A.D. 1190.] VISIONS OK J'UKGATOKT. was there found most pitiably to be. pitied. The figures of many in that place 1 neither saw nor recognized, for I was overcome with horror by the enormity of the torments ami obscenity, and by the. filthy stench ; so that it was beyond measure, offensive to me either to stop there a moment, or to look at what was being done there. Lastly amid the dreadful din one of them cried out, 'Alas! why did 1 not repent?' so loud was their grief that you would have thought all tin; sufferers in the world were there lamenting. Of a certain lawyer and his punishments. "Although 1 avoided as much as I could to look at what was passing there, I could not escape seeing a certain clerk, whom I had once known : he, in his life, was considered a most skilful man, of those who are styled lawyers anil decretalists, wherefore in ecclesiastical revenues be was every day getting richer than the rest. 1 was astonished at the weight of his sufferings, and on my asking whether he expected to obtain mercy at all, he answered, crying out, 'Alas, alas, woe is me, I know, I know that 1 shall not receive mercy this side of the day of judgment, and even then I think it is uncertain, for ever since I have been subjected to these sufferings, my punishment grows worse, dragging me on from bad to worse.' 1 said to him, ' Why then did you not at the last confess your sins and repent.' lie answered, • Because I had hopes of recovering, the devil beguiling me, 1 was ashamed to confess such disgraceful crimes, lest I should seem to be unrespeetod by them to whom I appeared renowned and noble. Some of my slighter offences I did however confess to the priest, and on his asking me, if I was conscious of any other sins, 1 asked him to leave me then, promising to let him know again if any should occur to my memory. When he had departed, and had gone a little way, I felt myself dying; and when he was fetched back by rny servants he found that 1 was dead. Therefore none of the thousand kinds of torments which I daily endure, tortures me so much as the. recollection of my fault, because I am actually compelled to be a slave to the baseness of my former weakness, for besides the greatness of this unspeakable punishment, 1 ant oppressed with intolerable shame, when 1 appear as one to be execrated for such great offences."