The Visions of the Sleeping Bard

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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."

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