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

all three if he pleases, for then he is most sure of him.”

“Come nearer to them,” said the angel, and hurried with me downwards, shrouded in his impenetrable veil, through much noxious vapour which was rising from the city; presently we descended in the street of Pride, upon a spacious mansion open at the top, whose windows had been dashed out by dogs and crows, and whose owners had departed to England or France, to seek there for what they could have obtained much easier at home; thus, instead of the good, old, charitable, domestic family of yore, there were none at present but owls, crows, or chequered magpies, whose hooting, cawing and chattering were excellent comments on the practices of the present owners.  There were in that street, myriads of such abandoned palaces, which might have been, had it not been for Pride, the resorts of the best, as of yore, places of refuge for the weak, schools of peace and of every kind of goodness; and blessings to thousands of small houses around.

From the summit of this ruin, we had scope and leisure enough to observe the whole street on either side.  There were fair houses of wondrous height and magnificence—and no wonder, as there were emperors, kings, and hundreds of princes there, and thousands of nobles and gentry, and very many women of every degree.  I saw a vain high-topt creature, like a ship at full sail, walking as if in a frame, carrying about her full the amount of a pedlar’s pack, and having at her ears, the worth of a good farm, in pearls; and there were not a few of her kind—some were singing, in order that their voices might be praised; some were dancing, to show their figures; others were painting to improve their complexions; others had been trimming themselves before the glass, for three hours, learning to smile, moving pins and making gestures and putting

themselves in attitudes.  There was many a vain creature there, who did not know how to open her lips to speak, or to eat, nor, from sheer pride, to look under her feet; and many a ragged shrew, who would insist that she was as good a gentlewoman as the best in the street; and many an ambling fop, who could winnow beans with the mere wind of his train.

Whilst I was looking, from afar upon these, and a hundred such, behold! there passed by towards us, a bouncing, variegated lady with a lofty look, and with a hundred folks gazing after her; some bent themselves as if to adore her; some few thrust something into her hand.  Being unable to imagine who she was, I enquired.  “Oh,” replied my friend, “she is one who has all her portion in sight, yet you see how many foolish people are seeking her, and the meanest of them in possession of all the attainments she can boast of.  She will not have what she can gain, and will never gain what she desires, and she will speak to no one but her betters, on account of her mother’s telling her, ‘that a young woman cannot do a worse thing, than be humble in her love.’”  Thereupon came out from beneath us a pillar of a man, who had been an alderman, and in many official situations; he came spreading his wings as if to fly, though he could scarcely draw one knee after the other, on account of the gout, and various other genteel disorders: notwithstanding which, you could not obtain from him, but through a