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312 is to be hoped, blackened the character of the master in describing the characteristics of the servant; if so, the former will be more indebted to a great many whiter and fairer followers than they seem to be at all aware of; and I am not without some anxiety lest I should have dealt with him too severely, for we read that the archangel Michael, when contending with him for the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, 'The Lord rebuke thee.' The question therefore arises. Was it my duty, or my mission, to paint him as I have done, even supposing him to be the sole author of all the evil that is in the world? Many will say that, as I have thrown so much ridicule upon him, I cannot myself believe in his existence. In his existence as a spiritual power I certainly do believe; but I believe that every human being, however weak and humble he may be, can successfully resist him; for there is another, and an infinitely superior, Power always ready to help those who can firmly resolve to try that resistance.

The description of Hades on which I have ventured is not half so shocking as I might have made it, if I had been guided by precedents of a very eminent kind. It has been, and is, known, on paper, and by oral tradition, under such names as the 'Infernal Regions,' the 'Pit of Acheron,' the 'Shades of Tartarus,' the 'Valley of the Shadow of Death,' and 'Hell.' Dante has painted it in extraordinary and almost unimaginable colours, with vivid and revolting horrors, which one would think no human being could have possibly conceived. Milton has peopled it with billions of fallen angels, who are condemned to live amongst rocks of ice and lakes of fire, with fearful monsters and leviathans to bear them company. It is a pity that Shakespeare has not given us an extended view, according to his ideas, of the gloomy world. I forget what Homer says on the prolific subject, but remember Ford's particular vision: