man
bodies, but not your souls, for they are of an origin and generation
higher and more exalted." Through the vast, frightful place of Chaos we
at length broke out to the left hand, and before travelling any distance
there, where every thing was ever becoming more frightful, I could feel
my heart at the top of my throat, and my hair standing like the prickles
of the hedge-hog, even before seeing any thing; but when I _did_ see--oh!
spectacle too much for tongue to relate, or for the spirit of man to
behold. I fainted. Oh, the amazing and monstrous abyss, opening in a
horrible manner into the other world! Oh, the continual crackling of the
terrible flames, darting over the sides of the accursed precipice, and
the flashes of linked lightning rending the black, thick smoke, which the
unsightly orifice was casting up! My dear companion, having brought me
to myself again, gave me some spiritual water to drink; O how excellent
it was in its taste and color! After drinking of the heavenly water, I
could feel a wonderful strength diffusing itself through me, bringing
with it sense, heart, faith, and various other heavenly virtues. By this
time I had approached with him unterrified to the edge of the steep,
enveloped in the veil, the flames parting on both sides and avoiding us,
not daring to come in contact with the inhabitants of the supreme abodes.
Then from the summit of the terrific precipice we darted down, like two
stars falling from the firmament of heaven, a thousand million of miles,
over many a brimstone crag, and many a furious, ugly cataract and glowing
precipice, every thing that we passed looking always frowningly downward;
yet every thing noxious avoided us, except once, when having thrust my
nose out of the veil, I was struck by such a suffocating, strangling
exhalation as would have put an end to me, if my guide had not instantly
assisted me with the water of life. By the time that I had recovered, I
perceived that we had arrived at a kind of standing place; for in all
this loathsome chasm it was impossible to obtain any rest before, owing
to the steepness and slipperiness of its sides. There my guide permitted
me to take some further rest; and during this respite, it happened that
the thunders and the hoarse whirlwinds became silent for a little while,
and in spite of the din of the raging cataracts, I heard from afar a
sound louder than the whole--a sound of horrible harsh voices, of
shouting, bellowi