Page images
PDF
EPUB

In vain these ideot priests this theme pursue,
"Do as I say *, but act not as I do";
As if the quirk would tell:

ried 13 corpses, and read the distinct service over each of them separately, and this done by nine at night.

It was then mentioned by another clergyman, that he had a paper given him to pray for the accomplishment of a young woman's desires.

Il buon religioso non sà stare ozioso.

* This trite adage cannot be better applied than in speaking of the clergy, who at all periods, and in all countries, have proved themselves deficient in establishing their precepts by example. From hence has originated all those divisions in religious opinions, which are no where so prevalent as in England, where sectaries may be called the whippers-in of faith: nor can we close this note without a quotation from Butler, who, treating on this head, exclaims,

Where ev'ry village is a see,

As well as Rome, and must maintain
A tithe pig metropolitan :

Where ev'ry presbyter and deacon

Commands the keys of cheese and bacon;

And ev'ry hamlet's governed

By's holiness, the church's head,

More haughty and severe in's place

Than Gregory and Boniface.

"Why acts thou thus"? demands the untaught

hind,

"If with thy wisdom thou dost so; I find ""Twill serve my turn as well."

All eyes, 'tis said, are fix'd on Cato's son.
If Cato's son's a fool, 'tis ten to one,

The multitude reveres :

For why? The fool to his desires* gives scope: Then, if the pastor strays, farewell all hope; His flock the same course steers.

Show me a drunkard more adept than priest; Show me a cormorant more staunch at feast ;

*For a very biting and just satire on every class of ecclesiastical fools connected with the Catholic church, the reader may refer to Erasmus on Folly, who, in the same work, is not merely free in the delivery of his sterling opinions respecting many dogmas of that religion, but even proceeds to such lengths, that, considering the era in which he flourished, it is a little astonishing that the hatred of the clergy, which was of course manifested towards him, should not have led them to pursue the most effectual method of silencing so potent an adversary.

With pride to keep the farce on *.

Show me hypocrisy that's more demure ;
Show me, who can, less feeling to the poor,
Than's to be found in parson.

Instead of clemency-he's unforgiving; Instead of meekness, his pursuit's a living † ; For which through thick and thin:

* The pride of priestcraft hath ever been proverbial; in contradiction to that irresistible humility, which characterized the proceedings of the Divine Author of Christianity; and the Ego et rex meus of Wolsey is applicable to every wearer of little buckles, cannon curls, with the skimming dish hat, and dapper rose, which constitutes its prim ornament.

+ Let but the lawn sleeves appear in vista, and who ever heard a churchman exclaim nolo episcopari? On the contrary, it is then we view the priest in his real colours: no sycophancy is too degrading, no flattery, though at the expense of truth, is too fulsome: but when the object of his ambition is attained, his low-born pride looks with contempt on all, from the pinnacle, to whose summit he hath climbed, and rules with the rod of tyranny the miserable dependents on his haughty caprice. A truly noble spirit never plays the tyrant: it is only the base-born churl, like Thomas à Becket, that would out

For quick preferment he will pander prove;
And to ensure his graceless patron's love,
Excuse and share his sin.

L'ENVOY OF THE POET.

The worthy man may teach religion's laws;
His practice gives his precept tenfold fame.
He stands the champion of the sacred cause;
And by his deeds endears religion's name.

THE POET'S CHORUS TO FOOLS.

Come, trim the boat, row on each Rara Avis, Crowds flock to man my Stultifera Navis

frown the brow of majesty; and towering priests alone aspire to scourge the back of sovereignty. In addition to the arrogance of papal dignity, which formerly compelled sovereigns to kiss a dirty old velvet slipper; and even went so far as to make the backs of emperors mere footstools, in order to help these vicegerents on their palfrey's backs, it should not be forgotten that we are indebted to a monk for the invention of gunpowder; while Galau, bishop of Munster, was the first who found out that destructive engine of war, a bomb.

* Buon prelato buon 'esempio.

[blocks in formation]

O! 'wou'd that I, the lance could wield,
Of graceful, polish'd Chesterfield *!
My muse might then be able

To lash the filthy, slothful vice,
Of such as are not over nice,
When seated at the table.

* It is impossible to pass over this section of the Poet, without expressing a sentiment of commiseration for the feelings of the nobleman above mentioned, when we call to mind the emotion of horror that must have pervaded his breast, on witnessing the conduct of his son at table, who after all the refined instructions which he had received, was so absolutely destitute of delicacy, as to lick up the juice of a currant tart from his plate, in the presence of his Lordship and a large party; on which occasion, his mortified parent ordered the valet into the chamber, in

« PreviousContinue »