"I tell thee there is no man that hindereth
man or woman from being united in the bond of God, though the man be a
shepherd and all his ancestors and the woman be come of kings or of
emperors, or if the man be come of never so high kin and the woman of
never so low kin, if they love one another, but he sinneth in Holy
Church against God and his deed, and therefore he shall have much pain
and tribulations." Being assoiled of this crying sin, St. John takes
William to a fire "grete and styngkyng," in which he sees people burning
in their gay clothes. "I saw some with collars of gold about their
necks, and some of silver, and some men I saw with gay girdles of silver
and gold, and harnessed with horns about their necks, some with mo
jagges on their clothes than whole cloth, others full of jingles and
bells of silver all over set, and some with long pokes on their sleeves,
and women with gowns trailing behind them a long space, and some with
chaplets on their heads of gold and pearls and other precious stones.
And I looked on him that I saw first in pain, and saw the collars and
gay girdles and baldrics burning, and the fiends dragging him by two
fingermits. And I saw the jagges that men were clothed in turn all to
adders, to dragons, and to toads, and 'many other orrible bestes,'
sucking them, and biting them, and stinging them with all their might,
and through every jingle I saw fiends smite burning nails of fire into
their flesh. I also saw fiends drawing down the skin of their shoulders
like to pokes, and cutting them off, and drawing them to the heads of
those they cut them from, all burning as fire. And then I saw the women
that had side trails behind them, and the side trails cut off by the
fiends and burned on their head; and some took of the cutting all
burning and stopped therewith their mouths, their noses, and their ears.
I saw also their gay chaplets of gold and pearls and precious stones
turned into nails of iron, burning, and fiends with burning hammers
smiting them into their heads." These were proud and vain people. Then
he saw another fire, where the fiends were putting out people's eyes and
pouring molten brass and lead into the sockets, and tearing off their
arms and the nails of their feet and hands, and soldering them on again.
This was the doom of swearers. William saw other fires wherein the
devils were executing tortures varied and horrible on their unfortunate
victims. We need follow him no further.