The Visions of Quevedo Part 10

"We accord to Montezuma," said Lucifer, "the Spaniards who conquered Mexico, with the exception of the tailors, whom we reserve for our own table."

After that came an abbot, who took the t.i.tle of ten abbeys, besides priories, and eighteen cures. "Behold," said Lucifer, "an abbot, with as many t.i.tles as a Roman emperor: speak, of whom do you complain? had you not a sufficient income to live honourably in the world, according to your degree? How have you employed your revenue? Play, women, good cheer, horses, dogs, equipage, dress, and relations, have eaten it. You demand, without doubt, justice against the authors of your ruin: I grant it amply and promptly. For the mortification of your enemies, I surrender you to the troop of beggars who throng the avenues of my palace, and who would not have been d.a.m.ned, if, by alms which would have cost you but little, you had removed from them the necessity of becoming thieves and robbers: go, learn in h.e.l.l to spend but little yourself."

The minettes, the bigots, and hypocrites, demanded audience. "These are very pleasant people," said Lucifer to Jupiter; "they will divert us."

"An Italian comic writer," said one of them, "has burlesqued us, as if it was wrong to _seem_ honest men in the public eye. When one has not the substance of virtue, is it reprehensible to set a good example? It is true, that if our lives, hidden under this cloak, had been exposed, our hypocrisy and spurious piety would have been easily detected; but we injured no person, and if any one was scandalized by our example, it was for conscience sake."

The Italian writer, who happened to be present, and whom I had not before perceived, cried out, "satyrists of France and Italy, our cause is common."

Immediately there appeared a number of comic writers, ranged under their respective masters, among whom I saw, with pleasure, Juvenal, Terence, Plautus, Seneca the tragedian, and Greek, Latin, and French authors, ancient and modern. The writer, behind whom they were ranged, decried the manners of his age, and exposed the wickedness of hypocrites, who, abusing all that is sacred in religion, to deceive men, dupe the simple, and gain an unmerited reputation. Who would believe that a man was wicked enough to wish to deceive, at the same time, both G.o.d and man?

This is what hypocrites do, when under the veil of divine love, and with an air of humility, more haughty than vanity itself, they conceal sensual affections, hatred of brethren, and a licentious life, unknown but to those who partic.i.p.ate in it.-A woman wishes to hide from her husband an amorous intrigue; she is at her devotions in the morning, and in the evening still goes to a lecture, where she knows she shall see her friend. Often the church itself is the theatre of a love scene-the preacher, a fine young man, whose manners are more fascinating than his discourse. Frequently some broad-shouldered fellow sets at nought truth, chast.i.ty, continence, the money of husbands, and so forth. Affairs of business are conducted on the same principle, as those of love. "Who would believe that this devout man was a usurer: that he had possession, almost for nothing, of the meadow, the vineyard, and the house of a peasant! Oh, this is a holy man! he is full of conscience; every day constantly at church, his piety is exemplary. Behold the fate of a hypocrite: this knavery, is it any thing but a dead loss? for of what service is it to bigots to live in such uneasy constraint, if that does not procure them pleasure, property, or the gratification of their vanity?

"And I," said a woman, "can I be accused of hypocrisy? My virtue, my science, my writings, do they not demonstrate the unfeignedness of my devotion? Should I be spoken of in any other way than as Saint Therese?

Have I not had, in that character, apparitions, visions, a spirit of prophecy, and a discernment into the heart and conscience?"

"Contemplate, sirs," said the satirist, "the people of the spirit, if such a thing is not above your comprehension. What is this but to deceive the world by spiritual artifices? What is this incomprehensible new grace? What devotee but has possessed it; and what mystick but has held the same language? Truly, madam, grace is very much obliged to you, and fanaticism owes you thanks; visionaries and lunaticks have gained their causes; the ancient heretics and comforters owe you a statue and a chapel."

Another woman said, "I have not had visions; but I have experienced realities: I have seen what I thought I saw; and if I had any devotion it was for my directors. I had one whom I looked upon as my guardian angel; I had for him an extreme friends.h.i.+p; I made him presents and he never failed in any thing towards me; I saw him every day, and should have preferred deceiving my father rather than him. Was he sick, I suffered also; and to solace him, sent meats, confections, fruits, and even money.

I was so chagrined at his absence that I could not bear my own house; I became unquiet, impatient and melancholy; every thing vexed me. His superiors having ordered his change, I almost expired with grief; I wrote to him by every mail; if I received not his letters, I felt new sorrow: a thousand phantoms presented themselves to my imagination. I fancied him as bestowing his pains upon another object, and thought that absence and change of residence had altered his inclination. He returned: what rapture! I ran to his house, although in dishabille: on the morrow I was at his feet; each day of the week I go to recount to him my pleasures and pains. In the mean time an honest man sought me in marriage; I consulted my director; he charged me to dismiss this man, who accordingly received his farewell. Another brave cavalier offered himself and received the same answer. Behold me now in my thirty-fifth year; my director exhorted me to consecrate to G.o.d my virginity: I retired to a monastery, but he was not willing that I should take the veil. At length he died; I wept, I regretted him; I observed a nine days' devotion for his death. When my grief was a.s.suaged, I reflected upon my age: the time of youth was past; I took the veil, contracted some amiable acquaintances, founded funeral obsequies for the repose of my soul, bequeathed my estate to the convent, and died. This is my history; this is true devotion."

"And I," said another menette, "had no such object to fix my imagination; I wore invariably a modest dress, my veil always drawn over my eyes, and sleeves to my very hands: I rose early in the morning to go to church, and was constantly seen at all devotional exercises; for me there was neither parties, a.s.semblies, nor feasts: I did not attach myself to my confessor, although often at his grate. In the mean time, I had some good friends, who went about preaching my virtue far and wide, and princ.i.p.ally to those rich men whom they knew not to be fond of gallantry, and yet exceedingly fearful of what generally happens to men of their years after marriage. Your affair is finished, say they to the marrying men; I have discovered a girl of superlative virtue, who knows not a single man in the world, and who is so unsophisticated with respect to love matters, that she does not even know the name of masculine garments; always engaged in her domestic duties; without luxury, without vanity, rich withal, and beloved of her father. 'This is a girl that will exactly suit me,' said an opulent citizen with sixty years and the gout; 'I shall have a nurse for the remainder of my life; I will make her fine presents, and after my death she shall have the enjoyment of my estate.'

In fine, they consulted me with regard to this man; I demanded time to determine; something unlucky might happen to my virtue; I asked light from above; heaven appeared favourable to this union. See me then espoused; I play the innocent, the ingenuous: my husband, deceived, felicitates himself in my simplicity: all this time I secretly received the attentions of a handsome young man; the more I saw him, the stronger appeared my conjugal attachment. Behold my history, and discreet devotion."

I saw still other menettes of different characters, who exposed the motives of their hypocrisy, and confessed that they had no other religion. These are liars, for truly religious souls shun ostentation: true devotion is so considerate, that those who possess it endeavour to conceal it, to avoid being elevated in the opinion of the world.

Christian humility flies the eulogies of men: their praise seems a dangerous enemy, which, in flattering, withdraws the heart from the right way; it refuses the recompense due to merit, and contents itself with affording that good example, which the honour of virtue and religion demand; all which, Jupiter, in a homily to the fanatics, set forth at large. The following is the decree that was then read and published before this great audience, in presence of the demons and the d.a.m.ned.

DECREE OF LUCIFER.

"LUCIFER, to the legions of demons and d.a.m.ned people of h.e.l.l, unhappiness, despair, eternal pains. In order to the due execution of justice and vengeance entrusted to our hands, _we will_, _ordain_, and _command_, under the severest penalties:

"First, that our demons be always present at the tribunals of the world, whether secular or canonical; that they take care of the account books of merchants; prevent soldiers from thinking of death; trouble the imagination of fanatics; inspire mundane sentiments in those who wish to enter holy orders, benefices, and monasteries; that they be the confidants of intrigues; that they repeat every day, to wives and daughters, what a lovely young man has said to them once only: in fine, let nothing be done in the world; let nothing be transacted in the shops, bureaus, academies, places of commerce, etc. at which they shall not be present; and we charge them to render an account to ourselves once a year.

"Secondly, we ordain them reporters, flatterers, go-betweens, authors of discord, divisions and lawsuits, under pain of disobedience.

"Thirdly, we order, also, in the matter which concerns those condemned to h.e.l.l, that the judgments we have p.r.o.nounced against them in their causes be put into immediate execution; that all those who have been condemned, whether individually or collectively, return to their cells, resume their irons, and there remain to all eternity, without hope of solace, or change in their sufferings. Such is our will, and we make no distinction in favour of pagan G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses, whom we regard in the same light as other subjects of our empire."

When Lucifer had spoken, his visage entirely changed; his eyes became sparkling like two flambeaus; his nostrils cast out smoke mixed with fire; his mouth exhaled an infectious odour; his hands and feet changed to claws; from behind him issued a long tail, upon the end of which was a great b.u.t.ton of iron; his ears were horns like those of the rhinoceros: he spoke again, and his voice sounded like the crash of thunder. This is the substance of what he uttered: "Let these places return to their former state; let darkness pervade the whole region; let the prisons shut with horrid sound upon all this infernal race; let rage and despair seize upon the d.a.m.ned; let a violent fire devour them; let the worm of remorse knaw without consuming, and let the habitude of torment afford no solace.

Go, miserable wretches! obey! precipitate yourselves into these black retreats! suffer without expiation! and let my ears be sweetly flattered by the sound of your cries and chains!"

When Lucifer had p.r.o.nounced this terrible sentence my demon transported me out of the hall, and at the same instant I heard it and the whole palace sink with a horrid crash. Those crushed among the ruins uttered the most lamentable cries: I then perceived an immense volume of smoke; after that I found myself in the midst of the field which is at the extremity of my garden, from whence I returned to my house, totally absorbed in the contemplation of this vision.-If the things here related did not actually pa.s.s in h.e.l.l as I have supposed, the probability is, that the fact does not widely differ from the representation. The judgments of Lucifer are there promptly executed, without notice to the culprit: cases are decided without advocates: no person is absolved, for innocence never enters places destined to eternal punishment. The fire of h.e.l.l exposes their perfidious designs, their pa.s.sions and crimes; it reveals all secrets, and sets forth the reasons for which the guilty have been condemned. The sight of suffering companions affords no relief; it rather augments their grief; contrary to which, in the world, egotism and corruption render them insensible to the sufferings of another. The _reformation_ made by Lucifer operates invisibly in the commerce of men; the demons and our pa.s.sions are the causes of the disorder and injustice that prevail in society. Oh! if it was possible for each one really to behold what is here only imagined, how soon would they abandon their careless manner of life! But ought we to be more wicked because we have less fear? Let us think, let us think upon the other world; let us seriously reflect upon our latter end; if that offers us happiness and rapture, let us, by perseverance, endeavour to attain it; but if, on the contrary, we antic.i.p.ate unhappiness and anguish, let us spare no pains to escape so direful a doom; let the aspect of h.e.l.l contribute to the reformation of our manners, and be so impressed upon our minds as to be the means of our salvation from the greatest of all evils.

THE END.