" "Fell ruin seize my mother," shrieked a third, "whose covetous
pride refused me a husband at my need, and so drove me to obtain by
stealth what I might have honestly obtained." "Hell, a double hell to
the raging bull of a nobleman who first tempted me," cried another, "had
he not by fair and foul broken through all bounds, I would not have
become a common chattel, nor would I have come to this infernal place;"
and then would they lacerate themselves again.
I made all haste to leave their loathsome kennel, but I had not proceeded
far before I observed, to my astonishment, another prison full of women,
still more abominable; some had become frogs; some, dragons; some,
serpents, and there they swam about, hissing and foaming, and butting one
another, in a foetid, stagnant pool that was much larger than Bala Lake.
"Pray, what can these be?" asked I. "There are here," said he, "four
chief classes of women, not to mention their minions--Firstly: Panders,
who maintained harlots to sell their virginity an hundred times, and the
worst of these around them. Secondly: Mistresses of gossip, surrounded
by thousands of tale-bearing hags.
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