A Memorable Fancy, Plate 15

[plate 15]

I was in a printing house in hell & saw the method in which knowledge is

transmitted from generation to generation. In the first chamber was a

dragon-man, clearing away the rubbish from a cave's mouth; within, a

number of dragons were hollowing the cave. In the second chamber was a

viper folding round the rock & the cave, and others were adorning it

with gold, silver and precious stones. In the third chamber was an eagle

with wings and feathers of air: he caused the inside of the cave to be

infinite; around were numbers of eagle-like men, who built palaces in the

immense cliffs. In the fourth chamber were lions of flaming fire, raging

around & melting the metals into living fluids. In the fifth chamber were

unnam'd forms, which cast the metals into the expanse. There they receiv'd

by men who occupied the sixth chamber, and took the forms of book & were

arranged in libraries.