bright,
That in effulgent rays of glory shone,
Excell'd by eternal Light, by him alone,
Distorted now, and stript of Innocence,
And banish'd with thee from the high Pre-eminence,
How has the splendid Seraph chang'd his face,
Transform'd by thee, and like thy monstrous race?
Ugly as is the crime, for which he fell, }
Fitted by thee to make a local Hell, }
For such must be the place where either of you dwell. }

Thus, as I told you, I only moralize upon the subject, but as to the
difficulty, I must leave it as I find it, unless, _as I hinted at
first_, I could prevail with Satan to set pen to paper, and write this
part of his own History: No question, but he could let us into the
secret; but to be plain, I doubt I shall tell so many plain truths of
the _Devil_, in this History, and discover so many of his secrets, which
it is not for his interest to have discover'd, that before I have done,
the _Devil_ and I may not be so good friends as you may suppose we are;
at least, not friends enough to obtain such a favour of him, tho' it be
for public good; so we must be content till we come ont' other side the
_Blue-Blanket_, and then we shall know the whole Story.

But now, tho' as I said, I will not attempt to solve the difficulty, I
may, I hope, venture to tell you, that there is not so much difficulty
in it, as at first sight appears: and especially not so much as some
people would make us believe; let us see how others are mistaken in it,
perhaps, that may help us a little in the enquiry; for to know _what it
is not_, is one help towards knowing _what it is_.

Mr. _Milton_ has indeed told us a great many merry things of the Devil,
in a most formal, solemn manner; till in short he has made a good PLAY
of _Heaven_ and _Hell_; and no doubt if he had liv'd in our times, he
might have had it acted with our _Pluto_ and _Proserpine_. He has made
fine Speeches both for _God_ and the _Devil_, and a little addition
might have turn'd it _a la modern_ into a _Harlequin Dieu & Diable_.

I confess I don't well know how far the dominion of Poetry extends
itself; it seems the Buts and Bounds of _Parnassus_ are not yet
ascertain'd; so that for ought I know, by vertue of their antient
privileges call'd _Licentia Poetarum_, there can be no _Blasphemy_ in
_Verse_; as some of our Divines say there can be no _Treason_ in the
_Pulpit_. But they that will venture to write that way, ought to