160 ROGER OK WKXDOVER. [AD . 1190. At the moment he was thus speaking to me, I saw him tortured in numberless ways, and in the midst of them to be redueed as it were to nothing, and to be dissolved by the force of the heat like melted lead. I also asked St. Nicholas, who stood by me, if such torments could be alleviated by any kind of remedy: and he answered 'When the day of judgment arrives, then will be accomplished the will of Christ, for he alone knows the hearts of all, and then he will afford to all a just retribution.' Afterwards when L had returned to the body, that priest, to whom the lawyer had confessed only his light offences, came to me, and called Cod to witness in the presence of many, that what I said was true, since no one but himself knew these things. Of the punishments of many, which I saw, I omit to make mention, fearing lest, if I should speak further of them, I should create a loathing in my readers, but let these few chosen from the many suffice. Of the vision which the some monk saw of the eternal glory of the blessed. '· Having thus in part described the things which we saw of the punishment and penal places of the wretched, it now remains for us to speak of the consolations of those at rest, and of the eternal glory of the blessed, which we beheld with our own eyes. After we had walked for a long time, amidst the différent kinds of punishment which I have mentioned above, and had beheld the various sufferings of the wretched, ITS we made our way towards the inner regions, the, light began by degrees to appear more pleasant; here the fragrance of a sweet odour, there the richness of a plain flourishing with many kinds of flowers afforded us incredible pleasure. In this plain we found endless thousands of men or spirits who, after passing through their punishments, were enjoying the happy rest of the blessed. Those whim we found in the first portion of this plain, had garments white indeed, but not shining, but there did not appear any blackness or stain in them, although they shone in an inferior degree of whiteness. Amongst these I saw several who had been known to me formerly, for I recognized there a certain abbess who had lately come from the places of punishment, who was clothed in garments unstained, though not very bright ; I also saw and recognized there a certain prior who after being