by the red-hot cinders, which, by their violent ascent, opposed my
descent: however, my weight soon brought me to the bottom, where I found
myself in the midst of noise and clamour, mixed with the most horrid
imprecations; after recovering my senses, and feeling a reduction of my
pain, I began to look about me. Guess, gentlemen, my astonishment, when
I found myself in the company of Vulcan and his Cyclops, who had been
quarrelling, for the three weeks before mentioned, about the observation
of good order and due subordination, and which had occasioned such
alarms for that space of time in the world above. However, my arrival
restored peace to the whole society, and Vulcan himself did me the
honour of applying plasters to my wounds, which healed them immediately;
he also placed refreshments before me, particularly nectar, and other
rich wines, such as the gods and goddesses only aspire to. After this
repast was over Vulcan ordered Venus to show me every indulgence which
my situation required. To describe the apartment, and the couch on which
I reposed, is totally impossible, therefore I will not attempt it; let
it suffice to say, it exceeds the power of language to do it justice, or
speak of that kind-hearted goddess in any terms equal to her merit.

Vulcan gave me a very concise account of Mount Etna: he said it was
nothing more than an accumulation of ashes thrown from his forge;
that he was frequently obliged to chastise his people, at whom, in his
passion, he made it a practice to throw red-hot coals at home, which
they often parried with great dexterity, and then threw them up into
the world to place them out of his reach, for they never attempted to
assault him in return by throwing them back again. "Our quarrels," added
he, "last sometimes three or four months, and these appearances of coals
or cinders in the world are what I find you mortals call eruptions."
Mount Vesuvius, he assured me, was another of his shops, to which he
had a passage three hundred and fifty leagues under the bed of the