a memorable fancy, plates 17-20

an angel came to me and said o pitiable foolish young man! o horrible! o dreadful state!

consider the hot burning dungeon thou art preparing for thyself to all eternity

to which thou art going in such career

i said

perhaps you will be willing to shew me my eternal lot

and we will contemplate together upon it and see whether your lot or mine is most desirable

so he took me thro' a stable and thro' a church and down into the church vault at the end of which was a mill: thro' the mill we went

and came to a cave

down the winding cavern we groped our tedious way till a void boundless as a nether sky appear'd beneath us

and we held by the roots of trees and hung over this immensity

but i said

if you please we will commit ourselves to this void

and see whether providence is here also

if you will not

i will? but he answer'd

do not presume o young-man but as we here remain behold thy lot which will soon appear when the darkness passes away

so i remain'd with him sitting in the twisted root of an oak

he was suspended in a fungus

which hung with the head downward into the deep

by degrees we beheld the infinite abyss

fiery as the smoke of a burning city; beneath us at an immense distance was the sun

black but shining; round it were fiery tracks on which revolv'd vast spiders

crawling after their prey; which flew or rather swum in the infinite deep

in the most terrific shapes of animals sprung from corruption

and the air was full of them

and seem'd composed of them; these are devils

and arc called powers of the air. i now asked my companion which was my eternal lot? he said

between the black and white spiders

but now

from between the black and white spiders

a cloud and fire burst and rolled thro' the deep

blackning all beneath

so that the nether deep grew black as a sea and rolled with a terrible noise; beneath us was nothing now to be seen but a black tempest

till looking east between the clouds and the waves

we saw a cataract of blood mixed with fire

and not many stones throw from us appear'd and sunk again the scaly fold of a monstrous serpent; at last to the east

distant about three degrees appear'd a fiery crest above the waves; slowly it reared like a ridge of golden rocks till we discover'd two globes of crimson fire

from which the sea fled away in clouds of smoke

and now we saw

it was the head of leviathan; his forehead was divided into streaks of green and purple like those on a tygers forehead: soon we saw his mouth and red gills hang just above the raging foam tinging the black deep with beams of blood

advancing toward us with all the fury of a spiritual existence

my friend the angel climb'd up from his station into the mill

i remain'd alone

and then this appearance was no more

but i found myself sitting on a pleasant bank beside a river by moonlight hearing a harper who sung to the harp

and his theme was

the man who never alters his opinion is like standing water

and breeds reptiles of the mind

but i arose

and sought for the mill and there i found my angel

who surprised asked me how i escaped?

i answer'd

all that we saw was owing to your metaphysics; for when you ran away

i found myself on a bank by moonlight hearing a harper. but now we have seen my eternal lot

shall i shew you yours? he laugh'd at my proposal; but i by force suddenly caught him in my arms

and flew westerly thro' the night

till we were elevated above the earths shadow; then i flung myself with him directly into the body of the sun; here i clothed myself in white

and taking in my hand swedenborgs volumes

sunk from the glorious clime

and passed all the planets till we came to saturn; here i staid to rest

and then leap'd into the void

between saturn and the fixed stars

here

said i! is your lot

in this space

if space it may be call'd. soon we saw the stable and the church

and i took him to the altar and open'd the bible

and lo! it was a deep pit

into which i descended driving the angel before me; soon we saw seven houses of brick; one we enter'd; in it were a number of monkeys

baboons

and all of that species

chain'd by the middle

grinning and snatching at one another

but withheld by the shortness of their chains; however i saw that they sometimes grew numerous

and then the weak were caught by the strong

and with a grinning aspect

first coupled with and then devour'd

by plucking off first one limb and then another till the body was left a helpless trunk; this after grinning and kissing it with seeming fondness they devour'd too; and here and there i saw one savourily picking the flesh off of his own tail; as the stench terribly annoy'd us both we went into the mill

and i in my hand brought the skeleton of a body

which in the mill was aristotles analytics

so the angel said: thy phantasy has imposed upon me and thou oughtest to be ashamed

i answer'd: we impose on one another

and it is but lost time to converse with you whose works are only analytics

opposition is true friendship