Groups from
the various streets arrive and claim admittance, but, being unable to
leave their sins, have to return. The Bard and his Guide enter, and
passing by the Well of Repentance come in view of the Catholic Church,
the transept of which is the Church of England, with Queen Anne enthroned
above, holding the Sword of Justice in the left hand, and the Sword of
the Spirit in the right. Suddenly there is a call to arms, the sky
darkens, and Belial himself advances against the Church, with his earthly
princes and their armies. The Pope and Lewis of France, the Turks and
Muscovites fall upon England and her German allies, but, the angels
assisting, they are vanquished; the infernal hosts, too, give way and are
hurled headlong from the sky; whereupon the Bard awakes.
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.
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