The Empress asked, Whence this disobedient sin did proceed? But the Spirits desired the Empress not to ask them any such questions, because they went beyond their knowledg. Then she begg'd the Spirits to pardon her presumption; for, said she, It is the nature of Mankind to be inquisitive. Natural desire of knowledg, answered the Spirits, is not blameable, so you do not go beyond what your Natural Reason can comprehend. Then I'le ask no more, said the Empress, for fear I should commit some error; but one thing I cannot but acquaint you withal: What is that, said the Spirits? I have a great desire, answered the Empress, to make a Cabbala. What kind of Cabbala asked the Spirits? The Empress answered, The Jews Cabbala. No sooner had the Empress declared her Mind, but the Spirits immediately disappeared out of her sight; which startled the Empress so much, that she fell into a Trance, wherein she lay for some while; at last being come to her self again, she grew very studious, and considering with her self what might be the cause of this strange dysaster, conceived at first, that perhaps the Spirits were tired with hearing and giving answers to her Questions; but thinking by her self, That Spirits could not be tired, she imagined that this was not the true cause of their disappearing, till, after divers debates with her own thoughts, she did verily believe that the Spirits had committed some fault in their answers, and that for their punishment they were condemned to the lowest and darkest Vehicles. This belief was so fixt in her mind, that it put her into a very Melancholick humor; and then she sent both for her Fly-men and Worm-men, and declared to them the cause of her sadness. 'Tis not so much, said she, the vanishing of those Spirits that makes me Melancholick, but that I should be the cause of their miserable condition, and that those harmless Spirits should, for my sake, sink down into the black and dark abyss of the Earth. The Worm-men comforted the Empress, telling her, That the Earth was not so horrid a Dwelling, as she did imagine; for, said they, not onely all Minerals and Vegetables, but several sorts of Animals can witness, that the Earth is a warm, fruitful, quiet, safe, and happy habitation; and though they want the light of the Sun, yet are they not in the dark, but there is light even within the Earth, by which those Creatures do see that dwell therein. This relation setled her Majesties mind a little; but yet she being desirous to know the Truth, where, and in what condition those Spirits were, commanded both the Fly- and Worm-men to use all labour and industry to find them out; whereupon the Worm-men straight descended into the Earth, and the Fly-men ascended into the Air. After some short time, the Worm-men returned, and told the Empress, that when they went into the Earth, they inquired of all the Creatures they met withal, Whether none of them had perceived such or such