have taken from the cup of DECEIT, are incapable of distinguishing which is the true way in life; and wander about inconfiderately, here and there, as you fee they do. You may obferve too, that they who have been in some time, go about just as these direct them.

S. They do fo. But, pray, who is that woman who seems to be both blind and mad, and who stands on that round ftone there?

O. C. That is FORTUNE; and fhe is really not only mad and blind, but deaf too.

S. What then can her business be?

O. C. She flies about every where, and fnatches what he has from one, to give it to another; and then takes it away again from him, to gave it to a third; without any manner of meaning, or any degree of certainty which latter is very aptly fignified by her figure here.

S. How fo?

O. C. By her standing on that round stone, which fhew that there is no ftability or fecurity in her favours; as all who truft to her find, by fome great and unexpected fall.

S. And what does all that company about her want of her? and how are they called?

O. C. They are called, THE INCONSIDERATES, and are begging for fome of thofe things which the flings

about her.

S. And why do they appear with such a diversity of paffions? fome of them as overjoyed, and others as very much diftreft?

O. C. They who fmile and rejoice, are fuch as have received fomething from her hand; and these

call her by the title of GOOD FORTUNE: and fuch as weep and mourn, are they from whom fhe has refumed what she had before given them; and these call her BAD FORTUNE.

S. And what is it fhe gives, that should make the former rejoice fo much on the receiving it, and the latter lament fo much at the lofs of it?

. O. C. All thofe things which the greater part of mankind think good, fuch as wealth, and glory, and nobility, and offspring, and dignities, and crowns; and all fuch fort of things.

S. And are not these really good things?

O. C. As to that we may talk more at large another time; but at prefent, if you please, let us stick to our picture. You fee then, after entering this portal, there is another inclosure, on a raifed ground, and several women standing before it, drefs'd out too, much like ladies of pleasure.

S. They are fo.

O. C. Of thefe, this is INTEMPERANCE; that LuxURY; this is AVARICE; and that other FLATTERY. S. And what do they ftand there for?

O. C. They are waiting for those who have received any thing from FORTUNE; and as they meet with them, they embrace them with the greatest fondness, attach themselves to them, do every thing. they can to please them, and beg them to stay with them; promise them to render their whole lives delightful, eafy, and free from all manner of care or trouble. Now whoever is carried away by them to VOLUPTUOUSNESS, will find their company agreeable to him at first, whilft they are fondling and tickling

his paffions; but it is foon quite otherwife; for when he recovers his fenfes, he perceives that he did not enjoy them, but was enjoyed by them; and that they prey upon him, and deftroy him. And when he has, by their means, confumed all that he had received. from FORTUNE, then is he obliged to become their flave, to bear all the infults they are pleafed to impofe upon him, to yield to all the moft fcandalous practices, and in the end, to commit all forts of villainies for their fake; fuch as betraying, defrauding, robbing, facrilege, perjury, and the like: and when all thefe fail him, then is he given up to PUNISHMENT.

O. C. Don't you fee there, a little behind those women, a narrow dark cavern, with a fmall fort of door to it, and fome miferable women that appear within, clad only in filth and rags ?

S. I fee them.

O. C. She who holds up the fcourge in her hand, is PUNISHMENT; this, with her head funk almost down to her knees, is SORROW; and that other tearing her hair, is ANGUISH OF MIND.

S. And pray, who is that meagre figure of a man without any cloaths on, juft by them? and that lean woman, that refembles him fo much in her make and

face?

O. C. Thofe are REPINING, and his fifter DESPAIR. To all thefe is the wretch I was speaking of delivered up, and lives with them in torments, till finally he is caft into the house of MISERY; where he paffes the remainder of his days in all kinds of wretchedness; unless, by chance, REPENTANCE fhould fall in his way.

S. What

S. What happens then?

O. C. If REPENTANCE fhould chance to meet with him, fhe will take him out of the evil fituation. he was in, and will place a different OPINION and DESIRE before him: one, of those which lead to TRUE SCIENCE; and the other, of those which lead to SCIENCE falfely fo called.

S. And what then?

O. C. If he embraces that which leads to TRUE SCIENCE, he is renewed and faved, and becomes a happy man for all his days; but if the other, he is bewildered again by FALSE SCIENCE.

S. Good Heaven! what a new danger do you tell me of! And pray, which is FALSE SCIENCE?

O. C. Do you fee that fecond inclosure?

S. Very plainly.

O. C. And don't you see a woman standing without the inclosure, juft by the entrance into it, of a very ftriking appearance, and very well dreffed?

S. As plainly.

O. C. That is she whom the multitude, and all the unthinking part of mankind, call by the name of Science; though fhe is really FALSE SCIENCE. Now those who are faved out of the house of mifery call in here, in their paffage to TRUE SCIENCE.

S. Is there then no other way to TRUE SCIENCE but this?

O. C. Yes, there is.

S. And pray who are thofe men that are walking to and fro within the inclosure ?

O. C. Those who have attached themselves to Falfe Science, mistaking her for the True.

S. And what are they?

Ee 4

O. C. Some

O. C. Some of them are poets, fome rhetoricians, fome logicians, fome students in mufic, arithmetic, and geometry; pleafurifts, peripatetics, critics, and feveral others of the fame rank.

S. And who are those women who seem so bufy among them, and are fo like INTEMPERANCE, and her companions, in the firft inclosure ?

O. C. They are the very fame.

S. Are they then admitted into this fecond inclosure ?

O. C. Yes indeed; but not so readily, or frequently, as in the first.

S. And are the OPINIONS too admitted?

Ó. C. Undoubtedly; for the perfons who belong to this inclosure, have not yet got rid of the draught which they took out of the cup of Deceit.

S. What then, IGNORANCE remains ftill with them?

O. C. That it does, and FOLLY too; nor can they get rid of the OPINIONS, nor all the reft of this vile train, till they quit Falfe Science, and get into the way of the True; till they drink of her purifying liquor, and wash away all the dregs of the evils that remain in them; which that, and that only, is capable of doing. Such therefore as fix their abode with Falfe Science will never be delivered; nor can all their ftudies clear them from any one of those evils.

S. Which then is the way to True Science?

O. C. Do you fee that place on high there, that looks as if it were uninhabited?

S. I do.

O. C. And do you difcern a little opening be

tween