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Make a trench all round with the city muck ;
Inside they pile log upon log, good store;
Fagots not few, blocks great and small,
Reach a man's mid-thigh, no less, no more,—
For they mean he should roast in the sight of all.

CHORUS.

We mean he should roast in the sight of all.

IV.

Good sappy bavins that kindle forthwith;
Billets that blaze substantial and slow;
Pine-stump split deftly, dry as pith;

Larch-heart that chars to a chalk-white glow:
Then up they hoist me John in a chafe,

Sling him fast like a hog to scorch,

Spit in his face, then leap back safe,

Sing" Laudes," and bid clap-to the torch.

CHORUS.

Laus Deo-who bids clap-to the torch.

V.

John of the Temple, whose fame so bragged,
Is burning alive in Paris square!
How can he curse, if his mouth is gagged?
Or wriggle his neck, with a collar there?
Or heave his chest, while a band goes round?
Or threat with his fist, since his arms are spliced?
Or kick with his feet, now his legs are bound ?
—Thinks John, I will call upon Jesus Christ.

VI.

[Here one crosseth himself.

Jesus Christ-John had bought and sold,
Jesus Christ-John had eaten and drunk ;
To him, the Flesh meant silver and gold.
(Salva reverentiâ.)

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I have roasted thee Turks, though men roast me!
See thy servant, the plight wherein I am!

Art thou a saviour? Save thou me!"

CHORUS.

'Tis John the mocker cries, “ Save thou me!"

VII.

Who maketh God's menace an idle word?

-Saith, it no more means what it proclaims,

Than a damsel's threat to her wanton bird?—

For she too prattles of ugly names.

-Saith, he knoweth but one thing,—what he knows?
That God is good and the rest is breath ;
Why else is the same styled Sharon's rose?
Once a rose, ever a rose, he saith.

CHORUS.

Oh, John shall yet find a rose, he saith.

VIII.

Alack, there be roses and roses, John!
Some honeyed of taste like your leman's tongue:
Some, bitter; for why? (roast gayly on!)
Their tree struck root in devil's dung.

When Paul once reasoned of righteousness

And of temperance and of judgment to come, Good Felix trembled, he could no less:

John, snickering, crooked his wicked thumb.

CHORUS.

What cometh to John of the wicked thumb?

IX.

Ha, ha! John plucketh now at his rose
To rid himself of a sorrow at heart!
Lo,—petal on petal, fierce rays unclose;

Anther on anther, sharp spikes outstart;
And with blood for dew, the bosom boils;
And a gust of sulphur is all its smell;
And lo, he is horribly in the toils

Of a coal-black giant flower of hell!

CHORUS.

What maketh heaven, That maketh hell.

X.

So, as John called now, through the fire amain,
On the Name, he had cursed with, all his life-
To the Person, he bought and sold again-

For the Face, with his daily buffets rife-
Feature by feature It took its place;

And his voice, like a mad dog's choking bark,
At the steady whole of the Judge's face-
Died.

Forth John's soul flared into the dark.

SUBJOINETH THE ABBOT DEODAET. God help all poor souls lost in the dark!

HOLY-CROSS DAY.

ON WHICH THE JEWS WERE FORCED TO ATTEND AN ANNUAL CHRISTIAN SERMON IN ROME.

["Now was come about Holy-Cross Day, and now must my lord preach his first sermon to the Jews: as it was of old cared for in the merciful bowels of the Church, that, so to speak, a crumb, at least, from her conspicuous table here in Rome, should be, though but once yearly, cast to the famishing dogs, under-trampled and bespitten-upon beneath the feet of the guests. And a moving sight in truth, this, of so many of the besotted blind restif and ready-to-perish Hebrews! now maternally brought-nay (for he saith, Compel them to come in'), haled, as it were, by the head and hair, and against their obstinate hearts. to partake of the heavenly grace. What awakening, what striving with tears, what working of a yeasty conscience! Nor was my lord wanting to himself on so apt an occasion; witness the abundance of conversions which did incontinently reward him; though not to my lord be altogether the glory."-Diary by the Bishop's Secretary, 1600.]

What the Jews really said, on thus being driven to church, was rather to this effect.

I.

FEE, faw, fum! bubble and squeak !

Blessedest Thursday's the fat of the week.
Rumble and tumble, sleek and rough,

Stinking and savory, smug and gruff,

Take the church-road, for the bell's due chime
Gives us the summons-'tis sermon-time!

II.

Boh, here's Barnabas! Job, that's you ?
Up stumps Solomon-bustling too?
Shame, man! greedy beyond your years
To handsel the bishop's shaving-shears?

Fair play's a jewel! Leave friends in the lurch?
Stand on a line ere you start for the church!

III.

Higgledy piggledy, packed we lie,
Rats in a hamper, swine in a sty,
Wasps in a bottle, frogs in a sieve;
Worms in a carcass, fleas in a sleeve.

Hist! square shoulders, settle your thumbs
And buzz for the bishop-here he comes.

IV.

Bow, wow, wow-a bone for the dog!

I liken his Grace to an acorned hog.

What, a boy at his side, with the bloom of a lass,
To help and handle my lord's hour-glass!

Didst ever behold so lithe a chine?

His cheek hath laps like a fresh-singed swine.

V.

Aaron's asleep-shove hip to haunch,

Or somebody deal him a dig in the paunch!

Look at the purse with the tassel and knob,
And the gown with the angel and thingumbob!
What's he at, quotha? reading his text!

Now you've his courtesy-and what comes next?

VI.

See to our converts-you doomed black dozen-
No stealing away—nor cog nor cozen!

You five, that were thieves, deserve it fairly;

You seven, that were beggars, will live less sparely : You took your turn and dipped in the hat,

Got fortune-and fortune gets you; mind that!

VII.

Give your first groan--compunction's at work;
And soft! from a Jew you mount to a Turk.
Lo, Micah, the selfsame beard on chin
He was four times already converted in !
Here's a knife, clip quick--it's a sign of grace—
Or he ruins us all with his hanging-face.

VIII.

Whom now is the bishop a-leering at?
I know a point where his text falls pat.
I'll tell him to-morrow, a word just now
Went to my heart and made me vow

To meddle no more with the worst of trades:
Let somebody else play his serenades!

IX.

Groan all together now, whee-hee-hee !

It's a-work, it's a-work, ah, woe is me!

It began, when a herd of us, picked and placed,
Were spurred through the Corso, stripped to the waist;
Jew brutes, with sweat and blood well spent

To usher in worthily Christian Lent.

X.

It grew, when the hangman entered our bounds,
Yelled, pricked us out to his church like hounds:
It got to a pitch, when the hand indeed

Which gutted my purse, would throttle my creed:
And it overflows, when, to even the odd,

Men I helped to their sins, help me to their God.

XI.

But now, while the scapegoats leave our flock,
And the rest sit silent and count the clock,

Since forced to muse the appointed time
On these precious facts and truths sublime,-
Let us fitly employ it, under our breath,
In saying Ben Ezra's Song of Death.

XII.

For Rabbi Ben Ezra, the night he died,
Called sons and sons' sons to his side,

And spoke, "This world has been harsh and strange ; Something is wrong: there needeth a change.

But what, or where? at the last or first?

In one point only we sinned, at worst.

XIII.

“The Lord will have mercy on Jacob yet,
And again in his border see Israel set.
When Judah beholds Jerusalem,

The stranger-seed shall be joined to them:
To Jacob's House shall the Gentiles cleave,
So the Prophet saith and his sons believe.

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XIV.

Ay, the children of the chosen race

Shall carry and bring them to their place:

In the land of the Lord shall lead the same,
Bondsmen and handmaids. Who shall blame,
When the slaves enslave, the oppressed ones o'er
The oppressor triumph for evermore!

XV.

"God spoke, and gave us the word to keep:
Bade never fold the hands nor sleep
'Mid a faithless world,-at watch and ward,
Till Christ at the end relieve our guard.
By his servant Moses the watch was set:

Though near upon cock-crow we keep it yet.

XVI.

"Thou! if thou wast he, who at mid-watch came,

By the starlight, naming a dubious name!

And if, too heavy with sleep-too rash

With fear-O thou, if that martyr-gash

Fell on thee, coming to take thine own,

And we gave the Cross, when we owed the Throne—

XVII.

"Thou art the Judge. We are bruised thus. But, the judgment over, join sides with us!

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