passage to be nine Days, according to Mr. _Milton_, what
follow'd? why Hell gap'd wide, open'd its frightful mouth, and received
them all at once; millions and thousands of millions as they were, it
received them all at a gulp, _as we call it_, they had no difficulty to
go in, no, none at all.

_Facilis desensus averni, sed revocare gradum
Hoc opus hic labor est._---- Virg.

All this, as Poetical, we may receive, but not at all as Historical; for
then come difficulties insuperable in our way, some of which may be as
follow: (1.) Hell is here supposed to be a place; nay a place created
for the punishment of Angels and Men, and likewise created long before
those had fallen, or these had Being; this makes me say, Mr. _Milton_
was a good Poet, but a bad Historian: _Tophet_ was prepar'd of old,
indeed, but it was for the King, that is to say, it was prepar'd for
those whose lot it should be to come there; but this does not at all
suppose it was prepar'd before it was resolv'd whether there should be
subjects for it, or no; else we must suppose both Men and Angels were
made by the glorious and upright Maker of all things, on purpose for
destruction, which would be incongruous and absurd.

But there is worse yet to come; in the next place he adds, that _Hell_
having receiv'd them, clos'd upon them; that is to say, took them in,
clos'd or shut its Mouth; and in a word, they were lock'd in, as it was
said in another place, they were lock'd in, and the Key is carry'd up to
Heaven and kept there; for _we know_ the Angel came down from Heaven,
having the Key of the Bottomless-pit; but first, see Mr. _Milton_.

'Nine days they fell, confounded chaos roar'd
'And felt ten-fold confusion in their fall:
'----Hell at last
'Yawning receiv'd them all, and on them clos'd;
'Down from the verge of Heaven, eternal wrath
'Burnt after them----
'Unquenchable.

This Scheme is certainly deficient, if not absurd, and I think is more
so than any other he has laid; 'tis evident, neither _Satan_ or his Host
of _Devils_ are, _no not any of them_, yet, even now, confin'd in the
eternal Prison, where the Scripture says, he shall be _reserved in
chains of darkness_. They must have mean thoughts of _Hell_, as a
Prison, a _local_ Confinement, that can suppose the _Devil_ able to
break Goal, knock off his Fetters, and come abroad, if he had been once
lock'd in there, as Mr. _Milton_ says he was: Now