The whole Town caft down.

the Town of Manfoul; the which, when the rest of the townsfolk faw,. they all mourned and wept. This, therefore, was á day of rebuke and trouble, and of anguifh to the town of Manfoul, and also of great diftrefs.

again, Mr

advice.

After fome time, when they had fomewhat refrained They confult themselves, they came together to confult Godlyfear's again what by them was yet to be done; and they asked advice, as they did before, of that reverend Mr Godly-fear, who told them, that there was no way better than to do as they had done; nor would he that they should be difcouraged at all with what they had met with at Court, yea, though feveral of their petitions fhould be answered with nought but filence or rebuke. For, faid he, it is the way of the wife Shaddai to make men wait and to exercise patience; and it should be the way of them in want to be willing to stay his leifure.

Then they took courage, and fent again and again, and again and again: for there was not now one day, nor an hour, that went over Manfoul's head wherein a man might not have met upon the road one or other riding poft, founding the horn from faint awakened Manfoul to the Court of the King Shaddai ; and all with letters petitionary in behalf of (and for the Prince's return to) Mansoul.

Behold the work of a backfliding

Groaning-de

fires.

The road, I fay, was now full of meffengers going and returning, and meeting one another, fome from the Court, and fome from Manfoul; and this was the work of the miferable town of Manfoul all that long, that sharp, that cold, and tedious winter.

Now, if you have not forgot, you may remember A memento. that I told you before, that after Emmanuel

had

had taken Manfoul, yea, and after that he had newmodelled the Town, there remained, in feveral lurking places of the Corporation, many of the old Diabolonians, that either came with the tyrant when he invaded and took the Town, or had been there by reason of unlawful mixtures; their birth and breeding, and bringing up, and their holds, dens, and lurking places, were in, under, or about, the wall of the Town. Some of their names are the Lord Fornication, the Lord Adultery, the Lord Murder, the Lord Anger, the Lord Lafciviousness, the Lord Deceit, the Lord Evil-eye, the Lord Blafphemy, and that horrible villain the old and dangerous Lord Covetoufnefs. Thefe (as I told you) with many more, had yet their abode in the town of Manfoul, and that after that Emmanuel had driven their prince Diabolus out of the Caftle.

Against these the good Prince did grant a commiffion to the Lord Willbewill and others, yea, to the whole town of Manfoul, to feek, take, fecure, and destroy, any, or all that they could lay hands on; for that they were Diabolonians by nature, enemies to the Prince, and those that fought to ruin the bleffed town of Manfoul. But the Town did not pursue this warrant, but neglected to look after, to apprehend, to

Manfoul heed

Prince's cau

into execution.

fecure, and to deftroy thefe Diabolonians. ed not the Wherefore, what do these villains, but, by tion, nor put degrees, take courage to put forth their his commiffion heads, and to fhew themselves to the inhabitants of the Town? Yea, and, as I was told, fome of the men of Manfoul grew too familiar with fome of them, to the forrow of the Corporation, as you yet will hear more of in time and place.

Well, when the Diabolonian lords that were left, perceived that Manfoul had, through finning, offended Emmanuel

D d

nian's plot.

Emmanuel their Prince, and that he had withdrawn himself and was gone, what do they but plot the ruin The Diabolo of the town of Manfoul. So upon a time they met together at the hold of one Mr Mischief, who alfo was a Diabolonian, and there confulted how they might deliver up Manfoul into the hands of Diabolus again. Now fome advised one way, and fome another, every man according to his own liking. At last my lord Lafciviousness propounded whether it might not be beft, in the firft place, for fome of those that were Diabolonians in Mansoul, to adventure to offer themselves for fervants to fome of the natives of the Town; for, faid he, if they do so, and Manfoul fhall accept of them, they may for us, and for Diabolus our lord, make the taking of the town of Manfoul more eafy than otherwife it would be. But then ftood up the Lord Murder, and faid, This may not be done at this time, for Manfoul is now in a kind of rage, because by our friend Mr Carnal Security she hath been once infnared already, and made to offend against her Prince; and how fhall fhe reconcile herself unto her Lord again, but by the heads of these men? Befides, we know that they have in commiffion to take and flay us wherever they shall find us; let us therefore be wife as foxes: when we are dead we can do them no hurt, but while we live we may. Thus, when they had toffed the matter to and fro, they jointly agreed that a letter They fend to fhould forthwith be fent away to Diabolus Hell for advice. in their name, by which the state of the town of Manfoul fhould be fhewed him, and how much it is under the frowns of their Prince; we may alfo, faid fome, let him know our intentions, and ask of him his advice in the cafe.

So

So a letter was presently framed, the contents of which was thus:

To our great Lord, the Prince Diabolus, dwelling below in the infernal Cave.

"O

GREAT Father and mighty Prince The copy of Diabolus, we, the true Diabolo- their letter. nians, yet remaining in the rebellious town of Mansoul, having received our beings from thee, and our nourishment at thy hands, cannot, with content and quiet, endure to behold, as we do this day, how thou art difpraised, difgraced, and reproached, among the inhabitants of this Town; nor is thy long abfence at all delightful to us, becaufe greatly to our detriment.

"The reafon of this our writing unto our Lord is, for that we are not altogether without hope that this Town may become thy habitation again; for it is greatly declined from its Prince Emmanuel, and he is uprifen, and is departed from them; yea, and though, they fend, and fend, and fend, and fend, after him to return to them, yet can they not prevail, nor get good words from him.

"There has been alfo of late, and is yet remaining, a very great sickness and faintings among them, and that not only upon the poorer fort of the Town, but upon the lords, captains, and chief gentry of the place, (we only who are of the Diabolonians by nature remain well, lively, and strong); fo that through their great tranfgreffion on the one hand, and their dangerous fickness on the other, we judge they he open to thy hand and power. If, therefore, it fhall ftand with thy horrible cunning, and with the cunning of the reft of the princes with thee, to come and make an attempt to take Dd 2 Manfoul

Manfoul again, fend us word, and we fhall to our utmoft power be ready to deliver it into thy hand. Or, if what we have faid fhall not by thy fatherhood be thought beft and moft meet to be done, fend us thy mind in a few words, and we are all ready to follow thy counsel, to the hazarding of our lives, and what elfe we have,

"Given under our hands, after a clofe confultation at the houfe of Mr Mischief, who yet is alive, and hath his place in our defirable town of Manfoul,"

When Mr Profane (for he was the carrier) was come with his letter to Hellgate-hill, he knocked at the brafen for entrance. gate

Mr Profane carries the letter to Hell

presents it to Cerberus the

porter.

Then did gate-hill, and Cerberus the porter (for he is the keeper of that gate) open to Mr Profane, to whom he delivered his letter, which he had brought from the Diabalonians in Mansoul. So he carried it in, and prefented it to Diabolus his lord; and faid, Tidings, my Lord, from Manfoul, and from our trufty friends

there.

Then came together from all places of the den, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Apollyon, with the reft of the rabblement there, to hear what news from Manfoul. So the letter was broken up and read, and Cerberus he ftood by. When the letter was openly read, and the contents thereof spread into all the corners of the den, command was given, that, without let or stop, bell, and how Dead-man's-bell fhould be rung for joy. So the bell was rung, and the princes rejoiced that Manfoul was like to come to ruin. Now the clapper of the bell went, "The town of Manfoul is coming with us to dwell; make room for the town of Man

Dead-man's

it went.

foul."