it, must have two doors, one, thro' which they bring out thofe bleffed fouls which they think fit to fend up to Heaven; and another, at which they fend in the new comers, who are to occupy the vacant places. But as the other fects of the chriftian religion adopt not this doctrine of tranfmigration, but, on the contrary, look on it as a fable, invented only to put money into the pockets of thofe who urge its belief, this opinion, whether true or falfe, will not in the leaft weaken that general law, eftablished against all the inhabitants of Hell, and which condemns them to remain there for ever. The only exception which has been ever made to the law was, according to the opinion of every chriftian, in favour of our bleffed Redeemer, who, like another Dædalus, is the Only one who has ever been able to get out from this labyrinth, wherefrom he returned upon this earth, where he dwelt forty days longer, at the expiration of which, cleaving, like an eagle, the immenfe spaces of the air, afcended on the wings of his immortality, to that heavenly abode, which he had not quitted but to perform the great mafter-work of our redemption. This is the only inftance; and had you as many eyes as Argus + had formerly, and thofe a thousand times redoubled,

+ Son of Acaftor. The poets have given him an hundred eyes, ninety-eight of which were always op

en,

redoubled, I defy you to find any body who ever did

the like.

CHA P. XVI.

Of the extent of Hell.

VERY perfon, who has had the curiofity

EVE

to travel to Japan, tell us, that the prifons in that country are fo little, and fo very narrow, that those who are put into them have hardly room to move. This is, undoubtedly, a terrible inconvenience: but there is no fuch to be found in Hell; let us, on this point, only refer to the authority of one of our most famous theologists, a writer fo well versed in these matters, that it would be great injustice in Lucifer, was he not to honour him with the title of Geo.

en, whilst the others fucceffively were clofed in fleep. He was chofen by Juno to watch Io, whom Jupiter was in love with, and had transformed into a cow, to preserve her from the jealoufy of that goddefs. Mercury made him fall asleep by the found of his pipe, and killed him by Jupiter's command. Juno, to reward the fidelity of his fpy, changed him into a peacock, whofe circular spots of gold, green and blue, spread in the tail, reprefented these hundred eyes.

grapher of Hell *. From the moft accurate menfuration and furvey that he has made of that place, its extent must be at least five miles fquare.

IT is not improbable, that at firft view this fpacewill appear to you not large enough to contain the vaft number of its inhabitants; but a moment's reflexion will certainly fet you right, and make you to confefs that it is not only enough, but much more than fufficient for to hold even millions of millions of fouls, when you fhall know that a hundred of them, and more, do not fill up a hundred part of the space which one fingle body does here on earth. You may perhaps, befides, have heard of, nor is it impoffible, that you have feen, at Rome, thofe famous theatres and amphitheatres, such as that of M. Scaurus, which, according to Pliny's account, contained fourfcore thoufand fpectators; that of Vefpafian, which held above an hundred thoufand, with other leffer ones, as thofe of Pompey and Marcellus, and that of Fidene, whofe fall was fo fatal to those who came to fee the games which were there represented t. From a comparitive view

* Drexelius.

t There perished twenty thousand people by this accident, who had come from Rome and other neighbouring places: it happened by the fall of the fcaffolding, which not being fufficiently strong, broke down. under the weighty multitude of the fpectators.

view of the fize of thefe edifices, and that which this learned and profound theologician has given us of Hell, we may be able to form fome kind of judgment, how many millions of fouls the latter may contain.

FOR my part, when I reflect that Hell, fince its creation, has never loft one of its fubjects, who have already gone thither; that it is ftill receiving fresh multitudes every day; and that it will ftill continue to receive fuch to the very period of the entire extinction of the human race (than which nothing at present seems more distant); it appears evident to me that its leaft extent must be full what I have mentioned above. It is true, were all those who are confin-ed there to take up as much room as Tityus, to whom Virgil has given a space of nine acres of ground, over which he tells us that enormous giant's body reached, in that cafe Hell, even with the fpace: we have given it, would ftill be a million of times too little, and its inhabitants unable to move, any more than the faints in Heaven would be, if that place was full of nothing but St. Chriftophers. But as it is well known, that both thefe gigantic personages are equally fabulous, we cannot draw the leaft conclufion with refpect to the point in hand, from. any thing that we are told about them.

LET us conclude from all this, that Hell is full as fpacious as it ought be; not only that its inhabitants (whofe number is at every inftant of the day and night increasing) may be entirely at ease therein,

but also that whatever legions of new fubjects may arrive, there may be ftill fufficient room for thofe who fhall come after. This too is evident from our not feeing any one amongst the numbers who have taken this journey turned back for want of lodgings. Nay, more, we never find any perfon, though just leaving this world, entertain the leaft uneafinefs on that head, fo fully fatisfied are they all of getting apartments; which muft certainly be no fmall advan· tage to those who are, and have been their whole lives, averfe to the leaft trouble.

Hell very well peopled: and for what reason.

A

;.

Nother no lefs confiderable advantage, and

which probably contributes no less to attract that great multitude of inhabitants which are to be found there, is its air. The ancient geographers, as well as hiftorians, imagined, and even told us, for want of experience, in their writings, that those countries which are fituated in the equator, or under the equinoctial line, were uninhabited, and even uninhabitable. The reason they gave for it was, that thofe countries being always expofed to the burning rays of the fun, it was quite impoffible for men

to