There is
much in this vision which it is very difficult to understand. The gloss,
or commentary, called 'Death the Great,' abounds with very fine poetry.

The last Vision, that of Hell, is the longest of the three. The Bard is
carried in his sleep by the same angel who in his first vision had shown
him the madness and vanity of the world, to the regions of eternal horror
and woe, where he beholds the lost undergoing tortures proportionate to
the crimes which they had committed on earth. After wandering from nook
to nook, the Bard and his guide at last come to the court before the
palace of the hellish regions, where, amidst thousands of horrible
objects, the Bard perceives two feet of enormous magnitude, reaching to
the roof of the whole infernal firmament, and inquires of his companion
what those horrible things may be, but is told to be quiet for the
present, as on his return he will obtain a full view of the monster to
whom they belong, and is then conducted into the palace of Lucifer, who
is about to hold a grand council. The Arch-Fiend is described as seated
on a burning throne in a vast hall, the roof of which is of glowing
steel. Around him are his potentates on thrones of fire, and above his
head is a huge fist, holding a very frightful thunderbolt, towards which
he occasionally casts uneasy glances. In the midst of the palace is a
gulf, of yet more horrible and frightful aspect than hell itself, which
is continually opening and closing, and which, the angel says, is the
month of 'Unknown' or extremest hell, to which the devils and the damned
are to be hurled for ever on the last day. The council is held in order
to devise measures for the farther extension of the kingdom of Lucifer.
The Arch-Fiend, in a speech which he makes, boasts that three parts of
the world have already been brought to acknowledge his sway, chiefly
through the instrumentality of his three daughters--Pleasure, Pride, and
Lucre; and he hopes that eventually the whole world will be brought to do
the same. He is particularly desirous that Britain should be subject to
him, and requests the advice of his counsellors as to the best means to
be employed in order to accomplish his wish. Various infernal potentates
then arise and give him their advice, each of whom is a personification
of some crime, vice, or folly. The debate is frequently interrupted by
the sound of war; for, as the angel observes, there is continual war in
hell. There i