“Well,” said I to myself, “I may now bid farewell to life, these cursed witches will convey me to the pantry or cellar of some nobleman, and there leave me, to pay with my neck for their robberies; or they will abandon me stark naked, to freeze to death upon the sea-brink of old Shire Caer, [3] or some other cold, distant place;” but on reflecting that all the old hags whom I had once known had long been dead and buried, and perceiving that these people took pleasure in holding or waving me over hollow ravines, I conjectured that they were not witches but beings who are called fairies. We made no stop until I found myself by the side of a huge castle, the most beautiful I had ever seen, with a large pool or moat surrounding it: then they began to consult what they should do with me; “shall we go direct to the castle with him?” said one. “No, let us hang him or cast him into the lake, he is not worth being shown to our great prince,” said another. “Did he say his prayers before he went to sleep?” said a third. At the mention of prayers, I uttered a confused groan to heaven for pardon and assistance; and as soon as I recollected myself, I saw a light at a vast distance bursting forth, Oh, how glorious! As it drew nigh, my companions were darkening and vanishing, and quickly there came floating towards us a form of light over the castle, whereupon the fairies abandoned their hold of me, but as they departed they turned upon me a hellish scowl, and unless the angel had supported me, I should have been dashed into pieces small enough for a pasty, by the time I reached the ground.
“What is your business here?” said the angel. “In verity my lord,” I replied, “I do not know what place here is, nor what is my business, nor what I am myself, nor what has
become of my other part; I had four limbs and a head, and whether I have left them at home, or whether the fairies, who have certainly not acted fairly with me, have cast me into some abyss, (for I remember to have passed over several horrid ravines,) I cannot tell, sir, though you should cause me to be hung.” “Fairly indeed,” said he, “they would have acted with you, if I had not come just in time to save you from the clutches of these children of hell.”
“Since you have such a particular desire to see the course of the little world,” said he, “I have received commands to give you a sight of it, in order that you may see your error in being discontented with your station, and your own country. Come with me,” he added, “for a peregrination,” and at the word he snatched me up, just as the dawn was beginning to break, far above the topmost tower of the castle; we rested in the firmament upon the ledge of a light cloud to gaze upon the rising sun; but my heavenly companion, was far more luminous than the sun, but all his splendour was upward, by reason of a veil which was betwixt him and the nether regions. When the light of the sun became stronger, I could see, between the two luminaries, the vast air-encircled world, like a little round bullet, very far beneath us. “Look now,” said the angel, giving me a different telescope from that which I had on the mountain. When I peeped through this I saw things in a manner altogether different from that in which I had seen them before, and in a much clearer one. I saw a city of monstrous size, and thousands of cities and kingdoms within it; and the great ocean, like a moat, around it, and other seas, like rivers, intersecting it.
By dint of long gazing I could see that it was divided into three exceedingly large streets; each street with a large,
magnificent gate at the bottom, and each gate with a fair tower over it. Upon each tower there was a damsel of wonderful beauty, standing in the sight of the whole street; and the three towers appeared to reach up behind the walls to the skirts of the castle afore-mentioned. Crossing these three huge streets I could see another; it was but little and mean in comparison with them, but it was clean and neat, and on a higher foundation than the other streets, proceeding upward towards the east, whilst the three others ran downward towards the north to the great gates. I now ventured to enquire of my companion whether I might be permitted to speak. “Certainly,” said the angel, “speak out! but listen attentively to my answers, so that I may not have to say the same thing to you more than once.” “I will, my lord,” said I. “Now pray, what place is the castle yonder in the north?” “The castle above in the air,” said he, “belongs to Belial, prince of the power of the air, and governor of all the great city below: it is called Delusive Castle, for Belial is a great deluder, and by his wiles he keeps under his banner all you see, with the exception of the little street yonder. He is a great prince, with thousands of princes under him—what were Cæsar or Alexander the Great compared with him? What are the Turk and old Lewis of France, but his servants? Great, yea, exceeding great, are the power, subtlety, and diligence of the prince Belial; and his armies in the country below are innumerable.” “For what purpose,” said I, “are the damsels standing yonder, and who are they?” “Softly,” said the angel, “one question at once: they are there to be loved and to be adored.” “And no wonder indeed,” said I, “since they are so amiable; if I possessed feet and hands as formerly, I would go and offer love and adoration to them myself.” “Hush,
hush,” said he, “if you would do so with your members, it is well that you are without them; know, thou foolish spirit, that these three princesses are only three destructive deluders, daughters of the prince Belial, and all their beauty and affability, which are irradiating the streets, are only masks over deformity and cruelty; the three within are like their father, replete with deadly poison.” “Woe’s me; is it possible,” said I, quite sad, and smitten with love of them! “It is but too true, alas,” said he. “Thou admirest the radiance with which they shine upon their adorers; but know that there is in that radiance a very wondrous charm; it blinds men from looking back, it deafens them lest they should hear their danger, and it burns them with ceaseless longing for more of it; which longing, is itself a deadly poison, breeding, within those who feel it, diseases not to be got rid of, which no physician can cure, not even death, nor anything, unless the heavenly medicine, which is called repentance, is procured, to cast out the evil in time, before it is imbibed too far, by excessive looking upon them.” “But how is it,” said I, “that Belial does not wish to have these adorers himself?” “He has them,” said the angel; “the old fox is adored in his daughters, because, whilst a man sticks to these, or to one of the three, he is securely under the mark of Belial, and wears his livery.”
“What are the names,” said I, “of those three deceivers?” “The farthest, yonder,” said he, “is called Pride, the eldest daughter of Belial; the second is Pleasure; and Lucre is the next to us: these three are the trinity which the world adores.” “Pray, has this great, distracted city,” said I, “any better name than Bedlam the Great?” “It has,” he replied, “it is called The City of Perdition.” “Woe is me,” said I, “are all
that are contained therein people of perdition?” “The whole,” said he, “except some who may escape out to the most high city above, ruled by the king Emmanuel.” “Woe’s me and mine,” said I, “how shall they escape, ever gazing, as they are, upon the thing which blinds them more and more, and which plunders them in their blindness?” “It would be quite impossible,” said he, “for one man to escape from thence, did not Emmanuel send his messengers, early and late, from above, to persuade them to turn to him, their lawful King, from the service of the rebel, and also transmit to some, the present of a precious ointment, called faith, to anoint their eyes with; and whosoever obtains this true ointment, (for there is a counterfeit of it, as there is of every thing else, in the city of Perdition,) and anoints himself with it, will see his wounds, and his madness, and will not tarry a minute longer here, though Belial should give him his three daughters, yea, or the fourth, which is the greatest of all, to do so.”
“What are those great streets called?” said I. “Each is called,” he replied, “by the name of the princess who governs it: the first is the street of Pride, the middle one the street of Pleasure, and the nearest, the street of Lucre.” “Pray tell me,” said I, “who are dwelling in these streets? What is the language which they speak? What are the tenets which they hold; and to what nation do they belong?” “Many,” said he, “of every language, faith, and nation under the Sun, are living in each of those vast streets below; and there are many living in each of the three streets alternately, and every one as near as possible to the gate; and they frequently remove, unable to tarry long in the one, from the great love they bear to the princess of some other street; and the old fox looks slyly on, permitting every one to love his choice, or