520 ROGER OF WENDOVER. •[A.D . 1153. entrance to heaven and the celestial paradise ; when any one goes from us he ascends this way to heaven : as long as we remain here God daily feeds us upon heavenly food, the nature of which we will now communicate by letting you taste thereof." The words were hardly spoken, when a ray of light, descending from heaven, covered the whole country, and the flame, settling in rays upon the heads of each, entered into the bodies of all. The knight felt such a delicious sweetness pervade his heart and whole body, that he hardly knew whether he was alive or dead, but this feeling was over in a moment. He would gladly have remained for ever in this place, if he could have enjoyed these delights, but he was in the next place told of other things not so pleasant. " Since you have now set eyes," said the holy prelates, " on the happiness of the blessed, according to your wish, and have also in part beheld the torments of the wicked, you must now return by the same way as you came; and if, (which God forbid !) when you return to the world, you lead a wicked life, you have here seen what torments await you. If, however, you lead a good and religious life, you may rely upon coming to us again, when your spirit is released from the body. You need not fear the torments of the demons on your way back, for they will not be able to come near you, nor can their torments which you have seen hurt you." The knight replied with tears : " I am not able to return from this place ; for I fear lest the frailty of human nature lead me to err, and I may be prevented from returning." " No," said they, " these things are not as you wish, but according to the will of Him who made both us and you." The knight was then, with sorrow and mourning, re-conducted to the gate, which, after he had reluctantly passed through it, was shut behind him. How the knight, after his return to the world, devoted himself to the Jerusalem pilgrimage. The knight Owen returned by the same way as he went, to the hall before mentioned, but the demons, whom he saw in his return, fled from him in alarm, and the torments, through which he had passed, were unable to hurt him. Immediately, when he had entered the hall, the fifteen men, before described, glorified God for having given him such