“No, no! follow me, and leave behind thy garment; for a person is not to be clothed when he follows Death. I will show you my empire, and my subjects. I am the queen of queens, the empress of sovereigns, the sovereign of the human race; and the powers of earth are but my inspectors.” “How!” exclaimed I, “dare you to say the king of Spain is your inspector? he who possesses so many territories in the world?” “Follow, follow,” said Death; “I will show you.” Immediately all those who were there, went out in the same order they had entered: Death following the rear of the procession, and I following Death. We traversed vast plains and deserts, which resembled cemeteries, or fields of battle, covered with dead. Directly I perceived, at a distance, an immense castle, built in the antique style; and when I had drawn near, I observed that the materials were nothing but bones cemented with blood and apothecaries’ drugs. The three porters in the court were very pleasant to the sight. The first resembled a harlequin assuming divers attitudes, and having upon his habits the figures of kingdoms and provinces of the earth; in such a fashion, indeed, that I seemed to look upon a geographical map: his name was the _World_. The second, who called himself the _Flesh_, was naked, like those figures of Priapus one sees upon medals. The third was armed, _cap a pie_, in gold and silver, like a curassier. They told me those three guards were the enemies of the world, and the porters of Death. The pavement of the court was of human sculls, as well as that of the chambers: these sculls were arranged in such a manner, that they resembled a chess board; some being white, and others, having the hair upon them, appeared black. In the middle of this court was a fountain of tears: the figures about the basin, represented Uneasiness, Envy, Jealousy, Despair, Knavery, Sickness, Medicine, War, Revenge, and Love. The tapestries of the chambers were all upon particular subjects. One might see in one piece, people contracting marriage; in another, lawyers pleading a case; in this, merchants preparing for bankruptcy; in that, _honest_ thieves upon the grand tour, stripping the peasantry. The others represented an ecclesiastic, who, dying in his bed, has, in his last moments, the satisfaction of seeing his house pillaged; a courier riding from Madrid to Rome, to solicit a benefice; a tiler falling from the roof of a house; a drunken sailor precipitating himself from his vessel into the sea; a house burning with such rapidity, that its master is consumed in the flames; in fine, one might there perceive every species of human death.