I went next down a pair of stairs into a huge cellar, where I saw men burning in unquenchable fire; and one of them roaring, cried out, “I never over-sold; I never sold, but at conscionable rates, why am I punished thus?” I durst have sworn it had been Judas, but going nearer to him, to see if he had a red head, I found him to be a merchant of my acquaintance, that died not long since. “How now, old Martin,” said I, “art thou there?” He was dogged, because I did not call him Sir, and made no answer. I saw his grief, and told him how much he was to blame, to cherish that vanity even in hell, that had brought him thither. “And what do ye think on’t now,” said I, “had not you better have traded in blacks than Christians? Had not you better have contented yourself with a little, honestly got, than run the hazard of your soul for an estate; and have gone to heaven afoot, rather than to the devil on horseback?” My friend was as mute as a fish; whether out of anger, shame, or grief, I know not. And then a devil in office took up the discourse. “These pickpocket rogues,” says he, “did they think to govern the world with their own weights and measures, _in secula seculorum_? Methinks, the blinking and false lights of their shops should have minded them of their quarter, in the other world, aforehand. And ’tis all a case, with jewellers, goldsmiths, and other trades, that serve only to flatter and bolster up the world in luxury and folly. But if people would be wise, these youths should have little enough to do. For what’s their cloth of gold and silver, their silks, their diamond and pearl, (which they sell at their own price) but matter of mere wantonness and superfluity? These are they that inveigle ye into all sorts of extravagant expenses, and so ruin ye insensibly, under colour of kindness and credit. For they set everything at double the rate; and if you keep not touch at your day, your persons are imprisoned, your goods seized, and your estates extended. And they that helped to make you princes before, are now the forwardest to put you into the condition of beggars.”