'Durum: sed levius sit patientia
Quicquid corrigere est nefas.'

Hor.

As some of the finest Compositions among the Ancients are in Allegory, I
have endeavoured, in several of my Papers, to revive that way of
Writing, and hope I have not been altogether unsuccessful in it; for I
find there is always a great Demand for those particular Papers, and
cannot but observe that several Authors have endeavoured of late to
excel in Works of this Nature. Among these, I do not know any one who
has succeeded better than a very ingenious Gentleman, to whom I am much
obliged for the following Piece, and who was the Author of the Vision in
the CCCCLXth Paper. [O.]

How are we tortured with the Absence of what we covet to possess, when
it appears to be lost to us! What Excursions does the Soul make in
Imagination after it! And how does it turn into it self again, more
foolishly fond and dejected, at the Disappointment? Our Grief, instead
of having recourse to Reason, which might restrain it, searches to find
a further Nourishment. It calls upon Memory to relate the several
Passages and Circumstances of Satisfactions which we formerly enjoyed:
the Pleasures we purchased by those Riches that are taken from us; or
the Power and Splendour of our departed Honours; or the Voice, the
Words, the Looks, the Temper, and Affections of our Friends that are
deceased. It needs must happen from hence that the Passion should often
swell to such a Size as to burst the Heart which contains it, if Time
did not make these Circumstances less strong and lively, so that Reason
should become a more equal Match for the Passion, or if another Desire
which becomes more present did not overpower them with a livelier
Representation. These are Thoughts which I had, when I fell into a kind
of Vision upon this Subject, and may therefore stand for a proper
Introduction to a Relation of it.

I found my self upon a naked Shore, with Company whose afflicted
Countenances witnessed their Conditions. Before us flowed a Water deep,
silent, and called the River of _Tears_, which issuing from two
Fountains on an upper Ground, encompassed an Island that lay before us.
The Boat which plied in it was old and shattered, having been sometimes
overset by the Impatience and Haste of single Passengers to arrive at
the other side. This immediately was brought to us by _Misfortune_ who
steers it, and we were all preparing to take our places, when there
appeared a Woman