yield up our duties to you." "And yet," said the angel
softly, "Lucifer has another reason for keeping such a particular watch
over these; he knows well, that if they should break out, they would turn
all Hell topsy-turvy." From here we went, still going downward, to a
place where I beheld a frightful den, in which was a horrible clamour,
the like of which I had never heard, for swearing, cursing, blaspheming,
snarling, groaning, and crying. "Who is here?" said I. "This," said he,
"is the den of the thieves. Here is a swarm of game-keepers, lawyers,
stewards, and the old Judas in the midst of them; they have been
excessively annoyed at seeing the tailors and weavers above them, in a
more comfortable chamber." Almost before I could turn myself, there came
a horse of a devil, bearing a physician and an apothecary, whom he cast
down amongst the pedlars and the duffers, for selling bad, rotten ware;
but they beginning to fume at being placed in such low company, one of
the devils said, "stay, stay! you _do_ deserve a different place," and
cast them down amongst the conquerors and the murderers. There was a
multitude shut up here, for playing with false dice and concealing cards;
but before I could observe much, I heard, close by the door, a terrible
rush and rustle, with a hie! hie! get on! ho! yo! hip! I turned to see
what it was; but perceiving nothing but horned goblins, I enquired of my
guide whether there were cuckolds amongst the devils? "No," said he,
"they are in a particular cell. These are drovers who would fain escape
to the place of the Sabbath-breakers, and are driven hither against their
will." At that word, I looked, and perceived their polls full of the
horns of sheep and cattle, and those who drove them, casting them down
beneath the feet of the bloodiest robbers. "Crouch there," said one;
"though you feared so much of old the thieves on London road, you were
yourselves the very worst species of highwaymen, living upon the road and
plundering, yes, and murdering poor families. O how many poor creatures
did you not keep, with their hungry mouths open, in vain expectation of
the money for the sale of the beasts, which they had intrusted to you;
and you in the mean time in Ireland, or in the King's Bench laughing at
them, or upon the road in the midst of your wine and harlots."

On quitting this den of furious heat, I got a sight of a lair, exceeding
all the rest I had seen in Hell, but one, in frig