Opposite the door, upon a flame-encompassed throne sat the Evil One with
the lost archangels around him, seated on benches of terrible fire,
according to the rank they formerly bore in the region of light--the
lovely whelps--it would only be a waste of words to attempt to describe
how atrociously ugly they were, and the longer I gazed upon them,
sevenfold more frightful did they become. In the centre above Lucifer's
head was a huge hand grasping an awful bolt. The princesses, after
paying their courtesy, immediately returned to their duties on earth. No
sooner had they departed than at the King's bidding, a gigantic devil
with cavernous jaws set up a roar, louder than the discharge of a hundred
cannon, and as loud, were it possible, as the last trump, to proclaim the
infernal Parliament, and behold, without delay, the court and hall are
filled by the rabble of hell in every shape, each upon the form and image
of that particular sin he was wont to urge upon men. After enjoining
silence, Lucifer, looking steadfastly upon the chieftains nearest him,
began and spake these gracious words:-
"Ye peers of this profoundest gulf, princes of the hopeless gloom, if we
have lost the place we erst possessed, when, clothed with brightness, we
dwelt in those celestial, happy realms; yet, however great our fall,
'twas glorious, nought less than all did we hazard, nor is all lost--for,
behold regions wide and deep extending to the utmost bounds of desolate
Perdition still 'neath our sway.
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