit seu fors obiecerit, illa<br /> +Contentus vivat, laudet diversa sequentes?</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Horace</i>: <i>Sat. I. +i.</i></p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote34"></a><a href="#citation34" +class="footnote">[34]</a> <i>Increases his own +penalty</i>.—Cp.</p> + +<blockquote><p> —the +will<br /> +And high permission of all-ruling heaven<br /> +Left him at large to his own dark designs,<br /> +That with reiterated crimes he might<br /> +Heap on himself damnation, while he sought<br /> +Evil to others.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Par. Lost</i>: <i>I. +211–6</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote36"></a><a href="#citation36" +class="footnote">[36]</a> <i>Royal +blood</i>—referring to the execution of Charles I.</p> +<p><a name="footnote37"></a><a href="#citation37" +class="footnote">[37]</a> <i>The Pope and his other +son</i>.—The concluding lines of this Vision were evidently +written amidst the rejoicings of the nation at the victories of +Marlborough over the French and of Charles XII. over the +Muscovites</p> +<p><a name="footnote43a"></a><a href="#citation43a" +class="footnote">[43a]</a> <i>Glyn Cywarch</i>.—The +ancestral home of the Author’s father, situate in a lonely +glen about three miles from Harlech.</p> +<p><a name="footnote43b"></a><a href="#citation43b" +class="footnote">[43b]</a> <i>Our brother +Death</i>.—This idea of the kinship of Death and Sleep is +common to all poets, ancient and modern; cp. the +“<i>Consanguineus Leti Sopor</i>” of Vergil +(Æneid: VI. 278); and also:</p> +<blockquote><p> Oh thou God of +Quiet!<br /> +Look like thy brother, Death, so still,—so +stirless—<br /> +For then we are happiest, as it may be, we<br /> +Are happiest of all within the realm<br /> +Of thy stern, silent, and unawakening twin.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Byron</i>: +<i>Sardanapulus</i>, <i>IV</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote44"></a><a href="#citation44" +class="footnote">[44]</a> <i>An extensive +domain</i>.—Compare what follows with Vergil’s +description (Dryden’s trans.):</p> +<blockquote><p>Just in the gate and in the jaws of Hell,<br /> +Revengeful cares and sullen sorrows dwell,<br /> +And pale diseases and repining age—<br /> +Want, fear, and famine’s unresisted rage;<br /> +Here toils and death, and death’s half-brother, Sleep,<br +/> +Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Æneid</i>: <i>VI. +273–8</i></p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote48a"></a><a href="#citation48a" +class="footnote">[48a]</a> <i>Merlin</i>.—A bard or +seer who is supposed to have flourished about the middle of the +fifth century, when Arthur was king. He figures largely in +early tales and traditions, and many of his prophecies are to be +found in later Cymric poetry, to one of which Tennyson refers in +his <i>Morte d’Arthur</i>:</p> +<blockquote><p> I think that +we<br /> +Shall never more, at any future time,<br /> +Delight our souls with talks of knightly deeds<br /> +Walking about the gardens and the halls<br /> +Of Camelot, as in the days that were.<br /> +I perish by this people which I made—<br /> +Though Merlin sware that I should come again<br /> +To rule once more—but let what will be, be.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote48b"></a><a href="#citation48b" +class="footnote">[48b]</a> <i>Brutus</i>, <i>the son of +Silvius</i>.—According to the Chronicles of the Welsh +Kings, Brwth (Brutus) was the son of Selys (Silvius), the son of +Einion or Æneas who, tradition tells, was the first king of +Prydain. In these ancient chronicles we find many tales +recorded of Brutus and his renowned ancestors down to the fall of +Troy and even earlier.</p> +<p><a name="footnote48c"></a><a href="#citation48c" +class="footnote">[48c]</a> <i>A huge</i>, <i>seething +cauldron</i>.—This was the mystical cauldron of Ceridwen +which Taliesin considered to be the source of poetic +inspiration. Three drops, he avers, of the seething +decoction enabled him to forsee all the secrets of the +future.</p> +<p><a name="footnote48d"></a><a href="#citation48d" +class="footnote">[48d]</a> <i>Upon the face of +earth</i>.—These lines occur in a poem of Taliesin where he +gives an account of himself as existing in various places, and +contemporary with various events in the early eras of the +world’s history—an echo of the teachings of +Pythagoras:</p> +<blockquote><p>Morte carent animae; semperque priore relicta<br +/> +Sede, novis habitant domibus vivuntque receptae.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Ovid</i>: <i>Metam. XV. +158–9</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote48e"></a><a href="#citation48e" +class="footnote">[48e]</a> <i>Taliesin</i>.—Taliesin +is one of the earliest Welsh bards whose works are still +extant. He lived sometime in the sixth century, and was +bard of the courts of Urien and King Arthur.</p> +<p><a name="footnote49a"></a><a href="#citation49a" +class="footnote">[49a]</a> <i>Maelgwn Gwynedd</i>.—He +became lord over the whole of Wales about the year 550 and +regained much territory that had once been lost to the +Saxons. Indeed Geoffrey of Monmouth asserts that at one +time Ireland, Scotland, the Orkneys, Norway and Denmark +acknowledged his supremacy. Whatever truth there be in this +assertion, it is quite certain that he built a powerful navy +whereby his name became a terror to the Vikings of the +North. In his reign, however, the country was ravaged by a +more direful enemy—the Yellow Plague; “whoever +witnessed it, became doomed to certain death. Maelgwn +himself, through Taliesin’s curse, saw the <i>Vad Velen</i> +through the keyhole in Rhos church and died in +consequence.” (<i>Iolo MSS.</i>)</p> +<p><a name="footnote49b"></a><a href="#citation49b" +class="footnote">[49b]</a> <i>Arthur’s +quoit</i>.—The name given to several <i>cromlechau</i> in +Wales; there is one so named, near the Bard’s home, in the +parish of Llanddwywe, “having the print of a large hand, +dexterously carved by man or nature, on the side of it, as if +sunk in from the weight of holding it.” (<i>v. Camb. +Register</i>, <i>1795</i>.)</p> +<p><a name="footnote54"></a><a href="#citation54" +class="footnote">[54]</a> <i>In the Pope’s +favor</i>.—Clement XI. became Pope in 1700, his predecessor +being Innocent XII.</p> +<p><a name="footnote55"></a><a href="#citation55" +class="footnote">[55]</a> <i>Their hands to the +bar</i>.—Referring to the custom (now practically obsolete) +whereby a prisoner on his arraignment was required to lift up his +hands to the bar for the purpose of identification. Ellis +Wynne was evidently quite conversant with the practice of the +courts, though there is no proof of his ever having intended to +enter the legal profession or taken a degree in law as one author +asserts. (<i>v. Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry</i>, sub. tit. Ellis +Wynne.)</p> +<p><a name="footnote67"></a><a href="#citation67" +class="footnote">[67]</a> “<i>The Practice of +Piety</i>.”—Its author was Dr. Bayley, Bishop of +Bangor; a Welsh translation by Rowland Vaughan, of Caergai, +appeared in 1630, “printed at the signe of the Bear, in +Saint Paul’s Churchyard, London.”</p> +<p><a name="footnote69"></a><a href="#citation69" +class="footnote">[69]</a> <i>At one time +cold</i>.—Cp.:</p> +<blockquote><p> I come<br /> +To take you to the other shore across,<br /> +Into eternal darkness, there to dwell<br /> +In fierce heat and in ice.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Dante</i>: <i>Inf. c. +III.</i> (<i>Cary’s trans.</i>).</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote71"></a><a href="#citation71" +class="footnote">[71]</a> <i>Above the +roar</i>.—Cp.:</p> +<blockquote><p> The stormy blast of Hell<br /> +With restless fury drives the spirits on:<br /> +When they arrive before the ruinous sweep<br /> +There shrieks are heard, there lamentations, moans,<br /> +And blasphemies.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Dante: Inf. c. V.</i> +(<i>Cary’s trans.</i>).</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote73"></a><a href="#citation73" +class="footnote">[73]</a> <i>Amidst eternal +ice</i>.—Cp.:</p> +<blockquote><p>Thither . . . all the damned are brought<br /> +. . . and feel by turns the bitter change<br /> +Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce!<br /> +From beds of raging fire to starve in ice<br /> +Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine<br /> +Immoveable, infix’d and frozen round<br /> +Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Par. Lost</i>, <i>II. +597–603</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote85a"></a><a href="#citation85a" +class="footnote">[85a]</a> <i>Better to +reign</i>.—This speech of Lucifer is very Miltonic; compare +especially—</p> +<blockquote><p> —in my +choice<br /> +To reign is worth ambition, though in hell;<br /> +Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Par. Lost</i>, <i>I. +261–3</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote85b"></a><a href="#citation85b" +class="footnote">[85b]</a> <i>Revenge is +sweet</i>.—Cp.:</p> +<blockquote><p> Revenge, at first though +sweet<br /> +Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Par. Lost</i>, <i>IX. +171–2</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote87"></a><a href="#citation87" +class="footnote">[87]</a> <i>This +enterprize</i>.—Cp.:</p> +<blockquote><p> —this +enterprize<br /> +None shall partake with me.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Par. Lost</i>, <i>II. +465</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote95a"></a><a href="#citation95a" +class="footnote">[95a]</a> <i>Barristers</i>.—The +word <i>cyfarthwyr</i>, here rendered “barristers,” +really means “those who bark,” which is probably only +a pun of the Bard’s on <i>cyfarchwyr</i>—“those +who address (the court).”</p> +<p><a name="footnote95b"></a><a href="#citation95b" +class="footnote">[95b]</a> <i>Sir Edmundbury +Godfrey</i>.—A London magistrate who took prominent part +against the Catholics in the reign of Charles II. At the +time the panic which the villainy of Titus Oates had fomented was +at its height, Sir Edmundbury was found dead on Primrose Hill, +with his sword through his body; his tragic end was attributed to +the Papists, and many innocent persons suffered torture and death +for their supposed complicity in his murder.</p> +<p><a name="footnote102"></a><a href="#citation102" +class="footnote">[102]</a> <i>Einion the son of +Gwalchmai</i>.—This is a reference to a fable entitled +“Einion and the Lady of the Greenwood,” where the +bard is led astray by “a graceful, slender lady of elegant +growth and delicate feature, her complexion surpassing every red +and every white in early dawn, the snow-flake on the +mountain-side, and every beauteous colour in the blossoms of +wood, meadow, and hill.” (<i>v. Iolo MSS.</i>) +Einion was an Anglesey bard, flourishing in the twelfth +century.</p> +<p><a name="footnote104"></a><a href="#citation104" +class="footnote">[104]</a> <i>Walking round the +church</i>.—Referring to a superstitious custom in vogue in +some parts of Wales as late as the beginning of the present +century. On All Souls’ Night the women-folk gathered +together at the parish church, each with a candle in her hand; +the sexton then came round and lit the candies, and as these +burnt brightly or fitfully, so would the coming year prove +prosperous or adverse. When the last candle died out, they +solemnly march round the church twice or thrice, then home in +silence, and in their dreams that night, their fated husbands +would appear to them.</p> +<p><a name="footnote106"></a><a href="#citation106" +class="footnote">[106]</a> <i>Cerberus</i>, <i>et +seq.</i>—Compare the seven deadly sins in Langland’s +<i>Vision of Piers Plowman</i>, Pride, Luxury (<i>lecherie</i>), +Envy, Wrath, Covetousness, Gluttony, and Sloth. See also +Chaucer’s Persones Tale, <i>passim</i>. A description +of these seven sins occurs very frequently in old authors.</p> +<p><a name="footnote107"></a><a href="#citation107" +class="footnote">[107]</a> <i>What brought you +here</i>.—Pride is the greatest of all the deadly +sins. Compare Spenser’s <i>Faery Queen I. c. IV</i>, +where “proud Lucifera, as men did call her,” was +attended by “her six sage counsellors”—the +other sins. Shakespere names this sin Ambition:</p> +<blockquote><p>Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition,<br +/> +For by this sin fell the angels.</p> +</blockquote> +<p><a name="footnote108"></a><a href="#citation108" +class="footnote">[108]</a> <i>Sarah</i>.—v. +Apocrypha, the book of Tobit, c. VI.</p> +<p><a name="footnote110"></a><a href="#citation110" +class="footnote">[110]</a> If she and her +scholars—Cp.:</p> +<blockquote><p>At nos virtutes ipsas invertimus atque<br /> +sincerum cupimus vas incrustare. probus quis<br /> +nobiscum vivit multum demissus homo: illi<br /> +tardo cognomen pingui damus. his fugit omnes<br /> +insidias nullique malo latus obdit apertum pro bene sano<br /> +at non incauto fictum astutumque vocamus.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">—<i>Horace</i>: <i>Sat. I. +iii</i>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 5671-h.htm or 5671-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/6/7/5671 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Visions of the Sleeping Bard + +Author: Ellis Wynne + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5671] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on August 6, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD *** + + + + +Transcribed from the 1897 Welsh National Press Company edition by David +Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +THE VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD +BEING +ELLIS WYNNE'S +"Gweledigaetheu y Bardd Cwsc" +Translated by Robert Gwyneddon Davies + + + + +Contents: + Preface + Introduction + Author's Life + The Text + A Brief Summary + Vision of The World + The Vision of Death + The Vision Of Hell + The Visions of the Sleeping Bard + + + +PREFACE + + + + +At the National Eisteddfod of 1893, a prize was offered by Mr. Lascelles +Carr, of the Western Mail, for the best translation of Ellis Wynne's +Vision of Hell. The Adjudicators (Dean Howell and the Rev. G. Hartwell +Jones, M.A.), awarded the prize for the translation which is comprised in +the present volume. The remaining Visions were subsequently rendered +into English, and the complete work is now published in the hope that it +may prove useful to those readers, who, being unacquainted with the Welsh +language, yet desire to obtain some knowledge of its literature. + +My best thanks are due to the Rev. J. W. Wynne Jones, M.A., Vicar of +Carnarvon, for much help and valuable criticism; to the Rev. R Jones, +MA., Rector of Llanfair-juxta-Harlech, through whose courtesy I am +enabled to produce (from a photograph by Owen, Barmouth) a page of the +register of that parish, containing entries in Ellis Wynne's handwriting; +and to Mr. Isaac Foulkes, Liverpool, for the frontispiece, which appeared +in his last edition of the Bardd Cwsc. + +R. GWYNEDDON DAVIES. +Caernarvon, +1st July, 1897. + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + +I.--THE AUTHOR'S LIFE. + + +Ellis Wynne was born in 1671 at Glasynys, near Harlech; his father, +Edward Wynne, came of the family of Glyn Cywarch (mentioned in the second +Vision), his mother, whose name is not known, was heiress of Glasynys. +It will be seen from the accompanying table that he was descended from +some of the best families in his native county, and through Osborn +Wyddel, from the Desmonds of Ireland. His birth-place, which still +stands, and is shown in the frontispiece hereto, is situate about a mile +and a half from the town of Harlech, in the beautiful Vale of Ardudwy. +The natural scenery amidst which he was brought up, cannot have failed to +leave a deep impression upon his mind; and in the Visions we come across +unmistakeable descriptions of scenes and places around his home. +Mountain and sea furnished him with many a graphic picture; the +precipitous heights and dark ravines of Hell, its caverns and its cliffs, +are all evidently drawn from nature. The neighbourhood is also rich in +romantic lore and historic associations; Harlech Castle, some twenty-five +years before his birth, had been the scene of many a fray between +Roundheads and Cavaliers, and of the last stand made by the Welsh for +King Charles. These events were fresh in the memory of his elders, whom +he had, no doubt, often heard speaking of those stirring times; members +of his own family had, perhaps, fought in the ranks of the rival parties; +his father's grand-uncle, Col. John Jones, was one of those who erstwhile +drank of royal blood." + +It is not known where he received his early education, and it has been +generally stated by his biographers that he was not known to have entered +either of the Universities; but, as the following notice proves, he at +least matriculated at Oxford:- + + +WYNNE, ELLIS, s. Edw. of Lasypeys, co. Merioneth, pleb. Jesus Coll. +matric. 1st March 1691-2, aged 21; rector of Llandanwg, 1705, & of +Llanfair-juxta-Harlech (both) co. Merioneth, 1711. (Vide Foster's Index +Eccles.) + + +Probably his stay at the University was brief, and that he left without +taking his degree, for I have been unable to find anything further +recorded of his academic career. {0a} The Rev. Edmund Prys, Vicar of +Clynnog-Fawr, in a prefatory englyn to Ellis Wynne's translation of the +"Holy Living" says that "in order to enrich his own, he had ventured upon +the study of three other tongues." This fact, together with much that +appears in the Visions, justifies the conclusion that his scholarly +attainments were of no mean order. But how and where he spent the first +thirty years of his life, with the possible exception of a period at +Oxford, is quite unknown, the most probable surmise being that they were +spent in the enjoyment of a simple rural life, and in the pursuit of his +studies, of whatever nature they may have been. + +According to Rowlands's Cambrian Bibliography his first venture into the +fields of literature was a small volume entitled, Help i ddarllen yr +Yscrythur Gyssegr-Lan ("Aids to reading Holy Writ"), being a translation +of the Whole Duty of Man "by E. W., a clergyman of the Church of +England," published at Shrewsbury in 1700. But as Ellis Wynne was not +ordained until 1704, this work must be ascribed to some other author who, +both as to name and calling, answered to the description on the title- +page quoted above. But in 1701 an accredited work of his appeared, +namely, a translation into Welsh of Jeremy Taylor's Rules and Exercises +of Holy Living, a 12mo. volume published in London. It was dedicated to +the Rev. Humphrey Humphreys, D.D., Bishop of Bangor, who was a native of +the same district of Merionethshire as Ellis Wynne, and, as is shown in +the genealogical table hereto {0}, was connected by marriage with his +family. + +In 1702 {0b} he was married to Lowri Llwyd--anglice, Laura Lloyd--of +Hafod-lwyfog, Beddgelert, and had issue by her, two daughters and three +sons; one of the daughters, Catherine, died young, and the second son, +Ellis, predeceased his father by two years. {0c} His eldest son, Gwilym, +became rector of Llanaber, near Barmouth, and inherited his ancestral +home; his youngest son, Edward, also entered the Church and became rector +of Dolbenmaen and Penmorfa, Carnarvonshire. Edward Wynne's son was the +rector of Llanferres, Denbighshire, and his son again was the Rev. John +Wynne, of Llandrillo in Edeyrnion, who died only a few years ago. + +The following year (1703), he published the present work--his magnum +opus--which has secured him a place among the greatest names in Welsh +Literature. It will be noticed that on the title-page to the first +edition the words "Y Rhann Gyntaf" ("The First Part") appear; the +explanation given of this is that Ellis Wynne did actually write a second +part, entitled, The Vision of Heaven, but that on hearing that he was +charged with plagiarism in respect of his other Visions, he threw the +manuscript into the fire, and so destroyed what, judging from the title, +might have proved a greater success than the first part, as affording +scope for lighter and more pleasing flights of the imagination. + +It is said by his biographers that he was induced to abandon the pursuit +of the law, to which he was educated, and to take holy orders, by Bishop +Humphreys, who had recognised in his translation of the Holy Living +marked ability and piety, and that he was ordained deacon and priest the +same day by the Bishop, at Bangor, in 1701, and presented on the +following day to the living of Llanfair-juxta-Harlech and subsequently to +Llandanwg. + +All these statements appear to be incorrect. To deal with them +categorically: I find no record at the Diocesan Registry of his having +been ordained at Bangor at all; the following entry in the parish +register of Llanfair shows that he was not in holy orders in July, 1704: +"Gulielmus filius Elizaei Wynne generosi de Las ynys et uxoris suis +baptizatus fuit quindecimo die Julii, 1704.--W. Wynne Rr., O. Edwards, +Rector." His first living was Llandanwg, and not Llanfair, to which he +was collated on January 1st, 1705. Moreover, the above-named Owen +Edwards was the rector of Llanfair until his death which took place in +1711. {0d} From that date on to 1734, the entries in the register at +Llanfair church are all in Ellis Wynne's handwriting; these facts prove +conclusively that it was in 1711 he became rector of the latter parish. + +In 1710 he edited a new and revised edition of the Book of Common Prayer, +at the request of his patron, the Bishop of Hereford (Dr. Humphreys) and +the four Welsh bishops,--a clear proof of the confidence reposed in him +by the dignitaries of his church as a man of learning and undoubted +piety. He himself published nothing more, but A Short Commentary on the +Catechism and a few hymns and carols were written by him and published +posthumously by his son, Edward, being included in a volume of his own, +entitled Prif Addysc y Cristion, issued in 1755. + +The latter part of his life is as completely obscure as the earlier; he +lapsed again into the silence from which he had only just emerged with +such signal success, and confined his efforts as a Christian worker +within the narrow limits of his own native parts, exercising, +doubtlessly, an influence for good upon his immediate neighbourhood +through force of character and noble personality, as upon his fellow- +countrymen at large by means of his published works. His wife died in +1720, and his son, Ellis, in 1732; two years later he himself died and +was buried under the communion table in Llanfair church, on the 17th day +of July, 1734. {0e} There is no marble or "perennial brass" to mark the +last resting-place of the Bard, nor was there, until recent years, any +memorial of him in either of his parish churches, when the late Rev. John +Wynne set up a fine stained-glass window at Llanfair church in memory of +his illustrious ancestor. + +Ellis Wynne appeared at a time when his country had sore need of him, +when the appointed teachers of the nation were steeped in apathy and +corruption, when ignorance and immorality overspread the land--the +darkest hour before the dawn. He was one of the early precursors of the +Methodist revival in Wales, a voice crying in the wilderness, calling +upon his countrymen to repent. He neither feared nor favored any man or +class, but delivered his message in unfaltering tone, and performed his +alloted task honestly and faithfully. How deeply our country is indebted +to him who did her such eminent service in the days of adversity and +gloom will never be known. And now, in the time of prosperity, Wales +still remembers her benefactor, and will always keep honored the name of +Ellis Wynne, the SLEEPING BARD. + + +II.--THE TEXT. + + +The Bardd Cwsc was first published in London in 1703, a small 24mo. +volume of some 150 pages, with the following title-page + + +"GWELEDIGAETHEU Y BARDD CWSC. Y Rhann Gyntaf. Argraphwyd yn Llundain +gan E. Powell i'r Awdwr, 1703." {0f} + + +A second edition was not called for until about 1742, when it was issued +at Shrewsbury; but in the thirty years following, as many as five +editions were published, and in the present century, at least twelve +editions (including two or three by the Rev. Canon Silvan Evans) have +appeared. The text followed in this volume is that of Mr. Isaac Foulkes' +edition, but recourse has also been had to the original edition for the +purpose of comparison. The only translation into English hitherto has +been that of George Borrow, published in London in 1860, and written in +that charming and racy style which characterises his other and better +known works. He has, however, fallen into many errors, which were only +natural, seeing that the Visions abound in colloquial words and phrases, +and in idiomatic forms of expression which it would be most difficult for +one foreign to our tongue to render correctly. + +The author's name is not given in the original nor in any subsequent +edition previous to the one published at Merthyr Tydfil in 1806, where +the Gweledigaetheu are said to be by "Ellis Wynne." But it was well +known, even before his death, that he was the author; the fact being +probably deduced from the similarity in style between the Visions and an +acknowledged work, namely, his translation of the Holy Living. The most +likely reason for his preferring anonymity is not far to seek; his +scathing denunciation of the sins of certain classes and, possibly, even +of certain individuals, would be almost sure to draw upon the author +their most bitter attacks. Many of the characters he depicts would be +identified, rightly or wrongly, with certain of his contemporaries, and +many more, whom he never had in his mind at all, would imagine themselves +the objects of his satire; he had nothing to gain by imperilling himself +at the hands of such persons, or by coming into open conflict with them; +he had his message to deliver to his fellow-countrymen, his Visions a +purpose to fulfil, the successful issue of which could not but be +frustrated by the introduction of personal hatred and ill-will. Ellis +Wynne was only too ready to forego the honor of being the acknowledged +author of the Visions if thereby he could the better serve his country. + +The Bardd Cwsc is not only the most popular of Welsh prose works, but it +has also retained its place among the best of our classics. No better +model exists of the pure idiomatic Welsh of the last century, before +writers became influenced by English style and method. Vigorous, fluent, +crisp, and clear, it shows how well our language is adapted to +description and narration. It is written for the people, and in the +picturesque and poetic strain which is always certain to fascinate the +Celtic mind. The introduction to each Vision is evidently written with +elaborate care, and exquisitely polished--"ne quid possit per leve +morari," and scene follows scene, painted in words which present them +most vividly before one's eyes, whilst the force and liveliness of his +diction sustain unflagging interest throughout. The reader is carried +onward as much by the rhythmic flow of language and the perfect balance +of sentences, as by the vivacity of the narrative and by the reality with +which Ellis Wynne invests his adventures and the characters he depicts. +The terrible situations in which we find the Bard, as the drama unfolds, +betoken not only a powerful imagination, but also an intensity of feeling +which enabled him to realise the conceptions of such imagination. We +follow the Bard and his heavenly guide through all their perils with +breathless attention; the demons and the damned he so clothes with flesh +and blood that our hatred or our sympathy is instantly stirred; his World +is palpitating with life, his Hell, with its gloom and glare, is an +awful, haunting dream. But besides being the possessor of a vivid +imagination, Ellis Wynne was endowed with a capacity for transmitting his +own experience in a picturesque and life-like manner. The various +descriptions of scenes, such as Shrewsbury fair, the parson's revelry and +the deserted mansions; of natural scenery, as in the beginning of the +first and last Visions; of personages, such as the portly alderman, and +the young lord and his retinue, all are evidently drawn from the Author's +own experience. He was also gifted with a lively sense of humor, which +here and there relieves the pervading gloom so naturally associated with +the subject of his Visions. The humorous and the severe, the grotesque +and the sublime, the tender and the terrible, are alike portrayed by a +master hand. + +The leading feature of the Visions, namely the personal element which the +Author infuses into the recital of his distant travels, brings the reader +into a closer contact with the tale and gives continuity to the whole +work, some parts of which would otherwise appear disconnected. This +telling of the tale in propria persona with a guide of shadowy or +celestial nature who points out what the Bard is to see, and explains to +him the mystery of the things around him, is a method frequently adopted +by poets of all times. Dante is the best known instance, perhaps; but we +find the method employed in Welsh, as in "The Dream of Paul, the +Apostle," where Paul is led by Michael to view the punishments of Hell +(vide Iolo MSS.). Ellis Wynne was probably acquainted with Vergil and +Dante, and adopted the idea of supernatural guidance from them; in fact, +apart from this, we meet with several passages which are eminently +reminiscent of both these great poets. + +But now, casting aside mere speculation, we come face to face with the +indisputable fact that Ellis Wynne is to a considerable degree indebted +to the Dreams of Gomez de Quevedo y Villegas, a voluminous Spanish author +who flourished in the early part of the 17th century. In 1668, Sir Roger +L'Estrange published his translation into English of the Dreams, which +immediately became very popular. Quevedo has his Visions of the World, +of Death and her (sic) Empire, and of Hell; the same characters are +delineated in both, the same classes satirized, the same punishments +meted out. We read in both works of the catchpoles and wranglers, the +pompous knights and lying knaves--in fine, we cannot possibly come to any +other conclusion than that Ellis Wynne has "read, marked and inwardly +digested" L'Estrange's translation of Quevedo's Dreams. But admitting so +much, the Bardd Cwsc still remains a purely Welsh classic; whatever in +name and incident Ellis Wynne has borrowed from the Spaniard he has +dressed up in Welsh home-spun, leaving little or nothing indicative of +foreign influence. The sins he preached against, the sinners he +condemned, were, he knew too well, indigenous to Welsh and Spanish soil. +George Borrow sums up his comments upon the two authors in the following +words: "Upon the whole, the Cymric work is superior to the Spanish; +there is more unity of purpose in it, and it is far less encumbered with +useless matter." + +The implication contained in the foregoing remarks of Borrow--that the +Bardd Cwsc is encumbered to a certain degree with useless matter, is no +doubt well founded. There is a tendency to dwell inordinately upon the +horrible, more particularly in the Vision of Hell; a tiring sameness in +the descriptive passages, an occasional lapse from the tragic to the +ludicrous, and an intrusion of the common-place in the midst of a speech +or a scene, marring the dignity of the one and the beauty of the other. + +The most patent blemish, however, is the unwarranted coarseness of +expression to which the Author sometimes stoops. It is true that he must +be judged according to the times he lived in; his chief object was to +reach the ignorant masses of his countrymen, and to attain this object it +was necessary for him to adopt their blunt and unveneered speech. For +all that, one cannot help feeling that he has, in several instances, +descended to a lower level than was demanded of him, with the inevitable +result that both the literary merit and the good influence of his work in +some measure suffer. Many passages which might be considered coarse and +indecorous according to modern canons of taste, have been omitted from +this translation. + +From the literary point of view THE VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD has from +the first been regarded as a masterpiece, but from the religious, two +very different opinions have been held concerning it. One, probably the +earlier, was, that it was a book with a good purpose, and fit to stand +side by side with Vicar Pritchard's Canwyll y Cymry and Llyfr yr +Homiliau; the other, that it was a pernicious book, "llyfr codi +cythreuliaid"--a devil-raising book. A work which in any shape or form +bore even a distant relationship to fiction, instantly fell under the ban +of the Puritanism of former days. To-day neither opinion is held, the +Bardd Cwsc is simply a classic and nothing more. + +The Visions derive considerable value from the light they throw upon the +moral and social condition of our country two centuries ago. Wales, at +the time Ellis Wynne wrote was in a state of transition: its old-world +romance was passing away, and ceasing to be the potent influence which, +in times gone by, had aroused our nation to chivalrous enthusiasm, and +led it to ennobling aspirations. Its place and power, it is true, were +shortly to be taken by religion, simple, puritanic, and intensely +spiritual; but so far, the country was in a condition of utter disorder, +morally and socially. Its national life was at its lowest ebb, its +religious life was as yet undeveloped and gave little promise of the +great things to come. The nation as a whole--people, patrician, and +priest--had sunk to depths of moral degradation; the people, through +ignorance and superstition; the patrician, through contact with the +corruptions of the England of the Restoration; while the priesthood were + + +"Blind mouths, that scarce themselves knew how to hold +"A sheep-hook, or had learnt aught else the least +"That to the faithful herdman's art belongs." + + +All the sterner and darker aspects of the period are chronicled with a +grim fidelity in the Visions, the wrongs and vices of the age are exposed +with scathing earnestness. Ellis Wynne set himself the task of +endeavouring to arouse his fellow-countrymen and bring them to realize +the sad condition into which the nation had fallen. He entered upon the +work endowed with keen powers of perception, a wide knowledge of life, +and a strong sense of justice. He was no respecter of person; all orders +of society, types of every rank and class, in turn, came under +castigation; no sin, whether in high places or among those of low degree, +escaped the lash of his biting satire. On the other hand, it must be +said that he lacked sympathy with erring nature, and failed to recognize +in his administration of justice that "to err is human, to forgive, +divine." His denunciation of wrong and wrong-doer is equally stern and +pitiless; mercy and love are rarely, if ever, brought on the stage. In +this mood, as in the gloomy pessimism which pervades the whole work, he +reflects the religious doctrines and beliefs of his times. In fine, when +all has been said, favourably and adversely, the Visions, it will readily +be admitted, present a very faithful picture of Welsh life, manners, and +ways of thought, in the 17th century, and are, in every sense, a true +product of the country and the age in which they were written. + + +III.--A BRIEF SUMMARY. + + +I. VISION OF THE WORLD. + + +One summer's day, the Bard ascends one of the mountains of Wales, and +gazing a long while at the beautiful scene, falls asleep. He dreams and +finds himself among the fairies, whom he approaches and requests +permission to join. They snatch him up forthwith and fly off with him +over cities and realms, lands and seas, until he begins to fear for his +life. They come to a huge castle--Castle Delusive, where an Angel of +light appears and rescues him from their hands. The Angel, after +questioning him as to himself, who he was and where he came from, bids +him go with him, and resting in the empyrean, he beholds the earth far +away beneath them. He sees an immense City made up of three streets; at +the end of which are three gates and upon each gate a tower and in each +tower a fair woman. This is the City of Destruction and its streets are +named after the daughters of Belial--Pride, Lucre and Pleasure. The +Angel tells him of the might and craftiness of Belial and the alluring +witchery of his daughters, and also of another city on higher ground--the +City of Emmanuel--whereto all may fly from Destruction. They descend and +alight in the Street of Pride amidst the ruined and desolate mansions of +absentee landlords. They see there kings, princes, and noblemen, +coquettes and fops; there is a city, too, on seven hills, and another +opposite, with a crescent on a golden banner above it, and near the gate +stands the Court of Lewis XIV. Much traffic is going on between these +courts, for the Pope, the Sultan and the King of France are rivals for +the Princesses' hands. + +They next come to the Street of Lucre, full of Spaniards, Dutchmen and +Jews, and here too, are conquerors and their soldiers, justices and their +bribers, doctors, misers, merchants and userers, shopmen, clippers, +taverners, drovers, and the like. An election of Treasurer to the +Princess is going on--stewards, money-lenders, lawyers and merchants +being candidates, and whoso was proved the richest should obtain the +post. The Bard then comes to the Street of Pleasure, where all manner of +seductive joys abound. He passes through scenes of debauchery and +drunken riot, and comes to a veritable Bedlam, where seven good fellows-- +a tinker, a dyer, a smith and a miner, a chimney-sweep, a bard and a +parson--are enjoying a carousal. He beholds the Court of Belial's second +daughter, Hypocrisy, and sees a funeral go by where all the mourners are +false. A noble lord appears, with his lady at his side, and has a talk +with old Money-bags who has lent him money on his lands--all three being +apt pupils of Hypocrisy. + +The Angel then takes him to the churches of the City; and first they come +to a pagan temple where the human form, the sun and moon, and various +other objects are worshipped. Thence they come to a barn where +Dissenters imitate preaching, and to an English church where many +practise all manner of hypocrisy. The Bard then leaves the City of +Destruction and makes for the celestial City. He beholds one man part +from his friends and, refusing to be persuaded by them, hasten towards +Emmanuel's City. The gateway is narrow and mean, while on the walls are +watchmen urging on those that are fleeing from Destruction. Groups from +the various streets arrive and claim admittance, but, being unable to +leave their sins, have to return. The Bard and his Guide enter, and +passing by the Well of Repentance come in view of the Catholic Church, +the transept of which is the Church of England, with Queen Anne enthroned +above, holding the Sword of Justice in the left hand, and the Sword of +the Spirit in the right. Suddenly there is a call to arms, the sky +darkens, and Belial himself advances against the Church, with his earthly +princes and their armies. The Pope and Lewis of France, the Turks and +Muscovites fall upon England and her German allies, but, the angels +assisting, they are vanquished; the infernal hosts, too, give way and are +hurled headlong from the sky; whereupon the Bard awakes. + + +II. THE VISION OF DEATH. + + +It is a cold, winter's night and the Bard lies abed meditating upon the +brevity of life, when Sleep and his sister Nightmare pay him a visit, and +after a long parley, constrain him to accompany them to the Court of +their brother Death. Hieing away through forests and dales, and over +rivers and rocks, they alight at one of the rear portals of the City of +Destruction which opens upon a murky region--the chambers of Death. On +all hands are myriads of doors leading into the Land of Oblivion, each +guarded by the particular death-imp, whose name was inscribed above it. +The Bard passes by the portals of Hunger, where misers, idlers and +gossips enter, of Cold, where scholars and travellers go through, of +Fear, Love, Envy and Ambition. + +Suddenly he finds himself transported into a bleak and barren land where +the shades flit to and fro. He is straightway surrounded by them, and, +on giving his name as the "Sleeping Bard," a shadowy claimant to that +name sets upon him and belabours him most unmercifully until Merlin bid +him desist. Taliesin then interviews him, and an ancient manikin, +"Someone" by name, tells him his tale of woe. After that he is taken +into the presence of the King of Terrors himself, who, seated on a throne +with Fate and Time on either hand, deals out their doom to the prisoners +as they come before him. Four fiddlers, a King from the neighbourhood of +Rome with a papal dispensation to pass right through to Paradise, a +drunkard and a harlot, and lastly seven corrupt recorders, are condemned +to the land of Despair. + +Another group of seven prisoners have just been brought to the bar, when +a letter comes from Lucifer concerning them; he requests that Death +should let these seven return to the world or else keep them within his +own realm--they were far too dangerous to be allowed to enter Hell. +Death hesitates, but, urged by Fate, he indites his answer, refusing to +comply with Lucifer's request. The seven are then called and Death bids +his hosts hasten to convey them beyond his limits. The Bard sees them +hurled over the verge beneath the Court of Justice and his spirit so +strives within him at the sight that the bonds of Sleep are sundered and +his soul returns to its wonted functions. + + +III. THE VISION OF HELL. + + +The Bard is sauntering, one April morning, on the banks of the Severn, +when his previous visions recur to his mind and he resolves to write them +as a warning to others, and while at this work he falls asleep, and the +Angel once more appears and bears him aloft into space. They reach the +confines of Eternity and descend through Chaos for myriads of miles. A +troop of lost beings are swept past them towards the shores of a death- +like river--the river of the Evil One. After passing through its waters, +the Bard witnesses the tortures the damned suffer at the hands of the +devils, and visits their various prisons and cells. Here is the prison +of Woe-that-I-had-not, of Too-late-a-repentance and of the +Procrastinators. There the Slanderers, Backbiters, and other envious +cowards are tormented in a deep and dark dungeon. He hears much laughter +among the devils and turning round finds that the cause of their +merriment are two noblemen who have just arrived and are claiming the +respect due to their rank. Further on is a crowd of harlots calling down +imprecations upon those that ruined them; and in a huge cavern are +lawyers, doctors, stewards and other such rogues. The Princesses of the +City of Destruction bring batches of their subjects as gifts to their +sire. + +A parliament is summoned and Lucifer addresses his princes, calling upon +them to do their utmost to destroy the rest of mankind. Moloch makes his +reply, reciting all that he has done, when Lucifer in rage starts off to +do the work himself, but is drawn back by an invisible hand. He speaks +again, exhorting them to greater activity and cruelty. Justice brings +three prisoners to Hell and returning causes such a rush of fiery +whirlwinds that all the infernal lords are swept away into the Uttermost +Hell. + +The Bard hears the din of arms and news comes that the Turks, Papists, +and Roundheads are advancing in three armies. Lucifer and his hosts +immediately set out to meet them and after a stubborn contest succeed in +quelling the rebellion. More prisoners are brought before the King-- +Catholics, who had missed the way to Paradise, an innkeeper, five kings, +assize-men and lawyers, gipsies, laborers and scholars. Scarcely is +judgment passed on these than war again breaks out--soldiers and doctors, +lawyers and userers, misers and their own offspring, are fighting each +other. The leaders of this revolt having been taken, another parliament +is called and more prisoners yet brought to trial. + +Lucifer asks the advice of his peers as to whom he should appoint his +viceroy in Britain. Cerberus, first of all, offers the service of +Tobacco; then Mammon speaks in praise of Gold and Apolyon tells what +Pride can do; Asmodai, the demon of Lust, Belphegor. the demon of Sloth, +and Satan, devil of Delusion, each pleads for his own pet sin; and after +Beelzebub has spoken in favour of Thoughtlessness, Lucifer sums up, +weighs their arguments, and finally announces that it is another he has +chosen as his vicegerent in Britain. This other is Prosperity, and her +he bids them follow and obey. Then the lost Archangel and his +counsellors are hurled into the Bottomless Pit, and the Angel takes the +Bard up to the vault of Hell where he has full view of a three-faced +ogress, Sin, who would make of heaven, a hell, and thence departing, a +heaven of hell. The Angel then leaves him, bidding him, as he went, to +write down what he had seen for the benefit of others. + + + +TO THE READER. + + + + Let whoso reads, consider; + Considering, remember, + And from remembering, do, + And doing, so continue. +Whoso abides in Virtue's paths, +And ever strives until the end +From sinful bondage to be free, +Ne'er shall possess wherewith to feed +The direful flame, nor weight of sin +To sink him in th' infernal mire; +Nor will he come to that dread realm +Where Wrong and Retribution meet. +But, woe to that poor, worthless wight +Who lives a bitter, stagnant life, +Who follows after every ill +And knows not either Faith or Love, +(For Faith in deeds alone doth live). +Eternal woe shall be his doom - +More torments he shall then behold +Yea, in the twinkling of an eye +Than any age can e'er conceive. + + + + +THE VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD + + + + +I.--VISION OF THE WORLD. + + + +On {1a} the fine evening of a warm and mellow summer I betook me up one +of the mountains of Wales, {1b} spy-glass in hand, to enable my feeble +sight to see the distant near, and to make the little to loom large. +Through the clear, tenuous air and the calm, shimmering heat, I beheld +far, far away over the Irish Sea many a fair scene. At last, when mine +eyes had taken their fill of all the beauty around me, and the sun well +nigh had reached his western ramparts, I lay down on the sward, musing +how fair and lovely compared with mine own land were the distant lands of +whose delightful plains I had just obtained a glimpse; how fine it would +be to have full view thereof, and how happy withal are they, besides me +and my sort, who have seen the world's course. So, from the long +journeying of mine eye, and afterwards of my mind, came weariness, and +beneath the cloak of weariness came my good Master Sleep {1c} stealthily +to bind me, and with his leaden keys safe and sound he locked the windows +of mine eyes and all mine other senses. But it was in vain he tried to +lock up the soul which can exist and travel without the body; for upon +the wings of fancy my spirit soared free from out the straitened corpse, +and the first thing I perceived close by was a dancing-knoll and such a +fantastic rout {4a} in blue petticoats and red caps, briskly footing a +sprightly dance. I stood awhile hesitating whether I should approach +them or not, for in my confusion I feared they were a pack of hungry +gipsies and that the least they would do, would be to kill me for their +supper, and devour me saltless. But gazing steadfastly upon them I +perceived that they were of better and fairer complexion than that lying, +tawny crew; so I plucked up courage and drew near them, slowly, like a +hen treading on hot coals, in order to find out what they might be; and +at last I addressed them over my shoulder, thus, "Pray you, good friends, +I understand that ye come from afar, would ye take into your midst a bard +who wishes to travel?" Whereupon the din instantly ceased, every eye was +turned upon me, and in shrill tones "a bard" quoth one, "to travel," said +another, "into our midst," a third exclaimed. By then I had recognised +those who were looking at me most fiercely, and they commenced whispering +one to another some secret charms, still keeping their gaze upon me; the +hubbub then broke out again and everyone laying hands upon me, lifted me +shoulder-high, like a knight of the shire, and off like the wind we go, +over houses and lands, cities and realms, seas and mountains, unable to +notice aught so swiftly were they flying. And to make matters worse, I +began to have doubts of my companions from the way they frowned and +scowled when I refused to lampoon my king {4b} at their bidding. + +"Well, now," said I to myself, "farewell to life; these accursed, arrant +sorcerers will bear me to some nobleman's larder or cellar and leave me +there to pay penalty by my neck for their robbery, or peradventure they +will leave me stark-naked and benumbed on Chester Marsh or some other +bleak and remote place." But on considering that those whose faces I +knew had long been buried, and that some were thrusting me forward, and +others upholding me above every ravine, it dawned upon me that they were +not witches but what are called the Fairies. Without delay I found +myself close to a huge castle, the finest I had ever seen, with a deep +moat surrounding it, and here they began discussing my doom. "Let us +take him as a gift to the castle," suggested one. "Nay, let us throw the +obstinate gallows-bird into the moat, he is not worth showing to our +great prince," said another. "Will he say his prayers before sleeping," +asked a third. At the mention of prayer, I breathed a groaning sigh +heavenwards asking pardon and aid; and no sooner had I thought the prayer +than I saw a light, Oh! so beautiful, breaking forth in the distance. As +this light approached, my companions grew dark and vanished, and in a +trice the Shining One made for us straight over the castle: whereupon +they let go their hold of me and departing, turned upon me a hellish +scowl, and had not the Angel supported me I should have been ground fine +enough to make a pie long before reaching the earth. + +"What is thy errand here?" asked the Angel. "In sooth, my lord," cried +I, "I wot not what place here is, nor what mine errand, nor what I myself +am, nor what has made off with mine other part; I had a head and limbs +and body, but whether I left 'em at home or whether the Fairies, if fair +their deed, have cast me into some deep pit (for I mind my passing over +many a rugged gorge) an' I be hanged, Sir, I know not." "Fairly, +indeed," said he, "they would have dealt with thee, had I not come in +time to save thee from the toasting-forks of the brood of hell. Since +thou hast such a great desire to see the course of this little world, I +am commanded to give thee the opportunity to realize thy wish, so that +thou mayest see the folly of thy discontent with thine own lot and +country. Come now!" he bade, and at the word, with the dawn just +breaking, he snatched me up far away above the castle; and upon a white +cloudledge we rested in the empyrean to see the sun rising, and to look +at my heavenly companion, who was far brighter than the sun, save that +his radiance only shone upwards, being hidden from all beneath by a veil. +When the sun waxed strong, I beheld in the refulgence of the two our +great, encircled earth as a tiny ball in the distance below. "Look +again," said the Angel, and he gave me a better spy-glass than the one I +had on the mountain-side. When I looked through this I saw things in a +different light and clearer than ever before. + +I could see one city of enormous magnitude, with thousands of cities and +kingdoms within it, the wide ocean like a whirlpool around it, and other +seas, like rivers, dividing it into parts. After gazing a longwhile, I +observed that it was made up of three tremendously long streets, with a +large and splendid gateway at the lower end of each street; on each +gateway, a magnificent tower, and on each tower, in sight of all the +street, a woman of exceeding beauty; and the three towers at the back of +the ramparts reached to the foot of that great castle. Of the same +length as these immense streets, but running in a contrary direction, I +saw another street which was but narrow and mean compared with them, +though it was clean and upon higher ground than they, and leading upwards +to the east, whilst the other three led downwards northerly to the great +towers. I could no longer withhold from asking my friend's permission to +speak. "What then," said the Angel, "if thou wilt speak, listen +carefully, so that there be no need of telling thee a thing twice." "I +will, my lord, and prithee," asked I, "what castle is that, away yonder +to the north?" "That castle aloft in the sky," said he, "belongs to +Belial, prince of the power of the air, and ruler of all that vast city +below; it is called Castle Delusive: for an arch-deluder is Belial, and +it is through delusion that he is able to keep under his sway all that +thou see'st with the exception of that little bye-street yonder. He is a +powerful prince, with thousands of princes under him. What was Caesar or +Alexander the Great compared with him? What are the Turk and old Lewis +of France {7a} but his servants? Great, aye, exceedingly great is the +might, craftiness and diligence of Prince Belial and of the countless +hosts he hath in the lower region." "Why do those women stand there?" I +asked, "and who are they?" "Slowly," cried the Angel, "one question at a +time; they stand there in order to be loved and worshipped." "No wonder, +in sooth," said I, "so lovely are they that were I the possessor of hands +and feet as once I was, I too would go and love or worship them." "Hush! +hush!" cried he, "if that is what thou wouldst do with thy members 'tis +well thou'rt wanting them: know, foolish spirit, that these three +princesses are no other than three destroying enchantresses, daughters of +Prince Belial; and that all the beauty and gentleness which dazzles the +streets, is nought else but a gloss over ugliness and cruelty; the three +within are like their sire, full of deadly venom." "Woe's me, is't +possible," cried I sorrowfully, "that their love wounds?" "'Tis true, +the more the pity," said he, "thou art delighted with the way the three +beam on their adorers: well, there is in that ray of light many a +wondrous charm, it blindens them so that they cannot see the hook; it +stupifies them so that they pay no heed to their danger, and consumes +them with an insatiate lust for more, even though it be a deadly poison, +breeding diseases which no physician, yea, not death itself can ever +heal, nor aught at all unless a heavenly medicine called Repentance be +had to purge the evil in good time ere it become too deeply rooted, +through gazing upon them too long." "Wherefore will not Belial have this +adoration to himself?" asked I. "It is the same thing," said he, "for so +long as a man adheres to these or to one of them, that man is sure to +bear the mark of Belial and wear his livery." + +"By what names are these three enchantresses called?" "The furthest away +is called Pride, the eldest daughter of Belial; the second is Pleasure, +and the nearest to us is Lucre; these three are the trinity the world +adores." "I would fain know the name of this vast, madding city," said +I, "hath it a better name than great Bedlam?" "Yea, 'tis called the City +of Destruction." "Alas!" I cried, "are all that dwell therein ruined and +lost?" "All," said he, "save a few that flee from it into yon upper city +which is King Emmanuel's." "Woe is me and mine! how shall they escape +while ever staring at what makes them more and more blind, and preys upon +them in their blindness?" "It would be utterly impossible for any man to +escape hence were it not that Emmanuel sends his ministers from on high, +night and morn, to persuade them to leave the rebels and turn to Him, +their true Sovereign, and sends to some a gift of precious ointment +called Faith to anoint their eyes, and whoso obtains that genuine +ointment (for there is an imitation of this as of everything else in the +City of Destruction) and anoints himself therewith, at once becomes aware +of his own wounds and madness, and will not tarry here a moment longer, +even though Belial gave him his three daughters, yea, or his fourth who +is greatest of all, for staying." + +"What are the names of these immense streets?" I enquired. "They are +called, each according to the name of the princess who rules therein; +furthest is the Street of Pride, the middle, the Street of Pleasure, and +next, the Street of Lucre." "Who, prithee, dwell in these streets? What +tongue is spoken there? Wherefrom and of what nations are their +inhabitants?" "Many people," answered he, "of every language, religion, +and nation under the sun dwell there; many a one lives in each of the +three streets at different seasons, and everyone as near the gateway as +he can; and very often do they change about, being unable to stay long in +the one because they so greatly love the princess of the other street. +And the old renard, slyly looking on, lets everyone love whichever he +prefers, or the three if he will--all the more certain is he of him." + +"Come nearer to them," said the Angel, snatching me downwards in the veil +through the noxious vapours rising from the city. We alighted in the +Street of Pride, on the top of a great, roofless mansion with its eyes +picked out by the dogs and crows, and its owners gone to England or +France, there to seek what might be gotten with far less trouble at home; +thus in place of the good old country-family of days gone by, so full of +charity and benevolence, none keep possession now but the stupid owl, the +greedy crows, or the proud-pied magpies or the like, to proclaim the +deeds of the present owners. There were thousands of such deserted +palaces, which but for pride might still be the resort of noblemen, a +refuge for the weak, a school of peace and all goodness, and a blessing +to the thousands of cottages surrounding them. From the top of these +ruins we had plenty of room and quietness to see the whole street on both +sides. The houses were very fine, and of wonderful height and grandeur, +and good reason why, for emperors and kings lived there, princes in +hundreds, noblemen and gentlemen in thousands, and a great many women of +all grades. I could see many a horned coquette, like a full-rigged ship, +strutting as if set in a frame with a fair store of pedlery about her, +and pearls in her ears to the value of a good-sized farm: some were +singing so as to be praised for their voices, some dancing, to show their +figures; others coloring, to improve their complexion, others having been +a good three hours before a mirror trimming themselves, learning to +smile, pinning and unpinning, making grimaces and striking attitudes. +Many a coy wench was there who knew not how to open her lips to speak, +much less to eat, or from very ceremony, how to look under foot; and many +a ragged shrew who would contend that she was equal to the best lady in +the street, and many an ambling fop who might winnow beans by the wind of +his train. + +Whilst I was looking from afar at these and a hundred similar things, lo! +there came by us a gaudy, strapping quean of arrogant mien, and after +whom a hundred eyes were turned; some made obeisance, as if in worship of +her, a few put something in her hand. I could not make out what she was, +and so I enquired. "Oh," said my friend, "she is one whose entire dowry +is on show, and yet thou see'st how many fools there are who seek her, +and the meanest is received notwithstanding all the demand there is for +her; whom she will, she cannot have, and whom she can, she will not; she +will only speak to her betters because her mother told her that a young +woman can make no greater mistake than to be humble in courtship." +Thereupon a burly Falstaff, who had been alderman and in many offices, +came out from beneath us, spreading out his wings as if to fly, when he +could scarcely limp along like a pack-horse, on account of his huge +paunch, and the gout, and many other gentlemanly complaints; but for all +that you could not get a single glance from him except as a great favour, +remembering the while to address him by all his title and offices. From +him I turned my eyes to the other side of the street, and saw a bluff +young nobleman with a numerous following, smiling graciously and bowing +low to everyone he met. "It is strange," said I, "that these two should +belong to the same street." "It is the same princess--Pride, who governs +them both," answered he, "this one's errand is but to speak fair; he is +now making a bid for fame with the intent thereby to attain the highest +office in the State; he is most ready to weep with the people, and tell +them how greatly they are wronged through the oppression of wicked +ministers; yet it is his own exaltation, and not the common weal that is +the main object of his pursuit." + +After looking for a longwhile I saw close by the Porch of Pride a fair +city on seven hills, and over its magnificent court the triple crown, the +swords and cross-keys. "Well, here is Rome," quoth I, "here lives the +Pope, is it not?" "Yes, most often," said the Angel, "but he hath a +court in each of the other streets." Over against Rome I could see a +city with a very fine court, whereon was raised on high a crescent on a +golden banner, by which I knew the Turk was there. After these came the +court of Lewis XIV. of France, as I perceived by his arms--the three +fleur-de-lys on a silver banner reared high. Whilst admiring the +loftiness and magnificence of these palaces, I observed that there was +much traversing from one court to another, and asked the reason. "Oh, +there is many a dark reason," said the Angel, "existing between these +three potent and crafty monarchs, but though they deem themselves fitting +peers to the three princesses up yonder, their power and guile is nought +compared with theirs. Yea more, great Belial deems the whole city, +notwithstanding the number of its kings, unsuitable for his daughters. +Although he offers them in marriage to everybody, he has never actually +given them to anyone. Keen rivalry has existed between these three for +their hands; the Turk, who calls himself the god of earth, would have the +eldest, Pride, to wife. "Nay," said the king of France, "she is mine, +for I keep all my subjects in her street, and bring her many from England +and many other realms." Spain would have the Princess of Lucre, spite of +Holland and all the Jews, and England, the Princess of Pleasure in spite +of the Pagans. But the Pope claimed the three, and for better reasons +than all the others; and Belial admits him next to them in each street." +"Is that the cause of this commerce?" said I. "No," said he, "Belial has +made peace between them upon that matter long ago. But now he has bid +the three put their heads together to consider how they can the soonest +destroy yon bye-street; that is the City of Emmanuel, and especially one +great mansion therein, out of mere jealousy, perceiving it to be a finer +edifice than any in all the City of Destruction. And Belial promises +half his kingdom during his life, and the whole on his decease, to him +who succeeds in doing so. But notwithstanding the magnitude of his +power, the depth of his wiles, and the number of emperors, kings and +crafty rulers that are beneath his sceptre in that huge City of +Destruction, notwithstanding the courage of his countless hosts beyond +the gates in the lower region, that task will prove too difficult for +them; however great, powerful and untiring his majesty may be, in yon +small street is a greater than he." + +I was not able to give very close attention to his angelic reasons, being +occupied in watching the frequent falls people were having on the +slippery street. Some I could see with ladders scaling the tower, and +having reached the highest rung, falling headlong to the bottom. "Where +do those fools try to get to?" I asked. "To a place that is high enough- +-they are endeavouring to break into the treasury of the princess." "I +warrant it be full," quoth I. "Yes," answered he, "of everything that +belongs to this street, to be distributed among its denizens: all kinds +of weapons for invading and extending territories; all kinds of coats-of- +arms, banners, escutcheons, books of genealogy, sayings of the ancients, +and poems, all sorts of gorgeous raiments, boastful tales and flattering +mirrors; every pigment and lotion to beautify the face; every high office +and title--in short, everything is there which makes a man think better +of himself and worse of others than he ought. The chief officers of this +treasury are masters of the ceremonies, roysters, heralds, bards, +orators, flatterers, dancers, tailors, gamblers, seamstresses and the +like." + +From this street we went to the next where the Princess of Lucre rules +supreme; this street was crowded and enormously wealthy; yet not half so +magnificent and clean as the Street of Pride, nor its people so foolishly +haughty, for here they were for the most part skulking and sly. +Thousands of Spaniards, Dutchmen, Venetians, and Jews were here, and also +a great many aged people. "Prithee, sir," said I, "what manner of men +might these be?" "They are pinchfists one and all. In the lower end +thou shalt see the Pope once more together with conquerors of kingdoms +and their soldiery, oppressors, foresters, obstructors of public paths, +justices and their bribers, and all their progeny from the barrister to +the constable; on the other side, physicians, apothecaries, leeches, +misers, merchants, extortioners, money lenders, withholders of tithes, +wages, rents or doles left to schools, almhouses and the like; drovers, +dealers who regulate the market for their own benefit; shopmen (or +rather, sharpers) who profit on the need or ignorance of their customers; +stewards of all grades; clippers {14a} and innkeepers who despoil the +idlers' family of their goods and the country of its barley, which would +otherwise be made into bread for the poor. All these are arrant robbers, +the others in the upper end of the street are mostly small fry, such as +highwaymen, tailors, weavers, millers, grocers and so on." + +In the midst of this I could hear a terrible commotion towards the far +end of the street, and a great crowd of people thronging the gate, and +such pushing and quarelling as made me think that there was a general +riot afoot, until I asked my friend what was the matter. "There is very +valuable treasure in that tower," said the Angel, "and the reason for +this tumult is that they are about to choose a treasurer for the +Princess, instead of the Pope, who has been driven from office." So we +went to see the election. + +The candidates for the post were the stewards, the money-lenders, the +lawyers, and the merchants, and it was the wealthiest of these that was +to have it (for the more thou hast, the more wilt thou have and seek for- +-an insatiate complaint pertaining to this street). The stewards were +rejected at the outset, lest they might impoverish the whole street and, +just as they had erected their mansions upon their masters' ruins, in the +end dispossess the princess herself. The contest then lay between the +other three. The merchants had more silk, the lawyers more mortgages on +land, and the money-lenders more bills and bonds and fuller purses. "Ho, +they won't agree this night," said the Angel, "come away; the lawyers are +richer than the merchants, the money-lenders than the lawyers, the +stewards than the money-lenders, and Belial richer than all; for they and +all that belongs to them are his." "Why does the princess keep these +robbers about her?" "What more befitting, seeing that she herself is +arch-robber?" I was amazed to hear him call the princess by such name, +and the proudest gentry in the land arrant robbers. "Why, pray my lord," +said I, "do you consider these great noblemen worse thieves than +highwaymen?" "Thou art a simpleton--think on that knave who roves the +wide world over, sword in hand, and with his ravagers at his back, +slaying and burning, and depriving the true possessors of their states, +and afterwards expecting to be worshipped as conqueror; is he not worse +than the petty thief who takes a purse on the highway? What is a tailor +who filches a piece of cloth compared to a squire who steals from the +mountain-side half a parish? Ought the latter not be called a worse +robber than the former, who only takes a shred from him, while he +deprives the poor of pasture for his beast, and consequently of the means +of livelihood for himself, and those depending upon him? What is the +stealing a handful of flour in the mill compared with the storing up of a +hundred bushels to rot, in order to obtain later on for one bushel the +price of four? What is a threadbare soldier who robs thee of thy clothes +at the swords' point when compared with the lawyer who despoils thee of +thy whole estate with the stroke of a quill, and against whom thou canst +claim no recompense or remedy? What is a pickpocket who steals a five- +pound in comparison to a dice-sharper who robs thee of a hundred pounds +in the third part of a night? And what the swindler that deceives thee +in a worthless old hack compared with the apothecary who swindles thee of +thy money and life too, for some effete, medicinal stuff? And moreover, +what are all these robbers compared with that great arch-robber who +deprives them all of everything, yea, of their hearts and souls after the +fair is over?" + +From this foul and disorderly street we proceeded to the street of the +Princess of Pleasure wherein I saw many English, French, Italians and +Paynims. The Princess is very fair to behold, with mixed wine in one +hand, and a fiddle and a harp in the other; and in her treasury, +innumerable pleasures and toys to gain the custom of everybody, and +retain them in her father's service. Yea, many were wont to escape to +this pleasant street to drown their grief for losses and debts they had +incurred in the others. It was exceedingly crowded, especially with +young people; whilst the Princess is careful to please everyone, and to +have an arrow ready for every mark. If thou art thirsty, here thou will +find thy favorite beverage; if thou lovest song and dance, here thou +shalt have thy fill. If the beauty of the Princess has kindled thy lust, +thou need'st but beckon one of her sire's officers (who, although +invisible, always surround her) and they will immediately attend thy +behest. There are here fair mansions, fine gardens, full orchards, shady +groves fit for every secret intrigue, or to trap birds or a white rabbit +or twain; clear streams, most pleasant to fish in; rich, boundless +plains, whereon to hunt the hare and fox. Along the street we could see +them playing interludes, juggling and conjuring, singing lewd songs to +the sound of the harp and ballads, and all manner of jesting. Men and +women of handsome appearance danced and sang, and many came hither from +the Street of Pride in order to be praised and worshipped. Within the +houses we perceived some on silken beds wallowing in debauchery; some at +the gaming-table, cursing and swearing, others tossing dice and shuffling +cards. Some from the Street of Lucre, having a room here, ran hither to +count their money, but stayed not long lest aught of the countless +geegaws that are here should entice them to part with their money without +interest. Others I saw at tables feasting with somewhat of every created +thing before them; and when everyone, mess after mess, had guzzled as +much of the dainties as would afford a moderate man a feast for a whole +week, grace followed in the form of blasphemous howling; then the king's +health was called for, and that of every boon companion, and so on to +quench the taste of the viands, and drown their cares. Then came +tobacco, and then each one began to talk scandal of his neighbour-- +whether true or false it mattered not as long as it was humorous or +fresh, or, best of all, degrading. At last, what with a round of +blasphemy, and the whole crowd with clay pistols belching smoke and fire +and slander of their neighbours, and the floor already befouled with +dregs and spittle, I feared lest viler deeds should happen, and craved to +depart. + +Thence we went where we heard a loud noise, beating and clamouring, +crying and laughing, shouting and singing. "Well, here's Bedlam and no +mistake," quoth I. By the time we got in, the turmoil had ceased; one +man lay like a log on the ground, another was vomiting, another nodding +his head over a hearth full of battered flagons, and broken pipes and +mugs. On enquiring, what should it be but a carousal of seven thirsty +neighbours--a tinker, a dyer, a blacksmith, a miner, a chimney-sweep, a +bard, and a parson who had come to preach sobriety, and to show in his +own person how repulsive drunkenness is; and the beginning of the recent +altercation was a discussion and dispute they had as to which of the +seven callings loved best the pot and pipe; the bard had beaten all but +the parson and, due regard being observed for the cloth, he was adjudged +victor and worthy to be leader of his good comrades, and so the bard +wound up the discussion thus: + + +"Where can ye find such thirsty seven, + "Search every clime and land? +"And quaffing off the ruddy ale, + "Bard and parson lead the band." + + +Thoroughly tired of these drunken swine, we drew nearer the gate in order +to spy out the blemishes in the magnificent court of Love, the purblind +king, wherein it is easy to enter, but difficult to get out again, and +where are chambers innumerable. In the hall opposite the door stood +giddy Cupid, with two arrows in his bow, darting a languishing venom +called lust. Along the floor I saw many fair and comely women walking +with measured steps, and following them, wretched youths gazing upon +their beauty, and each one begging a glance from his mistress, fearing a +frown even more than death; now and then one, bowing to the ground, would +place a letter in his goddess' hand, and another a sonnet, the while in +fear expectant, like schoolboys showing their task to the master. They +in return would favour their adorers with a simpering smile or two, just +to keep their desires on edge, but granting nought more lest their lust +be sated and they depart healed of the disease. Going on into the +parlour I saw them having lessons in dancing and singing, with voice and +hand, in order to make their lovers sevenfold madder than before; on +again into the dining hall where they were taught coy smartness in +eating; into the cellar, where potent love philtres were being mixed of +nail parings and the like; in the upper rooms we could see one in a +secret chamber twisting himself into all shapes, practising gentlemanly +behaviour when in his mistress' presence; another before a mirror +learning how to smile correctly without showing his teeth too prominently +to his ladylove; another preparing his tale to tell her, repeating the +same thing an hundred times. Wearied with this insipid babbling we came +to another cell: here a nobleman had sent for a poet from the Street of +Pride to indite him a sonnet of praise to his angel, and an eulogy of +himself; the bard was discoursing of his art: "I can," said he, "liken +her to everything red and everything white under the sun, and her tresses +to an hundred things more yellow than gold, and as for your poem, I can +trace your lineage through many knights and princes, and through the +water of the deluge right up to Adam." "Well, here's a poet," quoth I, +"who is a better genealogist than I." "Come, come," said the Angel, +"their intention is to deceive the woman, but, once in her presence, you +may be sure they will have to meet trick with trick." + +Upon leaving these we had a glimpse of cells where fouler deeds were +being done than modesty permits to mention, and which caused my companion +to snatch me away in anger from this fatuous court into the princess' +treasury (for we went where we list notwithstanding doors and locks). +There we saw myriads of fair women, all kinds of beverages, fruits and +dainties, stringed instruments and books of songs,--harps, pipes, odes +and carols, all sorts of games,--backgammon, dice {20a} and cards; +pictures of various lands, towns and persons, inventions and amusing +tricks; all kinds of waters, perfumes, pigments and spots to make the +ugly fair, and the old look young, and the leman's malodorous bones smell +sweet for the nonce. In short, the shadow of pleasure and the guise of +happiness in every conceivable form was to be found there; and sooth to +say, I almost think I too had been enticed by the place had not my friend +instantly hurried me away far from the three alluring towers to the top +end of the streets, and set me down near an immense palatial castle, the +front view of which seemed fair, but the further side was mean and +terribly ugly, though it was scarcely to be seen at all. It had a myriad +portals--all splendid without but rotten within. "An't please you, my +lord," asked I, "what is this wondrous place?" "This is the court of +Belials' second daughter whose name is Hypocrisy; here she keeps her +school, and there is no man or woman throughout the whole city who has +not been a pupil of hers, and most of them have imbibed their learning +remarkably well; so that her lessons are discernible as a second nature +intertwined with all their thoughts, words, and deeds from very childhood +almost." I had been looking awhile on the falsity of every part of the +edifice when a funeral came by with many weeping and sighing, and many +men and horses in mourning trappings; and shortly the poor widow, veiled +so as not to see this cruel world any more, came along with piping voice +and weary sighs, and fainting fits at intervals. In truth, I could not +help but weep a little out of pity for her. "Nay, nay," said the Angel, +"keep thy tears for a more worthy occasion; these voices are only what +Hypocrisy has taught, and these mourning weeds were fashioned in her +great school. Not one of these weep sincerely; the widow, even before +the body had left the house, let in another husband to her heart; were +she rid of the expenses connected with the corpse she would not care a +straw if his soul were at the bottom of hell; nor do his own kindred care +any more than she: for when it went hardest with him, instead of giving +him good counsel and earnestly praying for mercy upon him, they were +talking of his property, his will or his pedigree; or what a handsome +robust man he was, and such talk; and now this wailing {21a} on the part +of some is for mere ceremony and custom, on the part of others for +company's sake or for pay." + +Scarcely had these gone by than another throng came in sight: a most +gallant lord with his lady at his side, slowly advancing in state, to +whom many men of position doffed, and many were on tiptoe with eagerness +to show him obeisance and reverence. "Here is a noble lord," said I, +"who is worthy such respect from all these!" "Wert thou to take +everything to consideration thou wouldst speak differently. This lord +comes from the Street of Pleasure, she is of the Street of Pride, and yon +old man who is conversing with him comes from the Street of Lucre, and +has a mortgage on almost every acre of my lord's, and is come to-day to +complete the loan." We drew nigh to hear the conversation. "In sooth, +sir," Old Money-bags was saying, "I would not for all that I possess that +you should lack anything which lies in my power to enable you to appear +your own true self this day, especially seeing that you have met so +beautiful and lovely a lady as madam here" (the wily dog knowing full +well what she was). "By the --- by the --- ," said the lord, "next to +gazing at her beauty, my greatest pleasure was to hearken to your fair +reasons; I had liefer pay you interest than get money elsewhere free." +"Indeed, my lord," said one of his chief friends called Flatterer, +"nuncle pays you not a whit less respect than is due to you, but an it +please you, he has bestowed upon her ladyship scarce the half her mead of +praise. I defy any man," quoth he, "to show a lovelier woman in all the +Street of Pride, or a nobler than you in all the Street of Pleasure, or a +kinder than you, good mine uncle, in all the Street of Lucre." "Ah, that +is your good opinion," said my lord, "but I cannot believe that any +couple were ever more united in the bonds of love than we twain." As +they went on the crowd increased, and everyone had a pleasant smile and +low bow for the other, and hastened to salute each other with their noses +to the ground, like a pair of gamecocks on the point of striking. "Know +then," said the Angel, "that thou hast seen naught of civility nor heard +one word which Hypocrisy has not taught. There is no one here, after all +this gentleness, who has a hap'orth of love one to another, yea, many of +them are sworn foes. This lord is the butt {23a} of everybody, and all +have their dig at him. The lady looks only to his greatness and high +degree, so that she may thereby ascend a step above many of her +neighbours. Old Money-bags has his eye on my lord's lands for his own +son, and all the others on the money he received as dowry; for they are +all his dependants, his merchants, tailors, cobblers and other craftsmen, +who have decked him out and maintained him in this splendor, and have +never had a brass farthing for it, nor are likely to get aught save +smooth words and sometimes threats perhaps. How many layers, how many +folds had Hypocrisy laid over the face of Truth! He, promising greatness +to his love, while his lands were on the point of being sold; she, +promising him dower and beauty, while her beauty is but artificial, and +cancer is consuming both her dowry and her body." "Well, this teaches +us," said I, "never to judge by appearances." "Yes verily," said he, +"but come on and I will show thee more." + +At the word he transported me up to where the churches of the City of +Destruction were; for everyone therein, even the unbelieving, has a +semblance of religion. And it was to the temple of the unbelievers that +we first came, and there I saw some worshipping a human form, others the +sun, the moon and a countless other like gods down to onions and garlic; +and a great goddess called Deceit was universally worshipped. However, +there were some traces of the influence of Christianity to be found in +most of these religions. Thence we came to a congregation of mutes, +{24a} where there was nothing but sighing and quaking and beating the +breast. "Here," said the Angel, "is the appearance of great repentance +and humility, but which in reality is perversity, stubbornness, pride and +utter darkness; although they talk much about the light within, they have +not even the spectacles of nature which the heathen thou erstwhile saw, +possess." + +From these dumb dogs we chanced to turn into an immense, roofless church, +with thousands of shoes lying at the porch, whereby I learnt it was a +Turkish mosque. These had but very dark and misty spectacles called the +Koran; yet through these they gazed intently from the summit of their +church for their prophet, who falsely promised to return and visit them +long ago, but has left his promise unfulfilled. + +From thence we entered the Jewish synagogue--these too were unable to +flee from the City of Destruction, although they had grey-tinted +spectacles, for when they look a film comes over their eyes from want of +anointing them with that precious ointment--faith. + +Next we came to the Papists. "Here is the church that beguiles the +nations," exclaimed the Angel, "it was Hypocrisy that built this church +at her own cost. For the Papists encourage, yea, command men to break an +oath with a heretic even though sworn on the sacraments." From the +chancel we went through the keyholes, up to the top of a certain cell +which was full of candles, though it was broad daylight, and where we +could see a tonsured priest walking about as if expecting someone to come +to him; and ere long there comes a buxom matron, with a fair maid in her +wake, bending their knees before him to confess their sins. "My +spiritual father," said the good wife, "I have a burthen too heavy to +bear unless I obtain your mercy to lighten it: I married a member of the +Church of England!" "What!" cried the shorn-pate, "married a heretic! +wedded to an enemy? forgiveness can never be obtained!" At these words +she fainted, while he kept calling down imprecations upon her head. +"Woe's me, and what is worse," cried she when come to herself, "I killed +him!" "Oh ho! thou hast killed him? Well, that's something towards +gaining the reconciliation of the Church; I tell thee now, hadst thou not +slain him, thou wouldst never have obtained absolution nor purgatory, but +a straight gate and a leaden weight to the devil. But where's your +offering, you jade?" he demanded with a snarl. "Here," said she, handing +him a considerable bag of money. "Well," said he, "now I'll make your +reconciliation: your penance is to remain always a widow lest you should +make another bad bargain." When she was gone, the maiden also came +forward to make her confession. "Your pardon, father confessor," cried +she, "I conceived a child and slew it." "A fair deed, i'faith," said the +confessor, "and who might the father be?" "Indeed 'twas one of your +monks." "Hush, hush," he cried, "speak no ill of churchmen. {25a} What +satisfaction have you for the Church?" "Here it is," said she and handed +him a gold trinket. "You must repent, and your penance will be to watch +at my bedside to-night," he said with a leer. Hereupon four other +shavelings entered, dragging before the confessor a poor wretch, who came +about as willingly as he would to the gallows. "Here's for you a rogue," +cried one of the four, "who must do penance for disclosing the secrets of +the Catholic Church." "What!" exclaimed the confessor, looking towards a +dark cell near at hand: "but come, villain, confess what thou hast +said?" "Indeed," began the poor fellow, "a neighbour asked me whether I +had seen the souls that were groaning underneath the altar on All-souls' +day; and I said I had heard the voice, but had seen nothing." "So, +sirrah, come now, tell everything." "I said moreover," he continued, +"that I had heard that you were playing tricks on us unlettered hinds, +that, instead of souls, there was nothing but crabs making a row under +the carpet." "Oh, thou hell-hound! cursed knave!" cried the confessor, +"but, proceed, mastiff." "And that it was a wire that turned the image +of St. Peter, and that it was along a wire the Holy Ghost descended from +the roodloft upon the priest." "Thou heir of hell!" cried the shriver, +"Ho there, torturers, take him and cast him into that smoky chimney for +tale-bearing." "Well, this is the church Hypocrisy insists upon calling +the Catholic Church, and she avers that these only are saved," said the +Angel; "they once had the proper spectacles, but they cut the glass into +a thousand forms; they once had true faith, but they mixed that salve +with substances of their own, so that they see no better than the +unbelieving." + +Leaving the cell we came to a barn {26a} where someone was delivering a +mock sermon extempore, sometimes repeating the same thing thrice in +succession. "These," said the Angel, "have the right sort of spectacles +to see 'the things which belong unto their peace,' but there is wanting +in their ointment one of the most necessary ingredients, namely, perfect +love. People come hither for various reasons; some out of respect to +their elders, some from ignorance, and many for worldly gain. One would +think, looking at their faces, that they are on the point of choking, but +they will swallow frogs sooner than starve; for so does Princess +Hypocrisy teach those meeting in barns. + +"Pray tell," said I, "where may the Church of England be?" "Oh, it is +yonder in the upper city, forming a large part of the Catholic Church, +but there are in this city a few probationary churches belonging to the +Church of England, where the Welsh and English stay for a time on +probation, so that they may become fit to have their names enrolled as +members of the Catholic Church, and ever blessed be he who shall have his +name so enrolled. Yet, more's the pity, there are but few who befit +themselves for its citizenship. For too many, instead of looking +thitherwards, allow themselves to be blinded by the three princesses down +below; Hypocrisy too, keeps many with one eye on the upper city and the +other on the lower; yea, Hypocrisy is clever enough to beguile many who +have withstood the other enchantresses. Enter here, and thou shalt see +more," he said, and snatched me up into the roodloft in one of the Welsh +churches, when the people were at service; there we saw some busily +whispering, some laughing, some staring at pretty women, others prying +their neighbour's dress from top to toe; others, in eagerness for the +position due to their rank, keep shoving forward and showing their teeth +at one another, others dozing, others assiduous at their devotions, and +many of these too, dissimulating. "Thou hast not yet seen, nay, not even +among infidels shamelessness so barefaced and public as this," said the +Angel, "but so it is, I am sorry to say, there is no worse corruption +than the corruption of the best." {28a} Then they went to communion, and +everybody appeared fairly reverent before the altar; yet through my +friend's glass I could see one taking unto himself with the bread the +form of a mastiff, another, that of a mole, another, that of an eagle, a +pig or a winged serpent, and a few, ah, how few, received a ray of bright +light with the bread and wine. "There," he pointed out, "is a Roundhead, +who is going to be sheriff, and because the law calls upon a man to +receive the sacrament in the Church before taking office he has come here +rather than lose it, and although there are some here who rejoice on +seeing him, we have felt no joy at his conversion, because he has only +become converted for the occasion. Thus thou perceivest that Hypocrisy, +with exceeding boldness, approaches the altar in the presence of the God +that cannot be deceived. But though she wields great power in the City +of Destruction, she is of no avail in the City of Emmanuel beyond those +ramparts." + +Upon that we turned our faces from the great City of Destruction and +ascended towards the other city, which was considerably less; and on our +way we met several at the upper end of the streets who had made a move as +of turning away from the temptations of the gates of Destruction, and +making for the gate of life. But they either failed to find it or grew +weary on the way; very few went through--one man of rueful countenance, +ran in earnest while crowds on all sides derided him, some mocking, {28b} +some threatening him, and his kindred clinging to him, begging him not to +condemn himself to lose the whole world at one stroke. "I lose but a +small portion of it, and were I to lose all, what loss, I pray you, would +it be? For what is there in the world to be desired, unless it be +deceit, oppression and squalor, wickedness, folly and madness? +Contentment and rest is man's supreme happiness--this is not to be found +in your city. For who of you is content? {29a} 'Higher, higher,' is the +aim of all in the Street of Pride, 'More, more' cry all that dwell in the +Street of Lucre, 'Sweet, sweet, yet more' is the voice of everybody in +the Street of Pleasure. And as for rest, where is it, and who hath +obtained it? If a man is of high degree, adulation and envy almost kill +him; if poor, everybody is ready to trample and despise him. If one +would prosper, he must set his mind upon being an intriguer; if one would +gain respect, let him be a boaster or braggart; if one would be godly, +and attend church and approach the altar, he is dubbed a hypocrite, if he +abstain from doing so, he becomes at once an antichrist or a heretic; if +he is light-hearted, he is called a scoffer, if silent, a morose cur; if +he practises honesty, he is but a good-for-nothing fool; if well dressed, +he is proud, if not, he is a pig; if gentle of speech, he is double-faced +and a rogue, whom none can fathom; if rough, he is an arrogant and +froward devil. This is the world you make so much of, and pray you take +my share of it and welcome," and at the word he shook himself free of +them all, and away he sped boldly to the narrow gate, and spite of all, +pushing onwards he entered, and we too at his heels. Upon the +battlements on either side of the gate were many men dressed in black, +encouraging the man and applauding him. "Who are those in black up +yonder?" I asked. "They are the watchmen of King Emmanuel," answered he, +"who in their sovereign's name invite men hither and help them through +the gate." + +By this we were at the gate: it was very low and narrow, and mean, +compared with the lower gates; around the door the Ten Commandments were +graven--the first table on the right hand and above it, "Thou shalt love +God with all thy heart," and above the other table on the left, "Thou +shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," and above the whole "Love not the +world neither the things that are in the world." I had not been looking +on long before the watchmen began calling in a loud voice upon the +condemned men: "Flee, flee for your lives!" But it was few that gave +any heed at all to them, though some enquired, "What are we to flee +from?" "From the prince of this world, who ruleth in the children of +disobedience; from the corruption that is in the world through the lust +of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; from the +wrath that is coming upon you." "What is your beloved city? " cried a +watchman, "but a huge charred roof over the mouth of hell, and were ye +here ye should see the conflagration beyond your walls ready to burst in +and consume you even unto the bottomless pit." Some mocked, others, +menacing, bade them have done with their wicked nonsense; yet one here +and there would ask, "Whither shall we flee?" "Hither," answered the +watchmen, "flee hither to your rightful king, who through us still offers +you reconciliation, if ye return to your allegiance, and leave that rebel +Belial and his bewitching daughters. However fair they appear, it is all +sham; Belial is but a very poor prince at home; he has nought but you as +faggots for the fire and for food, both roast and boiled, and never will +ye suffice him; never will his hunger be appeased or your pain cease. +Who would ever in a moment of madness enter the service of such a +malignant slaughterer, and suffer eternal torments, when he might live +well under a king who is merciful and kind to his subjects, and who hath +never done them aught but good on all sides, and kept them from Belial, +so that in the end he might give to each one a kingdom in the realm of +light. Oh, ye fools, will ye have that terrible foe, whose lips are +parched with thirst for your blood, and reject the compassionate prince +who hath given his own blood to save you?" Yet these reasons which would +melt the rock seemed to have no good effect upon them, and chiefly +because few had the time to listen to them, the others were too intently +gazing at the gates; and of those listening, very few reflected thereon, +and of these again, many soon forgot them; some would not believe they +served Belial, others would not have it that this untrodden little hole +was the gate of Life, and that the other bright portals, and this castle, +were a delusion to prevent them seeing their doom before coming face to +face with it. + +Just then, behold a troop of people from the Street of Pride, knocking +boldly enough at the gate; but they were all so stiff-necked that they +could never enter a place so low without soiling their periwigs and +horns, so they sulkily retraced their steps. In their wake there came up +a group from the Street of Lucre: "And is this the Gate of Life?" asked +one; "Yea," said the watchman overhead. "What must be done to enter?" he +enquired. "Read what is inscribed above the doorway and ye shall know." +The miser read the Ten Commandments through: "Who will say that I have +broken one of these?" he exclaimed. But when he looked up, and saw the +words, "Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world," he was +amazed, and could not swallow that hard saying. There was one, green- +eyed and envious, who turned back when he read: "Thou shalt love thy +neighbour as thyself." There was a gossip and a slanderer who became +dazed on reading: "Thou shalt not bear false witness." When he read, +"Thou shalt not kill," "This is not the place for me" quoth the +physician. In short, everybody saw something which troubled him, and so +they all returned together to consider the matter. I saw no one yet come +back who had conned his lesson; they had so many bags and scripts tightly +bound to them, that they could never have got through such a narrow +needle's eye, even if they had tried to. After that a drove from the +Street of Pleasure walked up to the gate. "Where, pray, does this road +lead to?" asked one of the watchmen. "This," answered he, "is the way +that leads to eternal joy and happiness." Whereupon all strove to enter, +but failed, for some were too stout to pass through such a strait +opening; others too weak to struggle, being enfeebled through debauchery. +"Oh, ye must not attempt to take your baubles with you," said the +watchman, observing them; "ye must leave behind your pots and dishes, +your minions, and all other things, and then hasten on." "How shall we +live?" asked the fiddler, who would have been through long since but that +he feared to smash his fiddle. "Ye must trust the king's promise to send +after you as many of these things as will do you good," said the +watchman. This made them all prick their ears, "Oh, oh!" said one, "a +bird in hand is worth two in the bush," and at that they with one accord +turned back. + +"Let us enter then," said the Angel, and drew me in; and there in the +porch I first of all perceived a large baptismal font, and hard by, a +well of salt water. "What is this doing in the middle of the road?" I +asked. "Because everybody must wash therein before obtaining citizenship +in the Court of Emmanuel; it is called the well of repentance." Overhead +I could see inscribed "This is the gate of the Lord." The gateway, and +street also, widened and became less steep as we went on, and after +proceeding a short distance I heard a voice behind me slowly saying, +"That is the way, walk ye in it." The street trended upwards, but was +very clean and straight, and though the houses there were not so lofty as +those in the City of Destruction, they were fairer to behold; if there +was less wealth, there was also less dissension and care; if the choice +dishes were fewer, pain was more rare; if there was less turmoil, there +was less grief and more undoubtedly of true joy. I wondered at the +silence and sweet tranquility there, when thinking of what was going on +below. Instead of the cursing and swearing, the scoffing, debauchery and +drunkenness, instead of the pride and vanity, the torpitude of one +quarter and the violence of another, yea, for all the bustle and the +pomp, the hurly-burly and the brawl which there unceasingly bewildered +men, and for the innumerable and unvarying sins, there was nothing to be +seen here but sobriety, kindness and cheerfulness, peace and +thankfulness, compassion, innocence and contentment stamped upon the face +of every man, except where one or two silently wept, grieving that they +had tarried so long in the enemy's city. There was no hatred or anger, +except towards sin, and this was certain to be overcome; no fear, but of +displeasing their king, who was more ready to be reconciled than to be +angry with his subjects; no sound, but that of psalms of praise to their +Saviour. By this we had come in sight of an exceedingly fine building, +oh, so magnificent! No one in the City of Destruction, neither the Turk +nor the Mogul nor any one else, has anything equal to it. "This is the +Catholic Church," said the Angel. "Is it here Emmanuel holds his court?" +asked I. "Yes, this is the only royal court he has on earth." "Are +there many crowned heads beneath his sway?" "A few--thy queen, some of +the princes of Scandinavia and Germany, and a few other petty princes." +"What is that compared with those over whom great Belial rules--emperors +and kings without number?" "For all that," said the Angel, "not one of +them can move a finger without Emmanuel's permission--no, not even Belial +himself. For Emmanuel is his rightful liege too, only that he rebelled, +and was in consequence bound in chains to all eternity; although he is +still allowed for a short period to visit the City of Destruction where +he entices all he can into like rebellion, and to bear a share of his +punishment; and though he well knows that by so doing he increases his +own penalty, {34a} yet malice and envy urge him on whenever he has a +pretext, and so much does he love evil that he seeks to destroy this city +and this edifice, although he knows of yore that its Saviour is +invincible." + +"Prithee, my lord," said I, "may we approach so as to obtain a better +view of this magnificent royal court (for my heart waxed warm towards the +place since first I had beheld it). "Oh yes, easily," answered the +Angel, "for therein is my place, my duty and my work." The nearer I came +thereto the more I wondered at the height, strength, splendour, grandeur, +and beauty of its every part, how skilful the work was, and how apt the +materials. Its base was an enormous rock wondrously fashioned, and of +strength impregnable; upon it were living stones, laid and joined in such +perfect order that no stone could possibly appear finer elsewhere than in +its own place. One part of the church projected in the form of a +wonderfully handsome cross, and the Angel saw me looking at it, and said, +"Dost thou recognise that part?" I knew not what to answer. "That is +the Church of England," he said. I was somewhat startled, and looking up +beheld Queen Anne on the church-top enthroned, with a sword in each hand- +-the one in the left called "Justice," to defend her subjects against the +inhabitants of the City of Destruction, the one in the right, to preserve +them from Belial and his spiritual evils, and this was called "the sword +of the Spirit," or the Word of God. Beneath the left sword lay the +statute book of England, and beneath the other, a big Bible. The sword +of the Spirit was fiery, and of immense length, and would kill further +away than the other would touch. I could see the other princes with like +arms defending their part of the church, but I deemed mine own queen +fairest of all, and her arms the brightest. At her right hand I observed +throngs clad in black--archbishops, bishops, and learned men upholding +with her the sword of the Spirit, while soldiers and officials, with a +few lawyers, supported the other sword. I was allowed to rest awhile, by +one of the magnificent doors where people came in to obtain membership in +the Universal Church, and whereat a tall angel was doorkeeper. The +interior of the church was lit up so brilliantly that Hypocrisy dared not +show her face therein, and though sometimes she appeared at the threshold +she never entered. Just as I saw, in the space of a quarter of an hour, +a Papist, who thought that the Catholic Church belonged to the Pope, came +and claimed its freedom. "What have you to prove your right?" demanded +the porter. "I have plenty of the traditions of the fathers, and of +councils of the church," he answered, "but what need I more certain than +the word of the Pope, who sits in the infallible chair?" Then the +doorkeeper opened a huge Bible--a load in itself; "This," said he, "is +our only statute book--prove your right from this or go." And he +straightway departed. + +Then came a flock of Quakers, who wished to enter with their hats on, but +were turned away for being so ill-mannered. After them some of the barn- +folk, who had been there only a short while, began to speak: "We have +the same statute book as ye have," they averred, "and therefore show us +our privileged place." "Stay," said the bright porter, steadfastly +gazing on their foreheads, "I will show you something: see yon mark of +the rent ye made in the church when leaving it without cause or reason? +And would ye now have a place therein? Get ye back to the narrow gate, +and wash thoroughly in the well of repentance, to see if ye will reach +some of the royal blood ye erstwhile drank {36a} and bring some of the +water of that well to moisten the clay, so as to make up yonder rent and +then ye are welcome." + +Before we had gone a rood westward I heard a noise coming from above, +from among the princes, and everybody, great and small, was taking up +arms and donning his armour as if for war, and ere I had time to cast +about me for a refuge, the whole sky became black, and the city darker +than when an eclipse befalls; the thunder roared, the lightning flashed +to and fro, and ceaseless showers of deadly shafts were directed from the +lower gates against the Catholic Church, and had there not been in each +man's hand a shield to receive the fiery darts, and had the foundation +rock not been so strong that nothing could ever harm it, we all would +have become one burning mass. But alack, this was but a prologue or +foretaste of what was to follow; for suddenly the darkness became +sevenfold more intense, and Belial himself advanced in the densest cloud, +and around him his chief officers both earthly and infernal, ready to +receive and accomplish his behest at their several posts. He had +entrusted the Pope and his other son of France {37a} with the destruction +of the Church of England and its queen; the Turks and Muscovites were to +strike at the other sections of the Church, and slay the people, and +especially the queen and the other princes, and above all to burn the +Bible. The first thing the queen and the other saints did was to bend +the knee and tell of their wrongs to the King of Kings in these words: +"The stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, oh +Emmanuel." And immediately a voice replied: "Resist the devil and he +will flee from you." And then commenced the greatest and most terrible +conflict that ever took place on earth. When the sword of the Spirit +began to be whirled round, Belial and his infernal hosts began to +retreat; then the Pope began to waver, while the King of France still +held out, though he too was almost giving up heart, seeing the queen and +her subjects so united, while he himself was losing ships and men on the +one hand, and on the other many of his subjects were in open revolt; and +the onslaught of the Turk also was becoming less fierce. Just then, +woe's me, I saw my beloved companion shooting away from me into the +welkin to join a myriad other bright princes. Thereupon the Pope and the +other earthly commanders began to slink off and become prostrate through +fear, and the infernal princes to fall by the thousands. The noise of +each one falling seemed to me as if a great mountain fell into the depths +of the sea, and between this noise and the agitation on losing my friend, +I awoke from sleep, and returned to this oppressive sod, most +unwillingly, so pleasant and enjoyable it was to be a free spirit, and +above all to be in such company, notwithstanding the great danger I was +in. Now I had no one to comfort me save the Muse, and she was rather +moody--scarcely could I get her to bray out these lines that follow:- + + + Behold this wondrous edifice, + Both heaven and earth comprising, + The universe and all that is + At God's command arising - +This world, with ramparts wide from pole to pole, + Down from its starry, brilliant dome, +E'en to the depths where angry billows roll, + And beasts that through the forest roam - + All things that sea and sky afford, + Thy faithful subjects eke to be; + A lesser heaven, a home for thee + Oh! man, creation's lord. + + But once that thou desired to know + The ways of sin, seductive, + The hellish tempter, to our woe, + Became a power destructive; +He cursed our earth and ruin brought on all, + Yea, very nature felt the bane - +Its blighted walls now totter to their fall, + And soon disorder rules again. + This earthly palace then at last, + Unroofed, dismantled and decayed, + A hideous, barren waste is laid + By desolation's blast. + + Behold oh, man! this glorious place + In the empyrean hovering + While all is but a treach'rous face + Foul swamps and quagmires covering. +Thy sin, that whelmed this earth in days of yore, + Shall draw upon it quenchless fire +With flaming torrents wildly rushing o'er - + A prey to conflagration dire; + If thou wouldst 'scape this dreadful fate, + I pray thee counsel take from me, + To Mercy's city straightway flee + For life within its gate. + + Behold that city's peerless might + Withstanding all oppression - + Then flee thereto in thy sad plight, + Be free from sin's possession. +Behold thy refuge in this dreary land + Where all may find true, peaceful rest, +A rock, impregnable on every hand, + Where perfect love reigns ever blest; + We sinful men, the way must search, + And there in faith for pardon pray, + And live a blissful, tranquil day + Within the Holy Church. + + + +II.--THE VISION OF DEATH IN HIS NETHERMOST COURT + + + +One long, cold, and dark winter's night, when one-eye'd Phoebus well nigh +had reached his utmost limit in the south and, from afar, lowered upon +Great Britain and all the Northern land, and when it was much warmer in +the kitchen of Glyn Cywarch {43a} than at the top of Cader Idris, and +better in a cosy room with a warm bedfellow than in a shroud in the +lychgate, I was meditating upon a talk I had had by the fireside with a +neighbour concerning the brevity of human life, and how certain it was +that death would come to all, and yet how uncertain its coming. Thus +engaged, I had just lain down, and was half-asleep, when I felt a heavy +weight stealthily creeping over me, from head to heel, so that I could +not move a finger--my tongue only was unbound. I perceived, methought, a +man upon my chest, and above him, a woman. After eyeing him carefully I +recognised by his strong odours, dewy locks and blear eyes, that the man +was no other than my good Master Sleep. "I pray you, sir," cried I, +squeaking, "what have I done to you that you bring that witch here to +torment me?" "Hush," said he, "it is only my sister Nightmare; we twain +are going to pay our brother Death {43b} a visit, and want a third to +accompany us, and lest thou shouldst resist we came upon thee, just as he +does, unawares. Consequently come thou must, willy-nilly." "Alas," I +cried, "must I die?" "Nay," said Nightmare, "we will spare thee this +time." "But an't please you," said I, "your brother Death has never +spared anyone yet who came beneath his stroke--he who wrestled with the +Lord of Life himself, though it was little he gained by that contest." +Nightmare, at that word, rose up angrily and departed. "Come along," +cried Sleep, "thou wilt never repent of thy journey." "Well," said I, +"may there never be night in Sleepton, and may Nightmare never have rest +save on an awl's point if ye bring me not back where ye found me." + +Then away we went over hills and through forests, across seas and +valleys, over castles and towers, rivers and rocks, and where should we +alight but at one of the gates of the daughters of Belial, at the rear of +the City of Destruction, where I noticed that the three gateways of +Destruction contracted into one at the back, and opened upon the same +place--a murky, vaporous, pestilent place, full of noisome mists, and +terrible lowering clouds. "Prithee, good sir," asked I, "what place be +this?" "The chambers of Death," replied Sleep. And no sooner had I +asked than I could hear some wailing, groaning, and sighing; some +deliriously muttering to themselves or feebly moaning, others in great +travail, and with all the signs of man's departure from life; and, now +and then, would one give a long-drawn gasp, and lapse into silence. At +that moment, I heard a key being turned in a lock, and at the noise I +looked around for the door, and gazing steadfastly, perceived thousands +upon thousands of doors, seemingly afar off but really close at hand. +"Please, Master Sleep, where do these doors open upon?" asked I. "Upon +the land of Oblivion," was the answer, "an extensive domain {44a} under +the sceptre of my brother Death, and this great rampart is the boundary +of vast Eternity." By this I could see that there was a little death-imp +at every door, each one bearing arms, and a name different from that of +his fellows; though it was evident that they, one and all, were the +ministers of the same king. Nevertheless they were continually +quarrelling about the sick; one would snatch the patient to take him as a +gift through his own door, while another strove to take him through his. + +On our approach, I observed that over each door the name of the Death who +kept it was written, and also that at each door were an hundred various +things left all of a heap, showing plainly that those who went through +were in haste. Over one door I saw "Hunger," and yet on the floor close +by were full purses, and bags, and brass-nailed trunks. "This is the +Porch of Misers," said Sleep. "Whom do those rags belong to?" "To the +misers, mostly," he replied, "but there are some which belong to idlers, +gossipmongers and others, who, poor in everything except in spirit, +preferred to die of hunger rather than ask for help." Next door was +Death-by-Cold, and when I came opposite him I could hear much shuddering +and shivering, and at his door, were many books, pots and flagons, a few +sticks and bludgeons, compasses, cords and ship's tackle. "Scholars have +gone this way," said I. "Yea, lonely and helpless, far from the succour +of those who loved them, their very garments stolen from them. Those," +he continued, pointing to the pots, "are relics of the boon companions, +whose feet were benumbed under the benches, while their heads were +seething in drink and noise; those things over there belonged to those +who journeyed amid snow-clad mountains, and to North Sea traders." The +next was a lanky skeleton called Fear-Death--so transparent you could see +he had no heart; at his door, too, there were bags and chests, bars and +strongholds. Through this one went userers and traitors, oppressors and +murderers, though many of these last called at the next door, at which +was a Death named Gallows, with a rope ready round his neck. Next to him +was Love-Death, and at his feet thousands of musical instruments and +song-books, love-letters, spots and pigments to beautify the face, and +hundreds of tinselled toys for the same purpose, together with a few +swords: "With these rivals have fought duels for their mistresses, and +some have killed themselves," said Sleep. I could see that this Death +was sandblind. At the next door was a Death whose colour was worst of +all, and whose liver was entirely gone--his name was Envy. "This is the +Death," said Sleep, "which brings hither those who have lost money, +slanderers, and a rideress or two, who are jealous of the law which +demands that a wife should submit herself unto her husband." "Pray, sir, +what is a rideress?" "A rideress is a woman who will over-ride her +husband, her neighbourhood, and the whole country if she can, and by dint +of long riding, at last, rides a devil from that door down to the +bottomless pit." Next was the door of Ambition-Death for those who hold +their heads high, and break their necks, for want of looking on the +ground they tread on; at this door lay crowns, sceptres, standards, +petitions for offices, and all manner of arms of heraldry and war. + +But before I had time to notice any more of these innumerable doors, I +heard a voice bidding me by name to be dissolved, and at the word I felt +myself beginning to melt like a snowball in the heat of the sun; then my +master gave me a sleeping draught, so that I slumbered; and when I awoke, +he had taken me by some road or other far away on the other side of the +castle. I perceived myself in a pitch-dark vale of infinite radius, +methought, and shortly, I saw by a few bluish lights, like the flickering +flame of a candle, countless, ah! countless shades of men, some afoot and +some on horseback, rushing back and fro like the wind, in awful silence +and solemnity; the land was barren, bleak and blasted, without either +grass or hay, trees or animals, save deadly beasts and poisonous vermin +of every kind--serpents, snakes, lice, frogs, worms, locusts, gids and +all such that exist on man's corruption. Through a myriad shades and +reptiles, graves, churchyards and tombs, we made our way to view the land +unmolested, until I happened to see some turning round and looking at me; +in an instant, notwithstanding the prevailing silence, a whisper passed +from one to another that there was a man from earth there. "A man from +earth!" cried one, "a man from earth," exclaimed another, while they +crowded round me, like caterpillars, from every quarter. "Which way came +you, sirrah?" asked a morkin of a death-imp. "Indeed, sir," said I, "I +know not any more than you do." "What is your name?" he asked. "Call me +here in your own country what ye will, but at home I am called the +Sleeping Bard." + +At that word I could see an ancient mannikin, bent double, head to feet, +like a bramble, straightening himself, and looking at me more malignantly +than the red devil, and without a word he hurled a big skull at my head, +but, thanks to a sheltering tombstone, missed me. "Truce, sir, I pray +you," cried I, "to a stranger who was never here before, and will never +come again, could I but once find the way home." "I'll make you remember +you've been here," quoth he, and, again setting upon me with a thighbone, +he beat me most unmercifully, while I dodged about as best as I could. +"Ho ho!" I cried, "this country is very unmannerly towards strangers; is +there no justice of the peace here?" "Peace, indeed," said he, "thou, +surely, hast no right to sue for peace, who disturbest the dead in their +graves." "Pray, sir, might I know your name, for I wot not that I have +ever molested anyone from this country?" "Sirrah!" cried he, "know then +that I, and not you, am the Sleeping Bard, and have been left in peace +these nine centuries by all but you," and again he set upon me. +"Withhold, brother," said Merlin {48a} who stood near, "be not too hasty; +thank him rather for that he hath kept your name in respected memory on +earth." "In great respect, forsooth," quoth he, "by such a blockhead as +this. Are you, sirrah, versed in the four and twenty metres? Can you +trace the line of Gog and Magog and of Brutus son of Silvius {48b} down +to a century before the destruction of Troy? Can you prophesy when, and +how the wars between the lion and the eagle, and between the stag and the +red deer will end? Can you?" "Ho there! let me ask him a question," +said another who stood by a huge seething cauldron, {48c} "draw near, and +tell me the meaning of this:- + + +"Upon the face of earth I'll be + "Until the judgment day, +"And whether I be fish or flesh + "No man can ever say." {48d} + + +"I would know your name, sir," said I, "so that I might the more +befittingly give answer." "I am Taliesin, Chief of the Western Bards, +{48e} and those are lines from my mystery-song." "I know not what your +meaning may be, if it be not the yellow plague which destroyed Maelgwn +Gwynedd, {49a} slew you upon the sea, and divided you between the ravens +and fishes." "Tush, you fool," cried he, "I was foretelling of my two +callings--as lawyer and poet--and which sayest thou now bears greatest +resemblance, whether a lawyer to a raven, or a poet to a whale? How many +will a single lawyer lay bare of flesh to swell his own paunch, and oh! +so callously doth he shed blood and leave the man half dead! The poet, +too, what fish can gulp as much as he? And though he hath always a sea +round him, not all the ocean can quench his thirst. And when a man is +both a poet and a lawyer, who can tell whether he is fish or flesh, and +especially if he be a courtier as well, as I was, and had to change his +taste with every mouth. But tell me, are there many of these folk now on +earth?" "Yes, plenty," answered I, "if a man can patch together any sort +of metre, straightway he becomes a chaired bard. And of the others, +there is such a plague of barristers, petty lawyers, and clerks that the +locusts of Egypt preyed less heavily on the country than they. In your +time, sir, there were only roadside bargains and a hands-breadth of +writing on the purchase of a hundred pound farm, and a cairn or an +Arthur's quoit {49b} raised as a memorial of the purchase and boundaries. +People have not the courage to do so nowadays, but more cunning, knavery, +and written parchment, wide as a cromlech, is necessary to bind the +bargain, and for all that it would be strange if no flaw existed or were +contrived therein." "Well, well," said Taliesin, "I would not be worth a +straw there, I may as well be here; truth will never be found where there +are many bards, nor justice where many lawyers, until health be found +where there be many doctors." + +Upon this a grey-haired, writhled shrimp, who had heard of the presence +of an earthly man, came and fell at my feet, weeping profusely. "Alack, +poor fellow," cried I, "what art thou?" "One who suffers too much wrong +on earth day by day," he replied, "and your soul must obtain me justice." +"What is thy name?" I enquired. "I am called Someone," was the answer, +"and there is no love-message, slander, lie, or tale to breed quarrels, +but that I am blamed for most of them. 'In sooth,' said one, 'she is an +excellent wench, and has spoken highly of you to Someone, although +someone great was seeking her.' 'I heard Someone,' said another, +'reckoning a debt of nine hundred pounds on such and such an estate.' 'I +saw Someone yesterday,' said the beggar, 'with a mottled neckerchief, +like a sailor, who had come with a grain vessel to the next port;' and so +every rag and tag mauls me to suit his own evil purpose. Some call me +'Friend.' 'A friend told me,' saith one, 'that so and so does not intend +leaving a single farthing to his wife, and that there is no love lost +between them.' Others further disgrace me and call me a crow: 'a crow +tell me there is some trickery going on,' they say. Yea, some call me by +a more honoured name--Old Man, and yet not a half of the omens, +prophecies, and cures attributed to me are really mine. I never +counselled walking the old way if the new were better, and I never +intended forbidding men to church by saying: 'Frequent not the place +where thou art most welcome,' and a hundred such. But Someone is the +name generally given me, and most often heard of when anything uncommonly +bad happens; for if you ask one where that scandalous lie was told and +who told it. 'Indeed,' he will say, 'I know not, but Someone in the +company said it,' and if you enquire of all the company concerning the +story, all have heard it of Someone, but no one knows of whom. Is it not +a shameful wrong?" he cried, "I beg of you to inform everybody who names +me that I uttered nought of such things. I never invented or repeated a +lie to disgrace anyone, nor a single tale to cause kinsmen to fly at each +other's throats; I do not come near them; I know nothing of their +scandal, or business, or accursed secrets--they must not charge me with +their evils, but their own corrupt brains." + +Hereupon a little Death, one of the King's secretaries, asked me my name, +and bade Master Sleep carry me at once into the King's presence. I had +to go, though most unwilling, by reason of the power that took me up like +a whirlwind, 'twixt high and low, thousands of miles back on our left, +till we came, a second time, in sight of the boundary wall, and in an +enclosed corner we could see a vast palace, roofless and in ruins, +extending to the wall wherein were the countless doors, all of which led +to this terrible court. Its walls were built of human skulls with +hideous, grinning teeth; the clay was black with mingled tears and sweat, +the lime ruddy with gore. On the summit of each tower stood a Deathling, +with a quivering heart on the point of his shaft. Around the court were +a few trees--a poisonous yew or twain, or a deadly cypress, and in these +owls, ravens, vampires and the like, make their nests, and cry +unceasingly for flesh, although the whole place is but one vast, putrid +shamble. The pillars of the hall were made of thighbones, and those of +the parlour of shinbones, while the floors were formed of layer upon +layer of all manner of charnel. + +I had not to wait a longwhile ere I came in view of a tremendous altar, +where we could see the King of Terrors devouring human flesh and blood, +while a thousand impish deaths, from every hole, were continually feeding +him with warm, fresh meat. "Here is a rogue," said the Death that led me +thither, "whom I found in the midst of the land of Oblivion, having +approached so light-footed that your majesty never tasted a bite of him," +"How can that be?" demanded the king, opening his jaws, wide as a chasm, +to swallow me. Whereupon I turned trembling to Sleep. "It was I who +brought him hither," said he. "Well then, for my brother Sleep's sake," +said the awful and lanky monarch, "you can retrace your steps for the +nonce; but beware of me the next time." Having been for some time +cramming his gluttonous maw with carrion, he caused his subjects to be +called together, and moved from the altar to a very lofty and dreadful +throne, to adjudge newly-arrived prisoners. In an instant, lo! the dead +in countless multitudes paid homage to the king, and took their places in +wonderful array. King Death was in his regal robe of brilliant scarlet, +whereon depicted were wives and children weeping and husbands sighing; on +his head a dark-red, three-cornered cap, a gift his cousin Lucifer had +sent him, on the corners of which were written Grief, Sorrow, and Woe. +Above his head were a myriad pictures of battles on land and sea, of +towns aflame, of the earth yawning, and of the waters of the deluge; the +ground beneath his feet was nought else than the crowns and sceptres of +all the kings he had ever conquered. At his right hand sat Fate with a +morose and scowling visage, reading an enormous tome that lay before him; +at his left, was an old man called Time, warping innumerable threads of +gold, silver, copper, and many of iron--some threads were growing better +towards the end, a myriad worse; along the threads were marked hours, +days and years, and Fate, at his book, cut the thread of life and opened +the doors in the boundary wall between the two worlds. + +I had not been looking about me long, when I heard four fiddlers, just +dead, summoned to the bar. "How is it," asked the King of Terrors, "that +ye, who are so found of joy, did not stay on yonder side of the chasm? +For on this side joy never existed." "We have done no man ever any +hurt," said one of the minstrels, "but on the contrary have made them +merry, and quietly took whatever was given us for our pains." "Have ye +caused no one," said Death, "to lose time from his work, or to absent +himself from church, eh?" "No," replied another, "unless we were some +Sundays after service in an inn till the morrow, or in summer time on the +village green, and indeed we had a better and more beloved congregation +than the parson." "Away, with them to the land of Oblivion," cried the +terrible king, "bind the four, back to back, and pitch them to their +partners, to dance barefoot on glowing hearths, and scrape their fiddles +for ever without praise or pay." + +The next to come to the bar was a king from near Rome. "Raise thy hand, +caitiff," bade one of the officers. "I hope," said he, "ye have somewhat +better manners and favor for a king." "Sirrah, you too," said Death, +"ought to have kept on the other side of the gulf where everybody is +king; but know that, on this side, there are none besides myself and +another, who dwelleth down below, and you shall see that that king and +myself will set no value upon the degree of your greatness, but rather +upon the degree of your wickedness, and so make your punishment +proportionate to your crimes; therefore give answer to the questions." +"Sir, allow me to tell you that you have no authority to arrest and +examine me," said he, "I hold a pardon under the Pope's own hand for all +my sins. Because I served him faithfully, he gave me a dispensation to +go straight to Paradise, without a moment's stay in Purgatory." At that +the king, and all the lean jaws, gave a dismal grin in imitation of +laughter, and the other, angered at their laughing, ordered them to show +him the way. "Silence, lost fool!" cried Death, "Purgatory lies behind +thee, on the other side of the wall, for it was in life thou hadst ought +to have purified thyself, and Paradise is on the right, beyond that +chasm. Now there is no way of escape for thee, neither across this abyss +to Paradise, nor through the boundary wall back to earth; for wert thou +to give thy kingdom--though thou hast not a ha'penny to give--the warder +of those doors would not let thee look once, even through the keyhole. +This is called the irremeable wall, for once it is passed there is no +hope of return. But since you are so high in the Pope's favor, {54a} you +shall go and get his bed ready with his predecessor, and there you may +kiss his toe for ever, and he, the toe of Lucifer." At the word, four +death-imps raised him up, now trembling like an aspen leaf, and snatched +him away out of sight, with the speed of lightning. + +Next after him, came a man and woman; he had been a boon companion, and +she a kind and lavish maid, but there they were called by their plain, +unvarnished names, a drunkard and a harlot. "I hope," said the drunkard, +"I may obtain some favor in your eyes, for I despatched hither on a flood +of good ale many a fatted prey, and when I failed to slay others, I +willingly came myself to feed you." "By the court's leave," said the +minion, "not half so many as I have despatched to you as a burnt offering +ready for table." "Ha, ha," exclaimed Death, "it was to feed your own +accursed lusts, and not me, that all this was done. Let them be bound +together and hurled into the land of darkness." And so they too were +hurried away headlong. + +Next to them came seven recorders, who, on being bidden to raise their +hands {55a} to the bar, pretended not to hear the command, for their +palms were so thickly greased. One of them, bolder than the rest, began +to argue, "We ought to have had fair citation, in order to prepare our +reply, instead of being attacked unawares." "Oh, we are not bound to +give you any particular notice," said Death, "because ye have, +everywhere, and everywhile throughout your lives, warning of my advent. +How many sermons on the mortality of man have ye heard? How many books, +how many graves, knells and fevers, how many messages and signs, have ye +seen? What is your Sleep but my brother? Your heads but my image? Your +daily food but dead creatures? Seek not to lay the blame of your ill hap +on my shoulders--ye would not hear of the summons, although ye had it an +hundred times." "Pray what have you against us?" asked one ruddy +recorder. "What indeed?" exclaimed Death, "the drinking the sweat and +blood of the poor, and the doubling your fees." "Here is an honest man," +he said, pointing to a wrangler behind them, "who knows I never did aught +but what was fair, and it is not fair in you to detain us here, seeing +you have no specific charge to prove against us." "Ha, ha!" cried Death, +"ye shall bring proof against yourselves; place them on the verge of the +precipice before the throne of Justice; there they will obtain justice, +though they practised it not." + +There were yet seven other prisoners, who kept up such commotion and +clamour--some blandishing, gnashing the teeth and uttering threats, +others giving advice and so on. Scarcely had they been summoned to the +bar than the whole court darkened sevenfold more hideously than before, a +murmuring and great confusion arose around the throne, and Death became +more livid than ever. Upon enquiry it seemed that one of Lucifer's +envoys had arrived, bearing a letter to Death, concerning these seven +prisoners; and shortly, Fate called for silence to read the letter which, +as far as I can recollect, was as follows:- + + +"LUCIFER, King of the Kings of Earth, Prince of Perdition and Archruler +of the Deep, To our natural son, mightiest and most terrible King Death, +greeting, wishing you supremacy and booty without end: + + +"Whereas some of our swift messengers, who are always out espying, have +informed us that there lately came into your royal court seven prisoners +of the seven most worthless and dangerous species in the world, and that +you are about to hurl them over the precipice into my realm: our advice +is, that you endeavour, by every possible way, to let them return to the +earth; there they will be more serviceable--to you, in the matter of +food, to me, for supplying better company. We had too much trouble with +their partners in days gone by, and our kingdom is, even now, unsettled. +Wherefore, turn them back or retain them yourself; for, by the infernal +crown, if thou cast them hither, I will undermine the foundations of thy +kingdom, until it fall and become one with mine own great realm. + +"From our Court, on the miry Swamp in the glowing Evildom, in the year of +our reign, 5425." + + +King Death, his visage green and livid, stood for a time undecided. But +while he was meditating, Fate turned upon him such a grim frown that he +trembled. "Sire," said Fate, "consider well what you are about to do. I +dare not allow anyone to repass the bounds of Eternity--the +insurmountable ramparts, nor deign you harbour any here, wherefore, send +them on to their doom, spite of the great Evil One. He has been able to +array in a moment many a haul of a thousand or ten thousand souls, and +allot each one his place, and what difficulty will he have with these +seven now, however dangerous they may be? Whatever happen, even if they +overturn the infernal government, send them thither instantly, lest I be +commanded to crush thee to untimely nothingness. As for his menaces, +they are false, and although thy doom, and that of yon ancient (looking +at Time), are not many pages hence, yet, thou need have no fear of +sinking down to Lucifer, for however glad everybody there would be to +have thee, they never will; for the eternal rocks of steel and adamant, +which roof Hell, are somewhat too firm to be shattered." Whereupon +Death, in great agitation, called for someone to indite thus his reply:- + + +"DEATH, King of Terrors, Conqueror of Conquerors, To our most revered +kinsman and neighbour, Lucifer, Monarch of the Endless Night, and Emperor +of the Sheer Vortex, Salutation: + + +"After giving earnest thought to this your royal wish, it seemeth to us +more advantageous, not only to our state, but also to your vast realm, +that these prisoners be sent to the furthest point possible from the +portals of the impervious wall, left their putrid odour should so terrify +the entire City pf Destruction that no one would ever enter Eternity from +that side of the gulf, and I, in consequence, would be unable to cool my +sting, and you should have no commerce betwixt earth and hell. But I +leave you to judge them, and to cast them into the cells you deem most +secure and befitting. + +"From our Lower Court in the Great Tollgate of Destruction: from the +year of the restoration of my Kingdom, 1670." + + +After hearing all this, I was itching to know what manner of folk these +seven might be, seeing that the devils themselves feared them so much. +But ere long, the Clerk to the Crown calls them by name, as follows: +"Mister Busybody, alias Finger-in-every-pie." This fellow was so fussily +and busily directing the others, that he had no leisure to answer to his +name until Death threatened to sunder him with his dart. Then, "Mr. +Slanderer, alias Foe-of-Good-Fame," was called, but no response came. +"He is rather bashful to hear his titles," said the third, "he can't +abide the nicknames." "Have you no titles, I wonder?" asked the +Slanderer, "call Mr. Honey-tongued Swaggerer, alias Smoothgulp, alias +Venomsmile." "Here," cried a woman, who was standing near, pointing to +the Swaggerer. "Ha, Madam Huntress!" cried he, "your humble servant; I +am glad to see you well, I never saw a more beautiful woman in breeches, +but woe's me to think how pitiable is the country, having lost in you +such an unrivalled ruler; and yet, your pleasant company will make hell +itself somewhat better." "Oh, thou scion of evil," cried she, "no one +need a worse hell than to be with thee--thou art enough." Then the crier +called, "Huntress, alias Mistress o' the Breeches." "Here," answered +someone else, she herself not saying a word because they did not "madam" +her. Next was called the Schemer, alias Jack-of-all-Trades. But he, +too, failed to answer, for he was assiduously plotting to escape the Land +of Despair. "Here, here," cried someone behind him, "here he is spying +for a place to break out of your great court, and unless you be on your +guard, he has a considerable plot against you." "Then," said the +Schemer, "Let him also be called, to wit, The Accuser-of-his-Brethren, +alias Faultfinder, alias Complaint-monger." "Here, here he is," cried +the Litigious Wrangler--for each one knew the other's name, but none +would acknowledge his own. "You are also called," said the Accuser, "Mr. +Litigious Wrangler, alias Cumber-of-Courts." "Witness, witness, all of +you, what names the knave has given me," cried the Wrangler. "Ha, ha, +'tis not according to the font, but according to the fault, that +everybody is named in this land," said Death, "and with your permission, +Mr. Wrangler, these names must stick to you for evermore." "Indeed," +quoth the Wrangler, "by the devil, I'll make it hot for you; although you +may put me to death, you have no right to nickname me. I shall enter a +plaint for this and for false imprisonment, against you and your kinsman +Lucifer, in the Court of Justice." + +By this I could see the armies of Death in array and armed, looking to +the king for the word of command. Then the king, standing erect on his +throne, spoke as follows: "My terrible and invincible hosts, spare +neither care nor haste to despatch these prisoners out of my territories, +lest they corrupt my country; throw them in bonds headlong over the +hopeless precipice. But as to the eighth, this cumbrous fellow who +menaces me, let him free on the brink beneath the Court of Justice, so +that he may make good his charge against me, if he can." No sooner had +he sat down than the whole deadly armies surrounded and bound the +prisoners, and led them towards their appointed dwelling. And when I, +having gone out, half-turned to look at them. "Come hither," cried +Sleep, and flew with me to the top of the loftiest tower on the court; +from whence I saw the prisoners going forth to their everlasting doom. +Before long a sudden whirlwind arose, and drove away the pitch-dark mist +usually hovering over the Land of Oblivion, and in the wan light, I could +see myriads of livid candles, and by their gleam, I obtained a far-off +view of the mouth of the bottomless abyss. But if that was a horrible +sight, overhead was one still more horrible--Justice, on her throne, +guarding the portal of hell, and holding a special tribunal above the +entrance thereto, to pronounce the doom of the damned as they arrive. I +beheld the seven hurled headlong over the terrible verge, and the +Wrangler, too, rushing to throw himself over, lest he should once look on +the Court of Justice, for, alas, the sight thereof was intolerable to +guilty eyes. I was only gazing from a distance, yet I beheld more +dreadful horrors than I can now relate, nor then could endure; for my +spirit so strove and panted through exceeding fear, and struggled so +violently, that all the bonds of Sleep were burst; my soul returned to +its wonted functions, and I rejoiced greatly to perceive myself still +among the living, and resolved to lead a better life, for I would rather +suffer affliction an hundred years in the paths of holiness than, +perforce, take another glance at the horrors of that night. + +1 Must I leave home and fatherland, + And every charm and pleasure? +Leave honored name and high degree + Enjoyed in life's brief measure? + +2 Leave beauty, strength, and wisdom, too, + All won in hard employment, - +All I have learnt, and all I've loved, + And all this world's enjoyment. + +3 Can I evade the stroke of Death + That rends all ties asunder? +Do not his awful shambles gape + For me to be his plunder? + +4 Ye gilded men would fain enjoy + The wealth your souls engrossing, +But ye must bow to him and go + The journey of his choosing. + +5 Ye favored fair, whose lightest word + Has caused ten thousand errors, +Think not your garish, tinselled charms + Can blind the King of Terrors. + +6 Ye who rejoice in heedless youth + And follow fleeting pleasures, +Know that ye cannot conquer Death + By valor, arts, or treasures. + +7 Ye who exult in madding song + The giddy dances treading, +Think not that all the mirth of France + Can thwart the fate you're dreading. + +8 Ye who have roamed the wide world o'er, + Where have ye found the tower, +With walls and portals strong enough + To check Death's awful power? + +9 Statesmen and learned sages, all + Of godlike understanding, +What will your craft and skill avail? + 'Tis Death who is commanding. + +10 The greatest foes of man are now + The world, the flesh, the devil; +And yet, ere long, we'll surely find + In Death a greater evil. + +11 How little now it seems to die - + To gain the suit or lose it? +But when the doom is of thyself + How great thy care to chose it? + +12 We care, at present, not a jot + Which way our gains may turn us; +Eternal life, howe'er so great, + We think can not concern us. + +13 But when thou'rt hedged on every side + And Death himself is nearest, +For one brief, ling'ring space we'll give + Whate'er to us is dearest. + +14 Think not that thou canst make thy terms + For thine eternal dwelling, +On either side of that dread gulf, + With death thy steps compelling. + +15 Repentence, faith, and righteousness, + Alone are thy Salvation, +And in the agony of Death + Shall be thy consolation. + +16 And when the world is passing by, + Its joys and pleasures ending, +Infinite thou wilt deem their worth + When to the bourne descending! + + + +III.--THE VISION OF HELL + + + +One April morning, bright and mild, when earth was with verdure laden, +and Britain, like a paradise, had donned its brilliant livery, +foretelling summer's sunshine, I sauntered along the banks of the Severn, +while around me, chaunting their sweet carols, the forest's little +songsters in rivalry poured forth songs of praise to their Maker; and I, +who was far more bounden than they to give praise, at one while lifted up +my voice with the gentle winged choristers, and at another read "The +Practice of Piety." {67a} For all that, my previous visions would not +from my mind, but time after time broke in upon every other thought. +They continued to trouble me until after careful reasoning I concluded +that every vision is a heaven-sent warning against sin, and that +therefore it was my duty to write them down as a warning to others also. +And whilst occupied with this work, and sadly endeavouring to recall some +of those awful memories, there fell upon me at my task such drowsiness +that soon opened the way for Master Sleep to glide in perforce. No +sooner had sleep taken possession of my senses than there drew nigh unto +me a glorious apparition upon the form of a young man, tall and exceeding +fair; his raiments were whiter sevenfold than snow, the brightness of his +face darkened the sun, his wavy, golden locks rested on his brow in two +shining coronal wreaths. "Come with me, thou mortal being," he +exclaimed, when he had drawn near. "Who art thou, Lord?" said I. "I am +the Angel of the realms of the North," answered he, "guardian of Britain +and its queen. I am one of the princes who stand below the throne of the +Lamb, receiving his commands to protect the Gospel against all its +enemies in Hell, in Rome and in France, in Constantinople, in Africa and +in India, and wherever else they may be, devising plans for its +destruction. I am the Angel who saved thee beneath the Castle of Belial, +and who showed thee the vanity and madness of all the earth, the City of +Destruction and the splendor of Emmanuel's City; and again have I come at +his bidding to show thee greater things, because thou art seeking to make +good use of what thou hast seen erstwhile." "How can it be, Lord," asked +I, "that your glorious highness, guardian of kings and kingdoms, does +condescend to associate with carrion such as I?" "Ah," said he, "in our +sight a beggar's virtue is more than a king's majesty. What if I am +greater than all the kings of earth, and supreme to many of the countless +lords of heaven? Yet, since our eternal Sovereign vouchsafed to take +upon Himself such unutterable humiliation--put on one of your bodies, +lived in your midst, and died to save you, how dare I deem it otherwise +than too sublime for my office to serve thee and the meanest of men, who +are so high in my Master's favor? Hence, spirit, cast off thine earthy +mould!" he cried, gazing upwards: and at the word, I beheld him fall +free of all bodily form, and snatch me up to the vault of heaven, through +the region of thunder and lightning, and all the glowing armouries of the +empyrean; higher, immeasureably higher than I had previously been with +him, and where the earth appeared scarcely wider than a stack-yard. +Having allowed me to rest awhile, he hurried me upwards a myriad miles, +until the sun appeared far beneath us; through the milky way, past +Pleiades, and many other stars of appalling magnitude, catching a distant +glimpse of other worlds. And after journeying for a long time, we come +at last to the confines of the great eternity, in sight of the two courts +of the vauntful King of Death--one to the right, the other to the left, +but very far apart from one another as there lay an immense void between +them. I asked whether I might go and see the court on my right hand, for +I observed that this was not at all like the other I had previously seen. +"Thou shalt perchance," said he, "see, somewhile, more of the difference +there is between them. But now we must proceed in another direction." +At that we turned away from the little world, and across the intervening +space we let ourselves descend into the Eternal Realm between the two +courts, into the formless void, a boundless tract, most deep and dark, +chaotic and uninhabited, at one time cold, at another hot, {69a} now +silent, now resounding with the roaring of cataracts falling and +quenching the fires, and anon of the fire bursting out and burning up the +water. Thus, there was neither order nor completeness, nor life nor +form: nought but this dazing dissonance, this mysterious stupor which +would have made me for ever blind, had not my friend laid bare once more +his vesture of heavenly sheen. By the light he gave I saw before me to +the left the Land of Oblivion, and the borders of the Wilds of +Destruction; and to my right, methought, the base of the ramparts of +Glory. "This is the great abysm between Abraham and Dives," said he, +"which is called Chaos: this is the land of the matter which God did +first create, and here is the seed of every living thing; of these the +Almighty Word created your world and all it doth contain--water, fire, +air, earth, beasts, fishes, insects, birds and the human body; but your +souls are of a higher and nobler origin and stock." + +Through the huge, frightful chaos we at length broke forth to the left; +and ere we had journey'd far therein where every object grew uglier and +uglier, I felt my heart in my throat, and my hair erect like a hedgehog's +bristles, even before perceiving anything; but what I did perceive was a +sight no tongue can describe nor the mind of a mortal dwell upon. I +fainted. Oh, that limitless abyss, so dire and terrible, opening out +upon another world! How those awful flames crackled incessantly as they +darted upwards above the banks of the accursed ravine, and the shafts of +impetuous lightning rent the thick, black smoke which the yawning chasm +belched forth! When my beloved companion awoke me, he gave me ambrosial +water to drink, of most excellent flavor and color. After drinking this +heavenly water I felt some wonderful power within me,--wit, courage, +faith, and many other divine virtues. Thereupon I drew nigh with him +unfearingly to the edge of the precipice, shrouded in the veil, whilst +the flames parted asunder around us, and dared not touch denizens of the +supernal regions. Then from the edge of that dread gulf, we let +ourselves descend, like two stars falling from the canopy of heaven, +down, down for myriad millions of miles, over many sulphurous rocks, and +many a hideous cataract and fiery precipice, where all things bent +downwards ever, with impending aspect; yet they all avoided us, except +when once I poked my nose out of the veil, there struck me such a +stifling and choking stench as would have ended me had he not saved me +out of hand with the reviving water. When I had recovered, I could see +that we were come to a halt, for in all that stupenduous chasm no sooner +stay were possible, so sheer and slippery was it. There my Guide allowed +me once more to rest; and during that respite it chanced that the thunder +and the fierce whirlwinds were a little hushed, and above the roar of the +foaming cataracts, {71a} I could hear from afar, louder than all, the +noise of such awful shrieks, wails, cries, and loud groans, of swearing, +cursing and blaspheming, that I would rather have set a bargain upon my +ears than listen. And before we had moved an inch, we heard from above +such hip-drip-drop that had we not straightway stepped aside, there would +have fallen upon us hundreds of unhappy men whom a host of fiends were +hurling headlong, and too hurriedly to a woful fate. "Ho, slowly sir!" +quoth one sprite, "lest you displace your curly lock;" and to another +"Madam, will you have your soft cushion? I fear me you will be much +disordered before you reach your resting-place." + +The strangers were most reluctant to advance, insisting that they were on +the wrong road; still, onward they went, up to the bank of a wide, dark +torrent, whilst we followed in their wake and crossed over with them, my +companion, meanwhile, holding the water to my nostrils to protect me from +the stench rising out of the river. When I beheld some of the +inhabitants (for till now I had not seen a single devil, though I had +heard their voices) I asked: "What, pray, my Guide, is the name of this +death-like stream?" "The river of the Evil One," answered he, "wherein +all his subjects are immersed to render them accustomed to the country; +its cursed waters changed their countenance, washing away every relic of +goodness, every shadow of hope and happiness." And on seeing the horde +pass through, I could perceive no difference in loathsomeness between the +devils and the damned. Some wished to crouch at the bottom of the river, +there to remain in suffocation to all eternity, rather than find further +on a worse dwelling; but as the proverb says: "He whom the devil urges +must run," so these damned beings, thrust on by the demons, were swiftly +borne along the stream of destruction to their eternal ruin; where I too +saw at the first glimpse more tortures and torments than man's heart can +imagine, far less a tongue repeat; to see one of which was enough to +cause one's hair to stand on an end, his blood to freeze, his flesh to +melt, his bones to give way, yea and his spirit to swoon within him. Why +speak I of such deeds as the impaling or sawing of men alive, the tearing +of the flesh in pieces with iron pincers or the broiling of it, chop by +chop, with candles, or the jambing of skulls as flat as a slate, in a +press, and all the most frightful degradation the earth ever witnessed? +All such are but pleasures compared with one of these. Here, a million +shrieks, harsh groans and deep sighs; there, fierce lamentations and loud +cries in answer: the howling of dogs were sweet, delightful music +compared with these voices. Before we had gone far from the shores of +that accursed river into wild Perdition, we could see by the light of +their own fire, here and there, men and women without number, whom a +countless host of devils unceasingly and with all their might kept always +torturing; and as the devils were shrieking from the intensity of their +own suffering, they made the damned give response to the utmost. I +observed the part nearest me more minutely: there, the devils with +pitchforks hurled them head foremost upon poisonous hatchels formed of +terrible, barbed darts, thereon to struggle by their brains; then +shortly, they threw them together, layer on layer, upon the summit of one +of the burning crags, there to blaze like a bonfire. Thence they were +snatched away up the ravines amidst the eternal ice and snow; {73a} then +plunged again into an enormous flood of seething brimstone to be parched, +stifled, and choked by the direful stench; thence to a quagmire of +vermin, to embrace hellish reptiles far more noxious than serpents or +vipers. After that the devils took knotted rods of fiery steel from the +furnace, wherewith they beat them so that their howls resounded +throughout all Hell, so inexpressibly excruciating was the pain, and then +they seized hot irons to sear the bloody wounds. No swoon or trance is +there to beguile with a moment's respite, but an unchanging strength to +suffer and to feel; though one would have thought that after one awful +wail there never could be the strength to raise another as weirdly-loud; +yet never will their key be lowered, with the devils ever answering: +"This is your welcome for aye." And worse, were it possible, than the +pain, was the scorn and bitterness of the devils' mockery and derision, +but worst of all, their own conscience was now thoroughly awakened, and +devoured them more relentlessly than a thousand infernal lions. + +Still down we go, down afar--the further we go the worse the plight; at +the first view I saw a horrid prison wherein a great many men were +uttering blasphemous groans beneath the scourges of the devils: "Who are +all these?" asked I; "This," answered the Angel, "this is the abode of +Woe-that-I-had-not." "Woe that I had not been cleansed of all manner of +sin in good time," quoth one. "Woe is me that I had not believed and +repented before my coming here," quoth another. Next to the cell of Too- +late-a-repentance, and of Pleading-after-judgment, was the prison of the +Procrastinators, who were always promising to mend their ways, but who +never fulfilled the promise. "When this trouble is past," saith one, "I +will turn over a new leaf." "When this hinderance goes by, I'll be +another man yet," said another. But when that comes about, they are no +nearer; some other obstacle ever and anon occurs to preventing their +starting towards the gate of holiness; and if sometimes a start is made, +it takes but little to turn them back again. Next to these was the +prison of Presumption, full of those who, whenever they were urged of old +to be rid of their Wantonness, or drunkenness, or avarice, would say: +"God is merciful, and better than His word; He will never damn his own +creature upon a cause so trivial." But here they yelped blasphemy, +asking: "Where is that mercy boasted to be infinite?" "Silence, ye +whelps!" said a huge, crabbed devil who heard them, "Silence! would he +have mercy who did nought to obtain it? Would ye that Truth should make +its word a lie, merely to gain the company of dross so vile as ye? Was +too much mercy shewn you, a Saviour, a Comforter given you, and the +angels, books, sermons and good examples? Will ye not cease plaguing us +now, prating of mercy where it never was." + +While making our exit from this glaring pit, I heard one moaning and +crying dolefully: "I knew no better; no pains were ever taken to teach +me to read my duties, nor could I spare the time to read and pray whereof +I had need in order to earn bread for myself and my poor family." +"Indeed," quoth a crookback devil who stood close at hand, "hadst thou no +leisure to tell merry tales, no idle roasting before thy fire through the +long winter evenings when I was up the chimney, so that no time might +have been given to learning to read or pray? What of thy Sabbaths? Who +was it that was wont to accompany me to the alehouse rather than the +parson to the church? How many a Sunday afternoon was spent in vain, +noisy talk of worldly things, or in sleeping, instead of in learning to +meditate and pray? Didst thou act according to thy knowledge? Silence, +sirrah, with thy lying chatter!" "Thou raving bloodhound!" exclaimed the +condemned, "'tis not long since thou wert whispering other words in mine +ear; hadst thou said this another day, it is not likely I would have come +hither." "Ah!" said the devil, "it matters not that we tell you the +hateful truth here; for there is no fear of your returning hence now to +carry tales." + +Lower down I could see a deep, valley whence arose the bluish glare of +what seemed to be a countless number of enormous, burning mounds; and +after drawing nigh, I knew by their howling that they were men piled +mountains high with terrible flames crackling through them. "That +hollow," said the Angel, "is the abode of those who after committing some +heinous deeds, exclaim: 'Well, I am not the first--I have plenty of +companions,' and thus thou see'st they have plenty, to verify their words +and add to their affliction." Opposite this was a large cellar where I +saw men tortured just as withes are twisted or wet sheets wrung. "Who, +prithee, are these?" asked I. "They are the Mockers," said he, "and the +devils from pure derision essay to find whether they can be twisted as +pliantly as their tales." A little below, but scarcely visible, was +another gloomy dungeon-cell, wherein was what had once been men, but now +with the faces of wolf-hounds, up to their lips in a morass, madly +howling blasphemy and lies as often as they got their tongues clear of +the mire. Just then a legion of devils passed by, and some attempted to +bite the heels of ten or twelve of the devils that had brought them +there: "Woe and ruin take you, ye hell-hounds!" exclaimed one of the +bitten devils, at the same time stamping upon the quagmire until they +sank in the reeking depths. "Who more deserving of hell than ye, who +gossipped and imagined all manner of tales, who retailed lies from house +to house so that ye might laugh, after setting the entire neighbourhood +at war? What more would one of us have done?" "This," said the Angel, +"is the abode of the slanderers, defamers and backbiters, and of all +envious cowards who always do hurt in word or deed behind one's back." + +From thence we went past an enormous lair, the vilest I had yet seen, and +the fullest of vermin, of soot, and of stench. "This," said he, "is the +place of those who hoped for heaven because they were harmless, in other +words, because they were neither good nor bad." Next to this foul pit I +saw a great multitude sitting down, whose groans were more fierce than +anything I had heard hitherto in hell. "Save us all!" cried I, "what +makes these complain more than all others, seeing there be no pain, nor +demon near them?" "Ah," answered the Angel, "if the pain without is +less, that which is within is more,--here are stubborn heretics, the +godless and unchristian, many of the worldy-wise, of apostates, of the +persecutors of the church, and millions such as they, who have utterly +been given over to the more bitterly painful punishment of the +conscience, which now without let or ceasing has its full sway over them. +"I will not this time," quoth conscience, "be drowned in beer, or blinded +by rewards, or deafened by song and good company, or hushed or stupified +by a thoughtless torpor; now I will be heard, and never shall the truth, +the stinging truth, cease dinning in your ears." The will creates a +desire for the lost paradise, the memory reproaches them with the ease +wherewith it might have been gained, and the reason shews the greatness +of the loss, and the certainty that nought awaits them but this +unspeakable gnawing for ever and ever; so by these three means, +conscience rends them more terribly than would all the devils in hell. + +Coming out of that wondrous defile, I heard much talking, and for every +word such wild horse-laughter as if some five hundred devils would shed +their horns with laughing. But after I had drawn near to behold the very +rare sight of a smile in hell, what was it but two gentlemen, lately +arrived, appealing for the respect due to their rank, and the merriment +was intended only to give affront to them. A pot-bellied squire stood +there with an enormous roll of parchment, his genealogical chart, +declaring from how many of the Fifteen Tribes of Gwynedd he had sprung, +how many justices of the peace, and how many sheriffs there had been of +his house. "Ha ha," cried one of the devils, "we know the merit of most +of your forebears, were you like your father, or great-great-grandsire, +we would not have deigned to touch you. But thou, thou art but the heir +of utter darkness, vile whelp, thou art hardly worth a night's lodging; +and yet thou shalt have some nook to await the dawn." And at the word +the impetuous monster pierces him with his pitchfork, and after whirling +him thirty times through the fiery welkin, hurled him into a hole out of +sight. "That is right enough for a half-blood squire," said the other, +"but I hope ye will be better mannered towards a knight who has served +the king in person; twelve earls and fifty knights can I recount from +mine own ancient line." "If thine ancestors, and thy long pedigree are +all thy plea, thou canst go the same gate," quoth a devil, "for we +remember scarce one old estate of large extent which some oppressor, some +murderer or robber has not founded, leaving it to others as arrant as +they, to idle blockheads or to drunken swine. To maintain lavish pomp, +they had to grind their vassals and tenants, and if there be a beautiful +pony or a fine cow which my lady covets, she will have them, and well it +happens if the daughters, yea, even the wives, escape the lust of their +lord. And the small free-holders around them must either vainly follow +or give bail for them, resulting in their own ruin, the loss of their +possessions, and the sale of their patrimony, or expect to be hated and +despised, and forced to every idle pursuit. Oh how nobly they swear to +gain the confidence of their minions or of their tradesmen, and when +decked out in their finery, how contemptuously they look upon many an +officer of importance in church and state, as if such were mere worms +compared with them. Woe's me, is not all blood of one color? Was it not +the same way that ye all entered the world?" "For all that, craving your +pardon," said the knight, "there are some births purer than others." +"For the great doom all your carcases are the same," said the imp, +"everyone of you is defiled by the sin that took its origin in Adam." +But, sir," continued he, "if your blood is aught better than another, the +less scum will there be when shortly it will be bubbling through your +body, and if there be more, we must examine you, part by part, through +fire and through water." Thereupon, a devil in the shape of a fiery +chariot receives him, and the other mockingly lifts him thereinto, and +away he goes with the speed of lightning. Ere long the angel bade me +look, and I saw the poor knight most horribly sodden in an enormous +boiling furnace with Cain, Nimrod, Esau, Tarquin, Nero, Caligula, and +others who first established lineage, and emblazoned family arms. + +After wending our way onward a little, my guide bade me peer through a +riven wall, and within I saw a group of coquetts busily primming up, +doing and undoing the deeds of folly they were formerly wont to do on +earth; some puckering their lips, some plucking their eyebrows with +irons, some anointing themselves, some patching their faces with black +spots to make the yellow look whiter, and some endeavouring to crack the +mirror; and after all the pains to color and adorn, upon seeing their +faces far uglier than the devils', they would tear away with tooth and +nail all the false coloring, the spots, the skin and the flesh all at +once, and would shriek most dismally. "Accursed be my father," said one, +"it was he who forced me when a girl to wed an old shrivelling, and it +was his kindling my desires with no power to satiate them, that doomed me +to this place." "A thousand curses on my parents," cried another, "for +sending me to a monastery to be taught to live a life of chastity; they +might as well have sent me to a Roundhead to learn how to be generous, or +to a Quaker to be taught good manners, as to a Papist to be taught +honesty." "Fell ruin seize my mother," shrieked a third, "whose covetous +pride refused me a husband at my need, and so drove me to obtain by +stealth what I might have honestly obtained." "Hell, a double hell to +the raging bull of a nobleman who first tempted me," cried another, "had +he not by fair and foul broken through all bounds, I would not have +become a common chattel, nor would I have come to this infernal place;" +and then would they lacerate themselves again. + +I made all haste to leave their loathsome kennel, but I had not proceeded +far before I observed, to my astonishment, another prison full of women, +still more abominable; some had become frogs; some, dragons; some, +serpents, and there they swam about, hissing and foaming, and butting one +another, in a foetid, stagnant pool that was much larger than Bala Lake. +"Pray, what can these be?" asked I. "There are here," said he, "four +chief classes of women, not to mention their minions--Firstly: Panders, +who maintained harlots to sell their virginity an hundred times, and the +worst of these around them. Secondly: Mistresses of gossip, surrounded +by thousands of tale-bearing hags. Thirdly: Huntresses followed by a +pack of cowardly, skulking hounds, for no man ever dared approach them, +unless in fear of them. Fourthly: The scolds, become a hundredfold more +horrid than snakes, always grinding and gnashing their venomous stings." +"I would have deemed Lucifer too gracious a monarch to place a noble lady +of my rank with these vulgar furies," complained one, who much resembled +the others, but was far more hideous than a winged serpent. "Oh, that he +would send hither seven hundred of the basest demons of hell in exchange +for thee, thou poisonous hellworm," cried another ugly viper. "Many +thanks to you," quoth a gigantic devil, overhearing them, "we regard our +place and worth as something better; though ye would cause everyone as +much pain as we, yet we do not choose to be deprived of our office in +your favor." "And Lucifer hath another reason," whispered the Angel, +"for keeping strict guard over these, and that is, lest on breaking +loose, they might send all hell into utter confusion." + +Thence we still descended until I saw an immense cavern wherein was such +fearful clamor that I had never heard the like before--swearing, cursing, +blaspheming, snarling, groaning and yelling. "Whom have we here?" I +asked. "This," answered he, "is the Den of Thieves; here are myriads of +foresters, lawyers and stewards, with old Judas in their midst." And it +grieved them sorely to behold a pack of tailors and weavers above them in +a more comfortable chamber. Hardly had I turned round when a demon, in +the shape of a steed, bore in a physician, and an apothecary, and hurled +them into the midst of the pedlars and horse cheats, because they had +sold worthless drugs. And they too began murmuring against being +allotted to such low society. "Stay, stay," cried one of the devils, "ye +deserve a better place," and he pitched them down amongst conquerors and +murderers. There were vast numbers in here for playing false dice and +cheating at cards, but before I had time to observe them closely, I could +hear by the door a huge crowd in wild tumult and shouts--hai, hw, ptrw- +how-ho-o-o-p--as of cattle being driven along. I turned round to see the +cause of it, but could perceive only the horned demons. I enquired of my +Guide if there were cuckolds with the devils. "No," said he, "they are +in another cell; these are drovers who wished to escape to the prison of +the Sabbath-breakers, and are sent here against their will." Thereupon I +look and saw that they had on their heads the horns of sheep and kine; +and those that were driving them on, cast them down beneath the feet of +blood-stained robbers. "Lie there," said one, "however much ye feared +footpads on the London road erstwhile, ye yourselves were the very worst +class of highwaymen, who made your living on the road and on robbery, yea +and by the perishing of many a poor family whom ye left in hunger, vainly +hoping for the sustenance of their possessions, while ye were in Ireland +or in the King's Bench laughing at them, or on the road with your wine +and lemans." On leaving the furnace-like cave, I caught a glimpse of a +haunt, which for loathsome, stinking abomination, went beyond anything +(with one sole exception) that I had set my eyes upon in hell,--where an +accursed herd of drunken swine lay weltering in the foulest slime. + +The next den was the abode of Gluttony, where Dives and his companions, +wallowing on their bellies, devoured dirt and fire alternately, with +never a drop to drink. A little below this, was a very extensive +roasting-kitchen, where some were being roasted and boiled, others +broiling and flaming in a fiery chimney. "This is the place of the +merciless and the unfeeling," said the Angel. Turning a little to the +left, where there was a cell lighter than any I had so far seen, I asked +what place it was: "The abode of the Infernal Dragons," said he, "which +growl and rage, rush about and rend one another every instant." I drew +near and oh! what an indescribable sight they were! It was the glowing +fire of their eyes that gave all that light. "These are the descendants +of Adam," said my Guide, "scolds and raving, wrathful men; but yonder are +some of the ancient seed of the great Dragon, Lucifer;" but verily I +could not perceive any difference in loveliness between them. In the +next dungeon dwell the misers in awful torment, being linked by their +hearts to chests of burning coin, the rust of which was consuming them +without end, just as they had never thought of an end to the piling of +them, and now they were tearing themselves to pieces with more than +madness through grief and remorse. Below this was a charnel vault where +some of the apothecaries had been ground down and stuffed into +earthenware pots with Album graecum, dung, and many a stale ointment. + +Ever downward we were journeying through the wilderness of ruin, in the +midst of untold and eternal tortures, from cell to cell, from dungeon to +dungeon, the last alway surpassing in monstrous ghastliness, until +finally we came within view of an enormous entrance hall, most unsightly +of all that I had previously seen. It was very spacious and terribly +steep, running in the direction of a gloomy red corner, full of the most +inconceivable abominations and horrors: it was the royal court. At the +upper end of the king's accursed hall, amidst thousands of other dread +sights, by the light my companion shed, I could see in the darkness two +feet of prodigious size, and so enormous as to overcast the whole +infernal firmament. I inquired of my Guide what such immensities might +be. "Thou shalt have a fuller view of this monster when returning," said +he, "but, come now, let us to see the court." As we were going down that +awful entrance hall, we heard behind us the noise as of very many people +advancing; on stepping aside to let them pass I noticed four divers host, +and upon enquiry I learnt that it was the four princesses of the City of +Destruction leading their subjects as an offering to their sire. I +distinguished the troop of the Princess of Pride, not only because they +insisted upon the foremost position, but also because they stumbled now +and then from want of keeping their eyes upon the ground. She led +captive kings without number, princes, courtiers, noblemen and braggarts, +many Quakers, and women innumerable and of all grades. Next to these +came the Princess of Lucre with her sly and crafty followers--a great +many of the brood of Simon Skinflint, money lenders, lawyers, userers, +stewards, foresters, harlots, and some of the clergy. Then came the +gracious Princess of Pleasure and her daughter Folly, leading her +subjects--players of dice, cards and back-gammon, conjurers, bards, +minstrels, storytellers, drunkards, bawds, balladmongers and pedlars with +their trinkets in countless number, to be at length instruments of +punishment to the damned fools. + +When these three had taken their captives into the court to receive +judgment, Hypocrisy, last of all, brings in a more numerous troop than +any of the others, of every nation and age, from town and country, +patrician and plebeian, men and women. In the rear of this double-faced +legion we came within sight of the court; passing through the midst of +many dragons and horned demons, and hell's giants, the dusky porters of +the devil-hunted fire; I, the while, carefully hiding within the veil, we +entered that direful edifice: wonderful, and of amazing roughness was +every part of it; the walls were cruel rocks of burning adamant; the +floor was one unendurable extent of sharp-cutting flint, the roof of +fiery steel, meeting in an arch of greenish and blood-red flames, +similar, except in its size and heat, to a tremendous circular oven. +Opposite the door, upon a flame-encompassed throne sat the Evil One with +the lost archangels around him, seated on benches of terrible fire, +according to the rank they formerly bore in the region of light--the +lovely whelps--it would only be a waste of words to attempt to describe +how atrociously ugly they were, and the longer I gazed upon them, +sevenfold more frightful did they become. In the centre above Lucifer's +head was a huge hand grasping an awful bolt. The princesses, after +paying their courtesy, immediately returned to their duties on earth. No +sooner had they departed than at the King's bidding, a gigantic devil +with cavernous jaws set up a roar, louder than the discharge of a hundred +cannon, and as loud, were it possible, as the last trump, to proclaim the +infernal Parliament, and behold, without delay, the court and hall are +filled by the rabble of hell in every shape, each upon the form and image +of that particular sin he was wont to urge upon men. After enjoining +silence, Lucifer, looking steadfastly upon the chieftains nearest him, +began and spake these gracious words:- + +"Ye peers of this profoundest gulf, princes of the hopeless gloom, if we +have lost the place we erst possessed, when, clothed with brightness, we +dwelt in those celestial, happy realms; yet, however great our fall, +'twas glorious, nought less than all did we hazard, nor is all lost--for, +behold regions wide and deep extending to the utmost bounds of desolate +Perdition still 'neath our sway. 'Tis true we reign while racked with +raging torment, yet, for spirits of our majesty, 'tis better to reign in +hell than serve in heaven. {85a} And what is more, we have well nigh won +another world, a greater than a fifth of earth has been for long beneath +my standard. And although our Omnipotent Enemy sent his own Son to die +for them, I, by my pleasing guile, gain ten for every one He gains +through his crucified Son. Though we cannot aspire to do hurt to Him on +high who hurls His all-conquering thunder, yet revenge by whatsoever +means is sweet. {85b} Let us then bring ruin on the rest of men who +adore our Destroyer. Well do I recollect the time when ye caused them, +their armies and their cities, to be consumed in horrible combustion, yea +and caused nigh all the dwellers on the earth to fall through the +whelming waters into this fire. But now, although your strength and +innate cruelty are no whit less, ye have been somewhat listless; were it +not for this, we would have long ago destroyed the godly few, and brought +the earth one with this our vast domain. But know this, ye grim +ministers of my wrath, if ye henceforth be not up and doing, valiantly +and with all haste, seeing the brevity of our alloted time, I swear by +Hell and by Perdition, and by the vast, eternal gloom, that upon you, +yourselves, my ire first shall fall, with pain the like of which the +oldest amongst you hath never proved." Whereupon he frowned until the +court became sevenfold darker than before. + +Next him, Moloch one of the infernal potentates, stood up, and after +making due obeisance to his king, spake thus:- "Oh Emperor of the Sky, +great ruler of the darkness, none ever doubted my desire to practice +utmost bale and cruelty, for that has always been my pleasure; no sound +was more delightful to mine years than the shrieks of children perishing +in the flames outside Jerusalem, where in former days they were +sacrificed to me. And also after our crucified foe had returned to his +celestial home, I, during the reigns of ten emperors, continued as long +as it availed me, slaying and burning his followers in my attempt to +sweep the Christians off the face of the earth. And afterwards in Paris, +in England, and in several other places, did I cause many a massacre of +them; but what have we gained? The tree whose branches are lopped off +grows but the quicker; we snarl without the power of biting." + +"Pshaw!" exclaimed Lucifer, "shame! cowardly hosts that ye are! Never +more will I place my trust in you. This work I myself will perform, this +enterprise none shall partake with me. {87a} In mine own imperial +majesty will I descend upon the earth, and alone will I devour all +therein contained; henceforth no man shall there be found to worship the +Most High." Thereon he gave one terrific flying leap to start--a blaze +of living fire, but the hand overhead whirls the terrible dart so that he +trembles notwithstanding his rage, and ere he had gone far, an invisible +hand drags the brute back by the chain for all his struggles; his rage +becomes sevenfold more vehement, his eyes more fierce than dragons, thick +black clouds of smoke issue from his nostrils, livid flames from his +mouth and bowels, while he gnaws his chain in his grief, and mutters +fearful blasphemy and awful oaths. + +At last, finding how futile was his attempt to sunder his bonds and how +unavailing to contend against the Almighty, he returned to his throne and +resumed his speech, in words somewhat more calm, but twice as malignant: +"Though none but the Omnipotent Thunderer could overcome my power and my +guile, to Him I am unwillingly constrained to submit; but I can pour +forth the vials of my wrath here below, nearer at hand, and let loose my +ire upon those who are already under my banner, and within the length of +my chain. Arise, ye too, ministers of destruction, lords of the +unquenchable fires, and as my anger and my venom overflow, and my malice +rush forth, do ye assiduously scatter all broadcast among the damned, and +chiefly among the Christians; urge on the engines of torture to their +uttermost; devise and invent; increase the heat of the fire and the +ebullition, until the hissing flood of the cauldrons overwhelms them; and +when their unutterable woes are extremest, then sneer at them and +mockingly reproach them, and when ye have exhausted all your store of +scorn and gall, hie to me and ye shall be replenished." + +A great stillness had brooded over hell for some time, while the pains +grew far more unbearable by being given no vent. But now the silence +which Lucifer had enjoined was broken, when the fierce butchers, like +bears maddened by hunger, fell upon their captives; then there arose such +doleful cries, such dismal howling, from every quarter, louder than the +roar of rushing torrents, than the rumble of an earthquake, till hell +itself became ten times more horrible. I would have died, had not my +friend saved me. "Quaff deep this time," said he, "to give thee strength +to behold things yet more dire." Hardly were the words from his lips, +when lo! heavenly Justice, who sits above the abyss, guardian of the +gates of Hell, advanced scourging three men with rods of fiery scorpions. +"Ha ha," cried Lucifer, "here are three reverend gentlemen whom Justice +thought worthy himself to conduct to my kingdom." "Woe's me," said one +of the three, "who ever wanted him to take the trouble?" "That matters +not," answered he, with a look that made the fiends wax pale, and tremble +so that they knocked one against the other, "it was the will of the +Infinite Creator that I myself should lead to their home such accursed +murderers." "Sirrah,"--addressing one of the demons,--"open me the fold +of the assassins, where Cain, Nero, Bradshaw, Bonner, Ignatius and +innumerable others like them dwell." "Alack, alack! we have never slain +any man," cried one. "No thanks to you that you did not, for time only +was wanting," said Justice. When the den was opened, there came out such +a hideous blast of blood-red flames, and such a shriek as if a thousand +dragons were uttering their death-wail. As Justice was passing by on his +return, in an instant he caused such a tempest of fiery whirlwinds to +fall upon the Evil One and his princes that Lucifer was swept away, and +with him Beelzebub, Satan, Moloch, Abadon, Asmodai, Dagon, Apolyon, +Belphegor, Mephistopheles, and all their compeers, and they were hurled +headlong into a whirlpool which opened and closed in the centre of the +court and which, both in aspect and in the execrable stench that arose +from it, was a hundredfold more foul and horrid than anything I had ever +seen. Before I could ask aught, quoth the Angel: "This is the gulf that +reaches to another great world." "What, pray, is that world called?" I +enquired. "'Tis called the bottomless pit or the Nethermost Hell, the +home of the devils, whither they now have gone. And those vast, dreary +wilds, parts of which thou hast traversed, are called the Region of +Despair, ordained for the condemned until the Judgment Day; then it will +become one with the utmost, bottomless Hell; then will one of us come and +seal up the devils and the damned together, never more to open upon them, +never to all eternity. In the meantime they have leave to come to this +colder country to torment lost souls. Yea, often are they suffered to +wander through the air, and about the earth, to tempt men into the +pernicious ways that lead to this horrible prison whence no man returns." + +While listening to this account, and wondering that the entrance of +Perdition should differ so from that of the Upper Hell, I heard the +tremendous clash of arms, and the roar of artillery, from one quarter, +and what seemed like loud-rumbling thunder answering from another +quarter, while the deadly rocks resounded. "This is the turmoil of war!" +I cried, "if there be war in hell." "There is," said he, "there cannot +be but continuous warfare here." When we were on the point of going out +to know of the affair, I beheld the jaws of the Pit open and belch forth +thousands of hideous, greenish candles--for such had Lucifer and his +chiefs become after surviving the tempest. But when he heard the din of +war he turned more livid than Death, and began to call out, and levy +armies of his proven veterans to suppress the tumult. While thus +occupied he came across a little imp, who had escaped between the feet of +the warriors. "What is the matter?" demanded the King. "Such a matter +as will endanger your crown, an you look not to it." Close upon this +one's heels another devilish courier in a harsh voice cries: "You that +plan the disquietude of others, look now to your own peace; yonder are +the Turks, the Papists and the murderous Roundheads in three armies, +filling the whole plain of Darkness, committing every outrage and turning +everything topsy-turvey." "How came they out?" demanded the Evil One, +frowning more terribly than Demigorgon. "The Papists," said the +messenger, "somehow or other broke out of their purgatory, and then, to +pay off old scores, went to unhinge the portals of Mahomet's paradise, +and let loose the Turks from their prison, and afterwards in the +confusion, through some ill chance, Cromwell's crew escaped from their +cells." Then Lucifer turned and peered beneath his throne, where every +damned king lay, and commanded that Cromwell himself should be kept +secure in his kennel, and that all the sultans should be guarded. +Accordingly, Lucifer and his host hurried across the sombre wilds of +darkness, each one's own person furnishing light and heat; guided by the +tumultuous clangor he marched fearlessly upon them. Silence was +proclaimed in the King's name, and Lucifer demanded the cause of such +uproar in his realm. "May it please your infernal majesty," said +Mahomet, "a quarrel arose between myself and Pope Leo as to which had +done you the better service--my Koran or the Romish religion; and when +this was going on a pack of Roundheads, who had broken out of their +prison during the disorder, joined in and clamoured that their Solemn +League and Covenant deserved more respect at your hands than either; so, +from striving to striking from words to blows. But now, since your +majesty hath returned from hell, I lay the matter for your decision." +"Stay, we've not done with you yet," cried Pope Julius, and madly they +engage once more, tooth and nail, until the strokes clashed like +earthquakes; the three armies of the damned tore each other piecemeal, +and like snakes became whole again, and spread far and wide over the +jagged, burning crags, until Lucifer bade his veterans, the giants of +Hell, separate them, which indeed was no easy task. + +When the conflict ceased, Pope Clement spake--"Thou Emperor of Horrors, +no throne has ever performed more faithful and universal service to the +infernal crown than have the bishops of Rome, throughout a large portion +of the world, for eleven centuries, and I hope you will allow none to vie +with them for your favor." "Well," said a Scotch-man of Cromwell's gang, +"however great has been the service of the Koran for these eight hundred +years, and of popish superstitions for a longer period, yet the Covenant +has done far more since its appearance, and everyone begins to doubt the +others and be weary of them, but we are still increasing, the wide world +over, and have much power in the island of your foes, that is, in Britain +and in London, the happiest city under the sun." "Ha ha," exclaimed +Lucifer, "if I hear rightly ye too are about to suffer disgrace there. +But whatever ye may have done in other kingdoms, I will have none of your +rioting in mine. Wherefore make your peace forthwith under the penalty +of more woes, bodily and spiritual." And at the word I could see many of +the fiends and all the damned, with their tails between their hoofs, +steal away to their holes in fear of a change for the worse. + +Then after ordering all to be locked up in their lairs, and punishing and +dismissing the officers whose carelessness had allowed them to break +loose, Lucifer and his counsellors returned to the court, and sat once +more upon the fiery thrones, according to their rank; and when silence +had been obtained, and the court cleared, a burly, lob-shouldered devil +threw down at the bar a fresh load of prisoners. "Is this the way to +Paradise?" asked one (for they had no idea where they were). "Or if this +be Purgatory," said another, "I have a dispensation under the Pope's own +signet to pass straight on to Paradise, without a moment's delay +anywhere; wherefore show us the way, or by the Pope's toe, we will have +him punish you." "Ha ha," laughed a thousand demons, and Lucifer himself +opened his tusked jaws some half a yard in scornful laughter. At which +the new comers were sore amazed. "Look ye," said one, "if we have missed +our way in the dark, we will pay for guidance." "Ha ha," cried Lucifer, +"ye shall not hence till ye have paid the uttermost farthing." But on +searching them it was found that they had one and all left their trouser +behind. "Ye went past Paradise on the left above those mountains there," +said the Evil One, "and although it is easy to descend hither, to return +is next to impossible, so dark and intricate is the country, so many +steep ascents of flaming iron are there on the way, and huge imminent +rocks, overhanging glaciers of insurmountable ice, and here and there, a +headlong cataract, all too difficult to clamber over, if ye have not +nails as long as a devil's. Ho there! convey these blockheads to our +paradise to their companions." Just then I heard voices drawing nigh, +swearing and cursing fearfully. "Fiends' blood! a myriad devils seize me +if ever I go!" and immediately the noisy crew were cast down before the +court. "There," exclaimed the steed that bore them, "there is fuel with +the best in hell." "What are they?" asked Lucifer. "Past masters in the +gentle art of swearing and cursing," said he, "who knew the language of +hell as well as we do." "A lie to your face, i' the devil's name!" cried +one. "Sirrah! wilt take my name in vain?" said the Evil One. "Ho, seize +them and hook them by their tongues, to that burning precipice, and be at +hand to serve them; if on one devil they call, or on a thousand, they +shall have their fill." + +When these had departed, a gigantic fiend calls loudly for clearing the +bar, and throws down thereat a man who was a load in himself. "What hast +thou there?" demanded Lucifer. "An innkeeper," answered he. "What?" +cried the King, "only one innkeeper, when they used to come by the +thousands. Hast thou, sirrah, not been out for ten years, and dost bring +hither but one, and such an one as would serve us in the world better +than thee, foul lazy hound!" "You are too just to condemn me before +hearing me," pleaded he, "he was the only one laid to my charge, and now +I am rid of him. But I despatched you from his house many an idler who +drank his family's maintenance, and now and then a dicer, and card +player, a fine swearer, an innocent glutton, a negligent tapster and a +maid, harsh in the kitchen, but never a kinder abed or in the cellar." +"Although this fellow deserves to be with the flatterers beneath," said +the Evil One, "natheless take him to his comrades in the cell of the +liquid-poisoners, among the apothecaries and drugsters who have concocted +drinks to murder their customers; boil him well for that he did not brew +better beer." "By your leave," began the innkeeper tremblingly, "I +deserve no such treatment, the trade must be carried on." "Couldst thou +not have lived," quoth the Evil One, "without allowing rioting and +gambling, wantonness and drunkenness, oaths and quarrels, slanders and +lies? and wouldst thou, old hell-hound, now live better than we? +Prithee, tell what evil have we here which thou hadst not at thine home, +save the punishment alone? Indeed, to speak the plain truth here, the +infernal heat and cold are nothing new to thee. Hast thou not seen +sparks of our fire upon the tongues of the cursers and the scolds, whilst +dragging their husbands home? Was there not a deal of the undying flame +on the drunkard's lips or in the eyes of the angry? And couldst thou not +perceive a trace of hellish cold in the rake's generosity, and especially +in thine own kindness towards him as long as he had anything in his +possession; in the mocker's jest; in the praise of the envious and of the +defamer, in the promises of the lecherous, or in the limbs of thy boon +companions, benumbed beneath thy tables? Is hell strange to thee whose +very home is a hell? Aroint thee, flamhound, to thy penance!" + +After that ten devils, panting heavily, drop their burdens upon the fiery +floor. "What have ye?" asked Lucifer. "We have what a day or two ago +were called kings," answered one of the fiendish steeds. (I sought +carefully to see whether Lewis of France were among them.) "Throw them +here," bade the King; and at that they were thrown amongst the other +crowned heads that lay beneath Lucifer's feet; and following the monarchs +came their courtiers and their flatterers to receive sentence. Before I +had time to ask any question, I heard the blast of brazen trumpets and +shouts. "Make way, make way," and at once there came in view a herd of +assize-men and devils bearing the train of six justices, and millions of +their race--barristers, {95a} attorneys, clerks, recorders, bailiffs, +catchpolls, and the litigous busybody. I wondered that none of them was +examined; but in truth, they knew the matter had gone too far against +them, so none of the learned counsels opened their lips, but the busybody +threatened that he would bring an action for false imprisonment against +Lucifer. "Thou shalt have good cause of complaint now," said the Evil +One, "and never see a court at all." Then he donned his red cap, and +with unbearable, haughty mien, said: "Go, take the justices to the hall +of Pontius Pilate, to Master Bradshaw, who condemned King Charles; pack +the barristers with the assassins of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, {95b} and +their other false co-partners who simulate mutual contention, merely in +order to slay whomsoever might interpose. Go, greet that prudent lawyer, +who, when dying offered a thousand pounds for a good conscience, and ask +whether he is now willing to give more. Roast the lawyers by the fire of +their own parchments and papers till their learned bowels burst forth; +let the litigous busybodies hang above them with their nostrils deepest +down the roasting chimneys, in order to inhale the noxious vapors arising +thence, to see if they will ever get their fill of law. Throw the +recorders amongst the retailers who prevent or forestall the sale of +corn, who mix it and sell the mixture at double the price of the pure +corn: similarly, they demand for wrong double the fees formerly given +for right. As to the catchpolls, let them free to hunt about and lie in +the ravines and bushes of the earth, to capture those that are debtors to +the infernal crown; for what devil of you could do the work better than +they?" + +Shortly there appear twenty demons, like Scotch-men, with packs across +their shoulders, which they cast down before the throne of despair, and +which turned out to be gipsies. "Ho there!" cried Lucifer, "how was it +that ye who knew the fortune of others so well, did not know that your +own fortune was leading you hither?" No answer was given, for they were +amazed at seeing here beings uglier than themselves. "Throw the tan- +faced loons to the witches," bade the King, "there are no cats or rush- +lights here for them, but divide a frog between them every ten thousand +years, if they will be quiet and not deafen us with their barbarous +chatter." + +After them came, methought, thirty labourers. Everybody wondered to see +so many of that honest calling, so seldom did any of them appear; but +they did not all come from the same parts nor for like faults--some for +raising prices, many for withholding their tithes, and defrauding the +parson of his dues, others for leaving their work to follow after the +gentry, and who in trying to stride along with their masters, strained +themselves, some for doing work on the Sabbath, some for thinking of +their sheep and kine in church, instead of giving attention to the +reading of Holy Writ, and others for wrongful bargains. When Lucifer +began to question them, lo! they were all as pure as gold, and not one of +them found anything amiss in himself so as to deserve such a dwelling +place. One can scarcely believe what neat excuses each one had to hide +his sin, although they were already in hell for it, offering them merely +out of evil disposition to thwart Lucifer and to accuse the righteous +Judge, who had condemned them, of injustice. But it was still more +astonishing to see how cleverly the Evil One exposed their foul sins, and +how he answered with a home-thrust their false excuses. When these were +about to receive their infernal doom, forty scholars were borne forward +by porpoise-shaped fiends, uglier, if possible, than Lucifer himself. +And when they heard the labourers pleading, they too waxed bold to give +excuses, but what ready answers the old Serpent had for them with all +their knavery and learning! As it happened that I heard similar pleas in +another court of justice I will hereafter recount them together, and now +proceed with what I saw in the meantime. + +Lucifer had barely pronounced their sentence--that they should be driven +to the great glacier in the land of eternal ice, a doom that set their +teeth a-gnashing, even before they saw their prison, when suddenly, hell +again most marvellously resounded with the crash of terrible bolts, with +loud-rolling thunder, and with every noise of war. Lucifer loured and +grew pale; in a moment, there flew in a wry-footed imp, panting and +trembling. "What is the matter?" cried Lucifer. "A matter fraught with +the greatest peril for you since hell is hell," said the dwarf, "all the +ends of the kingdom of darkness have risen up against you and against +each other, especially those between whom there was longstanding enmity, +who are already locked together fang to fang, so that it is impossible to +pull them apart. Soldiers have attacked the doctors for taking away +their trade of slaughter; a myriad userers have fallen upon the lawyers, +for claiming a share in the business of robbery; the busybodies and the +swindlers are tearing the gentlemen, limb-meal, for unnecessary swearing +and cursing, whereby they gained their living. Harlots and their +minions, and a million other old friends and former comrades have fallen +out with one another irreconcilably. But worst of all is the fray raging +between the misers and their own offspring, for wasting the goods and +money which, the old pinchfists aver, 'cost us much pain on earth, and +here endless anguish.' Their sons, on the other hand, cursing and +rending them outrageously, call for eternal ruin upon their heads for +leaving overmuch wealth to madden them with pride and riotous living, +when a little, under the blessing of heaven, would have rendered them +happy in both worlds." "Enough, enough," cried Lucifer, "there is more +need of arms than words. Return, sirrah, and play the spy in every watch +to find the where and why of this great negligence, for there's some +treachery in the air we wot not of as yet." The imp departed at his +bidding, and in the meantime Lucifer and his compeers arose in terror and +exceeding fear, and ordered the levying of the bravest armies of the +black angels; and having disposed them, he himself started foremost to +quell the rebellion, his chieftains and their hosts going other ways. +The royal army, like shafts of lightning across the hideous gloom, +advanced (and we in their rear); ere long the uproar falls upon their +ears; a fiendish bellower cries, "Silence, in the King's name!" to no +purpose, it would be an easier task to hale apart old beavers than one of +these. But when Lucifer's veterans dashed into their midst, the growls, +and blows, and battering lessened. "Silence in Lucifer's name!" roared +the devil a second time. "What is this," demanded the King, "and who are +these?" "Nothing, sire, but that in the general confusion, the drovers +came across the cuckolds, and set a-butting to prove whose horns were the +harder; it might have turned out seriously, had not your horned giants +joined in the affray." "Well," said Lucifer, "since ye are all so ready +with your arms, come with me to trounce the other rebels." But when the +rumour reached these that Lucifer was approaching with three horned +armies, everyone made for his lair. + +So he marched on across the desolate plains unresisted, and seeking in +vain the cause of the revolt. After a while, however, one of the King's +spies returns, quite out of breath: "Most noble, Lucifer! Moloch, your +prince, hath subdued part of the North, and hath cut thousands to pieces +upon the glaciers, but there are three or four dangerous evils still +threatening you." "Whom meanest thou?" asked Lucifer. "The Slanderer, +the Busybody, and the Lawmonger, have broken out of their prisons and got +free." "No wonder then," said the Evil One, "if further troubles arise." +Then there comes another spy from the South, informing that matters would +soon reach a dire pass in that quarter if the three who had already +thrown the West into utter confusion be not taken, namely, the Huntress, +the Rogue and the Swaggerer. "Since the day I tempted Adam from his +garden," said Satan, who stood next but one to Lucifer, "I have never +seen so many evils of his race at liberty together. The Huntress, the +Swaggerer, the Rogue, on the one hand, and on the other, the Slanderer, +the Lawmonger and the Busybody--a mixture would make devils reach." +"Little wonder, verily," said Lucifer, "that they were so much hated by +all on earth, seeing that they are capable of causing such trouble to us +here." Not long after, the Huntress comes to meet the King upon the way. +"Ho! grandam o' the breeches," cries a shrill-voiced demon, "good night +to you." "Thy grandam on which side, prithee?" said she, displeased +because he did not "madam" her. "You are a fine king, Lucifer, to keep +such impudent rascals about you; a thousand pities that such a vast realm +should be under so impotent a ruler; would that I might be made its +regent." Then comes the Swaggerer, nodding in the dark--"Your humble +servant, sir," saith he to one, over his shoulder; "Are you quite well?" +to another; "Can I be of any service to you?" addressing a third, with a +leering smirk, and to the Huntress: "Your beauty quite fascinates me, +madam." "Oh oh," cried she, "away with the hell-hound;" and all join in +the shout: "Away with this new tormentor, hell on hell that he is!" +"Let both be bound together hand and foot," commanded Lucifer. Soon +after the Lawmonger comes on the scene between two devils. "Ho, ho, thou +angel of peace," exclaimed Lucifer, "hast thou come? Keep him safe, +guards, at your peril!" Before we had gone far, the Rogue and the +Slanderer appeared, chained between forty devils, and whispering to one +another. "Most noble Lucifer," began the Rogue, "I am very sorry there +is so much disturbance in your kingdom; but if I may be heard, I will +teach you a better method. Under the pretence of holding a Parliament, +you can cite all the damned into the burning Evildom, and then bid the +devils hurl them headlong to bottomless perdition, and lock them up in +its vortex, to trouble you no more." "But the Common Meddler is still +missing," said Lucifer, frowning most darkly at the Rogue. When we +reached once more the entrance of the infernal court, who should come +straight to meet the King but the Busybody. "Ah, your majesty, I have a +word with you." "And I have one or two with you, peradventure," said the +Evil One. "I have been over the half of Hell," said he, "to see how your +affairs went. You have many officers in the East who are remiss, and +take their ease instead of attending to the torturing of their prisoners +and to their safe keeping; it was this that gave rise to the great +rebellion. And moreover many of your fiends, and of the lost whom you +sent to the world to tempt men, have not returned, although their time is +up, and others have come, but hide rather than give an account of their +doings." + +Then commanded Lucifer his herald to summon a second Parliament, and in +the twinkling of an eye all the potentates and their officers were again +in attendance at their infernal Eisteddfod. The first thing done was to +change the officers, and to order a place to be made round the mouth of +the pit for the Swaggerer and the Huntress, linked face to face, and for +the other rebels, bound topsy-turvy together; and a law was published +that whosoever of the demons or of the damned thenceforth transgressed +his duty should be thrown into their midst till doomsday. At these words +all the fiends and even Lucifer himself trembled and were sore perturbed. +Then next came the trial of the devils and the lost who had been sent to +earth to find "associates and co-partners of their loss;" the devils gave +a clear account, but the statement of the damned was so hazy and +uncertain, that they were driven to the ever-burning school, and there +scourged with fiery, knotted serpents to teach them their task the +better. "Here's a wench that's pretty enough when dressed up," said an +imp, "she was sent up into the world to gain you new subjects; and whom +should she first tempt but a weary ploughman, homeward wending his way, +late from his toils, who, instead of succumbing to her wiles, went on his +knees praying to be saved from the devil and his angels." "Ho there!" +cried Lucifer, "throw her to that worthless losel who long ago loved +Einion ab Gwalchmai of Mona." {102a} "Stay, stay," pleaded the fair one, +"this is but my first offence; there is yet scarcely a year since the day +when all was over with me, when I was condemned to your cursed state, Oh +king of woes!" "No, there is not yet three weeks," said the demon that +had brought her there. "How therefore," said she, "would you have me be +as skilled as those lost beings who have been here three or four +centuries hunting their prey? If you desire better service at my hands, +let me go free into the world once more to roam about uncensured; and if +I bring you not twenty adulterers for every year I am out, mete me what +punishment you list." Nevertheless the verdict went against her, and she +was doomed to live a hundred long years under chastisement, that she +might be more careful a second time. Presently, another devil entered, +pushing to the front a man. "Here is a fine messenger," he said, "who +wandering the other night in his old neighbourhood above, saw a thief +stealing a stallion, but could not help him even to catch the foal +without showing himself; and the thief, when he saw him, abandoned that +career for ever." "Begging the court's pardon," said the man, "if the +thief's child was endowed with power from above to see me, could I help +that? Moreover, this is only a single case; 't is not a hundred years +since that day which put an end to all my hopes for ever, and how many of +my own family and of my neighbours have I enticed here after me in that +time? Perdition hold me, if I am not as dutiful to my trade as the best +of you, but the wisest is sometimes at fault." Then said Lucifer: +"Throw him into the school of the fairies, who are still under +castigation for their mischievous tricks in days gone by, when they were +wont to strangle and threaten their neighbours, and so awaken them from +their torpor; for their fear probably had more influence upon them than +forty sermons." + +Then came four constables, an accuser, and fifteen of the damned, +dragging forward two devils. "Lest you lay the blame of every wrongful +service upon the children of Adam," said the accuser, "here are two of +your old angels who misspent their time above as much as the two who were +last before the court. Here is a rogue quite as worthless as that one at +Shrewsbury the other day, when the Interlude of Doctor Faustus was being +played, amidst all manner of most wanton and lascivious revelries, and +where many things were going on conducive to the welfare of your realm; +when they were busiest, the devil himself appeared to play his part, and +so drove all away from pleasure to prayers. Even so this one, in his +wanderings over the world: he heard some people talk of walking round +the church {104a} to see their sweethearts, and what should the fool do +but show himself to the simpletons in his own natural form, and though +their fright was great they recovered their senses, and made a vow to +leave that vanity for ever; whereas had he only assumed the form of some +vile jades, they would have held themselves bound to accept those; and so +the foul fiend might have been master of the household with both parties, +since he himself had mated them. And here is another, who went, last +Twelfth Night, to visit two Welsh lasses who were turning their shifts, +and instead of enticing them to wantonness in the form of a fair youth, +to one he took a bier, to make her thoughts more serious; to the other, +he went with the tumult of war in a hellish whirlwind, to make her madder +than before; and this was quite needless. Nor was this all; for after he +had entered the maiden, and had thrown her about, and sorely tormented +her, some of our learned enemies were sent for to pray for her and to +cast him out, and instead of tempting her to despair and endeavouring to +win over the preachers, he began to preach to them, and to disclose the +mysteries of your kingdom, thus aiding their salvation instead of +hindering it." At the word "salvation" I saw some leaping up, a living +fire of rage. "Every tale is fair till the other side be told," quoth +the devil, "I hope Lucifer will not allow one of the earth-born race of +Adam to contend with me, who am an angel of far superior kind and stock." +"His punishment is certain," said Lucifer, "but do thou, sirrah, give +clear and ready answer to these charges; or by hopeless Hell I will--." +"I have led hither," said he, "many a soul since Satan was in the Garden +of Eden, and I ought to understand my business, better than this upstart +accuser." "Blood of infernal firebrands," cried Lucifer, "did I not bid +thee answer clearly and readily?" "By your leave," said the demon, "I +have preached a hundred times, and have denounced many of the various +ways that lead to your confines, and yet at the same breath, have quietly +brought them hither safe and sound by some other delusive path, just as I +did while preaching recently in the German States, in one of the Faro +Isles, and in several other places. In this manner, through my preaching +have many Papist beliefs, and old traditions come first into the world, +and all in the guise of goodness. For who ever would swallow a baitless +hook? Who ever gained credence for a tale which had not some truth +mingled with the false, or some little good overshadowing the bad? So, +if whilst preaching I can instil one counsel of mine own among a hundred +that are good and true, by means of that one, through heedlessness or +superstition, will more weal betide your kingdom than woe through all the +others ever." "Well," said Lucifer, "since thou canst do so much good in +the pulpit, I bid thee dwell seven years in the mouth of a barndoor +preacher who always utter what first comes to his mind; there thou wilt +have an opportunity of putting in a word now and then to thine own +purpose." + +There were many more devils and damned darting to and fro like lightning +about the awful throne, to count and to receive offices. But suddenly +without any warning there came a command for all the messengers and +prisoners to depart from the court, each one to his den, leaving the King +and his chief counsellors alone together. "Is it not better for us also +to depart, lest they find us?" I asked my friend. "Thou needest have no +fear," answered the angel, "no unclean spirit can ever pierce this veil." +Wherefore we remained there invisible, to see the issue. + +Then Lucifer began graciously to address his peers thus:- "Ye mightiest +spirits of evil, ye archfiends of hellish guile, the utmost of your +malicious wiles am I now constrained to demand. All here know that +Britain and its adjacent isles is the realm most dangerous to my state, +and fullest of mine enemies; and what is a hundredfold worse, there +reigns now a queen most dangerous of all, who has never once inclined +hither, nor along the old way of Rome on the one hand nor yet along the +way of Geneva on the other: to think what great good the Pope has for a +long time done us there and Oliver even to this day! What therefore +shall we do? I fear me we shall entirely lose our ancient possession of +that mart unless we instantly set-to to pave a new way for them to travel +over, for they know too well all the old roads that lead hitherwards. +Since this invincible hand shortens my chain, and prevents me from going +myself to the earth, your advice I pray. Whom shall I appoint my viceroy +to oppose yon hateful queen, Our Enemy's vicegerent?" + +"Oh! thou great Emperor of Darkness," said Cerberus, {106a} the demon of +tobacco, "'tis I that supply the third of that country's maintenance, I +shall go, and I will despatch you a hundred thousand of your foemen's +souls through a pipe stem." "In sooth," said Lucifer, "thou hast done me +some good service, what with causing the slaughter of the owners in India +and poisoning those that indulge in it, through the saliva, sending many +to wander with it idly from house to house, others to steal in order to +obtain it, and millions to grow that fond of it that they cannot spend a +single day without it, and be in their right mind. For all this, go and +do thy best, but thou art nought to our present purpose." + +Whereupon Cerberus sat down; then rose Mammon, the devil of money, and +with surly skulking mien began: "'T was I who pointed out the first mine +whence money was to be obtained, and ever since I am praised and +worshipped more than God, and men lay their pain and peril, all their +mind, their affection and their trust upon me, yea, there is no man +content, but all crave more of my favor; the more they obtain, the +further still are they from rest, until at last, while seeking ease, they +come to this region of everlasting woes. How many a crafty old miser +have I enticed hither over paths that were harder to traverse than those +that lead to the realm of bliss? Whenever a fair was held, a market, +assize or election, or any other concourse, who had more subjects than I +or greater power and authority? Cursing, swearing, fighting, litigation, +falsehood and deceit, beating, clawing, murdering and robbing one +another, Sabbath-breaking, perjury, cruelty, and what black mark besides, +which stamps men as of Lucifer's fold, that I have not had a hand in +placing? For which reason have I been called 'the root of all evil.' +Wherefore, an it please your majesty, I will go." + +He ceased. Then Apolyon uprose and spoke: "I know of nought more +certain to lead them hither than what brought you here, {107a} and that +is Pride; once it plants its straight stake in them and puffs them up, +there is no need to fear that they will condescend to bear the cross or +go through the narrow gate. I will go with your daughter Pride, and +before they can realise where they are, I will drive the Welsh hither +headlong while admiring the pomp of the English, and the English while +imitating the vivacity of the French." + +After him arose Asmodai, the devil of lust: "'T is not unknown to you, +mightiest King of the deep, nor to you, princes of the land of despair, +how many of the gulfs of hell have I filled through voluptuousness and +lewdness. What of the time I kindled such a flame of lust over all the +world that the deluge had needs be sent to clear the earth of men, and to +sweep them all into our unquenchable fire? What of Sodoma and Gomorrah, +fine and fair cities, which I so consumed with licentiousness that a +hell-shower blazed in their infernal lusts and beat them down here alive, +to burn for ages on ages. And what of the great hosts of the Assyrians, +who were all slain in one night on my account? I disappointed Sarah of +seven husbands' {108a} and Solomon and many a thousand other kings did I +bring to shame through women. Wherefore let me and this sweet sin go, +and I will kindle the hellish spark so generally that it will at length +become one with this inextinguishable flame, for scarce one will ever +return from following me to walk in the paths of life." At that he sat +down. + +Then Belphegor, chief of sloth and idleness, stood up and spake thus: "I +am the great prince of listlessness and sloth, who have great influence +upon millions of all sorts and conditions of men; I am that stagnant pond +where the spawn of every evil is bred, where the dregs of every +corruption and baleful slime grows rank. What good wouldst thou be, +Asmodai, or ye, chief damned evils, were I not? I, who keep the windows +open and unguarded that ye may enter into the man when ye will, through +his eyes, his ears and his mouth. I will go and roll them all over the +precipice unto you in their sleep." + +Then Satan, the devil of delusion, who was on Lucifer's left hand, arose, +and turning his grim visage to the king, began: "It is unnecessary for +me to recount my deeds to thee, Oh lost Archangel, or to you, swarthy +princes of Destruction: for 'twas I who dealt the first blow to man, and +mighty was that blow, to be the cause of death from the beginning of the +world to its end. Is it likely that I, who erst ravaged all the earth, +could not now give advice that would serve one little isle? Could not I, +who deceived Eve in Paradise, overcome Anne in Britain? If inborn craft +and continuous experience for five thousand years profit aught, my advice +is that you adorn your daughter Hypocrisy to deceive Britain and its +queen: you have no other as serviceable as she; her sway extends more +widely than that of all the rest of your daughters, and her subjects are +more numerous. Was it not through her that I beguiled the first woman? +And ever since she has remained on earth and waxed very great therein, so +that by now the world is hardly anything but one mass of hypocrisy. And +were it not for the craftiness of Hypocrisy how could anyone of us do +business in any part of the world? For what man would ever have aught to +do with sin, did he once behold it in its true color and under its own +proper name? He would sooner clasp a devil in his own infernal shape and +garb. If it were not that Hypocrisy can disguise the name and nature of +every evil under the semblance of some good, and give a bad name to every +goodness, no man at all would put forth his hand to do evil or would lust +after it. Walk through the entire city of Destruction and ye will +perceive her greatness in every quarter. Go to the street of Pride and +ask for an arrogant man or for a penny-worth of affectation mixed through +pride: 'Woe is me,' exclaims Hypocrisy, 'there is no such thing here,' +no, nor for a devil, anything else in the whole street save proud +demeanour. Or walk into the street of Lucre and enquire for the miser's +house: pshaw, there is no one of the kind therein; or for the dwelling +of the murderer among the doctors, or for the abode of highwaymen amongst +the drovers; thou wouldst sooner be thrown to prison for asking than that +one should confess to his own name. Yea, Hypocrisy crawls in between a +man and his own heart, and so skilfully does she hide every wrong under +the name and guise of some virtue that she has caused well nigh all to +lose cognisance of their own selves. Greed she calls thrift; in her +tongue riotous living is innocent joy; pride is courtesy; the froward, a +clever, courageous man; the drunkard, a boon companion; and adultery is a +mere freak of youth. On the other hand, if she and her scholars' {110a} +are to be believed, the godly is a hypocrite or a fool; the gentle, a +coward; the abstemious, a churl, and so for every other quality. Send +her thither in all her adornment, and I warrant you she will deceive +everyone; she will blinden the counsellors, the soldiers, and all the +officers of church and state, and will draw them hither in hurrying +multitudes with the varicolored mask upon their eyes." Whereupon he too +sat down. + +Then Beelzebub, the devil of thoughtlessness stood up, and in a harsh +voice said: "I am the great prince of heedlessness whose duty it is to +prevent a man taking reflective heed of his state; I am chief of the +incessant hell-flies who utterly amaze men, ever dinning in their ears +concerning their possessions or their pleasures, and never willingly +allowing them a moment's leisure to think of their ways or of their end. +No one of you must dare enter the lists against me in feats serviceable +to the realm of darkness. For what is tobacco, but one of my meanest +weapons to stupefy the brain? What is Mammon's kingdom but a part of my +great dominion? Yea, were I to loosen the bonds I have upon the subjects +of Mammon and Pride, and even of Asmodai, Belphegor and Hypocrisy, no man +would for an instant abide their domination. Wherefore I will do the +work and let no one of you ever utter a word." + +Then great Lucifer himself arose from his burning seat, and having turned +his hideous face to both sides, thus began: "Ye chief spirits of the +Eternal Night, princes of hopeless guile, although the vasty gloom and +the wilds of Destruction are more bounden to none for their inhabitants +than to mine own supreme majesty--for it was I who erewhile wishing to +usurp the Almighty's throne, drew myriads of you, my swarthy angels, at +my tail into these deadly horrors, and afterwards drew unto you myriads +of men to share this region--yet there is no gainsay that ye all have +done your share in maintaining and extending this great infernal empire." +Then he began to answer them one by one: "Considering thy recent origin, +Cerberus, I will not deny but that thou hast gained for us much prey in +the island of our foes through tobacco. For they that carry, mix, and +weigh it, practise all manner of fraud; and by its indulgence some are +led on to habitual drinking, some to curse and swear, and some to seek it +through blandishment, and to lie in denying their use of it--not to speak +of the injury it inflicts upon many, and its immoderate use upon all, +body as well as soul. And better than that, myriads of the poor, whom +else we never should touch, sink hither through laying the burden of +their affection upon tobacco, and allowing it to be their master, to +steal the bread from their children's mouth. Then, brother Mammon, your +power is so universal and so well-known on earth that it is a proverb, +'Everything may be had for money.' And without doubt," said he, turning +to Apolyon, "my beloved daughter Pride is most serviceable to us, for +what can there be more pernicious to a man's estate, to his body and +soul, than that proud, obdurate opinion which will make him squander a +hundred pounds rather than yield a crown to secure peace. She keeps them +all so stiff-necked and so intent on things on high that it is amusing to +see them, while gazing upwards, and 'extolling their heads to the stars' +fall straightway into the depths of hell. You too, Asmodai, we all +remember your great services in the past; there is none more resolute +than you to keep safe his prisoners under lock and key, nor any so +unimpeachable. Nowadays a wanton freak provokes only a little laughter, +but you came near perishing there from famine during the recent years of +dearth. And you, my son Belphegor, verminous prince of sloth, no one has +afforded us more pleasure than you; your influence is exceeding great +among noblemen and also among the common people, even to the beggar. And +were it not for the skill of my daughter Hypocrisy in coloring and +adorning, who ever would swallow a single one of our hooks? But after +all, if it were not for the unwearying courage of my brother Beelzebub in +keeping men in heedless dazedness, ye all would not be worth a straw. +Let us once more recapitulate. What good wouldst thou be, Cerberus, with +thy foreign whiff, if Mammon did not succour thee? What merchant would +ever run such risks to obtain thy paltry leaves from India, except for +Mammon's sake? And only for him what king would receive them, especially +into Britain, and who but for his sake would carry them to every part of +the kingdom? Yet how worthless thou too wouldst be, Mammon, if Pride did +not lavish thee upon fair mansions, fine clothes, needless lawsuits, +gardens and horses, extravagant relatives, numerous dishes, floods of +beer and ale, beyond the power and station of their owner; for if money +were spent within the limit of necessity and of becoming moderation, what +would Mammon avail us? Thus thou art nought without Pride; and little +would Pride profit without Wantonness, for bastards are the most numerous +and the most fierce of all the subjects of my daughter Pride. And thou, +Asmodai, what wouldst thou profit us were it not for Sloth and Idleness? +Where wouldst thou obtain a night's lodging? Thou wouldst not dare +expect it from a laborer or diligent student. And who, for the dishonor +and the shame, would ever give thee, Belphegor the Slothful, a moment's +welcome, if Hypocrisy did not disguise thy foulness under the name of an +internal disease, or as a good intent or a seeming despisal of wealth or +the like. She too--my dear daughter Hypocrisy--what good is or ever +would she be, notwithstanding her skill as a seamstress, and her +boldness, without thy aid, my eldest brother, Beelzebub, great chief of +Distraction: if he gave people peace and leisure to reflect seriously +upon the nature of things and their differences, how long would it take +them to find holes in the folds of Hypocrisy's golden garments, and to +see the hooks through the bait? What man in his senses would gather +together toys and fleeting pleasures, surfeiting, vain and disgraceful, +and choose them in preference to a calm conscience and the bliss of a +glorious eternity? Who would refuse to suffer the pangs of martyrdom for +his faith for an hour or a day, or affliction for forty or sixty years, +if he considered that his neighbours suffer here in an hour more than he +could suffer on earth for ever. Tobacco is nothing without Money, or +Money without Pride, and Pride is but a weakling without Wantonness, nor +is Wantonness aught without Sloth, nor Sloth without Hypocrisy, nor +Hypocrisy without Thoughtlessness. Wherefore, now," said Lucifer, +lifting his infernal hoofs on their claw-ends, "to give my own opinion: +however excellent all these may be, I have a friend better suited than +all to our foe of Britain." Then could I see all the archfiends open +wide their horrid mouths upon Lucifer in eager expectation as to what +this could possibly be, while I too was as anxious as they. "A friend," +continued Lucifer, "whose true worth I have too long neglected, just as +thou, Satan, tempting Job of yore, didst foolishly turn upon him with +severity. This, my kinswoman, I now appoint regent in all matters +appertaining to my kingdom on earth, next to myself. Her name is +Prosperity: she has damned more than all of you together, and little +would ye avail without her presence. For who in war or peril, in famine +or in plague, would lay any value by tobacco, or by money or by the +sprightliness of pride, or who would deign welcome licentiousness or +sloth? And men in such straits are too wide-awake to be distraught by +Hypocrisy, or even by Thoughtlessness; none of the infernal vermin of +Distraction dare show himself in one such storm. Whereas Prosperity, +with its ease and comfort, is the nurse of all of you; beneath her +peaceful shadow and upon her tranquil bosom ye all are nourished, and +every other hellish worm that has its place in the conscience and will be +for ever here gnawing its possessor. As long as one is at ease, there is +no talk but of merriment, of feasts, bargains, genealogies, tales, news +and the like; the name of God is never mentioned except in profane oaths +and curses, whereas the poor and the afflicted have His name upon their +lips and in their hearts always. Go ye, the seven of you, and follow her +and be mindful to keep all a-slumbering and in peace, in good fortune, in +ease and in perfect carelessness; then shall ye see the honest poor +become an untractable, arrogant knave, once he has quaffed of the +alluring cup of Prosperity; ye shall behold the diligent laborer become a +careless babbler and everything else that pleases you. For all seek and +love happy Prosperity; she neither hearkens to advice nor fears censure; +the good she knows not, the bad she nurtures. But this is the greatest +mishap: the man that escapes her sweet charms must be given up in +despair, we must bid farewell to his company for ever. Prosperity then +is my earthly vicegerent; follow her to Britain, and obey her as ye would +our own royal majesty." + +At that instant the huge bolt was whirled, and Lucifer and his chief +counsellors were swept away into the vortex of Uttermost Perdition; woe's +me, how terrible it was to behold the jaws of Hell yawning wide to +receive them! "Come now," said the Angel, "we will return, but what thou +hast seen is as nothing compared with all that is within the bounds of +Hell; and if thou didst see everything therein that again would be as +nought when compared with the unutterable woe of the Bottomless Pit; for +it is impossible to have any conception of the life in the Uttermost +Hell." Then suddenly the heavenly Eagle caught me up into the vault of +the accursed gloom by a way I knew not, where, from the court, across the +entire firmament of dark-burning Perdition, and all the land of oblivion +up to the ramparts of the City of Destruction, I obtained full view of +the hideous monster of a giantess whose feet I had previously observed. +"Words fail me to describe her ways and means; but of herself I can tell +thee, that she was a three-faced ogress: one villainous face turned +towards Heaven, yelping and snarling and belching forth cursed +abomination against the heavenly King; another face (and this was fair to +look upon) towards earth, to allure men beneath her baneful shadow; and +the other direful face towards the infernal abyss, to torture all therein +for ages without end. She is greater than the earth in its entirety, and +still continuously increases; she is a hundredfold more hideous than all +Hell which she herself created and which she peoples. If Hell were rid +of her, the vasty deep would be a Paradise; if she were driven from the +earth, the little world would become a heaven; and if she ascended into +Heaven, she would make an uttermost hell of that blissful realm. There +is nought in all the worlds which God has not created, save her alone. +She is the mother of the four deadly enchantresses; she is the mother of +Death and of all evil and misery, and her terrible grasp is upon every +living being. Her name is Sin. Blessed, ever blessed be he who escapes +from her clutches," said the Angel. Thereupon he departed, and I could +hear the distant echo of his voice saying; "Write down what thou hast +seen; and whosoever readeth it thoughtfully will never repent." + + +WITH HEAVY HEART. + + + With heavy heart I sought th' infernal coast + And saw the vale of everlasting woes, + The awful home of fiends and of the lost + Where torments rage and never grant repose - + A lake of fire whence horrid flames arose + And whither tended every wayward path + Its prey to lead 'midst cruel dragon-foes; + Yet, though I wandered through withouten scath, +A world I'd spurn, to view again that scene of wrath. + + With heavy heart oft I recall to mind + How many a loving friend unwarned fell + To bottomless perdition, there to find + A dread abode where he for aye must dwell; + Who erst were men are now like hounds of Hell + And with unceasing energy entice + To dire combustion all with wily spell, + And to themselves have ta'en the devils' guise, +Their power and skill all ill to do in every wise. + + With heavy heart I roamed the dismal land + That is ordained the sinner's end to be; + What mighty waves surge wild on every hand! + What gloomy shadows haunt its canopy! + What horrors fall on high and mean degree! + How hideous is the mien of its fell lords, + What shrieks rise from that boundless glowing sea, + How fierce the curses of the damned hordes, +No mortal ken can e'er conceive or paint in words. + + With heavy heart we mourn true friends or kin + And grieve the loss of home, of liberty, + Of that good name which all aspire to win + Or health and ease and sweet tranquility; + When dim, dark clouds enshroud our memory + And pass 'tween us and heaven's gracious smiles, + 'Tis sadder far to wake to misery + And feel that Pleasure now no more beguiles, +That sin has left nought but the wounds of its base wiles. + + With heavy heart the valiantest of men + Lays low his head beneath th' impending doom; + In terror he descends death's awsome glen; + While there appear flashing through the gloom + The lurid shades of deeds which in the bloom + Of youth he dared; at last the conscience cries + With ruthless voice: "There's life beyond the tomb;" + His dying thoughts all vanities despise +As on the threshold of Eternity he lies. + + The heavy heart that suffers all such grief + May, while the breath of life doth still remain, + Hope for a joyous peace and blest relief; + But if grim Death his fated victim gain, + Woe's him that entereth the realm of pain - + For e'er on him its frowning portals close, + Nor gleam of hope shall he perceive again, + For in that vast eternal night he knows +A woe awaits that far surpasseth earthly woes. + + The heavy heart beneath its weight is crushed, + And at its very name--Damnation writ, + All men their vain and froward clamors hushed; + But when within the fiery gaping pit + Whose flaming ramparts none will ever quit, + Above the thunder's roar th' accursed host + Raise such loud cries, it passeth human wit + To dream of aught so dire, for at the most, +All woes of earth as pleasures seem unto the lost. + + From every vain complaining, cease, my friend, + Since thou art yet not numbered with the dead + But turn thy thoughts unto thy destined end, + Behold thy Fates spin out the vital thread, + And often as thy mind to Hell be led, + To contemplate the doleful gloom aglow, + There will forthwith possess thee such a dread, + Which Christ's unbounded mercy doth bestow, +Lest thou be doomed to that eternal realm of woe. + + + +Footnotes: + + + +{0} The genealogical tables in the book are in graphic form. They are +reproduced here in a more textual format--DP. + +ELLIS WYNNE'S PEDIGREE + +(I am indebted to E. H. Owen, Esqr., F.S.A., Tycoch, Carnarvon, for most +of the information comprised in the following Tables.) + +William Wynne {00a} = Catherine {00b} + | + Ellis Wynne {00c} = Lowri {00d} + | + Edward Wynne = . . . heiress of Glasynys + | + +----------------------------+------------------+ + ELLIS WYNNE = Lowri Llwyd {00e} Daughter + | + | ++-----------------------+-----+---------+-------+ +| | | | | +William {00f} = {00v} | | | | + | Ellis Catherine Edward Mary = Robert Owen + | {00g} {00h} {00i} {00j} + | | + Daughter=Robert Puw | + | +---+--------------+ + John Wynne Puw {00x} | | + | | | ++----+--------+ Ellis {00k} Frances +| | | +| John +----------+-----+------+-----------+-------------+ +| | | | | | | +Robert Elizabeth Ann Edward John {00l} Francis Ellis + + + +THE RELATION BETWEEN ELLIS WYNNE & BISHOP HUMPHREYS. + + +Meredydd ap Evan ap Robert {00m} = Margaret {00n} + | + Humphrey Wynne ap = Catherine {00o} + Meredydd of Gesail- | + gyfarch. | + | + | + +-----------------------------------------------+ + | | +John Wynne = Catherine {00p} Evan Llwyd {00q}=Catherine {00w} +ap Humphrey | | +of Gesail- | | +gyfarch | John + Robert Wynne {00r}=Mary{00s} | + | +------------------+ + | Evan Griffith + +-------------------------+ | + | | +-----------+ +John Wynne = Jane {00t} Margaret=Richard{00u} | | + | | William LOWRI=ELLIS + Robert {00y} | Ob. s. p. WYNNE + | + +---------------------------+-------+------------------+ + | | | +HUMPHREY {00z} = Elizabeth {000a} John Catherine + | Died at Oxford. + | + +----------+---------------------+ + | | + Ann Margaret = John Llwyd {000b} +Ob. s. p. 1698 Died 1759 + +{00a} William Wynne of Glyn [Cywarch]. Sheriff of Merioneth 1618 & +1637. D. 1658. 12th in direct male descent from Osborn Wyddel. + +{00b} Catherine, daughter of William Lewis Anwyl of Park. Died 1638. + +{00c} Ellis Wynne, 3rd son who probably lived at Maes-y-garnedd, +Llanbedr. + +{00d} Lowri, only daughter and heiress of Ed. Jones of Maes-y-garnedd, +eldest borther of Col. Jones, Cromwell's brother-in-law who was executed +in 1660 as a regicide. + +{00e} Lowri Llwyd of Hafod-lwyfog Beddgelert. + +{00f} Rector of Llanaber. + +{00g} Ellis Died 1732. + +{00h} Catherine Died young. + +{00i} Edward Rector of Penmorfa. + +{00j} Robert Owen of Tygwyn Dolgellau. + +{00k} Rector of Llanferres. + +{00l} Rector of Llandrillo. + +{00m} 11th in male descent from Owen Gwynedd. Died 1525. + +{00n} Daughter of Morris ap John ap Meredydd of Clunnenau. + +{00o} Daughter and heiress of Evan ap Griffith of Cwmbowydd. + +{00p} Daughter of William Wynne ap William of Cochwillan. + +{00q} Of Hafod-lwyfog. + +{00r} Died 1637. + +{00s} Daughter of Ellis ap Cadwaladr of Ystumllyn. + +{00t} Daughter of Evan Llwyd of Dylase. + +{00u} Richard Humphreys of Hendref Gwenllian, Penrhyndeudraeth. +Desceneded in male line from Marchweithian. An Officer in the Royal Army +through Civil War. Died 1699. + +{00v} . . . Lloyd of Trallwyn. + +{00w} Catherine, Daughter of Griffith Wynne of Penyberth. + +{00x} Robert Puw of Garth Maelan. + +{00y} Robert Wynne of Gesail-gyfarch, Barr.-at-law. Ob. s. p. 1685. + +{00z} Humphrey. Born 1648. Dean of Bangor, 1680, Bishop 1689. Bishop +of Hereford, 1701. Died 1712. + +{000a} Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Morgan Bishop of Bangor 1678, son of +Rd. Morgan, M.P. for Montgomery Boroughs. + +{000b} John Llwyd of Penylan, Barr.-at-law, son of Dr. W. Lloyd, Bishop +of Norwich, deprived in 1691 as one of the Nonjurors. + +{0a} "A Catalogue of Graduates in the University of Oxford between 1659 +and 1850" contains the following entry: --"Wynne (Ellis) Jes. BA., Oct. +14, 1718, MA., June 13, 1722." But one can hardly suppose this to have +been the Bardd Cwsr, as in 1718 he would be 47 years of age. + +{0b} The following entries are taken from the register at Llanfair- +juxta-Harlech: --"Elizaeus Wynne Generosus de Lasynys et Lowria Lloyd de +Havod-lwyfog in agro Arvonensi in matrimonio conjuncti fuere decimo +quarto die Feb. 1702." + +{0c} "Elizaeus Wynne junr. de Lasynys sepultus est decimo die Octobris +A.D. 1732." + +{0d} "Owenus Edwards cler. nuper Rector hums ecclesiae sepultus est +tricesimo die Maii A.D. 1711." (From the Llanfair parish register.) + +{0e} "Lowria Uxor Elizaei Wynne cler. de Lasynys vigesimo quarto die +Augti. sepulta est Ano. Dom. 1720." + +"Elizaeus Wynne Cler. nuper Rector dignissimus huius ecclesiae sepultus +est 17mo. die Julii 1734." (From the parish register at Llanfair.) + +{0f} "The Visions of the Sleeping Bard. First Part. Printed in London +by E. Powell for the Author, 1703," + +{1a} The opening lines.--Ellis Wynne opens his vision as so many early +English poets are wont, with a description of the season when, and the +circumstances under which he fell asleep. Compare especially Langland's +Visions, prologus: + +In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne +I went wyde in this world wondres to here, +Ac on a May mornynge on Malvern hulles +Me befel a ferly of fairy me thoughte, +I was wery forwandred and went me to reste +Under a brode bank bi a bornes side +And as I lay and leued and loked in the wateres +I slombred in a slepyng it sweyved so merye. + +{1b} One of the mountains.--The scene these opening lines describe was +one with which the Bard was perfectly familiar. He had often climbed the +slopes of the Vale of Ardudwy to view the glorious panorama around him +from Bardsey Isle to Strumble Head, the whole length of rock-bound coast +lay before him, while behind was the Snowdonian range, from Snowdon +itself to Cader Idris; and often, no doubt, he had watched the sun +sinking "far away over the Irish Sea, and reaching his western ramparts" +beyond the Wicklow Hills. + +{1c} Master Sleep.--Cp.: + +Such sleepy dulness in that instant weigh'd +My senses down. + +--Dante: Inf. C.I. (Cary's trans.) + +Now leaden slumber with life's strength doth fight. + +--Shakespere: Lucrece, 124. + +{4a} Such a fantastic rout.--Literally "such a battle of Camlan." This +was the battle fought between Arthur and his nephew Medrod about the year +540 on the banks of the Camel between Cornwall and Somerset, where Arthur +received the wounds of which he died. The combatants being relatives and +former friends, it was characterised with unwonted ferocity, and has +consequently come to be used proverbially for any fray or scene of more +than usual tumult and confusion. + +So all day long the noise of battle roll'd +Among the mountains by the winter sea, +Until King Arthur's table, man by man, +Had fallen in Lyonness about their Lord. + +--Tennyson: Morte d'Arthur. + +{4b} To lampoon my king.--The Bard commenced this Vision in the reign of +William III. (v. also p. 17, "to drink the King's health") and completed +it in that of Queen Anne, who is mentioned towards the end of the Vision. + +{7a} The Turk and old Lewis of France.--The Sultan Mustapha and Lewis +XIV. are thus referred to. + +{14a} Clippers.--The context seems to demand this meaning, that is, +"those who debase coin of the realm," rather than "beggars" from the +Welsh "clipan." + +{20a} Backgammon and dice.--These games, together with chess, were +greatly in vogue in mediaeval Wales, and are frequently alluded to in the +Mabinogion and other early works. The four minor games or feats +(gogampau) among the Welsh were playing the harp, chess, backgammon, and +dice. The word "ffristial a disiau" are here rendered by the one word +"dice"--ffristial meaning either the dice-box, or the game itself, and +disiau, the dice. + +{21a} This wailing is for pay.--Cp. + +Ut qui conducti plorant in funere dicunt +et faciunt prope plora dolentibus ex animo. + +--Horace: Ars Poetica, 430-1. + +{23a} The butt of everybody.--Whenever a number of bards, in the course +of their peregrinations from one patron's hall to another, met of a +night, their invariable custom was to appoint one of the company to be +the butt of their wit, and he was expected to give ready answer in verse +and parry the attacks of his brethren. It is said of Dafydd ap Gwilym +that he satirized one unfortunate butt of a bard so fiercely that he fell +dead at his feet. + +{24a} Congregation of mutes.--At the time Ellis Wynne wrote, the Quakers +were very numerous in Merioneth and Montgomery and especially in his own +immediate neighbourhood, where they probably had a burying-ground and +conventicle. They naturally became the objects of cruel persecution at +the hands of the dominant church as well as of the state; their meetings +were broken up, their members imprisoned and maltreated, until at last +they were forced to leave their fatherland and seek freedom of worship +across the Atlantic + +{25a} Speak no ill.--A Welsh proverb; v. Myv. Arch. III. 182. + +{26a} We came to a barn.--The beginning of Nonconformity in Wales. In +the Author's time there were already many adherents to the various +dissenting bodies in North Wales. Walter Cradoc, Morgan Llwyd and others +had been preaching the Gospel many years previously throughout the length +and breadth of Gwynedd; and it was their followers that now fell under +the Bard's lash. + +{28a} Corruption of the best.--A Welsh adage; v. Myv. Arch. III. 185. + +{28b} Some mocking.--Compare Bunyan's Christian starting from the City +of Destruction: "So he looked not behind him, but fled towards the +middle of the plain. The neighbours came out to see him run, and as he +ran, some mocked, others threatened and some cried after him to return." + +{29a} Who is content.--Cp. + +Qui fit, Maecenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortem +Seu ratio dederit seu fors obiecerit, illa +Contentus vivat, laudet diversa sequentes? + +--Horace: Sat. I. i. + +{34a} Increases his own penalty.--Cp. + + --the will +And high permission of all-ruling heaven +Left him at large to his own dark designs, +That with reiterated crimes he might +Heap on himself damnation, while he sought +Evil to others. + +- Par. Lost: I. 211-6. + +{36a} Royal blood--referring to the execution of Charles I. + +{37a} The Pope and his other son.--The concluding lines of this Vision +were evidently written amidst the rejoicings of the nation at the +victories of Marlborough over the French and of Charles XII. over the +Muscovites + +{43a} Glyn Cywarch.--The ancestral home of the Author's father, situate +in a lonely glen about three miles from Harlech. + +{43b} Our brother Death.--This idea of the kinship of Death and Sleep is +common to all poets, ancient and modern; cp. the "Consanguineus Leti +Sopor" of Vergil (AEneid: VI. 278); and also: + + Oh thou God of Quiet! +Look like thy brother, Death, so still,--so stirless - +For then we are happiest, as it may be, we +Are happiest of all within the realm +Of thy stern, silent, and unawakening twin. + +- Byron: Sardanapulus, IV. + +{44a} An extensive domain.--Compare what follows with Vergil's +description (Dryden's trans.): + +Just in the gate and in the jaws of Hell, +Revengeful cares and sullen sorrows dwell, +And pale diseases and repining age - +Want, fear, and famine's unresisted rage; +Here toils and death, and death's half-brother, Sleep, +Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep. + +--AEneid: VI. 273-8 + +{48a} Merlin.--A bard or seer who is supposed to have flourished about +the middle of the fifth century, when Arthur was king. He figures +largely in early tales and traditions, and many of his prophecies are to +be found in later Cymric poetry, to one of which Tennyson refers in his +Morte d'Arthur: + + I think that we +Shall never more, at any future time, +Delight our souls with talks of knightly deeds +Walking about the gardens and the halls +Of Camelot, as in the days that were. +I perish by this people which I made - +Though Merlin sware that I should come again +To rule once more--but let what will be, be. + +{48b} Brutus, the son of Silvius.--According to the Chronicles of the +Welsh Kings, Brwth (Brutus) was the son of Selys (Silvius), the son of +Einion or AEneas who, tradition tells, was the first king of Prydain. In +these ancient chronicles we find many tales recorded of Brutus and his +renowned ancestors down to the fall of Troy and even earlier. + +{48c} A huge, seething cauldron.--This was the mystical cauldron of +Ceridwen which Taliesin considered to be the source of poetic +inspiration. Three drops, he avers, of the seething decoction enabled +him to forsee all the secrets of the future. + +{48d} Upon the face of earth.--These lines occur in a poem of Taliesin +where he gives an account of himself as existing in various places, and +contemporary with various events in the early eras of the world's +history--an echo of the teachings of Pythagoras: + +Morte carent animae; semperque priore relicta +Sede, novis habitant domibus vivuntque receptae. + +--Ovid: Metam. XV. 158-9. + +{48e} Taliesin.--Taliesin is one of the earliest Welsh bards whose works +are still extant. He lived sometime in the sixth century, and was bard +of the courts of Urien and King Arthur. + +{49a} Maelgwn Gwynedd.--He became lord over the whole of Wales about the +year 550 and regained much territory that had once been lost to the +Saxons. Indeed Geoffrey of Monmouth asserts that at one time Ireland, +Scotland, the Orkneys, Norway and Denmark acknowledged his supremacy. +Whatever truth there be in this assertion, it is quite certain that he +built a powerful navy whereby his name became a terror to the Vikings of +the North. In his reign, however, the country was ravaged by a more +direful enemy--the Yellow Plague; "whoever witnessed it, became doomed to +certain death. Maelgwn himself, through Taliesin's curse, saw the Vad +Velen through the keyhole in Rhos church and died in consequence." (Iolo +MSS.) + +{49b} Arthur's quoit.--The name given to several cromlechau in Wales; +there is one so named, near the Bard's home, in the parish of Llanddwywe, +"having the print of a large hand, dexterously carved by man or nature, +on the side of it, as if sunk in from the weight of holding it." (v. +Camb. Register, 1795.) + +{54a} In the Pope's favor.--Clement XI. became Pope in 1700, his +predecessor being Innocent XII. + +{55a} Their hands to the bar.--Referring to the custom (now practically +obsolete) whereby a prisoner on his arraignment was required to lift up +his hands to the bar for the purpose of identification. Ellis Wynne was +evidently quite conversant with the practice of the courts, though there +is no proof of his ever having intended to enter the legal profession or +taken a degree in law as one author asserts. (v. Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry, +sub. tit. Ellis Wynne.) + +{67a} "The Practice of Piety."--Its author was Dr. Bayley, Bishop of +Bangor; a Welsh translation by Rowland Vaughan, of Caergai, appeared in +1630, "printed at the signe of the Bear, in Saint Paul's Churchyard, +London." + +{69a} At one time cold.--Cp.: + + I come +To take you to the other shore across, +Into eternal darkness, there to dwell +In fierce heat and in ice. + +- Dante: Inf. c. III. (Cary's trans.). + +{71a} Above the roar.--Cp.: + + The stormy blast of Hell +With restless fury drives the spirits on: +When they arrive before the ruinous sweep +There shrieks are heard, there lamentations, moans, +And blasphemies. + +- Dante: Inf. c. V. (Cary's trans.). + +{73a} Amidst eternal ice.--Cp.: + +Thither . . . all the damned are brought +. . . and feel by turns the bitter change +Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce! +From beds of raging fire to starve in ice +Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine +Immoveable, infix'd and frozen round +Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire. + +- Par. Lost, II. 597-603. + +{85a} Better to reign.--This speech of Lucifer is very Miltonic; compare +especially - + + --in my choice +To reign is worth ambition, though in hell; +Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. + +- Par. Lost, I. 261-3. + +{85b} Revenge is sweet.--Cp.: + + Revenge, at first though sweet +Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils. + +- Par. Lost, IX. 171-2. + +{87a} This enterprize.--Cp.: + + --this enterprize +None shall partake with me. + +- Par. Lost, II. 465. + +{95a} Barristers.--The word cyfarthwyr, here rendered "barristers," +really means "those who bark," which is probably only a pun of the Bard's +on cyfarchwyr--"those who address (the court)." + +{95b} Sir Edmundbury Godfrey.--A London magistrate who took prominent +part against the Catholics in the reign of Charles II. At the time the +panic which the villainy of Titus Oates had fomented was at its height, +Sir Edmundbury was found dead on Primrose Hill, with his sword through +his body; his tragic end was attributed to the Papists, and many innocent +persons suffered torture and death for their supposed complicity in his +murder. + +{102a} Einion the son of Gwalchmai.--This is a reference to a fable +entitled "Einion and the Lady of the Greenwood," where the bard is led +astray by "a graceful, slender lady of elegant growth and delicate +feature, her complexion surpassing every red and every white in early +dawn, the snow-flake on the mountain-side, and every beauteous colour in +the blossoms of wood, meadow, and hill." (v. Iolo MSS.) Einion was an +Anglesey bard, flourishing in the twelfth century. + +{104a} Walking round the church.--Referring to a superstitious custom in +vogue in some parts of Wales as late as the beginning of the present +century. On All Souls' Night the women-folk gathered together at the +parish church, each with a candle in her hand; the sexton then came round +and lit the candies, and as these burnt brightly or fitfully, so would +the coming year prove prosperous or adverse. When the last candle died +out, they solemnly march round the church twice or thrice, then home in +silence, and in their dreams that night, their fated husbands would +appear to them. + +{106a} Cerberus, et seq.--Compare the seven deadly sins in Langland's +Vision of Piers Plowman, Pride, Luxury (lecherie), Envy, Wrath, +Covetousness, Gluttony, and Sloth. See also Chaucer's Persones Tale, +passim. A description of these seven sins occurs very frequently in old +authors. + +{107a} What brought you here.--Pride is the greatest of all the deadly +sins. Compare Spenser's Faery Queen I. c. IV, where "proud Lucifera, as +men did call her," was attended by "her six sage counsellors"--the other +sins. Shakespere names this sin Ambition: + +Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition, +For by this sin fell the angels. + +{108a} Sarah.--v. Apocrypha, the book of Tobit, c. VI. + +{110a} If she and her scholars--Cp.: + +At nos virtutes ipsas invertimus atque +sincerum cupimus vas incrustare. probus quis +nobiscum vivit multum demissus homo: illi +tardo cognomen pingui damus. his fugit omnes +insidias nullique malo latus obdit apertum pro bene sano +at non incauto fictum astutumque vocamus. + +- Horace: Sat. I. iii. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD *** + +This file should be named spbd10.txt or spbd10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, spbd11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, spbd10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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The Adjudicators (Dean Howell +and the Rev. G. Hartwell Jones, M.A.), awarded the prize for the translation +which is comprised in the present volume. The remaining Visions +were subsequently rendered into English, and the complete work is now +published in the hope that it may prove useful to those readers, who, +being unacquainted with the Welsh language, yet desire to obtain some +knowledge of its literature.<br> +<br> +My best thanks are due to the Rev. J. W. Wynne Jones, M.A., Vicar of +Carnarvon, for much help and valuable criticism; to the Rev. R Jones, +MA., Rector of Llanfair-juxta-Harlech, through whose courtesy I am enabled +to produce (from a photograph by Owen, Barmouth) a page of the register +of that parish, containing entries in Ellis Wynne’s handwriting; +and to Mr. Isaac Foulkes, Liverpool, for the frontispiece, which appeared +in his last edition of the <i>Bardd Cwsc</i>.<br> +<br> +R. GWYNEDDON DAVIES.<br> +<i>Caernarvon,<br> +1st July, 1897.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +</i>INTRODUCTION.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +I. - THE AUTHOR’S LIFE.<br> +<br> +<br> +Ellis Wynne was born in 1671 at Glasynys, near Harlech; his father, +Edward Wynne, came of the family of Glyn Cywarch (mentioned in the second +Vision), his mother, whose name is not known, was heiress of Glasynys. +It will be seen from the accompanying table that he was descended from +some of the best families in his native county, and through <i>Osborn +Wyddel</i>, from the Desmonds of Ireland. His birth-place, which +still stands, and is shown in the frontispiece hereto, is situate about +a mile and a half from the town of Harlech, in the beautiful Vale of +Ardudwy. The natural scenery amidst which he was brought up, cannot +have failed to leave a deep impression upon his mind; and in the Visions +we come across unmistakeable descriptions of scenes and places around +his home. Mountain and sea furnished him with many a graphic picture; +the precipitous heights and dark ravines of Hell, its caverns and its +cliffs, are all evidently drawn from nature. The neighbourhood +is also rich in romantic lore and historic associations; Harlech Castle, +some twenty-five years before his birth, had been the scene of many +a fray between Roundheads and Cavaliers, and of the last stand made +by the Welsh for King Charles. These events were fresh in the +memory of his elders, whom he had, no doubt, often heard speaking of +those stirring times; members of his own family had, perhaps, fought +in the ranks of the rival parties; his father’s grand-uncle, Col. +John Jones, was one of those who erstwhile drank of royal blood.”<br> +<br> +It is not known where he received his early education, and it has been +generally stated by his biographers that he was not known to have entered +either of the Universities; but, as the following notice proves, he +at least matriculated at Oxford:-<br> +<br> +<br> +WYNNE, ELLIS, s. Edw. of Lasypeys, co. Merioneth, pleb. Jesus Coll. +matric. 1st March 1691-2, aged 21; rector of Llandanwg, 1705, & +of Llanfair-juxta-Harlech (both) co. Merioneth, 1711. (<i>Vide</i> +Foster’s <i>Index Eccles</i>.)<br> +<br> +<br> +Probably his stay at the University was brief, and that he left without +taking his degree, for I have been unable to find anything further recorded +of his academic career. <a name="citation0a"></a><a href="#footnote0a">{0a}</a> +The Rev. Edmund Prys, Vicar of Clynnog-Fawr, in a prefatory <i>englyn</i> +to Ellis Wynne’s translation of the “<i>Holy Living</i>” +says that “in order to enrich his own, he had ventured upon the +study of three other tongues.” This fact, together with +much that appears in the Visions, justifies the conclusion that his +scholarly attainments were of no mean order. But how and where +he spent the first thirty years of his life, with the possible exception +of a period at Oxford, is quite unknown, the most probable surmise being +that they were spent in the enjoyment of a simple rural life, and in +the pursuit of his studies, of whatever nature they may have been.<br> +<br> +According to Rowlands’s <i>Cambrian Bibliography</i> his first +venture into the fields of literature was a small volume entitled, <i>Help +i ddarllen yr Yscrythur Gyssegr-Lân</i> (“Aids to reading +Holy Writ”), being a translation of the <i>Whole Duty of Man</i> +“by E. W., a clergyman of the Church of England,” published +at Shrewsbury in 1700. But as Ellis Wynne was not ordained until +1704, this work must be ascribed to some other author who, both as to +name and calling, answered to the description on the title-page quoted +above. But in 1701 an accredited work of his appeared, namely, +a translation into Welsh of Jeremy Taylor’s <i>Rules and Exercises +of Holy Living</i>, a 12mo. volume published in London. It was +dedicated to the Rev. Humphrey Humphreys, D.D., Bishop of Bangor, who +was a native of the same district of Merionethshire as Ellis Wynne, +and, as is shown in the genealogical table hereto <a name="citation0"></a><a href="#footnote0">{0}</a>, +was connected by marriage with his family.<br> +<br> +In 1702 <a name="citation0b"></a><a href="#footnote0b">{0b}</a> he was +married to Lowri Llwyd - <i>anglicè</i>, Laura Lloyd - of Hafod-lwyfog, +Beddgelert, and had issue by her, two daughters and three sons; one +of the daughters, Catherine, died young, and the second son, Ellis, +predeceased his father by two years. <a name="citation0c"></a><a href="#footnote0c">{0c}</a> +His eldest son, Gwilym, became rector of Llanaber, near Barmouth, and +inherited his ancestral home; his youngest son, Edward, also entered +the Church and became rector of Dolbenmaen and Penmorfa, Carnarvonshire. +Edward Wynne’s son was the rector of Llanferres, Denbighshire, +and his son again was the Rev. John Wynne, of Llandrillo in Edeyrnion, +who died only a few years ago.<br> +<br> +The following year (1703), he published the present work - his <i>magnum +opus</i> - which has secured him a place among the greatest names in +Welsh Literature. It will be noticed that on the title-page to +the first edition the words “<i>Y Rhann Gyntaf</i>” (“The +First Part”) appear; the explanation given of this is that Ellis +Wynne did actually write a second part, entitled, <i>The Vision of Heaven</i>, +but that on hearing that he was charged with plagiarism in respect of +his other Visions, he threw the manuscript into the fire, and so destroyed +what, judging from the title, might have proved a greater success than +the first part, as affording scope for lighter and more pleasing flights +of the imagination.<br> +<br> +It is said by his biographers that he was induced to abandon the pursuit +of the law, to which he was educated, and to take holy orders, by Bishop +Humphreys, who had recognised in his translation of the <i>Holy Living</i> +marked ability and piety, and that he was ordained deacon and priest +the same day by the Bishop, at Bangor, in 1701, and presented on the +following day to the living of Llanfair-juxta-Harlech and subsequently +to Llandanwg.<br> +<br> +All these statements appear to be incorrect. To deal with them +categorically: I find no record at the Diocesan Registry of his having +been ordained at Bangor at all; the following entry in the parish register +of Llanfair shows that he was not in holy orders in July, 1704: “<i>Gulielmus +filius Elizaei Wynne generosi de Lâs ynys et uxoris suis baptizatus +fuit quindecimo die Julii, 1704</i>. - <i>W. Wynne Rr., O. Edwards, +Rector</i>.” His first living was Llandanwg, and not Llanfair, +to which he was collated on January 1st, 1705. Moreover, the above-named +Owen Edwards was the rector of Llanfair until his death which took place +in 1711. <a name="citation0d"></a><a href="#footnote0d">{0d}</a> +From that date on to 1734, the entries in the register at Llanfair church +are all in Ellis Wynne’s handwriting; these facts prove conclusively +that it was in 1711 he became rector of the latter parish.<br> +<br> +In 1710 he edited a new and revised edition of the Book of Common Prayer, +at the request of his patron, the Bishop of Hereford (Dr. Humphreys) +and the four Welsh bishops, - a clear proof of the confidence reposed +in him by the dignitaries of his church as a man of learning and undoubted +piety. He himself published nothing more, but <i>A Short Commentary +on the Catechism</i> and a few hymns and carols were written by him +and published posthumously by his son, Edward, being included in a volume +of his own, entitled <i>Prif Addysc y Cristion</i>, issued in 1755.<br> +<br> +The latter part of his life is as completely obscure as the earlier; +he lapsed again into the silence from which he had only just emerged +with such signal success, and confined his efforts as a Christian worker +within the narrow limits of his own native parts, exercising, doubtlessly, +an influence for good upon his immediate neighbourhood through force +of character and noble personality, as upon his fellow-countrymen at +large by means of his published works. His wife died in 1720, +and his son, Ellis, in 1732; two years later he himself died and was +buried under the communion table in Llanfair church, on the 17th day +of July, 1734. <a name="citation0e"></a><a href="#footnote0e">{0e}</a> +There is no marble or “perennial brass” to mark the last +resting-place of the Bard, nor was there, until recent years, any memorial +of him in either of his parish churches, when the late Rev. John Wynne +set up a fine stained-glass window at Llanfair church in memory of his +illustrious ancestor.<br> +<br> +Ellis Wynne appeared at a time when his country had sore need of him, +when the appointed teachers of the nation were steeped in apathy and +corruption, when ignorance and immorality overspread the land - the +darkest hour before the dawn. He was one of the early precursors +of the Methodist revival in Wales, a voice crying in the wilderness, +calling upon his countrymen to repent. He neither feared nor favored +any man or class, but delivered his message in unfaltering tone, and +performed his alloted task honestly and faithfully. How deeply +our country is indebted to him who did her such eminent service in the +days of adversity and gloom will never be known. And now, in the +time of prosperity, Wales still remembers her benefactor, and will always +keep honored the name of Ellis Wynne, the SLEEPING BARD.<br> +<br> +<br> +II. - THE TEXT.<br> +<br> +<br> +The <i>Bardd Cwsc</i> was first published in London in 1703, a small +24mo. volume of some 150 pages, with the following title-page<br> +<br> +<br> +“GWELEDIGAETHEU Y BARDD CWSC.<i> Y Rhann Gyntaf. Argraphwyd +yn Llundain gan E. Powell i’r Awdwr, 1703</i>.” <a name="citation0f"></a><a href="#footnote0f">{0f}</a><br> +<br> +<br> +A second edition was not called for until about 1742, when it was issued +at Shrewsbury; but in the thirty years following, as many as five editions +were published, and in the present century, at least twelve editions +(including two or three by the Rev. Canon Silvan Evans) have appeared. +The text followed in this volume is that of Mr. Isaac Foulkes’ +edition, but recourse has also been had to the original edition for +the purpose of comparison. The only translation into English hitherto +has been that of George Borrow, published in London in 1860, and written +in that charming and racy style which characterises his other and better +known works. He has, however, fallen into many errors, which were +only natural, seeing that the Visions abound in colloquial words and +phrases, and in idiomatic forms of expression which it would be most +difficult for one foreign to our tongue to render correctly.<br> +<br> +The author’s name is not given in the original nor in any subsequent +edition previous to the one published at Merthyr Tydfil in 1806, where +the <i>Gweledigaetheu</i> are said to be by “Ellis Wynne.” +But it was well known, even before his death, that he was the author; +the fact being probably deduced from the similarity in style between +the Visions and an acknowledged work, namely, his translation of the +<i>Holy Living</i>. The most likely reason for his preferring +anonymity is not far to seek; his scathing denunciation of the sins +of certain classes and, possibly, even of certain individuals, would +be almost sure to draw upon the author their most bitter attacks. +Many of the characters he depicts would be identified, rightly or wrongly, +with certain of his contemporaries, and many more, whom he never had +in his mind at all, would imagine themselves the objects of his satire; +he had nothing to gain by imperilling himself at the hands of such persons, +or by coming into open conflict with them; he had his message to deliver +to his fellow-countrymen, his Visions a purpose to fulfil, the successful +issue of which could not but be frustrated by the introduction of personal +hatred and ill-will. Ellis Wynne was only too ready to forego +the honor of being the acknowledged author of the Visions if thereby +he could the better serve his country.<br> +<br> +The <i>Bardd Cwsc</i> is not only the most popular of Welsh prose works, +but it has also retained its place among the best of our classics. +No better model exists of the pure idiomatic Welsh of the last century, +before writers became influenced by English style and method. +Vigorous, fluent, crisp, and clear, it shows how well our language is +adapted to description and narration. It is written for the people, +and in the picturesque and poetic strain which is always certain to +fascinate the Celtic mind. The introduction to each Vision is +evidently written with elaborate care, and exquisitely polished - “<i>ne +quid possit per leve morari</i>,” and scene follows scene, painted +in words which present them most vividly before one’s eyes, whilst +the force and liveliness of his diction sustain unflagging interest +throughout. The reader is carried onward as much by the rhythmic +flow of language and the perfect balance of sentences, as by the vivacity +of the narrative and by the reality with which Ellis Wynne invests his +adventures and the characters he depicts. The terrible situations +in which we find the Bard, as the drama unfolds, betoken not only a +powerful imagination, but also an intensity of feeling which enabled +him to realise the conceptions of such imagination. We follow +the Bard and his heavenly guide through all their perils with breathless +attention; the demons and the damned he so clothes with flesh and blood +that our hatred or our sympathy is instantly stirred; his World is palpitating +with life, his Hell, with its gloom and glare, is an awful, haunting +dream. But besides being the possessor of a vivid imagination, +Ellis Wynne was endowed with a capacity for transmitting his own experience +in a picturesque and life-like manner. The various descriptions +of scenes, such as Shrewsbury fair, the parson’s revelry and the +deserted mansions; of natural scenery, as in the beginning of the first +and last Visions; of personages, such as the portly alderman, and the +young lord and his retinue, all are evidently drawn from the Author’s +own experience. He was also gifted with a lively sense of humor, +which here and there relieves the pervading gloom so naturally associated +with the subject of his Visions. The humorous and the severe, +the grotesque and the sublime, the tender and the terrible, are alike +portrayed by a master hand.<br> +<br> +The leading feature of the Visions, namely the personal element which +the Author infuses into the recital of his distant travels, brings the +reader into a closer contact with the tale and gives continuity to the +whole work, some parts of which would otherwise appear disconnected. +This telling of the tale <i>in propria persona</i> with a guide of shadowy +or celestial nature who points out what the Bard is to see, and explains +to him the mystery of the things around him, is a method frequently +adopted by poets of all times. Dante is the best known instance, +perhaps; but we find the method employed in Welsh, as in “The +Dream of Paul, the Apostle,” where Paul is led by Michael to view +the punishments of Hell <i>(vide</i> Iolo MSS.). Ellis Wynne was +probably acquainted with Vergil and Dante, and adopted the idea of supernatural +guidance from them; in fact, apart from this, we meet with several passages +which are eminently reminiscent of both these great poets.<br> +<br> +But now, casting aside mere speculation, we come face to face with the +indisputable fact that Ellis Wynne is to a considerable degree indebted +to the <i>Dreams</i> of Gomez de Quevedo y Villegas, a voluminous Spanish +author who flourished in the early part of the 17th century. In +1668, Sir Roger L’Estrange published his translation into English +of the <i>Dreams</i>, which immediately became very popular. Quevedo +has his Visions of the World, of Death and her <i>(sic</i>) Empire, +and of Hell; the same characters are delineated in both, the same classes +satirized, the same punishments meted out. We read in both works +of the catchpoles and wranglers, the pompous knights and lying knaves +- in fine, we cannot possibly come to any other conclusion than that +Ellis Wynne has “read, marked and inwardly digested” L’Estrange’s +translation of Quevedo’s <i>Dreams</i>. But admitting so +much, the <i>Bardd Cwsc</i> still remains a purely Welsh classic; whatever +in name and incident Ellis Wynne has borrowed from the Spaniard he has +dressed up in Welsh home-spun, leaving little or nothing indicative +of foreign influence. The sins he preached against, the sinners +he condemned, were, he knew too well, indigenous to Welsh and Spanish +soil. George Borrow sums up his comments upon the two authors +in the following words: “Upon the whole, the Cymric work is superior +to the Spanish; there is more unity of purpose in it, and it is far +less encumbered with useless matter.”<br> +<br> +The implication contained in the foregoing remarks of Borrow - that +the <i>Bardd Cwsc</i> is encumbered to a certain degree with useless +matter, is no doubt well founded. There is a tendency to dwell +inordinately upon the horrible, more particularly in the Vision of Hell; +a tiring sameness in the descriptive passages, an occasional lapse from +the tragic to the ludicrous, and an intrusion of the common-place in +the midst of a speech or a scene, marring the dignity of the one and +the beauty of the other.<br> +<br> +The most patent blemish, however, is the unwarranted coarseness of expression +to which the Author sometimes stoops. It is true that he must +be judged according to the times he lived in; his chief object was to +reach the ignorant masses of his countrymen, and to attain this object +it was necessary for him to adopt their blunt and unveneered speech. +For all that, one cannot help feeling that he has, in several instances, +descended to a lower level than was demanded of him, with the inevitable +result that both the literary merit and the good influence of his work +in some measure suffer. Many passages which might be considered +coarse and indecorous according to modern canons of taste, have been +omitted from this translation.<br> +<br> +From the literary point of view THE VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD has +from the first been regarded as a masterpiece, but from the religious, +two very different opinions have been held concerning it. One, +probably the earlier, was, that it was a book with a good purpose, and +fit to stand side by side with Vicar Pritchard’s <i>Canwyll y +Cymry</i> and <i>Llyfr yr Homiliau</i>; the other, that it was a pernicious +book, “<i>llyfr codi cythreuliaid</i>” - a devil-raising +book. A work which in any shape or form bore even a distant relationship +to fiction, instantly fell under the ban of the Puritanism of former +days. To-day neither opinion is held, the <i>Bardd Cwsc</i> is +simply a classic and nothing more.<br> +<br> +The Visions derive considerable value from the light they throw upon +the moral and social condition of our country two centuries ago. +Wales, at the time Ellis Wynne wrote was in a state of transition: its +old-world romance was passing away, and ceasing to be the potent influence +which, in times gone by, had aroused our nation to chivalrous enthusiasm, +and led it to ennobling aspirations. Its place and power, it is +true, were shortly to be taken by religion, simple, puritanic, and intensely +spiritual; but so far, the country was in a condition of utter disorder, +morally and socially. Its national life was at its lowest ebb, +its religious life was as yet undeveloped and gave little promise of +the great things to come. The nation as a whole - people, patrician, +and priest - had sunk to depths of moral degradation; the people, through +ignorance and superstition; the patrician, through contact with the +corruptions of the England of the Restoration; while the priesthood +were<br> +<br> +<br> +“Blind mouths, that scarce themselves knew how to hold<br> +“A sheep-hook, or had learnt aught else the least<br> +“That to the faithful herdman’s art belongs.”<br> +<br> +<br> +All the sterner and darker aspects of the period are chronicled with +a grim fidelity in the Visions, the wrongs and vices of the age are +exposed with scathing earnestness. Ellis Wynne set himself the +task of endeavouring to arouse his fellow-countrymen and bring them +to realize the sad condition into which the nation had fallen. +He entered upon the work endowed with keen powers of perception, a wide +knowledge of life, and a strong sense of justice. He was no respecter +of person; all orders of society, types of every rank and class, in +turn, came under castigation; no sin, whether in high places or among +those of low degree, escaped the lash of his biting satire. On +the other hand, it must be said that he lacked sympathy with erring +nature, and failed to recognize in his administration of justice that +“to err is human, to forgive, divine.” His denunciation +of wrong and wrong-doer is equally stern and pitiless; mercy and love +are rarely, if ever, brought on the stage. In this mood, as in +the gloomy pessimism which pervades the whole work, he reflects the +religious doctrines and beliefs of his times. In fine, when all +has been said, favourably and adversely, the Visions, it will readily +be admitted, present a very faithful picture of Welsh life, manners, +and ways of thought, in the 17th century, and are, in every sense, a +true product of the country and the age in which they were written.<br> +<br> +<br> +III. - A BRIEF SUMMARY.<br> +<br> +<br> +I. VISION OF THE WORLD.<br> +<br> +<br> +One summer’s day, the Bard ascends one of the mountains of Wales, +and gazing a long while at the beautiful scene, falls asleep. +He dreams and finds himself among the fairies, whom he approaches and +requests permission to join. They snatch him up forthwith and +fly off with him over cities and realms, lands and seas, until he begins +to fear for his life. They come to a huge castle - Castle Delusive, +where an Angel of light appears and rescues him from their hands. +The Angel, after questioning him as to himself, who he was and where +he came from, bids him go with him, and resting in the empyrean, he +beholds the earth far away beneath them. He sees an immense City +made up of three streets; at the end of which are three gates and upon +each gate a tower and in each tower a fair woman. This is the +City of Destruction and its streets are named after the daughters of +Belial - Pride, Lucre and Pleasure. The Angel tells him of the +might and craftiness of Belial and the alluring witchery of his daughters, +and also of another city on higher ground - the City of Emmanuel - whereto +all may fly from Destruction. They descend and alight in the Street +of Pride amidst the ruined and desolate mansions of absentee landlords. +They see there kings, princes, and noblemen, coquettes and fops; there +is a city, too, on seven hills, and another opposite, with a crescent +on a golden banner above it, and near the gate stands the Court of Lewis +XIV. Much traffic is going on between these courts, for the Pope, +the Sultan and the King of France are rivals for the Princesses’ +hands.<br> +<br> +They next come to the Street of Lucre, full of Spaniards, Dutchmen and +Jews, and here too, are conquerors and their soldiers, justices and +their bribers, doctors, misers, merchants and userers, shopmen, clippers, +taverners, drovers, and the like. An election of Treasurer to +the Princess is going on - stewards, money-lenders, lawyers and merchants +being candidates, and whoso was proved the richest should obtain the +post. The Bard then comes to the Street of Pleasure, where all +manner of seductive joys abound. He passes through scenes of debauchery +and drunken riot, and comes to a veritable Bedlam, where seven good +fellows - a tinker, a dyer, a smith and a miner, a chimney-sweep, a +bard and a parson - are enjoying a carousal. He beholds the Court +of Belial’s second daughter, Hypocrisy, and sees a funeral go +by where all the mourners are false. A noble lord appears, with +his lady at his side, and has a talk with old Money-bags who has lent +him money on his lands - all three being apt pupils of Hypocrisy.<br> +<br> +The Angel then takes him to the churches of the City; and first they +come to a pagan temple where the human form, the sun and moon, and various +other objects are worshipped. Thence they come to a barn where +Dissenters imitate preaching, and to an English church where many practise +all manner of hypocrisy. The Bard then leaves the City of Destruction +and makes for the celestial City. He beholds one man part from +his friends and, refusing to be persuaded by them, hasten towards Emmanuel’s +City. The gateway is narrow and mean, while on the walls are watchmen +urging on those that are fleeing from Destruction. Groups from +the various streets arrive and claim admittance, but, being unable to +leave their sins, have to return. The Bard and his Guide enter, +and passing by the Well of Repentance come in view of the Catholic Church, +the transept of which is the Church of England, with Queen Anne enthroned +above, holding the Sword of Justice in the left hand, and the Sword +of the Spirit in the right. Suddenly there is a call to arms, +the sky darkens, and Belial himself advances against the Church, with +his earthly princes and their armies. The Pope and Lewis of France, +the Turks and Muscovites fall upon England and her German allies, but, +the angels assisting, they are vanquished; the infernal hosts, too, +give way and are hurled headlong from the sky; whereupon the Bard awakes.<br> +<br> +<br> +II. THE VISION OF DEATH.<br> +<br> +<br> +It is a cold, winter’s night and the Bard lies abed meditating +upon the brevity of life, when Sleep and his sister Nightmare pay him +a visit, and after a long parley, constrain him to accompany them to +the Court of their brother Death. Hieing away through forests +and dales, and over rivers and rocks, they alight at one of the rear +portals of the City of Destruction which opens upon a murky region - +the chambers of Death. On all hands are myriads of doors leading +into the Land of Oblivion, each guarded by the particular death-imp, +whose name was inscribed above it. The Bard passes by the portals +of Hunger, where misers, idlers and gossips enter, of Cold, where scholars +and travellers go through, of Fear, Love, Envy and Ambition.<br> +<br> +Suddenly he finds himself transported into a bleak and barren land where +the shades flit to and fro. He is straightway surrounded by them, +and, on giving his name as the “Sleeping Bard,” a shadowy +claimant to that name sets upon him and belabours him most unmercifully +until Merlin bid him desist. Taliesin then interviews him, and +an ancient manikin, “Someone” by name, tells him his tale +of woe. After that he is taken into the presence of the King of +Terrors himself, who, seated on a throne with Fate and Time on either +hand, deals out their doom to the prisoners as they come before him. +Four fiddlers, a King from the neighbourhood of Rome with a papal dispensation +to pass right through to Paradise, a drunkard and a harlot, and lastly +seven corrupt recorders, are condemned to the land of Despair.<br> +<br> +Another group of seven prisoners have just been brought to the bar, +when a letter comes from Lucifer concerning them; he requests that Death +should let these seven return to the world or else keep them within +his own realm - they were far too dangerous to be allowed to enter Hell. +Death hesitates, but, urged by Fate, he indites his answer, refusing +to comply with Lucifer’s request. The seven are then called +and Death bids his hosts hasten to convey them beyond his limits. +The Bard sees them hurled over the verge beneath the Court of Justice +and his spirit so strives within him at the sight that the bonds of +Sleep are sundered and his soul returns to its wonted functions.<br> +<br> +<br> +III. THE VISION OF HELL.<br> +<br> +<br> +The Bard is sauntering, one April morning, on the banks of the Severn, +when his previous visions recur to his mind and he resolves to write +them as a warning to others, and while at this work he falls asleep, +and the Angel once more appears and bears him aloft into space. +They reach the confines of Eternity and descend through Chaos for myriads +of miles. A troop of lost beings are swept past them towards the +shores of a death-like river - the river of the Evil One. After +passing through its waters, the Bard witnesses the tortures the damned +suffer at the hands of the devils, and visits their various prisons +and cells. Here is the prison of Woe-that-I-had-not, of Too-late-a-repentance +and of the Procrastinators. There the Slanderers, Backbiters, +and other envious cowards are tormented in a deep and dark dungeon. +He hears much laughter among the devils and turning round finds that +the cause of their merriment are two noblemen who have just arrived +and are claiming the respect due to their rank. Further on is +a crowd of harlots calling down imprecations upon those that ruined +them; and in a huge cavern are lawyers, doctors, stewards and other +such rogues. The Princesses of the City of Destruction bring batches +of their subjects as gifts to their sire.<br> +<br> +A parliament is summoned and Lucifer addresses his princes, calling +upon them to do their utmost to destroy the rest of mankind. Moloch +makes his reply, reciting all that he has done, when Lucifer in rage +starts off to do the work himself, but is drawn back by an invisible +hand. He speaks again, exhorting them to greater activity and +cruelty. Justice brings three prisoners to Hell and returning +causes such a rush of fiery whirlwinds that all the infernal lords are +swept away into the Uttermost Hell.<br> +<br> +The Bard hears the din of arms and news comes that the Turks, Papists, +and Roundheads are advancing in three armies. Lucifer and his +hosts immediately set out to meet them and after a stubborn contest +succeed in quelling the rebellion. More prisoners are brought +before the King - Catholics, who had missed the way to Paradise, an +innkeeper, five kings, assize-men and lawyers, gipsies, laborers and +scholars. Scarcely is judgment passed on these than war again +breaks out - soldiers and doctors, lawyers and userers, misers and their +own offspring, are fighting each other. The leaders of this revolt +having been taken, another parliament is called and more prisoners yet +brought to trial.<br> +<br> +Lucifer asks the advice of his peers as to whom he should appoint his +viceroy in Britain. Cerberus, first of all, offers the service +of Tobacco; then Mammon speaks in praise of Gold and Apolyon tells what +Pride can do; Asmodai, the demon of Lust, Belphegor. the demon of Sloth, +and Satan, devil of Delusion, each pleads for his own pet sin; and after +Beelzebub has spoken in favour of Thoughtlessness, Lucifer sums up, +weighs their arguments, and finally announces that it is another he +has chosen as his vicegerent in Britain. This other is Prosperity, +and her he bids them follow and obey. Then the lost Archangel +and his counsellors are hurled into the Bottomless Pit, and the Angel +takes the Bard up to the vault of Hell where he has full view of a three-faced +ogress, Sin, who would make of heaven, a hell, and thence departing, +a heaven of hell. The Angel then leaves him, bidding him, as he +went, to write down what he had seen for the benefit of others.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +TO THE READER.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + Let whoso reads, consider;<br> + Considering, remember,<br> + And from remembering, do,<br> + And doing, so continue.<br> +Whoso abides in Virtue’s paths,<br> +And ever strives until the end<br> +From sinful bondage to be free,<br> +Ne’er shall possess wherewith to feed<br> +The direful flame, nor weight of sin<br> +To sink him in th’ infernal mire;<br> +Nor will he come to that dread realm<br> +Where Wrong and Retribution meet.<br> +But, woe to that poor, worthless wight<br> +Who lives a bitter, stagnant life,<br> +Who follows after every ill<br> +And knows not either Faith or Love,<br> +(For Faith in deeds alone doth live).<br> +Eternal woe shall be his doom -<br> +More torments he shall then behold<br> +Yea, in the twinkling of an eye<br> +Than any age can e’er conceive.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +THE VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +I. - VISION OF THE WORLD.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +On <a name="citation1a"></a><a href="#footnote1a">{1a}</a> the fine +evening of a warm and mellow summer I betook me up one of the mountains +of Wales, <a name="citation1b"></a><a href="#footnote1b">{1b}</a> spy-glass +in hand, to enable my feeble sight to see the distant near, and to make +the little to loom large. Through the clear, tenuous air and the +calm, shimmering heat, I beheld far, far away over the Irish Sea many +a fair scene. At last, when mine eyes had taken their fill of +all the beauty around me, and the sun well nigh had reached his western +ramparts, I lay down on the sward, musing how fair and lovely compared +with mine own land were the distant lands of whose delightful plains +I had just obtained a glimpse; how fine it would be to have full view +thereof, and how happy withal are they, besides me and my sort, who +have seen the world’s course. So, from the long journeying +of mine eye, and afterwards of my mind, came weariness, and beneath +the cloak of weariness came my good Master Sleep <a name="citation1c"></a><a href="#footnote1c">{1c}</a> +stealthily to bind me, and with his leaden keys safe and sound he locked +the windows of mine eyes and all mine other senses. But it was +in vain he tried to lock up the soul which can exist and travel without +the body; for upon the wings of fancy my spirit soared free from out +the straitened corpse, and the first thing I perceived close by was +a dancing-knoll and such a fantastic rout <a name="citation4a"></a><a href="#footnote4a">{4a}</a> +in blue petticoats and red caps, briskly footing a sprightly dance. +I stood awhile hesitating whether I should approach them or not, for +in my confusion I feared they were a pack of hungry gipsies and that +the least they would do, would be to kill me for their supper, and devour +me saltless. But gazing steadfastly upon them I perceived that +they were of better and fairer complexion than that lying, tawny crew; +so I plucked up courage and drew near them, slowly, like a hen treading +on hot coals, in order to find out what they might be; and at last I +addressed them over my shoulder, thus, “Pray you, good friends, +I understand that ye come from afar, would ye take into your midst a +bard who wishes to travel?” Whereupon the din instantly +ceased, every eye was turned upon me, and in shrill tones “a bard” +quoth one, “to travel,” said another, “into our midst,” +a third exclaimed. By then I had recognised those who were looking +at me most fiercely, and they commenced whispering one to another some +secret charms, still keeping their gaze upon me; the hubbub then broke +out again and everyone laying hands upon me, lifted me shoulder-high, +like a knight of the shire, and off like the wind we go, over houses +and lands, cities and realms, seas and mountains, unable to notice aught +so swiftly were they flying. And to make matters worse, I began +to have doubts of my companions from the way they frowned and scowled +when I refused to lampoon my king <a name="citation4b"></a><a href="#footnote4b">{4b}</a> +at their bidding.<br> +<br> +“Well, now,” said I to myself, “farewell to life; +these accursed, arrant sorcerers will bear me to some nobleman’s +larder or cellar and leave me there to pay penalty by my neck for their +robbery, or peradventure they will leave me stark-naked and benumbed +on Chester Marsh or some other bleak and remote place.” +But on considering that those whose faces I knew had long been buried, +and that some were thrusting me forward, and others upholding me above +every ravine, it dawned upon me that they were not witches but what +are called the Fairies. Without delay I found myself close to +a huge castle, the finest I had ever seen, with a deep moat surrounding +it, and here they began discussing my doom. “Let us take +him as a gift to the castle,” suggested one. “Nay, +let us throw the obstinate gallows-bird into the moat, he is not worth +showing to our great prince,” said another. “Will +he say his prayers before sleeping,” asked a third. At the +mention of prayer, I breathed a groaning sigh heavenwards asking pardon +and aid; and no sooner had I thought the prayer than I saw a light, +Oh! so beautiful, breaking forth in the distance. As this light +approached, my companions grew dark and vanished, and in a trice the +Shining One made for us straight over the castle: whereupon they let +go their hold of me and departing, turned upon me a hellish scowl, and +had not the Angel supported me I should have been ground fine enough +to make a pie long before reaching the earth.<br> +<br> +“What is thy errand here?” asked the Angel. “In +sooth, my lord,” cried I, “I wot not what place here is, +nor what mine errand, nor what I myself am, nor what has made off with +mine other part; I had a head and limbs and body, but whether I left +’em at home or whether the Fairies, if fair their deed, have cast +me into some deep pit (for I mind my passing over many a rugged gorge) +an’ I be hanged, Sir, I know not.” “Fairly, +indeed,” said he, “they would have dealt with thee, had +I not come in time to save thee from the toasting-forks of the brood +of hell. Since thou hast such a great desire to see the course +of this little world, I am commanded to give thee the opportunity to +realize thy wish, so that thou mayest see the folly of thy discontent +with thine own lot and country. Come now!” he bade, and +at the word, with the dawn just breaking, he snatched me up far away +above the castle; and upon a white cloudledge we rested in the empyrean +to see the sun rising, and to look at my heavenly companion, who was +far brighter than the sun, save that his radiance only shone upwards, +being hidden from all beneath by a veil. When the sun waxed strong, +I beheld in the refulgence of the two our great, encircled earth as +a tiny ball in the distance below. “Look again,” said +the Angel, and he gave me a better spy-glass than the one I had on the +mountain-side. When I looked through this I saw things in a different +light and clearer than ever before.<br> +<br> +I could see one city of enormous magnitude, with thousands of cities +and kingdoms within it, the wide ocean like a whirlpool around it, and +other seas, like rivers, dividing it into parts. After gazing +a longwhile, I observed that it was made up of three tremendously long +streets, with a large and splendid gateway at the lower end of each +street; on each gateway, a magnificent tower, and on each tower, in +sight of all the street, a woman of exceeding beauty; and the three +towers at the back of the ramparts reached to the foot of that great +castle. Of the same length as these immense streets, but running +in a contrary direction, I saw another street which was but narrow and +mean compared with them, though it was clean and upon higher ground +than they, and leading upwards to the east, whilst the other three led +downwards northerly to the great towers. I could no longer withhold +from asking my friend’s permission to speak. “What +then,” said the Angel, “if thou wilt speak, listen carefully, +so that there be no need of telling thee a thing twice.” +“I will, my lord, and prithee,” asked I, “what castle +is that, away yonder to the north?” “That castle aloft +in the sky,” said he, “belongs to Belial, prince of the +power of the air, and ruler of all that vast city below; it is called +Castle Delusive: for an arch-deluder is Belial, and it is through delusion +that he is able to keep under his sway all that thou see’st with +the exception of that little bye-street yonder. He is a powerful +prince, with thousands of princes under him. What was Cæsar +or Alexander the Great compared with him? What are the Turk and +old Lewis of France <a name="citation7a"></a><a href="#footnote7a">{7a}</a> +but his servants? Great, aye, exceedingly great is the might, +craftiness and diligence of Prince Belial and of the countless hosts +he hath in the lower region.” “Why do those women +stand there?” I asked, “and who are they?” “Slowly,” +cried the Angel, “one question at a time; they stand there in +order to be loved and worshipped.” “No wonder, in +sooth,” said I, “so lovely are they that were I the possessor +of hands and feet as once I was, I too would go and love or worship +them.” “Hush! hush!” cried he, “if that +is what thou wouldst do with thy members ’tis well thou’rt +wanting them: know, foolish spirit, that these three princesses are +no other than three destroying enchantresses, daughters of Prince Belial; +and that all the beauty and gentleness which dazzles the streets, is +nought else but a gloss over ugliness and cruelty; the three within +are like their sire, full of deadly venom.” “Woe’s +me, is’t possible,” cried I sorrowfully, “that their +love wounds?” “’Tis true, the more the pity,” +said he, “thou art delighted with the way the three beam on their +adorers: well, there is in that ray of light many a wondrous charm, +it blindens them so that they cannot see the hook; it stupifies them +so that they pay no heed to their danger, and consumes them with an +insatiate lust for more, even though it be a deadly poison, breeding +diseases which no physician, yea, not death itself can ever heal, nor +aught at all unless a heavenly medicine called Repentance be had to +purge the evil in good time ere it become too deeply rooted, through +gazing upon them too long.” “Wherefore will not Belial +have this adoration to himself?” asked I. “It is the +same thing,” said he, “for so long as a man adheres to these +or to one of them, that man is sure to bear the mark of Belial and wear +his livery.”<br> +<br> +“By what names are these three enchantresses called?” +“The furthest away is called Pride, the eldest daughter of Belial; +the second is Pleasure, and the nearest to us is Lucre; these three +are the trinity the world adores.” “I would fain know +the name of this vast, madding city,” said I, “hath it a +better name than great Bedlam?” “Yea, ’tis called +the City of Destruction.” “Alas!” I cried, “are +all that dwell therein ruined and lost?” “All,” +said he, “save a few that flee from it into yon upper city which +is King Emmanuel’s.” “Woe is me and mine! how +shall they escape while ever staring at what makes them more and more +blind, and preys upon them in their blindness?” “It +would be utterly impossible for any man to escape hence were it not +that Emmanuel sends his ministers from on high, night and morn, to persuade +them to leave the rebels and turn to Him, their true Sovereign, and +sends to some a gift of precious ointment called Faith to anoint their +eyes, and whoso obtains that genuine ointment (for there is an imitation +of this as of everything else in the City of Destruction) and anoints +himself therewith, at once becomes aware of his own wounds and madness, +and will not tarry here a moment longer, even though Belial gave him +his three daughters, yea, or his fourth who is greatest of all, for +staying.”<br> +<br> +“What are the names of these immense streets?” I enquired. +“They are called, each according to the name of the princess who +rules therein; furthest is the Street of Pride, the middle, the Street +of Pleasure, and next, the Street of Lucre.” “Who, +prithee, dwell in these streets? What tongue is spoken there? +Wherefrom and of what nations are their inhabitants?” “Many +people,” answered he, “of every language, religion, and +nation under the sun dwell there; many a one lives in each of the three +streets at different seasons, and everyone as near the gateway as he +can; and very often do they change about, being unable to stay long +in the one because they so greatly love the princess of the other street. +And the old renard, slyly looking on, lets everyone love whichever he +prefers, or the three if he will - all the more certain is he of him.”<br> +<br> +“Come nearer to them,” said the Angel, snatching me downwards +in the veil through the noxious vapours rising from the city. +We alighted in the Street of Pride, on the top of a great, roofless +mansion with its eyes picked out by the dogs and crows, and its owners +gone to England or France, there to seek what might be gotten with far +less trouble at home; thus in place of the good old country-family of +days gone by, so full of charity and benevolence, none keep possession +now but the stupid owl, the greedy crows, or the proud-pied magpies +or the like, to proclaim the deeds of the present owners. There +were thousands of such deserted palaces, which but for pride might still +be the resort of noblemen, a refuge for the weak, a school of peace +and all goodness, and a blessing to the thousands of cottages surrounding +them. From the top of these ruins we had plenty of room and quietness +to see the whole street on both sides. The houses were very fine, +and of wonderful height and grandeur, and good reason why, for emperors +and kings lived there, princes in hundreds, noblemen and gentlemen in +thousands, and a great many women of all grades. I could see many +a horned coquette, like a full-rigged ship, strutting as if set in a +frame with a fair store of pedlery about her, and pearls in her ears +to the value of a good-sized farm: some were singing so as to be praised +for their voices, some dancing, to show their figures; others coloring, +to improve their complexion, others having been a good three hours before +a mirror trimming themselves, learning to smile, pinning and unpinning, +making grimaces and striking attitudes. Many a coy wench was there +who knew not how to open her lips to speak, much less to eat, or from +very ceremony, how to look under foot; and many a ragged shrew who would +contend that she was equal to the best lady in the street, and many +an ambling fop who might winnow beans by the wind of his train.<br> +<br> +Whilst I was looking from afar at these and a hundred similar things, +lo! there came by us a gaudy, strapping quean of arrogant mien, and +after whom a hundred eyes were turned; some made obeisance, as if in +worship of her, a few put something in her hand. I could not make +out what she was, and so I enquired. “Oh,” said my +friend, “she is one whose entire dowry is on show, and yet thou +see’st how many fools there are who seek her, and the meanest +is received notwithstanding all the demand there is for her; whom she +will, she cannot have, and whom she can, she will not; she will only +speak to her betters because her mother told her that a young woman +can make no greater mistake than to be humble in courtship.” +Thereupon a burly Falstaff, who had been alderman and in many offices, +came out from beneath us, spreading out his wings as if to fly, when +he could scarcely limp along like a pack-horse, on account of his huge +paunch, and the gout, and many other gentlemanly complaints; but for +all that you could not get a single glance from him except as a great +favour, remembering the while to address him by all his title and offices. +From him I turned my eyes to the other side of the street, and saw a +bluff young nobleman with a numerous following, smiling graciously and +bowing low to everyone he met. “It is strange,” said +I, “that these two should belong to the same street.” +“It is the same princess - Pride, who governs them both,” +answered he, “this one’s errand is but to speak fair; he +is now making a bid for fame with the intent thereby to attain the highest +office in the State; he is most ready to weep with the people, and tell +them how greatly they are wronged through the oppression of wicked ministers; +yet it is his own exaltation, and not the common weal that is the main +object of his pursuit.”<br> +<br> +After looking for a longwhile I saw close by the Porch of Pride a fair +city on seven hills, and over its magnificent court the triple crown, +the swords and cross-keys. “Well, here is Rome,” quoth +I, “here lives the Pope, is it not?” “Yes, most +often,” said the Angel, “but he hath a court in each of +the other streets.” Over against Rome I could see a city +with a very fine court, whereon was raised on high a crescent on a golden +banner, by which I knew the Turk was there. After these came the +court of Lewis XIV. of France, as I perceived by his arms - the three +fleur-de-lys on a silver banner reared high. Whilst admiring the +loftiness and magnificence of these palaces, I observed that there was +much traversing from one court to another, and asked the reason. +“Oh, there is many a dark reason,” said the Angel, “existing +between these three potent and crafty monarchs, but though they deem +themselves fitting peers to the three princesses up yonder, their power +and guile is nought compared with theirs. Yea more, great Belial +deems the whole city, notwithstanding the number of its kings, unsuitable +for his daughters. Although he offers them in marriage to everybody, +he has never actually given them to anyone. Keen rivalry has existed +between these three for their hands; the Turk, who calls himself the +god of earth, would have the eldest, Pride, to wife. “Nay,” +said the king of France, “she is mine, for I keep all my subjects +in her street, and bring her many from England and many other realms.” +Spain would have the Princess of Lucre, spite of Holland and all the +Jews, and England, the Princess of Pleasure in spite of the Pagans. +But the Pope claimed the three, and for better reasons than all the +others; and Belial admits him next to them in each street.” +“Is that the cause of this commerce?” said I. “No,” +said he, “Belial has made peace between them upon that matter +long ago. But now he has bid the three put their heads together +to consider how they can the soonest destroy yon bye-street; that is +the City of Emmanuel, and especially one great mansion therein, out +of mere jealousy, perceiving it to be a finer edifice than any in all +the City of Destruction. And Belial promises half his kingdom +during his life, and the whole on his decease, to him who succeeds in +doing so. But notwithstanding the magnitude of his power, the +depth of his wiles, and the number of emperors, kings and crafty rulers +that are beneath his sceptre in that huge City of Destruction, notwithstanding +the courage of his countless hosts beyond the gates in the lower region, +that task will prove too difficult for them; however great, powerful +and untiring his majesty may be, in yon small street is a greater than +he.”<br> +<br> +I was not able to give very close attention to his angelic reasons, +being occupied in watching the frequent falls people were having on +the slippery street. Some I could see with ladders scaling the +tower, and having reached the highest rung, falling headlong to the +bottom. “Where do those fools try to get to?” I asked. +“To a place that is high enough - they are endeavouring to break +into the treasury of the princess.” “I warrant it +be full,” quoth I. “Yes,” answered he, “of +everything that belongs to this street, to be distributed among its +denizens: all kinds of weapons for invading and extending territories; +all kinds of coats-of-arms, banners, escutcheons, books of genealogy, +sayings of the ancients, and poems, all sorts of gorgeous raiments, +boastful tales and flattering mirrors; every pigment and lotion to beautify +the face; every high office and title - in short, everything is there +which makes a man think better of himself and worse of others than he +ought. The chief officers of this treasury are masters of the +ceremonies, roysters, heralds, bards, orators, flatterers, dancers, +tailors, gamblers, seamstresses and the like.”<br> +<br> +From this street we went to the next where the Princess of Lucre rules +supreme; this street was crowded and enormously wealthy; yet not half +so magnificent and clean as the Street of Pride, nor its people so foolishly +haughty, for here they were for the most part skulking and sly. +Thousands of Spaniards, Dutchmen, Venetians, and Jews were here, and +also a great many aged people. “Prithee, sir,” said +I, “what manner of men might these be?” “They +are pinchfists one and all. In the lower end thou shalt see the +Pope once more together with conquerors of kingdoms and their soldiery, +oppressors, foresters, obstructors of public paths, justices and their +bribers, and all their progeny from the barrister to the constable; +on the other side, physicians, apothecaries, leeches, misers, merchants, +extortioners, money lenders, withholders of tithes, wages, rents or +doles left to schools, almhouses and the like; drovers, dealers who +regulate the market for their own benefit; shopmen (or rather, sharpers) +who profit on the need or ignorance of their customers; stewards of +all grades; clippers <a name="citation14a"></a><a href="#footnote14a">{14a}</a> +and innkeepers who despoil the idlers’ family of their goods and +the country of its barley, which would otherwise be made into bread +for the poor. All these are arrant robbers, the others in the +upper end of the street are mostly small fry, such as highwaymen, tailors, +weavers, millers, grocers and so on.”<br> +<br> +In the midst of this I could hear a terrible commotion towards the far +end of the street, and a great crowd of people thronging the gate, and +such pushing and quarelling as made me think that there was a general +riot afoot, until I asked my friend what was the matter. “There +is very valuable treasure in that tower,” said the Angel, “and +the reason for this tumult is that they are about to choose a treasurer +for the Princess, instead of the Pope, who has been driven from office.” +So we went to see the election.<br> +<br> +The candidates for the post were the stewards, the money-lenders, the +lawyers, and the merchants, and it was the wealthiest of these that +was to have it (for the more thou hast, the more wilt thou have and +seek for - an insatiate complaint pertaining to this street). +The stewards were rejected at the outset, lest they might impoverish +the whole street and, just as they had erected their mansions upon their +masters’ ruins, in the end dispossess the princess herself. +The contest then lay between the other three. The merchants had +more silk, the lawyers more mortgages on land, and the money-lenders +more bills and bonds and fuller purses. “Ho, they won’t +agree this night,” said the Angel, “come away; the lawyers +are richer than the merchants, the money-lenders than the lawyers, the +stewards than the money-lenders, and Belial richer than all; for they +and all that belongs to them are his.” “Why does the +princess keep these robbers about her?” “What more +befitting, seeing that she herself is arch-robber?” I was +amazed to hear him call the princess by such name, and the proudest +gentry in the land arrant robbers. “Why, pray my lord,” +said I, “do you consider these great noblemen worse thieves than +highwaymen?” “Thou art a simpleton - think on that +knave who roves the wide world over, sword in hand, and with his ravagers +at his back, slaying and burning, and depriving the true possessors +of their states, and afterwards expecting to be worshipped as conqueror; +is he not worse than the petty thief who takes a purse on the highway? +What is a tailor who filches a piece of cloth compared to a squire who +steals from the mountain-side half a parish? Ought the latter +not be called a worse robber than the former, who only takes a shred +from him, while he deprives the poor of pasture for his beast, and consequently +of the means of livelihood for himself, and those depending upon him? +What is the stealing a handful of flour in the mill compared with the +storing up of a hundred bushels to rot, in order to obtain later on +for one bushel the price of four? What is a threadbare soldier +who robs thee of thy clothes at the swords’ point when compared +with the lawyer who despoils thee of thy whole estate with the stroke +of a quill, and against whom thou canst claim no recompense or remedy? +What is a pickpocket who steals a five-pound in comparison to a dice-sharper +who robs thee of a hundred pounds in the third part of a night? +And what the swindler that deceives thee in a worthless old hack compared +with the apothecary who swindles thee of thy money and life too, for +some effete, medicinal stuff? And moreover, what are all these +robbers compared with that great arch-robber who deprives them all of +everything, yea, of their hearts and souls after the fair is over?”<br> +<br> +From this foul and disorderly street we proceeded to the street of the +Princess of Pleasure wherein I saw many English, French, Italians and +Paynims. The Princess is very fair to behold, with mixed wine +in one hand, and a fiddle and a harp in the other; and in her treasury, +innumerable pleasures and toys to gain the custom of everybody, and +retain them in her father’s service. Yea, many were wont +to escape to this pleasant street to drown their grief for losses and +debts they had incurred in the others. It was exceedingly crowded, +especially with young people; whilst the Princess is careful to please +everyone, and to have an arrow ready for every mark. If thou art +thirsty, here thou will find thy favorite beverage; if thou lovest song +and dance, here thou shalt have thy fill. If the beauty of the +Princess has kindled thy lust, thou need’st but beckon one of +her sire’s officers (who, although invisible, always surround +her) and they will immediately attend thy behest. There are here +fair mansions, fine gardens, full orchards, shady groves fit for every +secret intrigue, or to trap birds or a white rabbit or twain; clear +streams, most pleasant to fish in; rich, boundless plains, whereon to +hunt the hare and fox. Along the street we could see them playing +interludes, juggling and conjuring, singing lewd songs to the sound +of the harp and ballads, and all manner of jesting. Men and women +of handsome appearance danced and sang, and many came hither from the +Street of Pride in order to be praised and worshipped. Within +the houses we perceived some on silken beds wallowing in debauchery; +some at the gaming-table, cursing and swearing, others tossing dice +and shuffling cards. Some from the Street of Lucre, having a room +here, ran hither to count their money, but stayed not long lest aught +of the countless geegaws that are here should entice them to part with +their money without interest. Others I saw at tables feasting +with somewhat of every created thing before them; and when everyone, +mess after mess, had guzzled as much of the dainties as would afford +a moderate man a feast for a whole week, grace followed in the form +of blasphemous howling; then the king’s health was called for, +and that of every boon companion, and so on to quench the taste of the +viands, and drown their cares. Then came tobacco, and then each +one began to talk scandal of his neighbour - whether true or false it +mattered not as long as it was humorous or fresh, or, best of all, degrading. +At last, what with a round of blasphemy, and the whole crowd with clay +pistols belching smoke and fire and slander of their neighbours, and +the floor already befouled with dregs and spittle, I feared lest viler +deeds should happen, and craved to depart.<br> +<br> +Thence we went where we heard a loud noise, beating and clamouring, +crying and laughing, shouting and singing. “Well, here’s +Bedlam and no mistake,” quoth I. By the time we got in, +the turmoil had ceased; one man lay like a log on the ground, another +was vomiting, another nodding his head over a hearth full of battered +flagons, and broken pipes and mugs. On enquiring, what should +it be but a carousal of seven thirsty neighbours - a tinker, a dyer, +a blacksmith, a miner, a chimney-sweep, a bard, and a parson who had +come to preach sobriety, and to show in his own person how repulsive +drunkenness is; and the beginning of the recent altercation was a discussion +and dispute they had as to which of the seven callings loved best the +pot and pipe; the bard had beaten all but the parson and, due regard +being observed for the cloth, he was adjudged victor and worthy to be +leader of his good comrades, and so the bard wound up the discussion +thus:<br> +<br> +<br> +“Where can ye find such thirsty seven,<br> + “Search every clime and land?<br> +“And quaffing off the ruddy ale,<br> + “Bard and parson lead the band.”<br> +<br> +<br> +Thoroughly tired of these drunken swine, we drew nearer the gate in +order to spy out the blemishes in the magnificent court of Love, the +purblind king, wherein it is easy to enter, but difficult to get out +again, and where are chambers innumerable. In the hall opposite +the door stood giddy Cupid, with two arrows in his bow, darting a languishing +venom called lust. Along the floor I saw many fair and comely +women walking with measured steps, and following them, wretched youths +gazing upon their beauty, and each one begging a glance from his mistress, +fearing a frown even more than death; now and then one, bowing to the +ground, would place a letter in his goddess’ hand, and another +a sonnet, the while in fear expectant, like schoolboys showing their +task to the master. They in return would favour their adorers +with a simpering smile or two, just to keep their desires on edge, but +granting nought more lest their lust be sated and they depart healed +of the disease. Going on into the parlour I saw them having lessons +in dancing and singing, with voice and hand, in order to make their +lovers sevenfold madder than before; on again into the dining hall where +they were taught coy smartness in eating; into the cellar, where potent +love philtres were being mixed of nail parings and the like; in the +upper rooms we could see one in a secret chamber twisting himself into +all shapes, practising gentlemanly behaviour when in his mistress’ +presence; another before a mirror learning how to smile correctly without +showing his teeth too prominently to his ladylove; another preparing +his tale to tell her, repeating the same thing an hundred times. +Wearied with this insipid babbling we came to another cell: here a nobleman +had sent for a poet from the Street of Pride to indite him a sonnet +of praise to his angel, and an eulogy of himself; the bard was discoursing +of his art: “I can,” said he, “liken her to everything +red and everything white under the sun, and her tresses to an hundred +things more yellow than gold, and as for your poem, I can trace your +lineage through many knights and princes, and through the water of the +deluge right up to Adam.” “Well, here’s a poet,” +quoth I, “who is a better genealogist than I.” “Come, +come,” said the Angel, “their intention is to deceive the +woman, but, once in her presence, you may be sure they will have to +meet trick with trick.”<br> +<br> +Upon leaving these we had a glimpse of cells where fouler deeds were +being done than modesty permits to mention, and which caused my companion +to snatch me away in anger from this fatuous court into the princess’ +treasury (for we went where we list notwithstanding doors and locks). +There we saw myriads of fair women, all kinds of beverages, fruits and +dainties, stringed instruments and books of songs, - harps, pipes, odes +and carols, all sorts of games, - backgammon, dice <a name="citation20a"></a><a href="#footnote20a">{20a}</a> +and cards; pictures of various lands, towns and persons, inventions +and amusing tricks; all kinds of waters, perfumes, pigments and spots +to make the ugly fair, and the old look young, and the leman’s +malodorous bones smell sweet for the nonce. In short, the shadow +of pleasure and the guise of happiness in every conceivable form was +to be found there; and sooth to say, I almost think I too had been enticed +by the place had not my friend instantly hurried me away far from the +three alluring towers to the top end of the streets, and set me down +near an immense palatial castle, the front view of which seemed fair, +but the further side was mean and terribly ugly, though it was scarcely +to be seen at all. It had a myriad portals - all splendid without +but rotten within. “An’t please you, my lord,” +asked I, “what is this wondrous place?” “This +is the court of Belials’ second daughter whose name is Hypocrisy; +here she keeps her school, and there is no man or woman throughout the +whole city who has not been a pupil of hers, and most of them have imbibed +their learning remarkably well; so that her lessons are discernible +as a second nature intertwined with all their thoughts, words, and deeds +from very childhood almost.” I had been looking awhile on +the falsity of every part of the edifice when a funeral came by with +many weeping and sighing, and many men and horses in mourning trappings; +and shortly the poor widow, veiled so as not to see this cruel world +any more, came along with piping voice and weary sighs, and fainting +fits at intervals. In truth, I could not help but weep a little +out of pity for her. “Nay, nay,” said the Angel, “keep +thy tears for a more worthy occasion; these voices are only what Hypocrisy +has taught, and these mourning weeds were fashioned in her great school. +Not one of these weep sincerely; the widow, even before the body had +left the house, let in another husband to her heart; were she rid of +the expenses connected with the corpse she would not care a straw if +his soul were at the bottom of hell; nor do his own kindred care any +more than she: for when it went hardest with him, instead of giving +him good counsel and earnestly praying for mercy upon him, they were +talking of his property, his will or his pedigree; or what a handsome +robust man he was, and such talk; and now this wailing <a name="citation21a"></a><a href="#footnote21a">{21a}</a> +on the part of some is for mere ceremony and custom, on the part of +others for company’s sake or for pay.”<br> +<br> +Scarcely had these gone by than another throng came in sight: a most +gallant lord with his lady at his side, slowly advancing in state, to +whom many men of position doffed, and many were on tiptoe with eagerness +to show him obeisance and reverence. “Here is a noble lord,” +said I, “who is worthy such respect from all these!” +“Wert thou to take everything to consideration thou wouldst speak +differently. This lord comes from the Street of Pleasure, she +is of the Street of Pride, and yon old man who is conversing with him +comes from the Street of Lucre, and has a mortgage on almost every acre +of my lord’s, and is come to-day to complete the loan.” +We drew nigh to hear the conversation. “In sooth, sir,” +Old Money-bags was saying, “I would not for all that I possess +that you should lack anything which lies in my power to enable you to +appear your own true self this day, especially seeing that you have +met so beautiful and lovely a lady as madam here” (the wily dog +knowing full well what she was). “By the --- by the --- +,” said the lord, “next to gazing at her beauty, my greatest +pleasure was to hearken to your fair reasons; I had liefer pay you interest +than get money elsewhere free.” “Indeed, my lord,” +said one of his chief friends called Flatterer, “nuncle pays you +not a whit less respect than is due to you, but an it please you, he +has bestowed upon her ladyship scarce the half her mead of praise. +I defy any man,” quoth he, “to show a lovelier woman in +all the Street of Pride, or a nobler than you in all the Street of Pleasure, +or a kinder than you, good mine uncle, in all the Street of Lucre.” +“Ah, that is your good opinion,” said my lord, “but +I cannot believe that any couple were ever more united in the bonds +of love than we twain.” As they went on the crowd increased, +and everyone had a pleasant smile and low bow for the other, and hastened +to salute each other with their noses to the ground, like a pair of +gamecocks on the point of striking. “Know then,” said +the Angel, “that thou hast seen naught of civility nor heard one +word which Hypocrisy has not taught. There is no one here, after +all this gentleness, who has a hap’orth of love one to another, +yea, many of them are sworn foes. This lord is the butt <a name="citation23a"></a><a href="#footnote23a">{23a}</a> +of everybody, and all have their dig at him. The lady looks only +to his greatness and high degree, so that she may thereby ascend a step +above many of her neighbours. Old Money-bags has his eye on my +lord’s lands for his own son, and all the others on the money +he received as dowry; for they are all his dependants, his merchants, +tailors, cobblers and other craftsmen, who have decked him out and maintained +him in this splendor, and have never had a brass farthing for it, nor +are likely to get aught save smooth words and sometimes threats perhaps. +How many layers, how many folds had Hypocrisy laid over the face of +Truth! He, promising greatness to his love, while his lands were +on the point of being sold; she, promising him dower and beauty, while +her beauty is but artificial, and cancer is consuming both her dowry +and her body.” “Well, this teaches us,” said +I, “never to judge by appearances.” “Yes verily,” +said he, “but come on and I will show thee more.”<br> +<br> +At the word he transported me up to where the churches of the City of +Destruction were; for everyone therein, even the unbelieving, has a +semblance of religion. And it was to the temple of the unbelievers +that we first came, and there I saw some worshipping a human form, others +the sun, the moon and a countless other like gods down to onions and +garlic; and a great goddess called Deceit was universally worshipped. +However, there were some traces of the influence of Christianity to +be found in most of these religions. Thence we came to a congregation +of mutes, <a name="citation24a"></a><a href="#footnote24a">{24a}</a> +where there was nothing but sighing and quaking and beating the breast. +“Here,” said the Angel, “is the appearance of great +repentance and humility, but which in reality is perversity, stubbornness, +pride and utter darkness; although they talk much about the light within, +they have not even the spectacles of nature which the heathen thou erstwhile +saw, possess.”<br> +<br> +From these dumb dogs we chanced to turn into an immense, roofless church, +with thousands of shoes lying at the porch, whereby I learnt it was +a Turkish mosque. These had but very dark and misty spectacles +called the Koran; yet through these they gazed intently from the summit +of their church for their prophet, who falsely promised to return and +visit them long ago, but has left his promise unfulfilled.<br> +<br> +From thence we entered the Jewish synagogue - these too were unable +to flee from the City of Destruction, although they had grey-tinted +spectacles, for when they look a film comes over their eyes from want +of anointing them with that precious ointment - faith.<br> +<br> +Next we came to the Papists. “Here is the church that beguiles +the nations,” exclaimed the Angel, “it was Hypocrisy that +built this church at her own cost. For the Papists encourage, +yea, command men to break an oath with a heretic even though sworn on +the sacraments.” From the chancel we went through the keyholes, +up to the top of a certain cell which was full of candles, though it +was broad daylight, and where we could see a tonsured priest walking +about as if expecting someone to come to him; and ere long there comes +a buxom matron, with a fair maid in her wake, bending their knees before +him to confess their sins. “My spiritual father,” +said the good wife, “I have a burthen too heavy to bear unless +I obtain your mercy to lighten it: I married a member of the Church +of England!” “What!” cried the shorn-pate, “married +a heretic! wedded to an enemy? forgiveness can never be obtained!” +At these words she fainted, while he kept calling down imprecations +upon her head. “Woe’s me, and what is worse,” +cried she when come to herself, “I killed him!” “Oh +ho! thou hast killed him? Well, that’s something towards +gaining the reconciliation of the Church; I tell thee now, hadst thou +not slain him, thou wouldst never have obtained absolution nor purgatory, +but a straight gate and a leaden weight to the devil. But where’s +your offering, you jade?” he demanded with a snarl. “Here,” +said she, handing him a considerable bag of money. “Well,” +said he, “now I’ll make your reconciliation: your penance +is to remain always a widow lest you should make another bad bargain.” +When she was gone, the maiden also came forward to make her confession. +“Your pardon, father confessor,” cried she, “I conceived +a child and slew it.” “A fair deed, i’faith,” +said the confessor, “and who might the father be?” +“Indeed ’twas one of your monks.” “Hush, +hush,” he cried, “speak no ill of churchmen. <a name="citation25a"></a><a href="#footnote25a">{25a}</a> +What satisfaction have you for the Church?” “Here +it is,” said she and handed him a gold trinket. “You +must repent, and your penance will be to watch at my bedside to-night,” +he said with a leer. Hereupon four other shavelings entered, dragging +before the confessor a poor wretch, who came about as willingly as he +would to the gallows. “Here’s for you a rogue,” +cried one of the four, “who must do penance for disclosing the +secrets of the Catholic Church.” “What!” exclaimed +the confessor, looking towards a dark cell near at hand: “but +come, villain, confess what thou hast said?” “Indeed,” +began the poor fellow, “a neighbour asked me whether I had seen +the souls that were groaning underneath the altar on All-souls’ +day; and I said I had heard the voice, but had seen nothing.” +“So, sirrah, come now, tell everything.” “I +said moreover,” he continued, “that I had heard that you +were playing tricks on us unlettered hinds, that, instead of souls, +there was nothing but crabs making a row under the carpet.” +“Oh, thou hell-hound! cursed knave!” cried the confessor, +“but, proceed, mastiff.” “And that it was a +wire that turned the image of St. Peter, and that it was along a wire +the Holy Ghost descended from the roodloft upon the priest.” +“Thou heir of hell!” cried the shriver, “Ho there, +torturers, take him and cast him into that smoky chimney for tale-bearing.” +“Well, this is the church Hypocrisy insists upon calling the Catholic +Church, and she avers that these only are saved,” said the Angel; +“they once had the proper spectacles, but they cut the glass into +a thousand forms; they once had true faith, but they mixed that salve +with substances of their own, so that they see no better than the unbelieving.”<br> +<br> +Leaving the cell we came to a barn <a name="citation26a"></a><a href="#footnote26a">{26a}</a> +where someone was delivering a mock sermon extempore, sometimes repeating +the same thing thrice in succession. “These,” said +the Angel, “have the right sort of spectacles to see ‘the +things which belong unto their peace,’ but there is wanting in +their ointment one of the most necessary ingredients, namely, perfect +love. People come hither for various reasons; some out of respect +to their elders, some from ignorance, and many for worldly gain. +One would think, looking at their faces, that they are on the point +of choking, but they will swallow frogs sooner than starve; for so does +Princess Hypocrisy teach those meeting in barns.<br> +<br> +“Pray tell,” said I, “where may the Church of England +be?” “Oh, it is yonder in the upper city, forming +a large part of the Catholic Church, but there are in this city a few +probationary churches belonging to the Church of England, where the +Welsh and English stay for a time on probation, so that they may become +fit to have their names enrolled as members of the Catholic Church, +and ever blessed be he who shall have his name so enrolled. Yet, +more’s the pity, there are but few who befit themselves for its +citizenship. For too many, instead of looking thitherwards, allow +themselves to be blinded by the three princesses down below; Hypocrisy +too, keeps many with one eye on the upper city and the other on the +lower; yea, Hypocrisy is clever enough to beguile many who have withstood +the other enchantresses. Enter here, and thou shalt see more,” +he said, and snatched me up into the roodloft in one of the Welsh churches, +when the people were at service; there we saw some busily whispering, +some laughing, some staring at pretty women, others prying their neighbour’s +dress from top to toe; others, in eagerness for the position due to +their rank, keep shoving forward and showing their teeth at one another, +others dozing, others assiduous at their devotions, and many of these +too, dissimulating. “Thou hast not yet seen, nay, not even +among infidels shamelessness so barefaced and public as this,” +said the Angel, “but so it is, I am sorry to say, there is no +worse corruption than the corruption of the best.” <a name="citation28a"></a><a href="#footnote28a">{28a}</a> +Then they went to communion, and everybody appeared fairly reverent +before the altar; yet through my friend’s glass I could see one +taking unto himself with the bread the form of a mastiff, another, that +of a mole, another, that of an eagle, a pig or a winged serpent, and +a few, ah, how few, received a ray of bright light with the bread and +wine. “There,” he pointed out, “is a Roundhead, +who is going to be sheriff, and because the law calls upon a man to +receive the sacrament in the Church before taking office he has come +here rather than lose it, and although there are some here who rejoice +on seeing him, we have felt no joy at his conversion, because he has +only become converted for the occasion. Thus thou perceivest that +Hypocrisy, with exceeding boldness, approaches the altar in the presence +of the God that cannot be deceived. But though she wields great +power in the City of Destruction, she is of no avail in the City of +Emmanuel beyond those ramparts.”<br> +<br> +Upon that we turned our faces from the great City of Destruction and +ascended towards the other city, which was considerably less; and on +our way we met several at the upper end of the streets who had made +a move as of turning away from the temptations of the gates of Destruction, +and making for the gate of life. But they either failed to find +it or grew weary on the way; very few went through - one man of rueful +countenance, ran in earnest while crowds on all sides derided him, some +mocking, <a name="citation28b"></a><a href="#footnote28b">{28b}</a> +some threatening him, and his kindred clinging to him, begging him not +to condemn himself to lose the whole world at one stroke. “I +lose but a small portion of it, and were I to lose all, what loss, I +pray you, would it be? For what is there in the world to be desired, +unless it be deceit, oppression and squalor, wickedness, folly and madness? +Contentment and rest is man’s supreme happiness - this is not +to be found in your city. For who of you is content? <a name="citation29a"></a><a href="#footnote29a">{29a}</a> +‘Higher, higher,’ is the aim of all in the Street of Pride, +‘More, more’ cry all that dwell in the Street of Lucre, +‘Sweet, sweet, yet more’ is the voice of everybody in the +Street of Pleasure. And as for rest, where is it, and who hath +obtained it? If a man is of high degree, adulation and envy almost +kill him; if poor, everybody is ready to trample and despise him. +If one would prosper, he must set his mind upon being an intriguer; +if one would gain respect, let him be a boaster or braggart; if one +would be godly, and attend church and approach the altar, he is dubbed +a hypocrite, if he abstain from doing so, he becomes at once an antichrist +or a heretic; if he is light-hearted, he is called a scoffer, if silent, +a morose cur; if he practises honesty, he is but a good-for-nothing +fool; if well dressed, he is proud, if not, he is a pig; if gentle of +speech, he is double-faced and a rogue, whom none can fathom; if rough, +he is an arrogant and froward devil. This is the world you make +so much of, and pray you take my share of it and welcome,” and +at the word he shook himself free of them all, and away he sped boldly +to the narrow gate, and spite of all, pushing onwards he entered, and +we too at his heels. Upon the battlements on either side of the +gate were many men dressed in black, encouraging the man and applauding +him. “Who are those in black up yonder?” I asked. +“They are the watchmen of King Emmanuel,” answered he, “who +in their sovereign’s name invite men hither and help them through +the gate.”<br> +<br> +By this we were at the gate: it was very low and narrow, and mean, compared +with the lower gates; around the door the Ten Commandments were graven +- the first table on the right hand and above it, “Thou shalt +love God with all thy heart,” and above the other table on the +left, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” and above +the whole “Love not the world neither the things that are in the +world.” I had not been looking on long before the watchmen +began calling in a loud voice upon the condemned men: “Flee, flee +for your lives!” But it was few that gave any heed at all +to them, though some enquired, “What are we to flee from?” +“From the prince of this world, who ruleth in the children of +disobedience; from the corruption that is in the world through the lust +of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; from +the wrath that is coming upon you.” “What is your +beloved city? “ cried a watchman, “but a huge charred roof +over the mouth of hell, and were ye here ye should see the conflagration +beyond your walls ready to burst in and consume you even unto the bottomless +pit.” Some mocked, others, menacing, bade them have done +with their wicked nonsense; yet one here and there would ask, “Whither +shall we flee?” “Hither,” answered the watchmen, +“flee hither to your rightful king, who through us still offers +you reconciliation, if ye return to your allegiance, and leave that +rebel Belial and his bewitching daughters. However fair they appear, +it is all sham; Belial is but a very poor prince at home; he has nought +but you as faggots for the fire and for food, both roast and boiled, +and never will ye suffice him; never will his hunger be appeased or +your pain cease. Who would ever in a moment of madness enter the +service of such a malignant slaughterer, and suffer eternal torments, +when he might live well under a king who is merciful and kind to his +subjects, and who hath never done them aught but good on all sides, +and kept them from Belial, so that in the end he might give to each +one a kingdom in the realm of light. Oh, ye fools, will ye have +that terrible foe, whose lips are parched with thirst for your blood, +and reject the compassionate prince who hath given his own blood to +save you?” Yet these reasons which would melt the rock seemed +to have no good effect upon them, and chiefly because few had the time +to listen to them, the others were too intently gazing at the gates; +and of those listening, very few reflected thereon, and of these again, +many soon forgot them; some would not believe they served Belial, others +would not have it that this untrodden little hole was the gate of Life, +and that the other bright portals, and this castle, were a delusion +to prevent them seeing their doom before coming face to face with it.<br> +<br> +Just then, behold a troop of people from the Street of Pride, knocking +boldly enough at the gate; but they were all so stiff-necked that they +could never enter a place so low without soiling their periwigs and +horns, so they sulkily retraced their steps. In their wake there +came up a group from the Street of Lucre: “And is this the Gate +of Life?” asked one; “Yea,” said the watchman overhead. +“What must be done to enter?” he enquired. “Read +what is inscribed above the doorway and ye shall know.” +The miser read the Ten Commandments through: “Who will say that +I have broken one of these?” he exclaimed. But when he looked +up, and saw the words, “Love not the world, nor the things that +are in the world,” he was amazed, and could not swallow that hard +saying. There was one, green-eyed and envious, who turned back +when he read: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” +There was a gossip and a slanderer who became dazed on reading: “Thou +shalt not bear false witness.” When he read, “Thou +shalt not kill,” “This is not the place for me” quoth +the physician. In short, everybody saw something which troubled +him, and so they all returned together to consider the matter. +I saw no one yet come back who had conned his lesson; they had so many +bags and scripts tightly bound to them, that they could never have got +through such a narrow needle’s eye, even if they had tried to. +After that a drove from the Street of Pleasure walked up to the gate. +“Where, pray, does this road lead to?” asked one of the +watchmen. “This,” answered he, “is the way that +leads to eternal joy and happiness.” Whereupon all strove +to enter, but failed, for some were too stout to pass through such a +strait opening; others too weak to struggle, being enfeebled through +debauchery. “Oh, ye must not attempt to take your baubles +with you,” said the watchman, observing them; “ye must leave +behind your pots and dishes, your minions, and all other things, and +then hasten on.” “How shall we live?” asked +the fiddler, who would have been through long since but that he feared +to smash his fiddle. “Ye must trust the king’s promise +to send after you as many of these things as will do you good,” +said the watchman. This made them all prick their ears, “Oh, +oh!” said one, “a bird in hand is worth two in the bush,” +and at that they with one accord turned back.<br> +<br> +“Let us enter then,” said the Angel, and drew me in; and +there in the porch I first of all perceived a large baptismal font, +and hard by, a well of salt water. “What is this doing in +the middle of the road?” I asked. “Because everybody +must wash therein before obtaining citizenship in the Court of Emmanuel; +it is called the well of repentance.” Overhead I could see +inscribed “This is the gate of the Lord.” The gateway, +and street also, widened and became less steep as we went on, and after +proceeding a short distance I heard a voice behind me slowly saying, +“That is the way, walk ye in it.” The street trended +upwards, but was very clean and straight, and though the houses there +were not so lofty as those in the City of Destruction, they were fairer +to behold; if there was less wealth, there was also less dissension +and care; if the choice dishes were fewer, pain was more rare; if there +was less turmoil, there was less grief and more undoubtedly of true +joy. I wondered at the silence and sweet tranquility there, when +thinking of what was going on below. Instead of the cursing and +swearing, the scoffing, debauchery and drunkenness, instead of the pride +and vanity, the torpitude of one quarter and the violence of another, +yea, for all the bustle and the pomp, the hurly-burly and the brawl +which there unceasingly bewildered men, and for the innumerable and +unvarying sins, there was nothing to be seen here but sobriety, kindness +and cheerfulness, peace and thankfulness, compassion, innocence and +contentment stamped upon the face of every man, except where one or +two silently wept, grieving that they had tarried so long in the enemy’s +city. There was no hatred or anger, except towards sin, and this +was certain to be overcome; no fear, but of displeasing their king, +who was more ready to be reconciled than to be angry with his subjects; +no sound, but that of psalms of praise to their Saviour. By this +we had come in sight of an exceedingly fine building, oh, so magnificent! +No one in the City of Destruction, neither the Turk nor the Mogul nor +any one else, has anything equal to it. “This is the Catholic +Church,” said the Angel. “Is it here Emmanuel holds +his court?” asked I. “Yes, this is the only royal +court he has on earth.” “Are there many crowned heads +beneath his sway?” “A few - thy queen, some of the +princes of Scandinavia and Germany, and a few other petty princes.” +“What is that compared with those over whom great Belial rules +- emperors and kings without number?” “For all that,” +said the Angel, “not one of them can move a finger without Emmanuel’s +permission - no, not even Belial himself. For Emmanuel is his +rightful liege too, only that he rebelled, and was in consequence bound +in chains to all eternity; although he is still allowed for a short +period to visit the City of Destruction where he entices all he can +into like rebellion, and to bear a share of his punishment; and though +he well knows that by so doing he increases his own penalty, <a name="citation34a"></a><a href="#footnote34a">{34a}</a> +yet malice and envy urge him on whenever he has a pretext, and so much +does he love evil that he seeks to destroy this city and this edifice, +although he knows of yore that its Saviour is invincible.”<br> +<br> +“Prithee, my lord,” said I, “may we approach so as +to obtain a better view of this magnificent royal court (for my heart +waxed warm towards the place since first I had beheld it). “Oh +yes, easily,” answered the Angel, “for therein is my place, +my duty and my work.” The nearer I came thereto the more +I wondered at the height, strength, splendour, grandeur, and beauty +of its every part, how skilful the work was, and how apt the materials. +Its base was an enormous rock wondrously fashioned, and of strength +impregnable; upon it were living stones, laid and joined in such perfect +order that no stone could possibly appear finer elsewhere than in its +own place. One part of the church projected in the form of a wonderfully +handsome cross, and the Angel saw me looking at it, and said, “Dost +thou recognise that part?” I knew not what to answer. +“That is the Church of England,” he said. I was somewhat +startled, and looking up beheld Queen Anne on the church-top enthroned, +with a sword in each hand - the one in the left called “Justice,” +to defend her subjects against the inhabitants of the City of Destruction, +the one in the right, to preserve them from Belial and his spiritual +evils, and this was called “the sword of the Spirit,” or +the Word of God. Beneath the left sword lay the statute book of +England, and beneath the other, a big Bible. The sword of the +Spirit was fiery, and of immense length, and would kill further away +than the other would touch. I could see the other princes with +like arms defending their part of the church, but I deemed mine own +queen fairest of all, and her arms the brightest. At her right +hand I observed throngs clad in black - archbishops, bishops, and learned +men upholding with her the sword of the Spirit, while soldiers and officials, +with a few lawyers, supported the other sword. I was allowed to +rest awhile, by one of the magnificent doors where people came in to +obtain membership in the Universal Church, and whereat a tall angel +was doorkeeper. The interior of the church was lit up so brilliantly +that Hypocrisy dared not show her face therein, and though sometimes +she appeared at the threshold she never entered. Just as I saw, +in the space of a quarter of an hour, a Papist, who thought that the +Catholic Church belonged to the Pope, came and claimed its freedom. +“What have you to prove your right?” demanded the porter. +“I have plenty of the traditions of the fathers, and of councils +of the church,” he answered, “but what need I more certain +than the word of the Pope, who sits in the infallible chair?” +Then the doorkeeper opened a huge Bible - a load in itself; “This,” +said he, “is our only statute book - prove your right from this +or go.” And he straightway departed.<br> +<br> +Then came a flock of Quakers, who wished to enter with their hats on, +but were turned away for being so ill-mannered. After them some +of the barn-folk, who had been there only a short while, began to speak: +“We have the same statute book as ye have,” they averred, +“and therefore show us our privileged place.” “Stay,” +said the bright porter, steadfastly gazing on their foreheads, “I +will show you something: see yon mark of the rent ye made in the church +when leaving it without cause or reason? And would ye now have +a place therein? Get ye back to the narrow gate, and wash thoroughly +in the well of repentance, to see if ye will reach some of the royal +blood ye erstwhile drank <a name="citation36a"></a><a href="#footnote36a">{36a}</a> +and bring some of the water of that well to moisten the clay, so as +to make up yonder rent and then ye are welcome.”<br> +<br> +Before we had gone a rood westward I heard a noise coming from above, +from among the princes, and everybody, great and small, was taking up +arms and donning his armour as if for war, and ere I had time to cast +about me for a refuge, the whole sky became black, and the city darker +than when an eclipse befalls; the thunder roared, the lightning flashed +to and fro, and ceaseless showers of deadly shafts were directed from +the lower gates against the Catholic Church, and had there not been +in each man’s hand a shield to receive the fiery darts, and had +the foundation rock not been so strong that nothing could ever harm +it, we all would have become one burning mass. But alack, this +was but a prologue or foretaste of what was to follow; for suddenly +the darkness became sevenfold more intense, and Belial himself advanced +in the densest cloud, and around him his chief officers both earthly +and infernal, ready to receive and accomplish his behest at their several +posts. He had entrusted the Pope and his other son of France <a name="citation37a"></a><a href="#footnote37a">{37a}</a> +with the destruction of the Church of England and its queen; the Turks +and Muscovites were to strike at the other sections of the Church, and +slay the people, and especially the queen and the other princes, and +above all to burn the Bible. The first thing the queen and the +other saints did was to bend the knee and tell of their wrongs to the +King of Kings in these words: “The stretching out of his wings +shall fill the breadth of thy land, oh Emmanuel.” And immediately +a voice replied: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” +And then commenced the greatest and most terrible conflict that ever +took place on earth. When the sword of the Spirit began to be +whirled round, Belial and his infernal hosts began to retreat; then +the Pope began to waver, while the King of France still held out, though +he too was almost giving up heart, seeing the queen and her subjects +so united, while he himself was losing ships and men on the one hand, +and on the other many of his subjects were in open revolt; and the onslaught +of the Turk also was becoming less fierce. Just then, woe’s +me, I saw my beloved companion shooting away from me into the welkin +to join a myriad other bright princes. Thereupon the Pope and +the other earthly commanders began to slink off and become prostrate +through fear, and the infernal princes to fall by the thousands. +The noise of each one falling seemed to me as if a great mountain fell +into the depths of the sea, and between this noise and the agitation +on losing my friend, I awoke from sleep, and returned to this oppressive +sod, most unwillingly, so pleasant and enjoyable it was to be a free +spirit, and above all to be in such company, notwithstanding the great +danger I was in. Now I had no one to comfort me save the Muse, +and she was rather moody - scarcely could I get her to bray out these +lines that follow:-<br> +<br> +<br> + Behold this wondrous edifice,<br> + Both heaven and earth comprising,<br> + The universe and all that is<br> + At God’s command arising -<br> +This world, with ramparts wide from pole to pole,<br> + Down from its starry, brilliant dome,<br> +E’en to the depths where angry billows roll,<br> + And beasts that through the forest roam -<br> + All things that sea and sky afford,<br> + Thy faithful subjects eke to be;<br> + A lesser heaven, a home for thee<br> + Oh! man, creation’s lord.<br> +<br> + But once that thou desired to know<br> + The ways of sin, seductive,<br> + The hellish tempter, to our woe,<br> + Became a power destructive;<br> +He cursed our earth and ruin brought on all,<br> + Yea, very nature felt the bane -<br> +Its blighted walls now totter to their fall,<br> + And soon disorder rules again.<br> + This earthly palace then at last,<br> + Unroofed, dismantled and decayed,<br> + A hideous, barren waste is laid<br> + By desolation’s blast.<br> +<br> + Behold oh, man! this glorious place<br> + In the empyrean hovering<br> + While all is but a treach’rous face<br> + Foul swamps and quagmires covering.<br> +Thy sin, that whelmed this earth in days of yore,<br> + Shall draw upon it quenchless fire<br> +With flaming torrents wildly rushing o’er -<br> + A prey to conflagration dire;<br> + If thou wouldst ’scape this +dreadful fate,<br> + I pray thee counsel take from me,<br> + To Mercy’s city straightway flee<br> + For life within its gate.<br> +<br> + Behold that city’s peerless might<br> + Withstanding all oppression -<br> + Then flee thereto in thy sad plight,<br> + Be free from sin’s possession.<br> +Behold thy refuge in this dreary land<br> + Where all may find true, peaceful rest,<br> +A rock, impregnable on every hand,<br> + Where perfect love reigns ever blest;<br> + We sinful men, the way must search,<br> + And there in faith for pardon pray,<br> + And live a blissful, tranquil day<br> + Within the Holy Church.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +II. - THE VISION OF DEATH IN HIS NETHERMOST COURT<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +One long, cold, and dark winter’s night, when one-eye’d +Phœbus well nigh had reached his utmost limit in the south and, +from afar, lowered upon Great Britain and all the Northern land, and +when it was much warmer in the kitchen of Glyn Cywarch <a name="citation43a"></a><a href="#footnote43a">{43a}</a> +than at the top of Cader Idris, and better in a cosy room with a warm +bedfellow than in a shroud in the lychgate, I was meditating upon a +talk I had had by the fireside with a neighbour concerning the brevity +of human life, and how certain it was that death would come to all, +and yet how uncertain its coming. Thus engaged, I had just lain +down, and was half-asleep, when I felt a heavy weight stealthily creeping +over me, from head to heel, so that I could not move a finger - my tongue +only was unbound. I perceived, methought, a man upon my chest, +and above him, a woman. After eyeing him carefully I recognised +by his strong odours, dewy locks and blear eyes, that the man was no +other than my good Master Sleep. “I pray you, sir,” +cried I, squeaking, “what have I done to you that you bring that +witch here to torment me?” “Hush,” said he, +“it is only my sister Nightmare; we twain are going to pay our +brother Death <a name="citation43b"></a><a href="#footnote43b">{43b}</a> +a visit, and want a third to accompany us, and lest thou shouldst resist +we came upon thee, just as he does, unawares. Consequently come +thou must, willy-nilly.” “Alas,” I cried, “must +I die?” “Nay,” said Nightmare, “we will +spare thee this time.” “But an’t please you,” +said I, “your brother Death has never spared anyone yet who came +beneath his stroke - he who wrestled with the Lord of Life himself, +though it was little he gained by that contest.” Nightmare, +at that word, rose up angrily and departed. “Come along,” +cried Sleep, “thou wilt never repent of thy journey.” +“Well,” said I, “may there never be night in Sleepton, +and may Nightmare never have rest save on an awl’s point if ye +bring me not back where ye found me.”<br> +<br> +Then away we went over hills and through forests, across seas and valleys, +over castles and towers, rivers and rocks, and where should we alight +but at one of the gates of the daughters of Belial, at the rear of the +City of Destruction, where I noticed that the three gateways of Destruction +contracted into one at the back, and opened upon the same place - a +murky, vaporous, pestilent place, full of noisome mists, and terrible +lowering clouds. “Prithee, good sir,” asked I, “what +place be this?” “The chambers of Death,” replied +Sleep. And no sooner had I asked than I could hear some wailing, +groaning, and sighing; some deliriously muttering to themselves or feebly +moaning, others in great travail, and with all the signs of man’s +departure from life; and, now and then, would one give a long-drawn +gasp, and lapse into silence. At that moment, I heard a key being +turned in a lock, and at the noise I looked around for the door, and +gazing steadfastly, perceived thousands upon thousands of doors, seemingly +afar off but really close at hand. “Please, Master Sleep, +where do these doors open upon?” asked I. “Upon the +land of Oblivion,” was the answer, “an extensive domain +<a name="citation44a"></a><a href="#footnote44a">{44a}</a> under the +sceptre of my brother Death, and this great rampart is the boundary +of vast Eternity.” By this I could see that there was a +little death-imp at every door, each one bearing arms, and a name different +from that of his fellows; though it was evident that they, one and all, +were the ministers of the same king. Nevertheless they were continually +quarrelling about the sick; one would snatch the patient to take him +as a gift through his own door, while another strove to take him through +his.<br> +<br> +On our approach, I observed that over each door the name of the Death +who kept it was written, and also that at each door were an hundred +various things left all of a heap, showing plainly that those who went +through were in haste. Over one door I saw “Hunger,” +and yet on the floor close by were full purses, and bags, and brass-nailed +trunks. “This is the Porch of Misers,” said Sleep. +“Whom do those rags belong to?” “To the misers, +mostly,” he replied, “but there are some which belong to +idlers, gossipmongers and others, who, poor in everything except in +spirit, preferred to die of hunger rather than ask for help.” +Next door was Death-by-Cold, and when I came opposite him I could hear +much shuddering and shivering, and at his door, were many books, pots +and flagons, a few sticks and bludgeons, compasses, cords and ship’s +tackle. “Scholars have gone this way,” said I. +“Yea, lonely and helpless, far from the succour of those who loved +them, their very garments stolen from them. Those,” he continued, +pointing to the pots, “are relics of the boon companions, whose +feet were benumbed under the benches, while their heads were seething +in drink and noise; those things over there belonged to those who journeyed +amid snow-clad mountains, and to North Sea traders.” The +next was a lanky skeleton called Fear-Death - so transparent you could +see he had no heart; at his door, too, there were bags and chests, bars +and strongholds. Through this one went userers and traitors, oppressors +and murderers, though many of these last called at the next door, at +which was a Death named Gallows, with a rope ready round his neck. +Next to him was Love-Death, and at his feet thousands of musical instruments +and song-books, love-letters, spots and pigments to beautify the face, +and hundreds of tinselled toys for the same purpose, together with a +few swords: “With these rivals have fought duels for their mistresses, +and some have killed themselves,” said Sleep. I could see +that this Death was sandblind. At the next door was a Death whose +colour was worst of all, and whose liver was entirely gone - his name +was Envy. “This is the Death,” said Sleep, “which +brings hither those who have lost money, slanderers, and a rideress +or two, who are jealous of the law which demands that a wife should +submit herself unto her husband.” “Pray, sir, what +is a rideress?” “A rideress is a woman who will over-ride +her husband, her neighbourhood, and the whole country if she can, and +by dint of long riding, at last, rides a devil from that door down to +the bottomless pit.” Next was the door of Ambition-Death +for those who hold their heads high, and break their necks, for want +of looking on the ground they tread on; at this door lay crowns, sceptres, +standards, petitions for offices, and all manner of arms of heraldry +and war.<br> +<br> +But before I had time to notice any more of these innumerable doors, +I heard a voice bidding me by name to be dissolved, and at the word +I felt myself beginning to melt like a snowball in the heat of the sun; +then my master gave me a sleeping draught, so that I slumbered; and +when I awoke, he had taken me by some road or other far away on the +other side of the castle. I perceived myself in a pitch-dark vale +of infinite radius, methought, and shortly, I saw by a few bluish lights, +like the flickering flame of a candle, countless, ah! countless shades +of men, some afoot and some on horseback, rushing back and fro like +the wind, in awful silence and solemnity; the land was barren, bleak +and blasted, without either grass or hay, trees or animals, save deadly +beasts and poisonous vermin of every kind - serpents, snakes, lice, +frogs, worms, locusts, gids and all such that exist on man’s corruption. +Through a myriad shades and reptiles, graves, churchyards and tombs, +we made our way to view the land unmolested, until I happened to see +some turning round and looking at me; in an instant, notwithstanding +the prevailing silence, a whisper passed from one to another that there +was a man from earth there. “A man from earth!” cried +one, “a man from earth,” exclaimed another, while they crowded +round me, like caterpillars, from every quarter. “Which +way came you, sirrah?” asked a morkin of a death-imp. “Indeed, +sir,” said I, “I know not any more than you do.” +“What is your name?” he asked. “Call me here +in your own country what ye will, but at home I am called the Sleeping +Bard.”<br> +<br> +At that word I could see an ancient mannikin, bent double, head to feet, +like a bramble, straightening himself, and looking at me more malignantly +than the red devil, and without a word he hurled a big skull at my head, +but, thanks to a sheltering tombstone, missed me. “Truce, +sir, I pray you,” cried I, “to a stranger who was never +here before, and will never come again, could I but once find the way +home.” “I’ll make you remember you’ve +been here,” quoth he, and, again setting upon me with a thighbone, +he beat me most unmercifully, while I dodged about as best as I could. +“Ho ho!” I cried, “this country is very unmannerly +towards strangers; is there no justice of the peace here?” +“Peace, indeed,” said he, “thou, surely, hast no right +to sue for peace, who disturbest the dead in their graves.” +“Pray, sir, might I know your name, for I wot not that I have +ever molested anyone from this country?” “Sirrah!” +cried he, “know then that I, and not you, am the Sleeping Bard, +and have been left in peace these nine centuries by all but you,” +and again he set upon me. “Withhold, brother,” said +Merlin <a name="citation48a"></a><a href="#footnote48a">{48a}</a> who +stood near, “be not too hasty; thank him rather for that he hath +kept your name in respected memory on earth.” “In +great respect, forsooth,” quoth he, “by such a blockhead +as this. Are you, sirrah, versed in the four and twenty metres? +Can you trace the line of Gog and Magog and of Brutus son of Silvius +<a name="citation48b"></a><a href="#footnote48b">{48b}</a> down to a +century before the destruction of Troy? Can you prophesy when, +and how the wars between the lion and the eagle, and between the stag +and the red deer will end? Can you?” “Ho there! +let me ask him a question,” said another who stood by a huge seething +cauldron, <a name="citation48c"></a><a href="#footnote48c">{48c}</a> +“draw near, and tell me the meaning of this:-<br> +<br> +<br> +“Upon the face of earth I’ll be<br> + “Until the judgment day,<br> +“And whether I be fish or flesh<br> + “No man can ever say.” <a name="citation48d"></a><a href="#footnote48d">{48d}</a><br> +<br> +<br> +“I would know your name, sir,” said I, “so that I +might the more befittingly give answer.” “I am Taliesin, +Chief of the Western Bards, <a name="citation48e"></a><a href="#footnote48e">{48e}</a> +and those are lines from my mystery-song.” “I know +not what your meaning may be, if it be not the yellow plague which destroyed +Maelgwn Gwynedd, <a name="citation49a"></a><a href="#footnote49a">{49a}</a> +slew you upon the sea, and divided you between the ravens and fishes.” +“Tush, you fool,” cried he, “I was foretelling of +my two callings - as lawyer and poet - and which sayest thou now bears +greatest resemblance, whether a lawyer to a raven, or a poet to a whale? +How many will a single lawyer lay bare of flesh to swell his own paunch, +and oh! so callously doth he shed blood and leave the man half dead! +The poet, too, what fish can gulp as much as he? And though he +hath always a sea round him, not all the ocean can quench his thirst. +And when a man is both a poet and a lawyer, who can tell whether he +is fish or flesh, and especially if he be a courtier as well, as I was, +and had to change his taste with every mouth. But tell me, are +there many of these folk now on earth?” “Yes, plenty,” +answered I, “if a man can patch together any sort of metre, straightway +he becomes a chaired bard. And of the others, there is such a +plague of barristers, petty lawyers, and clerks that the locusts of +Egypt preyed less heavily on the country than they. In your time, +sir, there were only roadside bargains and a hands-breadth of writing +on the purchase of a hundred pound farm, and a cairn or an Arthur’s +quoit <a name="citation49b"></a><a href="#footnote49b">{49b}</a> raised +as a memorial of the purchase and boundaries. People have not +the courage to do so nowadays, but more cunning, knavery, and written +parchment, wide as a cromlech, is necessary to bind the bargain, and +for all that it would be strange if no flaw existed or were contrived +therein.” “Well, well,” said Taliesin, “I +would not be worth a straw there, I may as well be here; truth will +never be found where there are many bards, nor justice where many lawyers, +until health be found where there be many doctors.”<br> +<br> +Upon this a grey-haired, writhled shrimp, who had heard of the presence +of an earthly man, came and fell at my feet, weeping profusely. +“Alack, poor fellow,” cried I, “what art thou?” +“One who suffers too much wrong on earth day by day,” he +replied, “and your soul must obtain me justice.” “What +is thy name?” I enquired. “I am called Someone,” +was the answer, “and there is no love-message, slander, lie, or +tale to breed quarrels, but that I am blamed for most of them. +‘In sooth,’ said one, ‘she is an excellent wench, +and has spoken highly of you to Someone, although someone great was +seeking her.’ ‘I heard Someone,’ said another, +‘reckoning a debt of nine hundred pounds on such and such an estate.’ +‘I saw Someone yesterday,’ said the beggar, ‘with +a mottled neckerchief, like a sailor, who had come with a grain vessel +to the next port;’ and so every rag and tag mauls me to suit his +own evil purpose. Some call me ‘Friend.’ ‘A +friend told me,’ saith one, ‘that so and so does not intend +leaving a single farthing to his wife, and that there is no love lost +between them.’ Others further disgrace me and call me a +crow: ‘a crow tell me there is some trickery going on,’ +they say. Yea, some call me by a more honoured name - Old Man, +and yet not a half of the omens, prophecies, and cures attributed to +me are really mine. I never counselled walking the old way if +the new were better, and I never intended forbidding men to church by +saying: ‘Frequent not the place where thou art most welcome,’ +and a hundred such. But Someone is the name generally given me, +and most often heard of when anything uncommonly bad happens; for if +you ask one where that scandalous lie was told and who told it. +‘Indeed,’ he will say, ‘I know not, but Someone in +the company said it,’ and if you enquire of all the company concerning +the story, all have heard it of Someone, but no one knows of whom. +Is it not a shameful wrong?” he cried, “I beg of you to +inform everybody who names me that I uttered nought of such things. +I never invented or repeated a lie to disgrace anyone, nor a single +tale to cause kinsmen to fly at each other’s throats; I do not +come near them; I know nothing of their scandal, or business, or accursed +secrets - they must not charge me with their evils, but their own corrupt +brains.”<br> +<br> +Hereupon a little Death, one of the King’s secretaries, asked +me my name, and bade Master Sleep carry me at once into the King’s +presence. I had to go, though most unwilling, by reason of the +power that took me up like a whirlwind, ’twixt high and low, thousands +of miles back on our left, till we came, a second time, in sight of +the boundary wall, and in an enclosed corner we could see a vast palace, +roofless and in ruins, extending to the wall wherein were the countless +doors, all of which led to this terrible court. Its walls were +built of human skulls with hideous, grinning teeth; the clay was black +with mingled tears and sweat, the lime ruddy with gore. On the +summit of each tower stood a Deathling, with a quivering heart on the +point of his shaft. Around the court were a few trees - a poisonous +yew or twain, or a deadly cypress, and in these owls, ravens, vampires +and the like, make their nests, and cry unceasingly for flesh, although +the whole place is but one vast, putrid shamble. The pillars of +the hall were made of thighbones, and those of the parlour of shinbones, +while the floors were formed of layer upon layer of all manner of charnel.<br> +<br> +I had not to wait a longwhile ere I came in view of a tremendous altar, +where we could see the King of Terrors devouring human flesh and blood, +while a thousand impish deaths, from every hole, were continually feeding +him with warm, fresh meat. “Here is a rogue,” said +the Death that led me thither, “whom I found in the midst of the +land of Oblivion, having approached so light-footed that your majesty +never tasted a bite of him,” “How can that be?” +demanded the king, opening his jaws, wide as a chasm, to swallow me. +Whereupon I turned trembling to Sleep. “It was I who brought +him hither,” said he. “Well then, for my brother Sleep’s +sake,” said the awful and lanky monarch, “you can retrace +your steps for the nonce; but beware of me the next time.” +Having been for some time cramming his gluttonous maw with carrion, +he caused his subjects to be called together, and moved from the altar +to a very lofty and dreadful throne, to adjudge newly-arrived prisoners. +In an instant, lo! the dead in countless multitudes paid homage to the +king, and took their places in wonderful array. King Death was +in his regal robe of brilliant scarlet, whereon depicted were wives +and children weeping and husbands sighing; on his head a dark-red, three-cornered +cap, a gift his cousin Lucifer had sent him, on the corners of which +were written Grief, Sorrow, and Woe. Above his head were a myriad +pictures of battles on land and sea, of towns aflame, of the earth yawning, +and of the waters of the deluge; the ground beneath his feet was nought +else than the crowns and sceptres of all the kings he had ever conquered. +At his right hand sat Fate with a morose and scowling visage, reading +an enormous tome that lay before him; at his left, was an old man called +Time, warping innumerable threads of gold, silver, copper, and many +of iron - some threads were growing better towards the end, a myriad +worse; along the threads were marked hours, days and years, and Fate, +at his book, cut the thread of life and opened the doors in the boundary +wall between the two worlds.<br> +<br> +I had not been looking about me long, when I heard four fiddlers, just +dead, summoned to the bar. “How is it,” asked the +King of Terrors, “that ye, who are so found of joy, did not stay +on yonder side of the chasm? For on this side joy never existed.” +“We have done no man ever any hurt,” said one of the minstrels, +“but on the contrary have made them merry, and quietly took whatever +was given us for our pains.” “Have ye caused no one,” +said Death, “to lose time from his work, or to absent himself +from church, eh?” “No,” replied another, “unless +we were some Sundays after service in an inn till the morrow, or in +summer time on the village green, and indeed we had a better and more +beloved congregation than the parson.” “Away, with +them to the land of Oblivion,” cried the terrible king, “bind +the four, back to back, and pitch them to their partners, to dance barefoot +on glowing hearths, and scrape their fiddles for ever without praise +or pay.”<br> +<br> +The next to come to the bar was a king from near Rome. “Raise +thy hand, caitiff,” bade one of the officers. “I hope,” +said he, “ye have somewhat better manners and favor for a king.” +“Sirrah, you too,” said Death, “ought to have kept +on the other side of the gulf where everybody is king; but know that, +on this side, there are none besides myself and another, who dwelleth +down below, and you shall see that that king and myself will set no +value upon the degree of your greatness, but rather upon the degree +of your wickedness, and so make your punishment proportionate to your +crimes; therefore give answer to the questions.” “Sir, +allow me to tell you that you have no authority to arrest and examine +me,” said he, “I hold a pardon under the Pope’s own +hand for all my sins. Because I served him faithfully, he gave +me a dispensation to go straight to Paradise, without a moment’s +stay in Purgatory.” At that the king, and all the lean jaws, +gave a dismal grin in imitation of laughter, and the other, angered +at their laughing, ordered them to show him the way. “Silence, +lost fool!” cried Death, “Purgatory lies behind thee, on +the other side of the wall, for it was in life thou hadst ought to have +purified thyself, and Paradise is on the right, beyond that chasm. +Now there is no way of escape for thee, neither across this abyss to +Paradise, nor through the boundary wall back to earth; for wert thou +to give thy kingdom - though thou hast not a ha’penny to give +- the warder of those doors would not let thee look once, even through +the keyhole. This is called the irremeable wall, for once it is +passed there is no hope of return. But since you are so high in +the Pope’s favor, <a name="citation54a"></a><a href="#footnote54a">{54a}</a> +you shall go and get his bed ready with his predecessor, and there you +may kiss his toe for ever, and he, the toe of Lucifer.” +At the word, four death-imps raised him up, now trembling like an aspen +leaf, and snatched him away out of sight, with the speed of lightning.<br> +<br> +Next after him, came a man and woman; he had been a boon companion, +and she a kind and lavish maid, but there they were called by their +plain, unvarnished names, a drunkard and a harlot. “I hope,” +said the drunkard, “I may obtain some favor in your eyes, for +I despatched hither on a flood of good ale many a fatted prey, and when +I failed to slay others, I willingly came myself to feed you.” +“By the court’s leave,” said the minion, “not +half so many as I have despatched to you as a burnt offering ready for +table.” “Ha, ha,” exclaimed Death, “it +was to feed your own accursed lusts, and not me, that all this was done. +Let them be bound together and hurled into the land of darkness.” +And so they too were hurried away headlong.<br> +<br> +Next to them came seven recorders, who, on being bidden to raise their +hands <a name="citation55a"></a><a href="#footnote55a">{55a}</a> to +the bar, pretended not to hear the command, for their palms were so +thickly greased. One of them, bolder than the rest, began to argue, +“We ought to have had fair citation, in order to prepare our reply, +instead of being attacked unawares.” “Oh, we are not +bound to give you any particular notice,” said Death, “because +ye have, everywhere, and everywhile throughout your lives, warning of +my advent. How many sermons on the mortality of man have ye heard? +How many books, how many graves, knells and fevers, how many messages +and signs, have ye seen? What is your Sleep but my brother? +Your heads but my image? Your daily food but dead creatures? +Seek not to lay the blame of your ill hap on my shoulders - ye would +not hear of the summons, although ye had it an hundred times.” +“Pray what have you against us?” asked one ruddy recorder. +“What indeed?” exclaimed Death, “the drinking the +sweat and blood of the poor, and the doubling your fees.” +“Here is an honest man,” he said, pointing to a wrangler +behind them, “who knows I never did aught but what was fair, and +it is not fair in you to detain us here, seeing you have no specific +charge to prove against us.” “Ha, ha!” cried +Death, “ye shall bring proof against yourselves; place them on +the verge of the precipice before the throne of Justice; there they +will obtain justice, though they practised it not.”<br> +<br> +There were yet seven other prisoners, who kept up such commotion and +clamour - some blandishing, gnashing the teeth and uttering threats, +others giving advice and so on. Scarcely had they been summoned +to the bar than the whole court darkened sevenfold more hideously than +before, a murmuring and great confusion arose around the throne, and +Death became more livid than ever. Upon enquiry it seemed that +one of Lucifer’s envoys had arrived, bearing a letter to Death, +concerning these seven prisoners; and shortly, Fate called for silence +to read the letter which, as far as I can recollect, was as follows:-<br> +<br> +<br> +“LUCIFER, <i>King of the Kings of Earth, Prince of Perdition and +Archruler of the Deep, To our natural son, mightiest and most terrible +King Death, greeting, wishing you supremacy and booty without end</i>:<br> +<br> +<br> +“Whereas some of our swift messengers, who are always out espying, +have informed us that there lately came into your royal court seven +prisoners of the seven most worthless and dangerous species in the world, +and that you are about to hurl them over the precipice into my realm: +our advice is, that you endeavour, by every possible way, to let them +return to the earth; there they will be more serviceable - to you, in +the matter of food, to me, for supplying better company. We had +too much trouble with their partners in days gone by, and our kingdom +is, even now, unsettled. Wherefore, turn them back or retain them +yourself; for, by the infernal crown, if thou cast them hither, I will +undermine the foundations of thy kingdom, until it fall and become one +with mine own great realm.<br> +<br> +“<i>From our Court, on the miry Swamp in the glowing Evildom, +in the year of our reign, 5425</i>.”<br> +<br> +<br> +King Death, his visage green and livid, stood for a time undecided. +But while he was meditating, Fate turned upon him such a grim frown +that he trembled. “Sire,” said Fate, “consider +well what you are about to do. I dare not allow anyone to repass +the bounds of Eternity - the insurmountable ramparts, nor deign you +harbour any here, wherefore, send them on to their doom, spite of the +great Evil One. He has been able to array in a moment many a haul +of a thousand or ten thousand souls, and allot each one his place, and +what difficulty will he have with these seven now, however dangerous +they may be? Whatever happen, even if they overturn the infernal +government, send them thither instantly, lest I be commanded to crush +thee to untimely nothingness. As for his menaces, they are false, +and although thy doom, and that of yon ancient (looking at Time), are +not many pages hence, yet, thou need have no fear of sinking down to +Lucifer, for however glad everybody there would be to have thee, they +never will; for the eternal rocks of steel and adamant, which roof Hell, +are somewhat too firm to be shattered.” Whereupon Death, +in great agitation, called for someone to indite thus his reply:-<br> +<br> +<br> +“DEATH, <i>King of Terrors, Conqueror of Conquerors, To our most +revered kinsman and neighbour, Lucifer, Monarch of the Endless Night, +and Emperor of the Sheer Vortex, Salutation</i>:<br> +<br> +<br> +“After giving earnest thought to this your royal wish, it seemeth +to us more advantageous, not only to our state, but also to your vast +realm, that these prisoners be sent to the furthest point possible from +the portals of the impervious wall, left their putrid odour should so +terrify the entire City pf Destruction that no one would ever enter +Eternity from that side of the gulf, and I, in consequence, would be +unable to cool my sting, and you should have no commerce betwixt earth +and hell. But I leave you to judge them, and to cast them into +the cells you deem most secure and befitting.<br> +<br> +“<i>From our Lower Court in the Great Tollgate of Destruction: +from the year of the restoration of my Kingdom, 1670</i>.”<br> +<br> +<br> +After hearing all this, I was itching to know what manner of folk these +seven might be, seeing that the devils themselves feared them so much. +But ere long, the Clerk to the Crown calls them by name, as follows: +“Mister Busybody, alias Finger-in-every-pie.” This +fellow was so fussily and busily directing the others, that he had no +leisure to answer to his name until Death threatened to sunder him with +his dart. Then, “Mr. Slanderer, alias Foe-of-Good-Fame,” +was called, but no response came. “He is rather bashful +to hear his titles,” said the third, “he can’t abide +the nicknames.” “Have you no titles, I wonder?” +asked the Slanderer, “call Mr. Honey-tongued Swaggerer, alias +Smoothgulp, alias Venomsmile.” “Here,” cried +a woman, who was standing near, pointing to the Swaggerer. “Ha, +Madam Huntress!” cried he, “your humble servant; I am glad +to see you well, I never saw a more beautiful woman in breeches, but +woe’s me to think how pitiable is the country, having lost in +you such an unrivalled ruler; and yet, your pleasant company will make +hell itself somewhat better.” “Oh, thou scion of evil,” +cried she, “no one need a worse hell than to be with thee - thou +art enough.” Then the crier called, “Huntress, alias +Mistress o’ the Breeches.” “Here,” answered +someone else, she herself not saying a word because they did not “madam” +her. Next was called the Schemer, alias Jack-of-all-Trades. +But he, too, failed to answer, for he was assiduously plotting to escape +the Land of Despair. “Here, here,” cried someone behind +him, “here he is spying for a place to break out of your great +court, and unless you be on your guard, he has a considerable plot against +you.” “Then,” said the Schemer, “Let him +also be called, to wit, The Accuser-of-his-Brethren, alias Faultfinder, +alias Complaint-monger.” “Here, here he is,” +cried the Litigious Wrangler - for each one knew the other’s name, +but none would acknowledge his own. “You are also called,” +said the Accuser, “Mr. Litigious Wrangler, alias Cumber-of-Courts.” +“Witness, witness, all of you, what names the knave has given +me,” cried the Wrangler. “Ha, ha, ’tis not according +to the font, but according to the fault, that everybody is named in +this land,” said Death, “and with your permission, Mr. Wrangler, +these names must stick to you for evermore.” “Indeed,” +quoth the Wrangler, “by the devil, I’ll make it hot for +you; although you may put me to death, you have no right to nickname +me. I shall enter a plaint for this and for false imprisonment, +against you and your kinsman Lucifer, in the Court of Justice.”<br> +<br> +By this I could see the armies of Death in array and armed, looking +to the king for the word of command. Then the king, standing erect +on his throne, spoke as follows: “My terrible and invincible hosts, +spare neither care nor haste to despatch these prisoners out of my territories, +lest they corrupt my country; throw them in bonds headlong over the +hopeless precipice. But as to the eighth, this cumbrous fellow +who menaces me, let him free on the brink beneath the Court of Justice, +so that he may make good his charge against me, if he can.” +No sooner had he sat down than the whole deadly armies surrounded and +bound the prisoners, and led them towards their appointed dwelling. +And when I, having gone out, half-turned to look at them. “Come +hither,” cried Sleep, and flew with me to the top of the loftiest +tower on the court; from whence I saw the prisoners going forth to their +everlasting doom. Before long a sudden whirlwind arose, and drove +away the pitch-dark mist usually hovering over the Land of Oblivion, +and in the wan light, I could see myriads of livid candles, and by their +gleam, I obtained a far-off view of the mouth of the bottomless abyss. +But if that was a horrible sight, overhead was one still more horrible +- Justice, on her throne, guarding the portal of hell, and holding a +special tribunal above the entrance thereto, to pronounce the doom of +the damned as they arrive. I beheld the seven hurled headlong +over the terrible verge, and the Wrangler, too, rushing to throw himself +over, lest he should once look on the Court of Justice, for, alas, the +sight thereof was intolerable to guilty eyes. I was only gazing +from a distance, yet I beheld more dreadful horrors than I can now relate, +nor then could endure; for my spirit so strove and panted through exceeding +fear, and struggled so violently, that all the bonds of Sleep were burst; +my soul returned to its wonted functions, and I rejoiced greatly to +perceive myself still among the living, and resolved to lead a better +life, for I would rather suffer affliction an hundred years in the paths +of holiness than, perforce, take another glance at the horrors of that +night.<br> +<br> +1 Must I leave home and fatherland,<br> + And every charm and pleasure?<br> +Leave honored name and high degree<br> + Enjoyed in life’s brief measure?<br> +<br> +2 Leave beauty, strength, and wisdom, too,<br> + All won in hard employment, -<br> +All I have learnt, and all I’ve loved,<br> + And all this world’s enjoyment.<br> +<br> +3 Can I evade the stroke of Death<br> + That rends all ties asunder?<br> +Do not his awful shambles gape<br> + For me to be his plunder?<br> +<br> +4 Ye gilded men would fain enjoy<br> + The wealth your souls engrossing,<br> +But ye must bow to him and go<br> + The journey of his choosing.<br> +<br> +5 Ye favored fair, whose lightest word<br> + Has caused ten thousand errors,<br> +Think not your garish, tinselled charms<br> + Can blind the King of Terrors.<br> +<br> +6 Ye who rejoice in heedless youth<br> + And follow fleeting pleasures,<br> +Know that ye cannot conquer Death<br> + By valor, arts, or treasures.<br> +<br> +7 Ye who exult in madding song<br> + The giddy dances treading,<br> +Think not that all the mirth of France<br> + Can thwart the fate you’re dreading.<br> +<br> +8 Ye who have roamed the wide world o’er,<br> + Where have ye found the tower,<br> +With walls and portals strong enough<br> + To check Death’s awful power?<br> +<br> +9 Statesmen and learned sages, all<br> + Of godlike understanding,<br> +What will your craft and skill avail?<br> + ’Tis Death who is commanding.<br> +<br> +10 The greatest foes of man are now<br> + The world, the flesh, the devil;<br> +And yet, ere long, we’ll surely find<br> + In Death a greater evil.<br> +<br> +11 How little now it seems to die -<br> + To gain the suit or lose it?<br> +But when the doom is of thyself<br> + How great thy care to chose it?<br> +<br> +12 We care, at present, not a jot<br> + Which way our gains may turn us;<br> +Eternal life, howe’er so great,<br> + We think can not concern us.<br> +<br> +13 But when thou’rt hedged on every side<br> + And Death himself is nearest,<br> +For one brief, ling’ring space we’ll give<br> + Whate’er to us is dearest.<br> +<br> +14 Think not that thou canst make thy terms<br> + For thine eternal dwelling,<br> +On either side of that dread gulf,<br> + With death thy steps compelling.<br> +<br> +15 Repentence, faith, and righteousness,<br> + Alone are thy Salvation,<br> +And in the agony of Death<br> + Shall be thy consolation.<br> +<br> +16 And when the world is passing by,<br> + Its joys and pleasures ending,<br> +Infinite thou wilt deem their worth<br> + When to the bourne descending!<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +III. - THE VISION OF HELL<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +One April morning, bright and mild, when earth was with verdure laden, +and Britain, like a paradise, had donned its brilliant livery, foretelling +summer’s sunshine, I sauntered along the banks of the Severn, +while around me, chaunting their sweet carols, the forest’s little +songsters in rivalry poured forth songs of praise to their Maker; and +I, who was far more bounden than they to give praise, at one while lifted +up my voice with the gentle winged choristers, and at another read “<i>The +Practice of Piety</i>.” <a name="citation67a"></a><a href="#footnote67a">{67a}</a> +For all that, my previous visions would not from my mind, but time after +time broke in upon every other thought. They continued to trouble +me until after careful reasoning I concluded that every vision is a +heaven-sent warning against sin, and that therefore it was my duty to +write them down as a warning to others also. And whilst occupied +with this work, and sadly endeavouring to recall some of those awful +memories, there fell upon me at my task such drowsiness that soon opened +the way for Master Sleep to glide in perforce. No sooner had sleep +taken possession of my senses than there drew nigh unto me a glorious +apparition upon the form of a young man, tall and exceeding fair; his +raiments were whiter sevenfold than snow, the brightness of his face +darkened the sun, his wavy, golden locks rested on his brow in two shining +coronal wreaths. “Come with me, thou mortal being,” +he exclaimed, when he had drawn near. “Who art thou, Lord?” +said I. “I am the Angel of the realms of the North,” +answered he, “guardian of Britain and its queen. I am one +of the princes who stand below the throne of the Lamb, receiving his +commands to protect the Gospel against all its enemies in Hell, in Rome +and in France, in Constantinople, in Africa and in India, and wherever +else they may be, devising plans for its destruction. I am the +Angel who saved thee beneath the Castle of Belial, and who showed thee +the vanity and madness of all the earth, the City of Destruction and +the splendor of Emmanuel’s City; and again have I come at his +bidding to show thee greater things, because thou art seeking to make +good use of what thou hast seen erstwhile.” “How can +it be, Lord,” asked I, “that your glorious highness, guardian +of kings and kingdoms, does condescend to associate with carrion such +as I?” “Ah,” said he, “in our sight a +beggar’s virtue is more than a king’s majesty. What +if I am greater than all the kings of earth, and supreme to many of +the countless lords of heaven? Yet, since our eternal Sovereign +vouchsafed to take upon Himself such unutterable humiliation - put on +one of your bodies, lived in your midst, and died to save you, how dare +I deem it otherwise than too sublime for my office to serve thee and +the meanest of men, who are so high in my Master’s favor? +Hence, spirit, cast off thine earthy mould!” he cried, gazing +upwards: and at the word, I beheld him fall free of all bodily form, +and snatch me up to the vault of heaven, through the region of thunder +and lightning, and all the glowing armouries of the empyrean; higher, +immeasureably higher than I had previously been with him, and where +the earth appeared scarcely wider than a stack-yard. Having allowed +me to rest awhile, he hurried me upwards a myriad miles, until the sun +appeared far beneath us; through the milky way, past Pleiades, and many +other stars of appalling magnitude, catching a distant glimpse of other +worlds. And after journeying for a long time, we come at last +to the confines of the great eternity, in sight of the two courts of +the vauntful King of Death - one to the right, the other to the left, +but very far apart from one another as there lay an immense void between +them. I asked whether I might go and see the court on my right +hand, for I observed that this was not at all like the other I had previously +seen. “Thou shalt perchance,” said he, “see, +somewhile, more of the difference there is between them. But now +we must proceed in another direction.” At that we turned +away from the little world, and across the intervening space we let +ourselves descend into the Eternal Realm between the two courts, into +the formless void, a boundless tract, most deep and dark, chaotic and +uninhabited, at one time cold, at another hot, <a name="citation69a"></a><a href="#footnote69a">{69a}</a> +now silent, now resounding with the roaring of cataracts falling and +quenching the fires, and anon of the fire bursting out and burning up +the water. Thus, there was neither order nor completeness, nor +life nor form: nought but this dazing dissonance, this mysterious stupor +which would have made me for ever blind, had not my friend laid bare +once more his vesture of heavenly sheen. By the light he gave +I saw before me to the left the Land of Oblivion, and the borders of +the Wilds of Destruction; and to my right, methought, the base of the +ramparts of Glory. “This is the great abysm between Abraham +and Dives,” said he, “which is called Chaos: this is the +land of the matter which God did first create, and here is the seed +of every living thing; of these the Almighty Word created your world +and all it doth contain - water, fire, air, earth, beasts, fishes, insects, +birds and the human body; but your souls are of a higher and nobler +origin and stock.”<br> +<br> +Through the huge, frightful chaos we at length broke forth to the left; +and ere we had journey’d far therein where every object grew uglier +and uglier, I felt my heart in my throat, and my hair erect like a hedgehog’s +bristles, even before perceiving anything; but what I did perceive was +a sight no tongue can describe nor the mind of a mortal dwell upon. +I fainted. Oh, that limitless abyss, so dire and terrible, opening +out upon another world! How those awful flames crackled incessantly +as they darted upwards above the banks of the accursed ravine, and the +shafts of impetuous lightning rent the thick, black smoke which the +yawning chasm belched forth! When my beloved companion awoke me, +he gave me ambrosial water to drink, of most excellent flavor and color. +After drinking this heavenly water I felt some wonderful power within +me, - wit, courage, faith, and many other divine virtues. Thereupon +I drew nigh with him unfearingly to the edge of the precipice, shrouded +in the veil, whilst the flames parted asunder around us, and dared not +touch denizens of the supernal regions. Then from the edge of +that dread gulf, we let ourselves descend, like two stars falling from +the canopy of heaven, down, down for myriad millions of miles, over +many sulphurous rocks, and many a hideous cataract and fiery precipice, +where all things bent downwards ever, with impending aspect; yet they +all avoided us, except when once I poked my nose out of the veil, there +struck me such a stifling and choking stench as would have ended me +had he not saved me out of hand with the reviving water. When +I had recovered, I could see that we were come to a halt, for in all +that stupenduous chasm no sooner stay were possible, so sheer and slippery +was it. There my Guide allowed me once more to rest; and during +that respite it chanced that the thunder and the fierce whirlwinds were +a little hushed, and above the roar of the foaming cataracts, <a name="citation71a"></a><a href="#footnote71a">{71a}</a> +I could hear from afar, louder than all, the noise of such awful shrieks, +wails, cries, and loud groans, of swearing, cursing and blaspheming, +that I would rather have set a bargain upon my ears than listen. +And before we had moved an inch, we heard from above such <i>hip-drip-drop</i> +that had we not straightway stepped aside, there would have fallen upon +us hundreds of unhappy men whom a host of fiends were hurling headlong, +and too hurriedly to a woful fate. “Ho, slowly sir!” +quoth one sprite, “lest you displace your curly lock;” and +to another “Madam, will you have your soft cushion? I fear +me you will be much disordered before you reach your resting-place.”<br> +<br> +The strangers were most reluctant to advance, insisting that they were +on the wrong road; still, onward they went, up to the bank of a wide, +dark torrent, whilst we followed in their wake and crossed over with +them, my companion, meanwhile, holding the water to my nostrils to protect +me from the stench rising out of the river. When I beheld some +of the inhabitants (for till now I had not seen a single devil, though +I had heard their voices) I asked: “What, pray, my Guide, is the +name of this death-like stream?” “The river of the +Evil One,” answered he, “wherein all his subjects are immersed +to render them accustomed to the country; its cursed waters changed +their countenance, washing away every relic of goodness, every shadow +of hope and happiness.” And on seeing the horde pass through, +I could perceive no difference in loathsomeness between the devils and +the damned. Some wished to crouch at the bottom of the river, +there to remain in suffocation to all eternity, rather than find further +on a worse dwelling; but as the proverb says: “He whom the devil +urges must run,” so these damned beings, thrust on by the demons, +were swiftly borne along the stream of destruction to their eternal +ruin; where I too saw at the first glimpse more tortures and torments +than man’s heart can imagine, far less a tongue repeat; to see +one of which was enough to cause one’s hair to stand on an end, +his blood to freeze, his flesh to melt, his bones to give way, yea and +his spirit to swoon within him. Why speak I of such deeds as the +impaling or sawing of men alive, the tearing of the flesh in pieces +with iron pincers or the broiling of it, chop by chop, with candles, +or the jambing of skulls as flat as a slate, in a press, and all the +most frightful degradation the earth ever witnessed? All such +are but pleasures compared with one of these. Here, a million +shrieks, harsh groans and deep sighs; there, fierce lamentations and +loud cries in answer: the howling of dogs were sweet, delightful music +compared with these voices. Before we had gone far from the shores +of that accursed river into wild Perdition, we could see by the light +of their own fire, here and there, men and women without number, whom +a countless host of devils unceasingly and with all their might kept +always torturing; and as the devils were shrieking from the intensity +of their own suffering, they made the damned give response to the utmost. +I observed the part nearest me more minutely: there, the devils with +pitchforks hurled them head foremost upon poisonous hatchels formed +of terrible, barbed darts, thereon to struggle by their brains; then +shortly, they threw them together, layer on layer, upon the summit of +one of the burning crags, there to blaze like a bonfire. Thence +they were snatched away up the ravines amidst the eternal ice and snow; +<a name="citation73a"></a><a href="#footnote73a">{73a}</a> then plunged +again into an enormous flood of seething brimstone to be parched, stifled, +and choked by the direful stench; thence to a quagmire of vermin, to +embrace hellish reptiles far more noxious than serpents or vipers. +After that the devils took knotted rods of fiery steel from the furnace, +wherewith they beat them so that their howls resounded throughout all +Hell, so inexpressibly excruciating was the pain, and then they seized +hot irons to sear the bloody wounds. No swoon or trance is there +to beguile with a moment’s respite, but an unchanging strength +to suffer and to feel; though one would have thought that after one +awful wail there never could be the strength to raise another as weirdly-loud; +yet never will their key be lowered, with the devils ever answering: +“This is your welcome for aye.” And worse, were it +possible, than the pain, was the scorn and bitterness of the devils’ +mockery and derision, but worst of all, their own conscience was now +thoroughly awakened, and devoured them more relentlessly than a thousand +infernal lions.<br> +<br> +Still down we go, down afar - the further we go the worse the plight; +at the first view I saw a horrid prison wherein a great many men were +uttering blasphemous groans beneath the scourges of the devils: “Who +are all these?” asked I; “This,” answered the Angel, +“this is the abode of Woe-that-I-had-not.” “Woe +that I had not been cleansed of all manner of sin in good time,” +quoth one. “Woe is me that I had not believed and repented +before my coming here,” quoth another. Next to the cell +of Too-late-a-repentance, and of Pleading-after-judgment, was the prison +of the Procrastinators, who were always promising to mend their ways, +but who never fulfilled the promise. “When this trouble +is past,” saith one, “I will turn over a new leaf.” +“When this hinderance goes by, I’ll be another man yet,” +said another. But when that comes about, they are no nearer; some +other obstacle ever and anon occurs to preventing their starting towards +the gate of holiness; and if sometimes a start is made, it takes but +little to turn them back again. Next to these was the prison of +Presumption, full of those who, whenever they were urged of old to be +rid of their Wantonness, or drunkenness, or avarice, would say: “God +is merciful, and better than His word; He will never damn his own creature +upon a cause so trivial.” But here they yelped blasphemy, +asking: “Where is that mercy boasted to be infinite?” +“Silence, ye whelps!” said a huge, crabbed devil who heard +them, “Silence! would he have mercy who did nought to obtain it? +Would ye that Truth should make its word a lie, merely to gain the company +of dross so vile as ye? Was too much mercy shewn you, a Saviour, +a Comforter given you, and the angels, books, sermons and good examples? +Will ye not cease plaguing us now, prating of mercy where it never was.”<br> +<br> +While making our exit from this glaring pit, I heard one moaning and +crying dolefully: “I knew no better; no pains were ever taken +to teach me to read my duties, nor could I spare the time to read and +pray whereof I had need in order to earn bread for myself and my poor +family.” “Indeed,” quoth a crookback devil who +stood close at hand, “hadst thou no leisure to tell merry tales, +no idle roasting before thy fire through the long winter evenings when +I was up the chimney, so that no time might have been given to learning +to read or pray? What of thy Sabbaths? Who was it that was +wont to accompany me to the alehouse rather than the parson to the church? +How many a Sunday afternoon was spent in vain, noisy talk of worldly +things, or in sleeping, instead of in learning to meditate and pray? +Didst thou act according to thy knowledge? Silence, sirrah, with +thy lying chatter!” “Thou raving bloodhound!” +exclaimed the condemned, “’tis not long since thou wert +whispering other words in mine ear; hadst thou said this another day, +it is not likely I would have come hither.” “Ah!” +said the devil, “it matters not that we tell you the hateful truth +here; for there is no fear of your returning hence now to carry tales.”<br> +<br> +Lower down I could see a deep, valley whence arose the bluish glare +of what seemed to be a countless number of enormous, burning mounds; +and after drawing nigh, I knew by their howling that they were men piled +mountains high with terrible flames crackling through them. “That +hollow,” said the Angel, “is the abode of those who after +committing some heinous deeds, exclaim: ‘Well, I am not the first +- I have plenty of companions,’ and thus thou see’st they +have plenty, to verify their words and add to their affliction.” +Opposite this was a large cellar where I saw men tortured just as withes +are twisted or wet sheets wrung. “Who, prithee, are these?” +asked I. “They are the Mockers,” said he, “and +the devils from pure derision essay to find whether they can be twisted +as pliantly as their tales.” A little below, but scarcely +visible, was another gloomy dungeon-cell, wherein was what had once +been men, but now with the faces of wolf-hounds, up to their lips in +a morass, madly howling blasphemy and lies as often as they got their +tongues clear of the mire. Just then a legion of devils passed +by, and some attempted to bite the heels of ten or twelve of the devils +that had brought them there: “Woe and ruin take you, ye hell-hounds!” +exclaimed one of the bitten devils, at the same time stamping upon the +quagmire until they sank in the reeking depths. “Who more +deserving of hell than ye, who gossipped and imagined all manner of +tales, who retailed lies from house to house so that ye might laugh, +after setting the entire neighbourhood at war? What more would +one of us have done?” “This,” said the Angel, +“is the abode of the slanderers, defamers and backbiters, and +of all envious cowards who always do hurt in word or deed behind one’s +back.”<br> +<br> +From thence we went past an enormous lair, the vilest I had yet seen, +and the fullest of vermin, of soot, and of stench. “This,” +said he, “is the place of those who hoped for heaven because they +were harmless, in other words, because they were neither good nor bad.” +Next to this foul pit I saw a great multitude sitting down, whose groans +were more fierce than anything I had heard hitherto in hell. “Save +us all!” cried I, “what makes these complain more than all +others, seeing there be no pain, nor demon near them?” “Ah,” +answered the Angel, “if the pain without is less, that which is +within is more, - here are stubborn heretics, the godless and unchristian, +many of the worldy-wise, of apostates, of the persecutors of the church, +and millions such as they, who have utterly been given over to the more +bitterly painful punishment of the conscience, which now without let +or ceasing has its full sway over them. “I will not this +time,” quoth conscience, “be drowned in beer, or blinded +by rewards, or deafened by song and good company, or hushed or stupified +by a thoughtless torpor; now I will be heard, and never shall the truth, +the stinging truth, cease dinning in your ears.” The will +creates a desire for the lost paradise, the memory reproaches them with +the ease wherewith it might have been gained, and the reason shews the +greatness of the loss, and the certainty that nought awaits them but +this unspeakable gnawing for ever and ever; so by these three means, +conscience rends them more terribly than would all the devils in hell.<br> +<br> +Coming out of that wondrous defile, I heard much talking, and for every +word such wild horse-laughter as if some five hundred devils would shed +their horns with laughing. But after I had drawn near to behold +the very rare sight of a smile in hell, what was it but two gentlemen, +lately arrived, appealing for the respect due to their rank, and the +merriment was intended only to give affront to them. A pot-bellied +squire stood there with an enormous roll of parchment, his genealogical +chart, declaring from how many of the Fifteen Tribes of Gwynedd he had +sprung, how many justices of the peace, and how many sheriffs there +had been of his house. “Ha ha,” cried one of the devils, +“we know the merit of most of your forebears, were you like your +father, or great-great-grandsire, we would not have deigned to touch +you. But thou, thou art but the heir of utter darkness, vile whelp, +thou art hardly worth a night’s lodging; and yet thou shalt have +some nook to await the dawn.” And at the word the impetuous +monster pierces him with his pitchfork, and after whirling him thirty +times through the fiery welkin, hurled him into a hole out of sight. +“That is right enough for a half-blood squire,” said the +other, “but I hope ye will be better mannered towards a knight +who has served the king in person; twelve earls and fifty knights can +I recount from mine own ancient line.” “If thine ancestors, +and thy long pedigree are all thy plea, thou canst go the same gate,” +quoth a devil, “for we remember scarce one old estate of large +extent which some oppressor, some murderer or robber has not founded, +leaving it to others as arrant as they, to idle blockheads or to drunken +swine. To maintain lavish pomp, they had to grind their vassals +and tenants, and if there be a beautiful pony or a fine cow which my +lady covets, she will have them, and well it happens if the daughters, +yea, even the wives, escape the lust of their lord. And the small +free-holders around them must either vainly follow or give bail for +them, resulting in their own ruin, the loss of their possessions, and +the sale of their patrimony, or expect to be hated and despised, and +forced to every idle pursuit. Oh how nobly they swear to gain +the confidence of their minions or of their tradesmen, and when decked +out in their finery, how contemptuously they look upon many an officer +of importance in church and state, as if such were mere worms compared +with them. Woe’s me, is not all blood of one color? +Was it not the same way that ye all entered the world?” +“For all that, craving your pardon,” said the knight, “there +are some births purer than others.” “For the great +doom all your carcases are the same,” said the imp, “everyone +of you is defiled by the sin that took its origin in Adam.” +But, sir,” continued he, “if your blood is aught better +than another, the less scum will there be when shortly it will be bubbling +through your body, and if there be more, we must examine you, part by +part, through fire and through water.” Thereupon, a devil +in the shape of a fiery chariot receives him, and the other mockingly +lifts him thereinto, and away he goes with the speed of lightning. +Ere long the angel bade me look, and I saw the poor knight most horribly +sodden in an enormous boiling furnace with Cain, Nimrod, Esau, Tarquin, +Nero, Caligula, and others who first established lineage, and emblazoned +family arms.<br> +<br> +After wending our way onward a little, my guide bade me peer through +a riven wall, and within I saw a group of coquetts busily primming up, +doing and undoing the deeds of folly they were formerly wont to do on +earth; some puckering their lips, some plucking their eyebrows with +irons, some anointing themselves, some patching their faces with black +spots to make the yellow look whiter, and some endeavouring to crack +the mirror; and after all the pains to color and adorn, upon seeing +their faces far uglier than the devils’, they would tear away +with tooth and nail all the false coloring, the spots, the skin and +the flesh all at once, and would shriek most dismally. “Accursed +be my father,” said one, “it was he who forced me when a +girl to wed an old shrivelling, and it was his kindling my desires with +no power to satiate them, that doomed me to this place.” +“A thousand curses on my parents,” cried another, “for +sending me to a monastery to be taught to live a life of chastity; they +might as well have sent me to a Roundhead to learn how to be generous, +or to a Quaker to be taught good manners, as to a Papist to be taught +honesty.” “Fell ruin seize my mother,” shrieked +a third, “whose covetous pride refused me a husband at my need, +and so drove me to obtain by stealth what I might have honestly obtained.” +“Hell, a double hell to the raging bull of a nobleman who first +tempted me,” cried another, “had he not by fair and foul +broken through all bounds, I would not have become a common chattel, +nor would I have come to this infernal place;” and then would +they lacerate themselves again.<br> +<br> +I made all haste to leave their loathsome kennel, but I had not proceeded +far before I observed, to my astonishment, another prison full of women, +still more abominable; some had become frogs; some, dragons; some, serpents, +and there they swam about, hissing and foaming, and butting one another, +in a fœtid, stagnant pool that was much larger than Bala Lake. +“Pray, what can these be?” asked I. “There are +here,” said he, “four chief classes of women, not to mention +their minions - <i>Firstly</i>: Panders, who maintained harlots to sell +their virginity an hundred times, and the worst of these around them. +<i>Secondly</i>: Mistresses of gossip, surrounded by thousands of tale-bearing +hags. <i>Thirdly</i>: Huntresses followed by a pack of cowardly, +skulking hounds, for no man ever dared approach them, unless in fear +of them. <i>Fourthly</i>: The scolds, become a hundredfold more +horrid than snakes, always grinding and gnashing their venomous stings.” +“I would have deemed Lucifer too gracious a monarch to place a +noble lady of my rank with these vulgar furies,” complained one, +who much resembled the others, but was far more hideous than a winged +serpent. “Oh, that he would send hither seven hundred of +the basest demons of hell in exchange for thee, thou poisonous hellworm,” +cried another ugly viper. “Many thanks to you,” quoth +a gigantic devil, overhearing them, “we regard our place and worth +as something better; though ye would cause everyone as much pain as +we, yet we do not choose to be deprived of our office in your favor.” +“And Lucifer hath another reason,” whispered the Angel, +“for keeping strict guard over these, and that is, lest on breaking +loose, they might send all hell into utter confusion.”<br> +<br> +Thence we still descended until I saw an immense cavern wherein was +such fearful clamor that I had never heard the like before - swearing, +cursing, blaspheming, snarling, groaning and yelling. “Whom +have we here?” I asked. “This,” answered he, +“is the Den of Thieves; here are myriads of foresters, lawyers +and stewards, with old Judas in their midst.” And it grieved +them sorely to behold a pack of tailors and weavers above them in a +more comfortable chamber. Hardly had I turned round when a demon, +in the shape of a steed, bore in a physician, and an apothecary, and +hurled them into the midst of the pedlars and horse cheats, because +they had sold worthless drugs. And they too began murmuring against +being allotted to such low society. “Stay, stay,” +cried one of the devils, “ye deserve a better place,” and +he pitched them down amongst conquerors and murderers. There were +vast numbers in here for playing false dice and cheating at cards, but +before I had time to observe them closely, I could hear by the door +a huge crowd in wild tumult and shouts - <i>hai</i>, <i>hw, ptrw-how-ho-o-o-p</i> +- as of cattle being driven along. I turned round to see the cause +of it, but could perceive only the hornèd demons. I enquired +of my Guide if there were cuckolds with the devils. “No,” +said he, “they are in another cell; these are drovers who wished +to escape to the prison of the Sabbath-breakers, and are sent here against +their will.” Thereupon I look and saw that they had on their +heads the horns of sheep and kine; and those that were driving them +on, cast them down beneath the feet of blood-stained robbers. +“Lie there,” said one, “however much ye feared footpads +on the London road erstwhile, ye yourselves were the very worst class +of highwaymen, who made your living on the road and on robbery, yea +and by the perishing of many a poor family whom ye left in hunger, vainly +hoping for the sustenance of their possessions, while ye were in Ireland +or in the King’s Bench laughing at them, or on the road with your +wine and lemans.” On leaving the furnace-like cave, I caught +a glimpse of a haunt, which for loathsome, stinking abomination, went +beyond anything (with one sole exception) that I had set my eyes upon +in hell, - where an accursed herd of drunken swine lay weltering in +the foulest slime.<br> +<br> +The next den was the abode of Gluttony, where Dives and his companions, +wallowing on their bellies, devoured dirt and fire alternately, with +never a drop to drink. A little below this, was a very extensive +roasting-kitchen, where some were being roasted and boiled, others broiling +and flaming in a fiery chimney. “This is the place of the +merciless and the unfeeling,” said the Angel. Turning a +little to the left, where there was a cell lighter than any I had so +far seen, I asked what place it was: “The abode of the Infernal +Dragons,” said he, “which growl and rage, rush about and +rend one another every instant.” I drew near and oh! what +an indescribable sight they were! It was the glowing fire of their +eyes that gave all that light. “These are the descendants +of Adam,” said my Guide, “scolds and raving, wrathful men; +but yonder are some of the ancient seed of the great Dragon, Lucifer;” +but verily I could not perceive any difference in loveliness between +them. In the next dungeon dwell the misers in awful torment, being +linked by their hearts to chests of burning coin, the rust of which +was consuming them without end, just as they had never thought of an +end to the piling of them, and now they were tearing themselves to pieces +with more than madness through grief and remorse. Below this was +a charnel vault where some of the apothecaries had been ground down +and stuffed into earthenware pots with <i>Album graecum</i>, dung, and +many a stale ointment.<br> +<br> +Ever downward we were journeying through the wilderness of ruin, in +the midst of untold and eternal tortures, from cell to cell, from dungeon +to dungeon, the last alway surpassing in monstrous ghastliness, until +finally we came within view of an enormous entrance hall, most unsightly +of all that I had previously seen. It was very spacious and terribly +steep, running in the direction of a gloomy red corner, full of the +most inconceivable abominations and horrors: it was the royal court. +At the upper end of the king’s accursed hall, amidst thousands +of other dread sights, by the light my companion shed, I could see in +the darkness two feet of prodigious size, and so enormous as to overcast +the whole infernal firmament. I inquired of my Guide what such +immensities might be. “Thou shalt have a fuller view of +this monster when returning,” said he, “but, come now, let +us to see the court.” As we were going down that awful entrance +hall, we heard behind us the noise as of very many people advancing; +on stepping aside to let them pass I noticed four divers host, and upon +enquiry I learnt that it was the four princesses of the City of Destruction +leading their subjects as an offering to their sire. I distinguished +the troop of the Princess of Pride, not only because they insisted upon +the foremost position, but also because they stumbled now and then from +want of keeping their eyes upon the ground. She led captive kings +without number, princes, courtiers, noblemen and braggarts, many Quakers, +and women innumerable and of all grades. Next to these came the +Princess of Lucre with her sly and crafty followers - a great many of +the brood of Simon Skinflint, money lenders, lawyers, userers, stewards, +foresters, harlots, and some of the clergy. Then came the gracious +Princess of Pleasure and her daughter Folly, leading her subjects - +players of dice, cards and back-gammon, conjurers, bards, minstrels, +storytellers, drunkards, bawds, balladmongers and pedlars with their +trinkets in countless number, to be at length instruments of punishment +to the damned fools.<br> +<br> +When these three had taken their captives into the court to receive +judgment, Hypocrisy, last of all, brings in a more numerous troop than +any of the others, of every nation and age, from town and country, patrician +and plebeian, men and women. In the rear of this double-faced +legion we came within sight of the court; passing through the midst +of many dragons and hornèd demons, and hell’s giants, the +dusky porters of the devil-hunted fire; I, the while, carefully hiding +within the veil, we entered that direful edifice: wonderful, and of +amazing roughness was every part of it; the walls were cruel rocks of +burning adamant; the floor was one unendurable extent of sharp-cutting +flint, the roof of fiery steel, meeting in an arch of greenish and blood-red +flames, similar, except in its size and heat, to a tremendous circular +oven. Opposite the door, upon a flame-encompassed throne sat the +Evil One with the lost archangels around him, seated on benches of terrible +fire, according to the rank they formerly bore in the region of light +- the lovely whelps - it would only be a waste of words to attempt to +describe how atrociously ugly they were, and the longer I gazed upon +them, sevenfold more frightful did they become. In the centre +above Lucifer’s head was a huge hand grasping an awful bolt. +The princesses, after paying their courtesy, immediately returned to +their duties on earth. No sooner had they departed than at the +King’s bidding, a gigantic devil with cavernous jaws set up a +roar, louder than the discharge of a hundred cannon, and as loud, were +it possible, as the last trump, to proclaim the infernal Parliament, +and behold, without delay, the court and hall are filled by the rabble +of hell in every shape, each upon the form and image of that particular +sin he was wont to urge upon men. After enjoining silence, Lucifer, +looking steadfastly upon the chieftains nearest him, began and spake +these gracious words:-<br> +<br> +“Ye peers of this profoundest gulf, princes of the hopeless gloom, +if we have lost the place we erst possessed, when, clothed with brightness, +we dwelt in those celestial, happy realms; yet, however great our fall, +’twas glorious, nought less than all did we hazard, nor is all +lost - for, behold regions wide and deep extending to the utmost bounds +of desolate Perdition still ’neath our sway. ’Tis +true we reign while racked with raging torment, yet, for spirits of +our majesty, ’tis better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. +<a name="citation85a"></a><a href="#footnote85a">{85a}</a> And +what is more, we have well nigh won another world, a greater than a +fifth of earth has been for long beneath my standard. And although +our Omnipotent Enemy sent his own Son to die for them, I, by my pleasing +guile, gain ten for every one He gains through his crucified Son. +Though we cannot aspire to do hurt to Him on high who hurls His all-conquering +thunder, yet revenge by whatsoever means is sweet. <a name="citation85b"></a><a href="#footnote85b">{85b}</a> +Let us then bring ruin on the rest of men who adore our Destroyer. +Well do I recollect the time when ye caused them, their armies and their +cities, to be consumed in horrible combustion, yea and caused nigh all +the dwellers on the earth to fall through the whelming waters into this +fire. But now, although your strength and innate cruelty are no +whit less, ye have been somewhat listless; were it not for this, we +would have long ago destroyed the godly few, and brought the earth one +with this our vast domain. But know this, ye grim ministers of +my wrath, if ye henceforth be not up and doing, valiantly and with all +haste, seeing the brevity of our alloted time, I swear by Hell and by +Perdition, and by the vast, eternal gloom, that upon you, yourselves, +my ire first shall fall, with pain the like of which the oldest amongst +you hath never proved.” Whereupon he frowned until the court +became sevenfold darker than before.<br> +<br> +Next him, Moloch one of the infernal potentates, stood up, and after +making due obeisance to his king, spake thus:- “Oh Emperor of +the Sky, great ruler of the darkness, none ever doubted my desire to +practice utmost bale and cruelty, for that has always been my pleasure; +no sound was more delightful to mine years than the shrieks of children +perishing in the flames outside Jerusalem, where in former days they +were sacrificed to me. And also after our crucified foe had returned +to his celestial home, I, during the reigns of ten emperors, continued +as long as it availed me, slaying and burning his followers in my attempt +to sweep the Christians off the face of the earth. And afterwards +in Paris, in England, and in several other places, did I cause many +a massacre of them; but what have we gained? The tree whose branches +are lopped off grows but the quicker; we snarl without the power of +biting.”<br> +<br> +“Pshaw!” exclaimed Lucifer, “shame! cowardly hosts +that ye are! Never more will I place my trust in you. This +work I myself will perform, this enterprise none shall partake with +me. <a name="citation87a"></a><a href="#footnote87a">{87a}</a> +In mine own imperial majesty will I descend upon the earth, and alone +will I devour all therein contained; henceforth no man shall there be +found to worship the Most High.” Thereon he gave one terrific +flying leap to start - a blaze of living fire, but the hand overhead +whirls the terrible dart so that he trembles notwithstanding his rage, +and ere he had gone far, an invisible hand drags the brute back by the +chain for all his struggles; his rage becomes sevenfold more vehement, +his eyes more fierce than dragons, thick black clouds of smoke issue +from his nostrils, livid flames from his mouth and bowels, while he +gnaws his chain in his grief, and mutters fearful blasphemy and awful +oaths.<br> +<br> +At last, finding how futile was his attempt to sunder his bonds and +how unavailing to contend against the Almighty, he returned to his throne +and resumed his speech, in words somewhat more calm, but twice as malignant: +“Though none but the Omnipotent Thunderer could overcome my power +and my guile, to Him I am unwillingly constrained to submit; but I can +pour forth the vials of my wrath here below, nearer at hand, and let +loose my ire upon those who are already under my banner, and within +the length of my chain. Arise, ye too, ministers of destruction, +lords of the unquenchable fires, and as my anger and my venom overflow, +and my malice rush forth, do ye assiduously scatter all broadcast among +the damned, and chiefly among the Christians; urge on the engines of +torture to their uttermost; devise and invent; increase the heat of +the fire and the ebullition, until the hissing flood of the cauldrons +overwhelms them; and when their unutterable woes are extremest, then +sneer at them and mockingly reproach them, and when ye have exhausted +all your store of scorn and gall, hie to me and ye shall be replenished.”<br> +<br> +A great stillness had brooded over hell for some time, while the pains +grew far more unbearable by being given no vent. But now the silence +which Lucifer had enjoined was broken, when the fierce butchers, like +bears maddened by hunger, fell upon their captives; then there arose +such doleful cries, such dismal howling, from every quarter, louder +than the roar of rushing torrents, than the rumble of an earthquake, +till hell itself became ten times more horrible. I would have +died, had not my friend saved me. “Quaff deep this time,” +said he, “to give thee strength to behold things yet more dire.” +Hardly were the words from his lips, when lo! heavenly Justice, who +sits above the abyss, guardian of the gates of Hell, advanced scourging +three men with rods of fiery scorpions. “Ha ha,” cried +Lucifer, “here are three reverend gentlemen whom Justice thought +worthy himself to conduct to my kingdom.” “Woe’s +me,” said one of the three, “who ever wanted him to take +the trouble?” “That matters not,” answered he, +with a look that made the fiends wax pale, and tremble so that they +knocked one against the other, “it was the will of the Infinite +Creator that I myself should lead to their home such accursed murderers.” +“Sirrah,” - addressing one of the demons, - “open +me the fold of the assassins, where Cain, Nero, Bradshaw, Bonner, Ignatius +and innumerable others like them dwell.” “Alack, alack! +we have never slain any man,” cried one. “No thanks +to you that you did not, for time only was wanting,” said Justice. +When the den was opened, there came out such a hideous blast of blood-red +flames, and such a shriek as if a thousand dragons were uttering their +death-wail. As Justice was passing by on his return, in an instant +he caused such a tempest of fiery whirlwinds to fall upon the Evil One +and his princes that Lucifer was swept away, and with him Beelzebub, +Satan, Moloch, Abadon, Asmodai, Dagon, Apolyon, Belphegor, Mephistopheles, +and all their compeers, and they were hurled headlong into a whirlpool +which opened and closed in the centre of the court and which, both in +aspect and in the execrable stench that arose from it, was a hundredfold +more foul and horrid than anything I had ever seen. Before I could +ask aught, quoth the Angel: “This is the gulf that reaches to +another great world.” “What, pray, is that world called?” +I enquired. “’Tis called the bottomless pit or the +Nethermost Hell, the home of the devils, whither they now have gone. +And those vast, dreary wilds, parts of which thou hast traversed, are +called the Region of Despair, ordained for the condemned until the Judgment +Day; then it will become one with the utmost, bottomless Hell; then +will one of us come and seal up the devils and the damned together, +never more to open upon them, never to all eternity. In the meantime +they have leave to come to this colder country to torment lost souls. +Yea, often are they suffered to wander through the air, and about the +earth, to tempt men into the pernicious ways that lead to this horrible +prison whence no man returns.”<br> +<br> +While listening to this account, and wondering that the entrance of +Perdition should differ so from that of the Upper Hell, I heard the +tremendous clash of arms, and the roar of artillery, from one quarter, +and what seemed like loud-rumbling thunder answering from another quarter, +while the deadly rocks resounded. “This is the turmoil of +war!” I cried, “if there be war in hell.” “There +is,” said he, “there cannot be but continuous warfare here.” +When we were on the point of going out to know of the affair, I beheld +the jaws of the Pit open and belch forth thousands of hideous, greenish +candles - for such had Lucifer and his chiefs become after surviving +the tempest. But when he heard the din of war he turned more livid +than Death, and began to call out, and levy armies of his proven veterans +to suppress the tumult. While thus occupied he came across a little +imp, who had escaped between the feet of the warriors. “What +is the matter?” demanded the King. “Such a matter +as will endanger your crown, an you look not to it.” Close +upon this one’s heels another devilish courier in a harsh voice +cries: “You that plan the disquietude of others, look now to your +own peace; yonder are the Turks, the Papists and the murderous Roundheads +in three armies, filling the whole plain of Darkness, committing every +outrage and turning everything topsy-turvey.” “How +came they out?” demanded the Evil One, frowning more terribly +than Demigorgon. “The Papists,” said the messenger, +“somehow or other broke out of their purgatory, and then, to pay +off old scores, went to unhinge the portals of Mahomet’s paradise, +and let loose the Turks from their prison, and afterwards in the confusion, +through some ill chance, Cromwell’s crew escaped from their cells.” +Then Lucifer turned and peered beneath his throne, where every damned +king lay, and commanded that Cromwell himself should be kept secure +in his kennel, and that all the sultans should be guarded. Accordingly, +Lucifer and his host hurried across the sombre wilds of darkness, each +one’s own person furnishing light and heat; guided by the tumultuous +clangor he marched fearlessly upon them. Silence was proclaimed +in the King’s name, and Lucifer demanded the cause of such uproar +in his realm. “May it please your infernal majesty,” +said Mahomet, “a quarrel arose between myself and Pope Leo as +to which had done you the better service - my Koran or the Romish religion; +and when this was going on a pack of Roundheads, who had broken out +of their prison during the disorder, joined in and clamoured that their +Solemn League and Covenant deserved more respect at your hands than +either; so, from striving to striking from words to blows. But +now, since your majesty hath returned from hell, I lay the matter for +your decision.” “Stay, we’ve not done with you +yet,” cried Pope Julius, and madly they engage once more, tooth +and nail, until the strokes clashed like earthquakes; the three armies +of the damned tore each other piecemeal, and like snakes became whole +again, and spread far and wide over the jagged, burning crags, until +Lucifer bade his veterans, the giants of Hell, separate them, which +indeed was no easy task.<br> +<br> +When the conflict ceased, Pope Clement spake - “Thou Emperor of +Horrors, no throne has ever performed more faithful and universal service +to the infernal crown than have the bishops of Rome, throughout a large +portion of the world, for eleven centuries, and I hope you will allow +none to vie with them for your favor.” “Well,” +said a Scotch-man of Cromwell’s gang, “however great has +been the service of the Koran for these eight hundred years, and of +popish superstitions for a longer period, yet the Covenant has done +far more since its appearance, and everyone begins to doubt the others +and be weary of them, but we are still increasing, the wide world over, +and have much power in the island of your foes, that is, in Britain +and in London, the happiest city under the sun.” “Ha +ha,” exclaimed Lucifer, “if I hear rightly ye too are about +to suffer disgrace there. But whatever ye may have done in other +kingdoms, I will have none of your rioting in mine. Wherefore +make your peace forthwith under the penalty of more woes, bodily and +spiritual.” And at the word I could see many of the fiends +and all the damned, with their tails between their hoofs, steal away +to their holes in fear of a change for the worse.<br> +<br> +Then after ordering all to be locked up in their lairs, and punishing +and dismissing the officers whose carelessness had allowed them to break +loose, Lucifer and his counsellors returned to the court, and sat once +more upon the fiery thrones, according to their rank; and when silence +had been obtained, and the court cleared, a burly, lob-shouldered devil +threw down at the bar a fresh load of prisoners. “Is this +the way to Paradise?” asked one (for they had no idea where they +were). “Or if this be Purgatory,” said another, “I +have a dispensation under the Pope’s own signet to pass straight +on to Paradise, without a moment’s delay anywhere; wherefore show +us the way, or by the Pope’s toe, we will have him punish you.” +“Ha ha,” laughed a thousand demons, and Lucifer himself +opened his tusked jaws some half a yard in scornful laughter. +At which the new comers were sore amazed. “Look ye,” +said one, “if we have missed our way in the dark, we will pay +for guidance.” “Ha ha,” cried Lucifer, “ye +shall not hence till ye have paid the uttermost farthing.” +But on searching them it was found that they had one and all left their +trouser behind. “Ye went past Paradise on the left above +those mountains there,” said the Evil One, “and although +it is easy to descend hither, to return is next to impossible, so dark +and intricate is the country, so many steep ascents of flaming iron +are there on the way, and huge imminent rocks, overhanging glaciers +of insurmountable ice, and here and there, a headlong cataract, all +too difficult to clamber over, if ye have not nails as long as a devil’s. +Ho there! convey these blockheads to our paradise to their companions.” +Just then I heard voices drawing nigh, swearing and cursing fearfully. +“Fiends’ blood! a myriad devils seize me if ever I go!” +and immediately the noisy crew were cast down before the court. +“There,” exclaimed the steed that bore them, “there +is fuel with the best in hell.” “What are they?” +asked Lucifer. “Past masters in the gentle art of swearing +and cursing,” said he, “who knew the language of hell as +well as we do.” “A lie to your face, i’ the +devil’s name!” cried one. “Sirrah! wilt take +my name in vain?” said the Evil One. “Ho, seize them +and hook them by their tongues, to that burning precipice, and be at +hand to serve them; if on one devil they call, or on a thousand, they +shall have their fill.”<br> +<br> +When these had departed, a gigantic fiend calls loudly for clearing +the bar, and throws down thereat a man who was a load in himself. +“What hast thou there?” demanded Lucifer. “An +innkeeper,” answered he. “What?” cried the King, +“only one innkeeper, when they used to come by the thousands. +Hast thou, sirrah, not been out for ten years, and dost bring hither +but one, and such an one as would serve us in the world better than +thee, foul lazy hound!” “You are too just to condemn +me before hearing me,” pleaded he, “he was the only one +laid to my charge, and now I am rid of him. But I despatched you +from his house many an idler who drank his family’s maintenance, +and now and then a dicer, and card player, a fine swearer, an innocent +glutton, a negligent tapster and a maid, harsh in the kitchen, but never +a kinder abed or in the cellar.” “Although this fellow +deserves to be with the flatterers beneath,” said the Evil One, +“natheless take him to his comrades in the cell of the liquid-poisoners, +among the apothecaries and drugsters who have concocted drinks to murder +their customers; boil him well for that he did not brew better beer.” +“By your leave,” began the innkeeper tremblingly, “I +deserve no such treatment, the trade must be carried on.” +“Couldst thou not have lived,” quoth the Evil One, “without +allowing rioting and gambling, wantonness and drunkenness, oaths and +quarrels, slanders and lies? and wouldst thou, old hell-hound, now live +better than we? Prithee, tell what evil have we here which thou +hadst not at thine home, save the punishment alone? Indeed, to +speak the plain truth here, the infernal heat and cold are nothing new +to thee. Hast thou not seen sparks of our fire upon the tongues +of the cursers and the scolds, whilst dragging their husbands home? +Was there not a deal of the undying flame on the drunkard’s lips +or in the eyes of the angry? And couldst thou not perceive a trace +of hellish cold in the rake’s generosity, and especially in thine +own kindness towards him as long as he had anything in his possession; +in the mocker’s jest; in the praise of the envious and of the +defamer, in the promises of the lecherous, or in the limbs of thy boon +companions, benumbed beneath thy tables? Is hell strange to thee +whose very home is a hell? Aroint thee, flamhound, to thy penance!”<br> +<br> +After that ten devils, panting heavily, drop their burdens upon the +fiery floor. “What have ye?” asked Lucifer. +“We have what a day or two ago were called kings,” answered +one of the fiendish steeds. (I sought carefully to see whether +Lewis of France were among them.) “Throw them here,” +bade the King; and at that they were thrown amongst the other crowned +heads that lay beneath Lucifer’s feet; and following the monarchs +came their courtiers and their flatterers to receive sentence. +Before I had time to ask any question, I heard the blast of brazen trumpets +and shouts. “Make way, make way,” and at once there +came in view a herd of assize-men and devils bearing the train of six +justices, and millions of their race - barristers, <a name="citation95a"></a><a href="#footnote95a">{95a}</a> +attorneys, clerks, recorders, bailiffs, catchpolls, and the litigous +busybody. I wondered that none of them was examined; but in truth, +they knew the matter had gone too far against them, so none of the learned +counsels opened their lips, but the busybody threatened that he would +bring an action for false imprisonment against Lucifer. “Thou +shalt have good cause of complaint now,” said the Evil One, “and +never see a court at all.” Then he donned his red cap, and +with unbearable, haughty mien, said: “Go, take the justices to +the hall of Pontius Pilate, to Master Bradshaw, who condemned King Charles; +pack the barristers with the assassins of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, <a name="citation95b"></a><a href="#footnote95b">{95b}</a> +and their other false co-partners who simulate mutual contention, merely +in order to slay whomsoever might interpose. Go, greet that prudent +lawyer, who, when dying offered a thousand pounds for a good conscience, +and ask whether he is now willing to give more. Roast the lawyers +by the fire of their own parchments and papers till their learned bowels +burst forth; let the litigous busybodies hang above them with their +nostrils deepest down the roasting chimneys, in order to inhale the +noxious vapors arising thence, to see if they will ever get their fill +of law. Throw the recorders amongst the retailers who prevent +or forestall the sale of corn, who mix it and sell the mixture at double +the price of the pure corn: similarly, they demand for wrong double +the fees formerly given for right. As to the catchpolls, let them +free to hunt about and lie in the ravines and bushes of the earth, to +capture those that are debtors to the infernal crown; for what devil +of you could do the work better than they?”<br> +<br> +Shortly there appear twenty demons, like Scotch-men, with packs across +their shoulders, which they cast down before the throne of despair, +and which turned out to be gipsies. “Ho there!” cried +Lucifer, “how was it that ye who knew the fortune of others so +well, did not know that your own fortune was leading you hither?” +No answer was given, for they were amazed at seeing here beings uglier +than themselves. “Throw the tan-faced loons to the witches,” +bade the King, “there are no cats or rush-lights here for them, +but divide a frog between them every ten thousand years, if they will +be quiet and not deafen us with their barbarous chatter.”<br> +<br> +After them came, methought, thirty labourers. Everybody wondered +to see so many of that honest calling, so seldom did any of them appear; +but they did not all come from the same parts nor for like faults - +some for raising prices, many for withholding their tithes, and defrauding +the parson of his dues, others for leaving their work to follow after +the gentry, and who in trying to stride along with their masters, strained +themselves, some for doing work on the Sabbath, some for thinking of +their sheep and kine in church, instead of giving attention to the reading +of Holy Writ, and others for wrongful bargains. When Lucifer began +to question them, lo! they were all as pure as gold, and not one of +them found anything amiss in himself so as to deserve such a dwelling +place. One can scarcely believe what neat excuses each one had +to hide his sin, although they were already in hell for it, offering +them merely out of evil disposition to thwart Lucifer and to accuse +the righteous Judge, who had condemned them, of injustice. But +it was still more astonishing to see how cleverly the Evil One exposed +their foul sins, and how he answered with a home-thrust their false +excuses. When these were about to receive their infernal doom, +forty scholars were borne forward by porpoise-shaped fiends, uglier, +if possible, than Lucifer himself. And when they heard the labourers +pleading, they too waxed bold to give excuses, but what ready answers +the old Serpent had for them with all their knavery and learning! +As it happened that I heard similar pleas in another court of justice +I will hereafter recount them together, and now proceed with what I +saw in the meantime.<br> +<br> +Lucifer had barely pronounced their sentence - that they should be driven +to the great glacier in the land of eternal ice, a doom that set their +teeth a-gnashing, even before they saw their prison, when suddenly, +hell again most marvellously resounded with the crash of terrible bolts, +with loud-rolling thunder, and with every noise of war. Lucifer +loured and grew pale; in a moment, there flew in a wry-footed imp, panting +and trembling. “What is the matter?” cried Lucifer. +“A matter fraught with the greatest peril for you since hell is +hell,” said the dwarf, “all the ends of the kingdom of darkness +have risen up against you and against each other, especially those between +whom there was longstanding enmity, who are already locked together +fang to fang, so that it is impossible to pull them apart. Soldiers +have attacked the doctors for taking away their trade of slaughter; +a myriad userers have fallen upon the lawyers, for claiming a share +in the business of robbery; the busybodies and the swindlers are tearing +the gentlemen, limb-meal, for unnecessary swearing and cursing, whereby +they gained their living. Harlots and their minions, and a million +other old friends and former comrades have fallen out with one another +irreconcilably. But worst of all is the fray raging between the +misers and their own offspring, for wasting the goods and money which, +the old pinchfists aver, ‘cost us much pain on earth, and here +endless anguish.’ Their sons, on the other hand, cursing +and rending them outrageously, call for eternal ruin upon their heads +for leaving overmuch wealth to madden them with pride and riotous living, +when a little, under the blessing of heaven, would have rendered them +happy in both worlds.” “Enough, enough,” cried +Lucifer, “there is more need of arms than words. Return, +sirrah, and play the spy in every watch to find the where and why of +this great negligence, for there’s some treachery in the air we +wot not of as yet.” The imp departed at his bidding, and +in the meantime Lucifer and his compeers arose in terror and exceeding +fear, and ordered the levying of the bravest armies of the black angels; +and having disposed them, he himself started foremost to quell the rebellion, +his chieftains and their hosts going other ways. The royal army, +like shafts of lightning across the hideous gloom, advanced (and we +in their rear); ere long the uproar falls upon their ears; a fiendish +bellower cries, “Silence, in the King’s name!” to +no purpose, it would be an easier task to hale apart old beavers than +one of these. But when Lucifer’s veterans dashed into their +midst, the growls, and blows, and battering lessened. “Silence +in Lucifer’s name!” roared the devil a second time. +“What is this,” demanded the King, “and who are these?” +“Nothing, sire, but that in the general confusion, the drovers +came across the cuckolds, and set a-butting to prove whose horns were +the harder; it might have turned out seriously, had not your horned +giants joined in the affray.” “Well,” said Lucifer, +“since ye are all so ready with your arms, come with me to trounce +the other rebels.” But when the rumour reached these that +Lucifer was approaching with three horned armies, everyone made for +his lair.<br> +<br> +So he marched on across the desolate plains unresisted, and seeking +in vain the cause of the revolt. After a while, however, one of +the King’s spies returns, quite out of breath: “Most noble, +Lucifer! Moloch, your prince, hath subdued part of the North, +and hath cut thousands to pieces upon the glaciers, but there are three +or four dangerous evils still threatening you.” “Whom +meanest thou?” asked Lucifer. “The Slanderer, the +Busybody, and the Lawmonger, have broken out of their prisons and got +free.” “No wonder then,” said the Evil One, +“if further troubles arise.” Then there comes another +spy from the South, informing that matters would soon reach a dire pass +in that quarter if the three who had already thrown the West into utter +confusion be not taken, namely, the Huntress, the Rogue and the Swaggerer. +“Since the day I tempted Adam from his garden,” said Satan, +who stood next but one to Lucifer, “I have never seen so many +evils of his race at liberty together. The Huntress, the Swaggerer, +the Rogue, on the one hand, and on the other, the Slanderer, the Lawmonger +and the Busybody - a mixture would make devils reach.” “Little +wonder, verily,” said Lucifer, “that they were so much hated +by all on earth, seeing that they are capable of causing such trouble +to us here.” Not long after, the Huntress comes to meet +the King upon the way. “Ho! grandam o’ the breeches,” +cries a shrill-voiced demon, “good night to you.” +“Thy grandam on which side, prithee?” said she, displeased +because he did not “madam” her. “You are a fine +king, Lucifer, to keep such impudent rascals about you; a thousand pities +that such a vast realm should be under so impotent a ruler; would that +I might be made its regent.” Then comes the Swaggerer, nodding +in the dark - “Your humble servant, sir,” saith he to one, +over his shoulder; “Are you quite well?” to another; “Can +I be of any service to you?” addressing a third, with a leering +smirk, and to the Huntress: “Your beauty quite fascinates me, +madam.” “Oh oh,” cried she, “away with +the hell-hound;” and all join in the shout: “Away with this +new tormentor, hell on hell that he is!” “Let both +be bound together hand and foot,” commanded Lucifer. Soon +after the Lawmonger comes on the scene between two devils. “Ho, +ho, thou angel of peace,” exclaimed Lucifer, “hast thou +come? Keep him safe, guards, at your peril!” Before +we had gone far, the Rogue and the Slanderer appeared, chained between +forty devils, and whispering to one another. “Most noble +Lucifer,” began the Rogue, “I am very sorry there is so +much disturbance in your kingdom; but if I may be heard, I will teach +you a better method. Under the pretence of holding a Parliament, +you can cite all the damned into the burning Evildom, and then bid the +devils hurl them headlong to bottomless perdition, and lock them up +in its vortex, to trouble you no more.” “But the Common +Meddler is still missing,” said Lucifer, frowning most darkly +at the Rogue. When we reached once more the entrance of the infernal +court, who should come straight to meet the King but the Busybody. +“Ah, your majesty, I have a word with you.” “And +I have one or two with you, peradventure,” said the Evil One. +“I have been over the half of Hell,” said he, “to +see how your affairs went. You have many officers in the East +who are remiss, and take their ease instead of attending to the torturing +of their prisoners and to their safe keeping; it was this that gave +rise to the great rebellion. And moreover many of your fiends, +and of the lost whom you sent to the world to tempt men, have not returned, +although their time is up, and others have come, but hide rather than +give an account of their doings.”<br> +<br> +Then commanded Lucifer his herald to summon a second Parliament, and +in the twinkling of an eye all the potentates and their officers were +again in attendance at their infernal <i>Eisteddfod</i>. The first +thing done was to change the officers, and to order a place to be made +round the mouth of the pit for the Swaggerer and the Huntress, linked +face to face, and for the other rebels, bound topsy-turvy together; +and a law was published that whosoever of the demons or of the damned +thenceforth transgressed his duty should be thrown into their midst +till doomsday. At these words all the fiends and even Lucifer +himself trembled and were sore perturbed. Then next came the trial +of the devils and the lost who had been sent to earth to find “associates +and co-partners of their loss;” the devils gave a clear account, +but the statement of the damned was so hazy and uncertain, that they +were driven to the ever-burning school, and there scourged with fiery, +knotted serpents to teach them their task the better. “Here’s +a wench that’s pretty enough when dressed up,” said an imp, +“she was sent up into the world to gain you new subjects; and +whom should she first tempt but a weary ploughman, homeward wending +his way, late from his toils, who, instead of succumbing to her wiles, +went on his knees praying to be saved from the devil and his angels.” +“Ho there!” cried Lucifer, “throw her to that worthless +losel who long ago loved Einion ab Gwalchmai of Mona.” <a name="citation102a"></a><a href="#footnote102a">{102a}</a> +“Stay, stay,” pleaded the fair one, “this is but my +first offence; there is yet scarcely a year since the day when all was +over with me, when I was condemned to your cursed state, Oh king of +woes!” “No, there is not yet three weeks,” said +the demon that had brought her there. “How therefore,” +said she, “would you have me be as skilled as those lost beings +who have been here three or four centuries hunting their prey? +If you desire better service at my hands, let me go free into the world +once more to roam about uncensured; and if I bring you not twenty adulterers +for every year I am out, mete me what punishment you list.” +Nevertheless the verdict went against her, and she was doomed to live +a hundred long years under chastisement, that she might be more careful +a second time. Presently, another devil entered, pushing to the +front a man. “Here is a fine messenger,” he said, +“who wandering the other night in his old neighbourhood above, +saw a thief stealing a stallion, but could not help him even to catch +the foal without showing himself; and the thief, when he saw him, abandoned +that career for ever.” “Begging the court’s +pardon,” said the man, “if the thief’s child was endowed +with power from above to see me, could I help that? Moreover, +this is only a single case; ’t is not a hundred years since that +day which put an end to all my hopes for ever, and how many of my own +family and of my neighbours have I enticed here after me in that time? +Perdition hold me, if I am not as dutiful to my trade as the best of +you, but the wisest is sometimes at fault.” Then said Lucifer: +“Throw him into the school of the fairies, who are still under +castigation for their mischievous tricks in days gone by, when they +were wont to strangle and threaten their neighbours, and so awaken them +from their torpor; for their fear probably had more influence upon them +than forty sermons.”<br> +<br> +Then came four constables, an accuser, and fifteen of the damned, dragging +forward two devils. “Lest you lay the blame of every wrongful +service upon the children of Adam,” said the accuser, “here +are two of your old angels who misspent their time above as much as +the two who were last before the court. Here is a rogue quite +as worthless as that one at Shrewsbury the other day, when the Interlude +of <i>Doctor Faustus</i> was being played, amidst all manner of most +wanton and lascivious revelries, and where many things were going on +conducive to the welfare of your realm; when they were busiest, the +devil himself appeared to play his part, and so drove all away from +pleasure to prayers. Even so this one, in his wanderings over +the world: he heard some people talk of walking round the church <a name="citation104a"></a><a href="#footnote104a">{104a}</a> +to see their sweethearts, and what should the fool do but show himself +to the simpletons in his own natural form, and though their fright was +great they recovered their senses, and made a vow to leave that vanity +for ever; whereas had he only assumed the form of some vile jades, they +would have held themselves bound to accept those; and so the foul fiend +might have been master of the household with both parties, since he +himself had mated them. And here is another, who went, last Twelfth +Night, to visit two Welsh lasses who were turning their shifts, and +instead of enticing them to wantonness in the form of a fair youth, +to one he took a bier, to make her thoughts more serious; to the other, +he went with the tumult of war in a hellish whirlwind, to make her madder +than before; and this was quite needless. Nor was this all; for +after he had entered the maiden, and had thrown her about, and sorely +tormented her, some of our learned enemies were sent for to pray for +her and to cast him out, and instead of tempting her to despair and +endeavouring to win over the preachers, he began to preach to them, +and to disclose the mysteries of your kingdom, thus aiding their salvation +instead of hindering it.” At the word “salvation” +I saw some leaping up, a living fire of rage. “Every tale +is fair till the other side be told,” quoth the devil, “I +hope Lucifer will not allow one of the earth-born race of Adam to contend +with me, who am an angel of far superior kind and stock.” +“His punishment is certain,” said Lucifer, “but do +thou, sirrah, give clear and ready answer to these charges; or by hopeless +Hell I will - .” “I have led hither,” said he, +“many a soul since Satan was in the Garden of Eden, and I ought +to understand my business, better than this upstart accuser.” +“Blood of infernal firebrands,” cried Lucifer, “did +I not bid thee answer clearly and readily?” “By your +leave,” said the demon, “I have preached a hundred times, +and have denounced many of the various ways that lead to your confines, +and yet at the same breath, have quietly brought them hither safe and +sound by some other delusive path, just as I did while preaching recently +in the German States, in one of the Faro Isles, and in several other +places. In this manner, through my preaching have many Papist +beliefs, and old traditions come first into the world, and all in the +guise of goodness. For who ever would swallow a baitless hook? +Who ever gained credence for a tale which had not some truth mingled +with the false, or some little good overshadowing the bad? So, +if whilst preaching I can instil one counsel of mine own among a hundred +that are good and true, by means of that one, through heedlessness or +superstition, will more weal betide your kingdom than woe through all +the others ever.” “Well,” said Lucifer, “since +thou canst do so much good in the pulpit, I bid thee dwell seven years +in the mouth of a barndoor preacher who always utter what first comes +to his mind; there thou wilt have an opportunity of putting in a word +now and then to thine own purpose.”<br> +<br> +There were many more devils and damned darting to and fro like lightning +about the awful throne, to count and to receive offices. But suddenly +without any warning there came a command for all the messengers and +prisoners to depart from the court, each one to his den, leaving the +King and his chief counsellors alone together. “Is it not +better for us also to depart, lest they find us?” I asked my friend. +“Thou needest have no fear,” answered the angel, “no +unclean spirit can ever pierce this veil.” Wherefore we +remained there invisible, to see the issue.<br> +<br> +Then Lucifer began graciously to address his peers thus:- “Ye +mightiest spirits of evil, ye archfiends of hellish guile, the utmost +of your malicious wiles am I now constrained to demand. All here +know that Britain and its adjacent isles is the realm most dangerous +to my state, and fullest of mine enemies; and what is a hundredfold +worse, there reigns now a queen most dangerous of all, who has never +once inclined hither, nor along the old way of Rome on the one hand +nor yet along the way of Geneva on the other: to think what great good +the Pope has for a long time done us there and Oliver even to this day! +What therefore shall we do? I fear me we shall entirely lose our +ancient possession of that mart unless we instantly set-to to pave a +new way for them to travel over, for they know too well all the old +roads that lead hitherwards. Since this invincible hand shortens +my chain, and prevents me from going myself to the earth, your advice +I pray. Whom shall I appoint my viceroy to oppose yon hateful +queen, Our Enemy’s vicegerent?”<br> +<br> +“Oh! thou great Emperor of Darkness,” said Cerberus, <a name="citation106a"></a><a href="#footnote106a">{106a}</a> +the demon of tobacco, “’tis I that supply the third of that +country’s maintenance, I shall go, and I will despatch you a hundred +thousand of your foemen’s souls through a pipe stem.” +“In sooth,” said Lucifer, “thou hast done me some +good service, what with causing the slaughter of the owners in India +and poisoning those that indulge in it, through the saliva, sending +many to wander with it idly from house to house, others to steal in +order to obtain it, and millions to grow that fond of it that they cannot +spend a single day without it, and be in their right mind. For +all this, go and do thy best, but thou art nought to our present purpose.”<br> +<br> +Whereupon Cerberus sat down; then rose Mammon, the devil of money, and +with surly skulking mien began: “’T was I who pointed out +the first mine whence money was to be obtained, and ever since I am +praised and worshipped more than God, and men lay their pain and peril, +all their mind, their affection and their trust upon me, yea, there +is no man content, but all crave more of my favor; the more they obtain, +the further still are they from rest, until at last, while seeking ease, +they come to this region of everlasting woes. How many a crafty +old miser have I enticed hither over paths that were harder to traverse +than those that lead to the realm of bliss? Whenever a fair was +held, a market, assize or election, or any other concourse, who had +more subjects than I or greater power and authority? Cursing, +swearing, fighting, litigation, falsehood and deceit, beating, clawing, +murdering and robbing one another, Sabbath-breaking, perjury, cruelty, +and what black mark besides, which stamps men as of Lucifer’s +fold, that I have not had a hand in placing? For which reason +have I been called ‘the root of all evil.’ Wherefore, +an it please your majesty, I will go.”<br> +<br> +He ceased. Then Apolyon uprose and spoke: “I know of nought +more certain to lead them hither than what brought you here, <a name="citation107a"></a><a href="#footnote107a">{107a}</a> +and that is Pride; once it plants its straight stake in them and puffs +them up, there is no need to fear that they will condescend to bear +the cross or go through the narrow gate. I will go with your daughter +Pride, and before they can realise where they are, I will drive the +Welsh hither headlong while admiring the pomp of the English, and the +English while imitating the vivacity of the French.”<br> +<br> +After him arose Asmodai, the devil of lust: “’T is not unknown +to you, mightiest King of the deep, nor to you, princes of the land +of despair, how many of the gulfs of hell have I filled through voluptuousness +and lewdness. What of the time I kindled such a flame of lust +over all the world that the deluge had needs be sent to clear the earth +of men, and to sweep them all into our unquenchable fire? What +of Sodoma and Gomorrah, fine and fair cities, which I so consumed with +licentiousness that a hell-shower blazed in their infernal lusts and +beat them down here alive, to burn for ages on ages. And what +of the great hosts of the Assyrians, who were all slain in one night +on my account? I disappointed Sarah of seven husbands’ <a name="citation108a"></a><a href="#footnote108a">{108a}</a> +and Solomon and many a thousand other kings did I bring to shame through +women. Wherefore let me and this sweet sin go, and I will kindle +the hellish spark so generally that it will at length become one with +this inextinguishable flame, for scarce one will ever return from following +me to walk in the paths of life.” At that he sat down.<br> +<br> +Then Belphegor, chief of sloth and idleness, stood up and spake thus: +“I am the great prince of listlessness and sloth, who have great +influence upon millions of all sorts and conditions of men; I am that +stagnant pond where the spawn of every evil is bred, where the dregs +of every corruption and baleful slime grows rank. What good wouldst +thou be, Asmodai, or ye, chief damned evils, were I not? I, who +keep the windows open and unguarded that ye may enter into the man when +ye will, through his eyes, his ears and his mouth. I will go and +roll them all over the precipice unto you in their sleep.”<br> +<br> +Then Satan, the devil of delusion, who was on Lucifer’s left hand, +arose, and turning his grim visage to the king, began: “It is +unnecessary for me to recount my deeds to thee, Oh lost Archangel, or +to you, swarthy princes of Destruction: for ’twas I who dealt +the first blow to man, and mighty was that blow, to be the cause of +death from the beginning of the world to its end. Is it likely +that I, who erst ravaged all the earth, could not now give advice that +would serve one little isle? Could not I, who deceived Eve in +Paradise, overcome Anne in Britain? If inborn craft and continuous +experience for five thousand years profit aught, my advice is that you +adorn your daughter Hypocrisy to deceive Britain and its queen: you +have no other as serviceable as she; her sway extends more widely than +that of all the rest of your daughters, and her subjects are more numerous. +Was it not through her that I beguiled the first woman? And ever +since she has remained on earth and waxed very great therein, so that +by now the world is hardly anything but one mass of hypocrisy. +And were it not for the craftiness of Hypocrisy how could anyone of +us do business in any part of the world? For what man would ever +have aught to do with sin, did he once behold it in its true color and +under its own proper name? He would sooner clasp a devil in his +own infernal shape and garb. If it were not that Hypocrisy can +disguise the name and nature of every evil under the semblance of some +good, and give a bad name to every goodness, no man at all would put +forth his hand to do evil or would lust after it. Walk through +the entire city of Destruction and ye will perceive her greatness in +every quarter. Go to the street of Pride and ask for an arrogant +man or for a penny-worth of affectation mixed through pride: ‘Woe +is me,’ exclaims Hypocrisy, ‘there is no such thing here,’ +no, nor for a devil, anything else in the whole street save proud demeanour. +Or walk into the street of Lucre and enquire for the miser’s house: +pshaw, there is no one of the kind therein; or for the dwelling of the +murderer among the doctors, or for the abode of highwaymen amongst the +drovers; thou wouldst sooner be thrown to prison for asking than that +one should confess to his own name. Yea, Hypocrisy crawls in between +a man and his own heart, and so skilfully does she hide every wrong +under the name and guise of some virtue that she has caused well nigh +all to lose cognisance of their own selves. Greed she calls thrift; +in her tongue riotous living is innocent joy; pride is courtesy; the +froward, a clever, courageous man; the drunkard, a boon companion; and +adultery is a mere freak of youth. On the other hand, if she and +her scholars’ <a name="citation110a"></a><a href="#footnote110a">{110a}</a> +are to be believed, the godly is a hypocrite or a fool; the gentle, +a coward; the abstemious, a churl, and so for every other quality. +Send her thither in all her adornment, and I warrant you she will deceive +everyone; she will blinden the counsellors, the soldiers, and all the +officers of church and state, and will draw them hither in hurrying +multitudes with the varicolored mask upon their eyes.” Whereupon +he too sat down.<br> +<br> +Then Beelzebub, the devil of thoughtlessness stood up, and in a harsh +voice said: “I am the great prince of heedlessness whose duty +it is to prevent a man taking reflective heed of his state; I am chief +of the incessant hell-flies who utterly amaze men, ever dinning in their +ears concerning their possessions or their pleasures, and never willingly +allowing them a moment’s leisure to think of their ways or of +their end. No one of you must dare enter the lists against me +in feats serviceable to the realm of darkness. For what is tobacco, +but one of my meanest weapons to stupefy the brain? What is Mammon’s +kingdom but a part of my great dominion? Yea, were I to loosen +the bonds I have upon the subjects of Mammon and Pride, and even of +Asmodai, Belphegor and Hypocrisy, no man would for an instant abide +their domination. Wherefore I will do the work and let no one +of you ever utter a word.”<br> +<br> +Then great Lucifer himself arose from his burning seat, and having turned +his hideous face to both sides, thus began: “Ye chief spirits +of the Eternal Night, princes of hopeless guile, although the vasty +gloom and the wilds of Destruction are more bounden to none for their +inhabitants than to mine own supreme majesty - for it was I who erewhile +wishing to usurp the Almighty’s throne, drew myriads of you, my +swarthy angels, at my tail into these deadly horrors, and afterwards +drew unto you myriads of men to share this region - yet there is no +gainsay that ye all have done your share in maintaining and extending +this great infernal empire.” Then he began to answer them +one by one: “Considering thy recent origin, Cerberus, I will not +deny but that thou hast gained for us much prey in the island of our +foes through tobacco. For they that carry, mix, and weigh it, +practise all manner of fraud; and by its indulgence some are led on +to habitual drinking, some to curse and swear, and some to seek it through +blandishment, and to lie in denying their use of it - not to speak of +the injury it inflicts upon many, and its immoderate use upon all, body +as well as soul. And better than that, myriads of the poor, whom +else we never should touch, sink hither through laying the burden of +their affection upon tobacco, and allowing it to be their master, to +steal the bread from their children’s mouth. Then, brother +Mammon, your power is so universal and so well-known on earth that it +is a proverb, ‘Everything may be had for money.’ And +without doubt,” said he, turning to Apolyon, “my beloved +daughter Pride is most serviceable to us, for what can there be more +pernicious to a man’s estate, to his body and soul, than that +proud, obdurate opinion which will make him squander a hundred pounds +rather than yield a crown to secure peace. She keeps them all +so stiff-necked and so intent on things on high that it is amusing to +see them, while gazing upwards, and ‘extolling their heads to +the stars’ fall straightway into the depths of hell. You +too, Asmodai, we all remember your great services in the past; there +is none more resolute than you to keep safe his prisoners under lock +and key, nor any so unimpeachable. Nowadays a wanton freak provokes +only a little laughter, but you came near perishing there from famine +during the recent years of dearth. And you, my son Belphegor, +verminous prince of sloth, no one has afforded us more pleasure than +you; your influence is exceeding great among noblemen and also among +the common people, even to the beggar. And were it not for the +skill of my daughter Hypocrisy in coloring and adorning, who ever would +swallow a single one of our hooks? But after all, if it were not +for the unwearying courage of my brother Beelzebub in keeping men in +heedless dazedness, ye all would not be worth a straw. Let us +once more recapitulate. What good wouldst thou be, Cerberus, with +thy foreign whiff, if Mammon did not succour thee? What merchant +would ever run such risks to obtain thy paltry leaves from India, except +for Mammon’s sake? And only for him what king would receive +them, especially into Britain, and who but for his sake would carry +them to every part of the kingdom? Yet how worthless thou too +wouldst be, Mammon, if Pride did not lavish thee upon fair mansions, +fine clothes, needless lawsuits, gardens and horses, extravagant relatives, +numerous dishes, floods of beer and ale, beyond the power and station +of their owner; for if money were spent within the limit of necessity +and of becoming moderation, what would Mammon avail us? Thus thou +art nought without Pride; and little would Pride profit without Wantonness, +for bastards are the most numerous and the most fierce of all the subjects +of my daughter Pride. And thou, Asmodai, what wouldst thou profit +us were it not for Sloth and Idleness? Where wouldst thou obtain +a night’s lodging? Thou wouldst not dare expect it from +a laborer or diligent student. And who, for the dishonor and the +shame, would ever give thee, Belphegor the Slothful, a moment’s +welcome, if Hypocrisy did not disguise thy foulness under the name of +an internal disease, or as a good intent or a seeming despisal of wealth +or the like. She too - my dear daughter Hypocrisy - what good +is or ever would she be, notwithstanding her skill as a seamstress, +and her boldness, without thy aid, my eldest brother, Beelzebub, great +chief of Distraction: if he gave people peace and leisure to reflect +seriously upon the nature of things and their differences, how long +would it take them to find holes in the folds of Hypocrisy’s golden +garments, and to see the hooks through the bait? What man in his +senses would gather together toys and fleeting pleasures, surfeiting, +vain and disgraceful, and choose them in preference to a calm conscience +and the bliss of a glorious eternity? Who would refuse to suffer +the pangs of martyrdom for his faith for an hour or a day, or affliction +for forty or sixty years, if he considered that his neighbours suffer +here in an hour more than he could suffer on earth for ever. Tobacco +is nothing without Money, or Money without Pride, and Pride is but a +weakling without Wantonness, nor is Wantonness aught without Sloth, +nor Sloth without Hypocrisy, nor Hypocrisy without Thoughtlessness. +Wherefore, now,” said Lucifer, lifting his infernal hoofs on their +claw-ends, “to give my own opinion: however excellent all these +may be, I have a friend better suited than all to our foe of Britain.” +Then could I see all the archfiends open wide their horrid mouths upon +Lucifer in eager expectation as to what this could possibly be, while +I too was as anxious as they. “A friend,” continued +Lucifer, “whose true worth I have too long neglected, just as +thou, Satan, tempting Job of yore, didst foolishly turn upon him with +severity. This, my kinswoman, I now appoint regent in all matters +appertaining to my kingdom on earth, next to myself. Her name +is Prosperity: she has damned more than all of you together, and little +would ye avail without her presence. For who in war or peril, +in famine or in plague, would lay any value by tobacco, or by money +or by the sprightliness of pride, or who would deign welcome licentiousness +or sloth? And men in such straits are too wide-awake to be distraught +by Hypocrisy, or even by Thoughtlessness; none of the infernal vermin +of Distraction dare show himself in one such storm. Whereas Prosperity, +with its ease and comfort, is the nurse of all of you; beneath her peaceful +shadow and upon her tranquil bosom ye all are nourished, and every other +hellish worm that has its place in the conscience and will be for ever +here gnawing its possessor. As long as one is at ease, there is +no talk but of merriment, of feasts, bargains, genealogies, tales, news +and the like; the name of God is never mentioned except in profane oaths +and curses, whereas the poor and the afflicted have His name upon their +lips and in their hearts always. Go ye, the seven of you, and +follow her and be mindful to keep all a-slumbering and in peace, in +good fortune, in ease and in perfect carelessness; then shall ye see +the honest poor become an untractable, arrogant knave, once he has quaffed +of the alluring cup of Prosperity; ye shall behold the diligent laborer +become a careless babbler and everything else that pleases you. +For all seek and love happy Prosperity; she neither hearkens to advice +nor fears censure; the good she knows not, the bad she nurtures. +But this is the greatest mishap: the man that escapes her sweet charms +must be given up in despair, we must bid farewell to his company for +ever. Prosperity then is my earthly vicegerent; follow her to +Britain, and obey her as ye would our own royal majesty.”<br> +<br> +At that instant the huge bolt was whirled, and Lucifer and his chief +counsellors were swept away into the vortex of Uttermost Perdition; +woe’s me, how terrible it was to behold the jaws of Hell yawning +wide to receive them! “Come now,” said the Angel, +“we will return, but what thou hast seen is as nothing compared +with all that is within the bounds of Hell; and if thou didst see everything +therein that again would be as nought when compared with the unutterable +woe of the Bottomless Pit; for it is impossible to have any conception +of the life in the Uttermost Hell.” Then suddenly the heavenly +Eagle caught me up into the vault of the accursed gloom by a way I knew +not, where, from the court, across the entire firmament of dark-burning +Perdition, and all the land of oblivion up to the ramparts of the City +of Destruction, I obtained full view of the hideous monster of a giantess +whose feet I had previously observed. “Words fail me to +describe her ways and means; but of herself I can tell thee, that she +was a three-faced ogress: one villainous face turned towards Heaven, +yelping and snarling and belching forth cursèd abomination against +the heavenly King; another face (and this was fair to look upon) towards +earth, to allure men beneath her baneful shadow; and the other direful +face towards the infernal abyss, to torture all therein for ages without +end. She is greater than the earth in its entirety, and still +continuously increases; she is a hundredfold more hideous than all Hell +which she herself created and which she peoples. If Hell were +rid of her, the vasty deep would be a Paradise; if she were driven from +the earth, the little world would become a heaven; and if she ascended +into Heaven, she would make an uttermost hell of that blissful realm. +There is nought in all the worlds which God has not created, save her +alone. She is the mother of the four deadly enchantresses; she +is the mother of Death and of all evil and misery, and her terrible +grasp is upon every living being. Her name is Sin. Blessed, +ever blessed be he who escapes from her clutches,” said the Angel. +Thereupon he departed, and I could hear the distant echo of his voice +saying; “Write down what thou hast seen; and whosoever readeth +it thoughtfully will never repent.”<br> +<br> +<br> +WITH HEAVY HEART.<br> +<br> +<br> + With heavy heart I sought th’ infernal coast<br> + And saw the vale of everlasting woes,<br> + The awful home of fiends and of the lost<br> + Where torments rage and never grant repose -<br> + A lake of fire whence horrid flames arose<br> + And whither tended every wayward path<br> + Its prey to lead ’midst cruel dragon-foes;<br> + Yet, though I wandered through withouten scath,<br> +A world I’d spurn, to view again that scene of wrath.<br> +<br> + With heavy heart oft I recall to mind<br> + How many a loving friend unwarnèd fell<br> + To bottomless perdition, there to find<br> + A dread abode where he for aye must dwell;<br> + Who erst were men are now like hounds of Hell<br> + And with unceasing energy entice<br> + To dire combustion all with wily spell,<br> + And to themselves have ta’en the devils’ +guise,<br> +Their power and skill all ill to do in every wise.<br> +<br> + With heavy heart I roamed the dismal land<br> + That is ordained the sinner’s end to be;<br> + What mighty waves surge wild on every hand!<br> + What gloomy shadows haunt its canopy!<br> + What horrors fall on high and mean degree!<br> + How hideous is the mien of its fell lords,<br> + What shrieks rise from that boundless glowing sea,<br> + How fierce the curses of the damnèd hordes,<br> +No mortal ken can e’er conceive or paint in words.<br> +<br> + With heavy heart we mourn true friends or kin<br> + And grieve the loss of home, of liberty,<br> + Of that good name which all aspire to win<br> + Or health and ease and sweet tranquility;<br> + When dim, dark clouds enshroud our memory<br> + And pass ’tween us and heaven’s gracious +smiles,<br> + ’Tis sadder far to wake to misery<br> + And feel that Pleasure now no more beguiles,<br> +That sin has left nought but the wounds of its base wiles.<br> +<br> + With heavy heart the valiantest of men<br> + Lays low his head beneath th’ impending doom;<br> + In terror he descends death’s awsome glen;<br> + While there appear flashing through the gloom<br> + The lurid shades of deeds which in the bloom<br> + Of youth he dared; at last the conscience cries<br> + With ruthless voice: “There’s life beyond +the tomb;”<br> + His dying thoughts all vanities despise<br> +As on the threshold of Eternity he lies.<br> +<br> + The heavy heart that suffers all such grief<br> + May, while the breath of life doth still remain,<br> + Hope for a joyous peace and blest relief;<br> + But if grim Death his fated victim gain,<br> + Woe’s him that entereth the realm of pain -<br> + For e’er on him its frowning portals close,<br> + Nor gleam of hope shall he perceive again,<br> + For in that vast eternal night he knows<br> +A woe awaits that far surpasseth earthly woes.<br> +<br> + The heavy heart beneath its weight is crushed,<br> + And at its very name - Damnation writ,<br> + All men their vain and froward clamors hushed;<br> + But when within the fiery gaping pit<br> + Whose flaming ramparts none will ever quit,<br> + Above the thunder’s roar th’ accursed +host<br> + Raise such loud cries, it passeth human wit<br> + To dream of aught so dire, for at the most,<br> +All woes of earth as pleasures seem unto the lost.<br> +<br> + From every vain complaining, cease, my friend,<br> + Since thou art yet not numbered with the dead<br> + But turn thy thoughts unto thy destined end,<br> + Behold thy Fates spin out the vital thread,<br> + And oftèn as thy mind to Hell be led,<br> + To contemplate the doleful gloom aglow,<br> + There will forthwith possess thee such a dread,<br> + Which Christ’s unbounded mercy doth bestow,<br> +Lest thou be doomed to that eternal realm of woe.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +Footnotes:<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote0"></a><a href="#citation0">{0}</a> The genealogical +tables in the book are in graphic form. They are reproduced here +in a more textual format - DP.<br> +<br> +ELLIS WYNNE’S PEDIGREE<br> +<br> +(I am indebted to E. H. Owen, Esqr., F.S.A., Tycoch, Carnarvon, for +most of the information comprised in the following Tables.)<br> +<br> +<pre>William Wynne <a name="citation00a"></a><a href="#footnote00a">{00a}</a> = Catherine <a name="citation00b"></a><a href="#footnote00b">{00b}</a> + | + Ellis Wynne <a name="citation00c"></a><a href="#footnote00c">{00c}</a> = Lowri <a name="citation00d"></a><a href="#footnote00d">{00d}</a> + | + Edward Wynne = . . . heiress of Glasynys + | + +----------------------------+------------------+ + ELLIS WYNNE = Lowri Llwyd <a name="citation00e"></a><a href="#footnote00e">{00e}</a> Daughter + | + | ++-----------------------+-----+---------+-------+ +| | | | | +William <a name="citation00f"></a><a href="#footnote00f">{00f}</a> = <a name="citation00v"></a><a href="#footnote00v">{00v}</a> | | | | + | Ellis Catherine Edward Mary = Robert Owen + | <a name="citation00g"></a><a href="#footnote00g">{00g}</a> <a name="citation00h"></a><a href="#footnote00h">{00h}</a> <a name="citation00i"></a><a href="#footnote00i">{00i}</a> <a name="citation00j"></a><a href="#footnote00j">{00j}</a> + | | + Daughter=Robert Puw | + | +---+--------------+ + John Wynne Puw <a name="citation00x"></a><a href="#footnote00x">{00x}</a> | | + | | | ++----+--------+ Ellis <a name="citation00k"></a><a href="#footnote00k">{00k}</a> Frances +| | | +| John +----------+-----+------+-----------+-------------+ +| | | | | | | +Robert Elizabeth Ann Edward John <a name="citation00l"></a><a href="#footnote00l">{00l}</a> Francis Ellis + + + +</pre><p>THE RELATION BETWEEN ELLIS WYNNE & BISHOP HUMPHREYS.<br> +<br> +<br> +<pre>Meredydd ap Evan ap Robert <a name="citation00m"></a><a href="#footnote00m">{00m}</a> = Margaret <a name="citation00n"></a><a href="#footnote00n">{00n}</a> + | + Humphrey Wynne ap = Catherine <a name="citation00o"></a><a href="#footnote00o">{00o}</a> + Meredydd of Gesail- | + gyfarch. | + | + | + +-----------------------------------------------+ + | | +John Wynne = Catherine <a name="citation00p"></a><a href="#footnote00p">{00p}</a> Evan Llwyd <a name="citation00q"></a><a href="#footnote00q">{00q}</a>=Catherine <a name="citation00w"></a><a href="#footnote00w">{00w}</a> +ap Humphrey | | +of Gesail- | | +gyfarch | John + Robert Wynne <a name="citation00r"></a><a href="#footnote00r">{00r}</a>=Mary<a name="citation00s"></a><a href="#footnote00s">{00s}</a> | + | +------------------+ + | Evan Griffith + +-------------------------+ | + | | +-----------+ +John Wynne = Jane <a name="citation00t"></a><a href="#footnote00t">{00t}</a> Margaret=Richard<a name="citation00u"></a><a href="#footnote00u">{00u}</a> | | + | | William LOWRI=ELLIS + Robert <a name="citation00y"></a><a href="#footnote00y">{00y}</a> | Ob. s. p. WYNNE + | + +---------------------------+-------+------------------+ + | | | +HUMPHREY <a name="citation00z"></a><a href="#footnote00z">{00z}</a> = Elizabeth <a name="citation000a"></a><a href="#footnote000a">{000a}</a> John Catherine + | Died at Oxford. + | + +----------+---------------------+ + | | + Ann Margaret = John Llwyd <a name="citation000b"></a><a href="#footnote000b">{000b}</a> +Ob. s. p. 1698 Died 1759 + +</pre><p><a name="footnote00a"></a><a href="#citation00a">{00a}</a> +William Wynne of Glyn [Cywarch]. Sheriff of Merioneth 1618 & +1637. D. 1658. 12th in direct male descent from Osborn Wyddel.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00b"></a><a href="#citation00b">{00b}</a> Catherine, +daughter of William Lewis Anwyl of Park. Died 1638.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00c"></a><a href="#citation00c">{00c}</a> Ellis +Wynne, 3rd son who probably lived at Maes-y-garnedd, Llanbedr.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00d"></a><a href="#citation00d">{00d}</a> Lowri, +only daughter and heiress of Ed. Jones of Maes-y-garnedd, eldest borther +of Col. Jones, Cromwell’s brother-in-law who was executed in 1660 +as a regicide.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00e"></a><a href="#citation00e">{00e}</a> Lowri +Llwyd of Hafod-lwyfog Beddgelert.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00f"></a><a href="#citation00f">{00f}</a> Rector +of Llanaber.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00g"></a><a href="#citation00g">{00g}</a> Ellis +Died 1732.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00h"></a><a href="#citation00h">{00h}</a> Catherine +Died young.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00i"></a><a href="#citation00i">{00i}</a> Edward +Rector of Penmorfa.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00j"></a><a href="#citation00j">{00j}</a> Robert +Owen of Tygwyn Dolgellau.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00k"></a><a href="#citation00k">{00k}</a> Rector +of Llanferres.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00l"></a><a href="#citation00l">{00l}</a> Rector +of Llandrillo.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00m"></a><a href="#citation00m">{00m}</a> 11th +in male descent from Owen Gwynedd. Died 1525.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00n"></a><a href="#citation00n">{00n}</a> Daughter +of Morris ap John ap Meredydd of Clunnenau.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00o"></a><a href="#citation00o">{00o}</a> Daughter +and heiress of Evan ap Griffith of Cwmbowydd.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00p"></a><a href="#citation00p">{00p}</a> Daughter +of William Wynne ap William of Cochwillan.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00q"></a><a href="#citation00q">{00q}</a> Of +Hafod-lwyfog.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00r"></a><a href="#citation00r">{00r}</a> Died +1637.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00s"></a><a href="#citation00s">{00s}</a> Daughter +of Ellis ap Cadwaladr of Ystumllyn.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00t"></a><a href="#citation00t">{00t}</a> Daughter +of Evan Llwyd of Dylase.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00u"></a><a href="#citation00u">{00u}</a> Richard +Humphreys of Hendref Gwenllian, Penrhyndeudraeth. Desceneded in +male line from Marchweithian. An Officer in the Royal Army through +Civil War. Died 1699.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00v"></a><a href="#citation00v">{00v}</a> . . +. Lloyd of Trallwyn.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00w"></a><a href="#citation00w">{00w}</a> Catherine, +Daughter of Griffith Wynne of Penyberth.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00x"></a><a href="#citation00x">{00x}</a> Robert +Puw of Garth Maelan.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00y"></a><a href="#citation00y">{00y}</a> Robert +Wynne of Gesail-gyfarch, Barr.-at-law. Ob. s. p. 1685.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote00z"></a><a href="#citation00z">{00z}</a> Humphrey. +Born 1648. Dean of Bangor, 1680, Bishop 1689. Bishop of +Hereford, 1701. Died 1712.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote000a"></a><a href="#citation000a">{000a}</a> +Elizabeth, daughter of Dr. Morgan Bishop of Bangor 1678, son of Rd. +Morgan, M.P. for Montgomery Boroughs.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote000b"></a><a href="#citation000b">{000b}</a> +John Llwyd of Penylan, Barr.-at-law, son of Dr. W. Lloyd, Bishop of +Norwich, deprived in 1691 as one of the Nonjurors.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote0a"></a><a href="#citation0a">{0a}</a> “A +Catalogue of Graduates in the University of Oxford between 1659 and +1850” contains the following entry: - “Wynne (Ellis) Jes. +BA., Oct. 14, 1718, MA., June 13, 1722.” But one can hardly +suppose this to have been the <i>Bardd Cwsr</i>, as in 1718 he would +be 47 years of age.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote0b"></a><a href="#citation0b">{0b}</a> The following +entries are taken from the register at Llanfair-juxta-Harlech: - “<i>Elizaeus +Wynne Generosus de Lâsynys et Lowria Lloyd de Havod-lwyfog in +agro Arvonensi in matrimonio conjuncti fuere decimo quarto die Feb. +1702</i>.”<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote0c"></a><a href="#citation0c">{0c}</a> “<i>Elizaeus +Wynne junr. de Lâsynys sepultus est decimo die Octobris A.D. 1732</i>.”<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote0d"></a><a href="#citation0d">{0d}</a> “<i>Owenus +Edwards cler. nuper Rector hums ecclesiae sepultus est tricesimo die +Maii A.D. 1711</i>.” (From the Llanfair parish register.)<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote0e"></a><a href="#citation0e">{0e}</a> “<i>Lowria +Uxor Elizaei Wynne cler. de Lasynys vigesimo quarto die Augti. sepulta +est Ano. Dom. 1720</i>.”<br> +<br> +“<i>Elizaeus Wynne Cler. nuper Rector dignissimus huius ecclesiae +sepultus est 17mo. die Julii 1734</i>.” (From the parish +register at Llanfair.)<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote0f"></a><a href="#citation0f">{0f}</a> “<i>The +Visions of the Sleeping Bard</i>. First Part. Printed in +London by E. Powell for the Author, 1703,”<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote1a"></a><a href="#citation1a">{1a}</a> <i>The +opening lines</i>. - Ellis Wynne opens his vision as so many early English +poets are wont, with a description of the season when, and the circumstances +under which he fell asleep. Compare especially Langland’s +Visions, <i>prologus</i>:<br> +<br> +In a somer seson whan soft was the sonne<br> +I went wyde in this world wondres to here,<br> +Ac on a May mornynge on Malvern hulles<br> +Me befel a ferly of fairy me thoughte,<br> +I was wery forwandred and went me to reste<br> +Under a brode bank bi a bornes side<br> +And as I lay and leued and loked in the wateres<br> +I slombred in a slepyng it sweyved so merye.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote1b"></a><a href="#citation1b">{1b}</a> <i>One +of the mountains</i>. - The scene these opening lines describe was one +with which the Bard was perfectly familiar. He had often climbed +the slopes of the Vale of Ardudwy to view the glorious panorama around +him from Bardsey Isle to Strumble Head, the whole length of rock-bound +coast lay before him, while behind was the Snowdonian range, from Snowdon +itself to Cader Idris; and often, no doubt, he had watched the sun sinking +“far away over the Irish Sea, and reaching his western ramparts” +beyond the Wicklow Hills.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote1c"></a><a href="#citation1c">{1c}</a> <i>Master +Sleep</i>. - Cp.:<br> +<br> +Such sleepy dulness in that instant weigh’d<br> +My senses down.<br> +<br> + - <i>Dante: Inf. C.I</i>. (<i>Cary’s trans</i>.)<br> +<br> +Now leaden slumber with life’s strength doth fight.<br> +<br> +<i> - Shakespere: Lucrece, 124.<br> +<br> +</i><a name="footnote4a"></a><a href="#citation4a">{4a}</a> <i>Such +a fantastic rout</i>. - Literally “such a battle of Camlan.” +This was the battle fought between Arthur and his nephew Medrod about +the year 540 on the banks of the Camel between Cornwall and Somerset, +where Arthur received the wounds of which he died. The combatants +being relatives and former friends, it was characterised with unwonted +ferocity, and has consequently come to be used proverbially for any +fray or scene of more than usual tumult and confusion.<br> +<br> +So all day long the noise of battle roll’d<br> +Among the mountains by the winter sea,<br> +Until King Arthur’s table, man by man,<br> +Had fallen in Lyonness about their Lord.<br> +<br> +<i> - Tennyson: Morte d’Arthur.<br> +<br> +</i><a name="footnote4b"></a><a href="#citation4b">{4b}</a> <i>To +lampoon my king</i>. - The Bard commenced this Vision in the reign of +William III. (v. also p. 17, “to drink the King’s health”) +and completed it in that of Queen Anne, who is mentioned towards the +end of the Vision.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote7a"></a><a href="#citation7a">{7a}</a> <i>The +Turk and old Lewis of France</i>. - The Sultan Mustapha and Lewis XIV. +are thus referred to.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote14a"></a><a href="#citation14a">{14a}</a> <i>Clippers</i>. +- The context seems to demand this meaning, that is, “those who +debase coin of the realm,” rather than “beggars” from +the Welsh “<i>clipan</i>.”<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote20a"></a><a href="#citation20a">{20a}</a> <i>Backgammon +and dice</i>. - These games, together with chess, were greatly in vogue +in mediæval Wales, and are frequently alluded to in the Mabinogion +and other early works. The four minor games or feats (<i>gogampau</i>) +among the Welsh were playing the harp, chess, backgammon, and dice. +The word “<i>ffristial a disiau</i>” are here rendered by +the one word “dice” <i>- ffristial</i> meaning either the +dice-box, or the game itself, and <i>disiau</i>, the dice.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote21a"></a><a href="#citation21a">{21a}</a> <i>This +wailing is for pay</i>. - Cp.<br> +<br> +Ut qui conducti plorant in funere dicunt<br> +et faciunt prope plora dolentibus ex animo.<br> +<br> +<i> - Horace: Ars Poetica, 430-1.<br> +<br> +</i><a name="footnote23a"></a><a href="#citation23a">{23a}</a> +<i>The butt of everybody</i>. - Whenever a number of bards, in the course +of their peregrinations from one patron’s hall to another, met +of a night, their invariable custom was to appoint one of the company +to be the butt of their wit, and he was expected to give ready answer +in verse and parry the attacks of his brethren. It is said of +Dafydd ap Gwilym that he satirized one unfortunate butt of a bard so +fiercely that he fell dead at his feet.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote24a"></a><a href="#citation24a">{24a}</a> <i>Congregation +of mutes</i>. - At the time Ellis Wynne wrote, the Quakers were very +numerous in Merioneth and Montgomery and especially in his own immediate +neighbourhood, where they probably had a burying-ground and conventicle. +They naturally became the objects of cruel persecution at the hands +of the dominant church as well as of the state; their meetings were +broken up, their members imprisoned and maltreated, until at last they +were forced to leave their fatherland and seek freedom of worship across +the Atlantic<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote25a"></a><a href="#citation25a">{25a}</a> <i>Speak +no ill</i>. - A Welsh proverb; <i>v. Myv. Arch. III. 182.<br> +<br> +</i><a name="footnote26a"></a><a href="#citation26a">{26a}</a> +<i>We came to a barn</i>. - The beginning of Nonconformity in Wales. +In the Author’s time there were already many adherents to the +various dissenting bodies in North Wales. Walter Cradoc, Morgan +Llwyd and others had been preaching the Gospel many years previously +throughout the length and breadth of Gwynedd; and it was their followers +that now fell under the Bard’s lash.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote28a"></a><a href="#citation28a">{28a}</a> <i>Corruption +of the best</i>. - A Welsh adage; <i>v. Myv. Arch. III. 185.<br> +<br> +</i><a name="footnote28b"></a><a href="#citation28b">{28b}</a> +<i>Some mocking</i>. - Compare Bunyan’s Christian starting from +the City of Destruction: “So he looked not behind him, but fled +towards the middle of the plain. The neighbours came out to see +him run, and as he ran, some mocked, others threatened and some cried +after him to return.”<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote29a"></a><a href="#citation29a">{29a}</a> <i>Who +is content</i>. - Cp.<br> +<br> +Qui fit, Maecenas, ut nemo, quam sibi sortem<br> +Seu ratio dederit seu fors obiecerit, illa<br> +Contentus vivat, laudet diversa sequentes?<br> +<br> +<i> - Horace: Sat. I</i>. i.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote34a"></a><a href="#citation34a">{34a}</a> <i>Increases +his own penalty</i>. - Cp.<br> +<br> + - the will<br> +And high permission of all-ruling heaven<br> +Left him at large to his own dark designs,<br> +That with reiterated crimes he might<br> +Heap on himself damnation, while he sought<br> +Evil to others.<br> +<br> +<i>- Par. Lost: I. 211-6.<br> +<br> +</i><a name="footnote36a"></a><a href="#citation36a">{36a}</a> +<i>Royal blood</i> - referring to the execution of Charles I.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote37a"></a><a href="#citation37a">{37a}</a> <i>The +Pope and his other son</i>. - The concluding lines of this Vision were +evidently written amidst the rejoicings of the nation at the victories +of Marlborough over the French and of Charles XII. over the Muscovites<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote43a"></a><a href="#citation43a">{43a}</a> <i>Glyn +Cywarch</i>. - The ancestral home of the Author’s father, situate +in a lonely glen about three miles from Harlech.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote43b"></a><a href="#citation43b">{43b}</a> <i>Our +brother Death</i>. - This idea of the kinship of Death and Sleep is +common to all poets, ancient and modern; cp. the “<i>Consanguineus +Leti Sopor</i>” of Vergil (Æneid: VI. 278); and also:<br> +<br> + Oh thou God of Quiet!<br> +Look like thy brother, Death, so still, - so stirless -<br> +For then we are happiest, as it may be, we<br> +Are happiest of all within the realm<br> +Of thy stern, silent, and unawakening twin.<br> +<br> +- Byron: Sardanapulus, IV.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote44a"></a><a href="#citation44a">{44a}</a> <i>An +extensive domain</i>. - Compare what follows with Vergil’s description +(Dryden’s trans.):<br> +<br> +Just in the gate and in the jaws of Hell,<br> +Revengeful cares and sullen sorrows dwell,<br> +And pale diseases and repining age -<br> +Want, fear, and famine’s unresisted rage;<br> +Here toils and death, and death’s half-brother, Sleep,<br> +Forms terrible to view, their sentry keep.<br> +<br> + - Æneid: VI. 273-8<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote48a"></a><a href="#citation48a">{48a}</a> <i>Merlin</i>. +- A bard or seer who is supposed to have flourished about the middle +of the fifth century, when Arthur was king. He figures largely +in early tales and traditions, and many of his prophecies are to be +found in later Cymric poetry, to one of which Tennyson refers in his +<i>Morte d’Arthur</i>:<br> +<br> + I think that we<br> +Shall never more, at any future time,<br> +Delight our souls with talks of knightly deeds<br> +Walking about the gardens and the halls<br> +Of Camelot, as in the days that were.<br> +I perish by this people which I made -<br> +Though Merlin sware that I should come again<br> +To rule once more - but let what will be, be.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote48b"></a><a href="#citation48b">{48b}</a> <i>Brutus, +the son of Silvius</i>. - According to the Chronicles of the Welsh Kings, +Brwth (Brutus) was the son of Selys (Silvius), the son of Einion or +Æneas who, tradition tells, was the first king of Prydain. +In these ancient chronicles we find many tales recorded of Brutus and +his renowned ancestors down to the fall of Troy and even earlier.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote48c"></a><a href="#citation48c">{48c}</a> <i>A +huge, seething cauldron</i>. - This was the mystical cauldron of Ceridwen +which Taliesin considered to be the source of poetic inspiration. +Three drops, he avers, of the seething decoction enabled him to forsee +all the secrets of the future.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote48d"></a><a href="#citation48d">{48d}</a> <i>Upon +the face of earth</i>. - These lines occur in a poem of Taliesin where +he gives an account of himself as existing in various places, and contemporary +with various events in the early eras of the world’s history - +an echo of the teachings of Pythagoras:<br> +<br> +Morte carent animae; semperque priore relicta<br> +Sede, novis habitant domibus vivuntque receptae.<br> +<br> +<i> - Ovid: Metam. XV. 158-9.<br> +<br> +</i><a name="footnote48e"></a><a href="#citation48e">{48e}</a> +<i>Taliesin</i>. - Taliesin is one of the earliest Welsh bards whose +works are still extant. He lived sometime in the sixth century, +and was bard of the courts of Urien and King Arthur.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote49a"></a><a href="#citation49a">{49a}</a> <i>Maelgwn +Gwynedd</i>. - He became lord over the whole of Wales about the year +550 and regained much territory that had once been lost to the Saxons. +Indeed Geoffrey of Monmouth asserts that at one time Ireland, Scotland, +the Orkneys, Norway and Denmark acknowledged his supremacy. Whatever +truth there be in this assertion, it is quite certain that he built +a powerful navy whereby his name became a terror to the Vikings of the +North. In his reign, however, the country was ravaged by a more +direful enemy - the Yellow Plague; “whoever witnessed it, became +doomed to certain death. Maelgwn himself, through Taliesin’s +curse, saw the <i>Vad Velen</i> through the keyhole in Rhos church and +died in consequence.” (<i>Iolo MSS</i>.)<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote49b"></a><a href="#citation49b">{49b}</a> <i>Arthur’s +quoit</i>. - The name given to several <i>cromlechau</i> in Wales; there +is one so named, near the Bard’s home, in the parish of Llanddwywe, +“having the print of a large hand, dexterously carved by man or +nature, on the side of it, as if sunk in from the weight of holding +it.” (<i>v. Camb. Register, 1795</i>.)<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote54a"></a><a href="#citation54a">{54a}</a> <i>In +the Pope’s favor</i>. - Clement XI. became Pope in 1700, his predecessor +being Innocent XII.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote55a"></a><a href="#citation55a">{55a}</a> <i>Their +hands to the bar</i>. - Referring to the custom (now practically obsolete) +whereby a prisoner on his arraignment was required to lift up his hands +to the bar for the purpose of identification. Ellis Wynne was +evidently quite conversant with the practice of the courts, though there +is no proof of his ever having intended to enter the legal profession +or taken a degree in law as one author asserts. (<i>v. Llyfryddiaeth +y Cymry</i>, sub. tit. Ellis Wynne.)<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote67a"></a><a href="#citation67a">{67a}</a> “<i>The +Practice of Piety</i>.” - Its author was Dr. Bayley, Bishop of +Bangor; a Welsh translation by Rowland Vaughan, of Caergai, appeared +in 1630, “printed at the signe of the Bear, in Saint Paul’s +Churchyard, London.”<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote69a"></a><a href="#citation69a">{69a}</a> <i>At +one time cold</i>. - Cp.:<br> +<br> + I come<br> +To take you to the other shore across,<br> +Into eternal darkness, there to dwell<br> +In fierce heat and in ice.<br> +<br> +<i>- Dante</i>: Inf. <i>c. III</i>. (<i>Cary’s trans</i>.).<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote71a"></a><a href="#citation71a">{71a}</a> <i>Above +the roar</i>. - Cp.:<br> +<br> + The stormy blast of Hell<br> +With restless fury drives the spirits on:<br> +When they arrive before the ruinous sweep<br> +There shrieks are heard, there lamentations, moans,<br> +And blasphemies.<br> +<br> +<i>- Dante: Inf. c. V</i>. (<i>Cary’s trans</i>.).<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote73a"></a><a href="#citation73a">{73a}</a> <i>Amidst +eternal ice</i>. - Cp.:<br> +<br> +Thither . . . all the damned are brought<br> +. . . and feel by turns the bitter change<br> +Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce!<br> +From beds of raging fire to starve in ice<br> +Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine<br> +Immoveable, infix’d and frozen round<br> +Periods of time; thence hurried back to fire.<br> +<br> +<i>- Par. Lost, II. 597-603.<br> +<br> +</i><a name="footnote85a"></a><a href="#citation85a">{85a}</a> +<i>Better to reign</i>. - This speech of Lucifer is very Miltonic; compare +especially -<br> +<br> + - in my choice<br> +To reign is worth ambition, though in hell;<br> +Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.<br> +<br> +<i>- Par. Lost, I. 261-3.<br> +<br> +</i><a name="footnote85b"></a><a href="#citation85b">{85b}</a> +<i>Revenge is sweet</i>. - Cp.:<br> +<br> + Revenge, at first though sweet<br> +Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils.<br> +<br> +<i>- Par. Lost, IX. 171-2.<br> +<br> +</i><a name="footnote87a"></a><a href="#citation87a">{87a}</a> +<i>This enterprize</i>. - Cp.:<br> +<br> + - this enterprize<br> +None shall partake with me.<br> +<br> +<i>- Par. Lost, II. 465.<br> +<br> +</i><a name="footnote95a"></a><a href="#citation95a">{95a}</a> +<i>Barristers</i>. - The word <i>cyfarthwyr</i>, here rendered “barristers,” +really means “those who bark,” which is probably only a +pun of the Bard’s on <i>cyfarchwyr</i> - “those who address +(the court).”<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote95b"></a><a href="#citation95b">{95b}</a> <i>Sir +Edmundbury Godfrey</i>. - A London magistrate who took prominent part +against the Catholics in the reign of Charles II. At the time +the panic which the villainy of Titus Oates had fomented was at its +height, Sir Edmundbury was found dead on Primrose Hill, with his sword +through his body; his tragic end was attributed to the Papists, and +many innocent persons suffered torture and death for their supposed +complicity in his murder.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote102a"></a><a href="#citation102a">{102a}</a> +<i>Einion the son of Gwalchmai</i>. - This is a reference to a fable +entitled “Einion and the Lady of the Greenwood,” where the +bard is led astray by “a graceful, slender lady of elegant growth +and delicate feature, her complexion surpassing every red and every +white in early dawn, the snow-flake on the mountain-side, and every +beauteous colour in the blossoms of wood, meadow, and hill.” +(<i>v. Iolo MSS</i>.) Einion was an Anglesey bard, flourishing +in the twelfth century.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote104a"></a><a href="#citation104a">{104a}</a> +<i>Walking round the church</i>. - Referring to a superstitious custom +in vogue in some parts of Wales as late as the beginning of the present +century. On All Souls’ Night the women-folk gathered together +at the parish church, each with a candle in her hand; the sexton then +came round and lit the candies, and as these burnt brightly or fitfully, +so would the coming year prove prosperous or adverse. When the +last candle died out, they solemnly march round the church twice or +thrice, then home in silence, and in their dreams that night, their +fated husbands would appear to them.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote106a"></a><a href="#citation106a">{106a}</a> +<i>Cerberus, et seq</i>. - Compare the seven deadly sins in Langland’s +<i>Vision of Piers Plowman</i>, Pride, Luxury (<i>lecherie</i>), Envy, +Wrath, Covetousness, Gluttony, and Sloth. See also Chaucer’s +Persones Tale, <i>passim</i>. A description of these seven sins +occurs very frequently in old authors.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote107a"></a><a href="#citation107a">{107a}</a> +<i>What brought you here</i>. - Pride is the greatest of all the deadly +sins. Compare Spenser’s <i>Faery Queen I. c. IV</i>, where +“proud Lucifera, as men did call her,” was attended by “her +six sage counsellors” - the other sins. Shakespere names +this sin Ambition:<br> +<br> +Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition,<br> +For by this sin fell the angels.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote108a"></a><a href="#citation108a">{108a}</a> +<i>Sarah</i>. - v. Apocrypha, the book of Tobit, c. VI.<br> +<br> +<a name="footnote110a"></a><a href="#citation110a">{110a}</a> +If she and her scholars - Cp.:<br> +<br> +At nos virtutes ipsas invertimus atque<br> +sincerum cupimus vas incrustare. probus quis<br> +nobiscum vivit multum demissus homo: illi<br> +tardo cognomen pingui damus. his fugit omnes<br> +insidias nullique malo latus obdit apertum pro bene sano<br> +at non incauto fictum astutumque vocamus.<br> +<br> +- Horace: Sat. I. iii.<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, VISIONS OF THE SLEEPING BARD ***<br> +<pre> + +******This file should be named spbd10h.htm or spbd10h.zip****** +Corrected EDITIONS of our EBooks get a new NUMBER, spbd11h.htm +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, spbd10ah.htm + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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