74
Damnation in the world eternal
To purgatorial flames infernal.)
His godless avarice was, I think,
Attributed by some to drink.
The fact is, ’twas not due to toddy
But the austere religious body,
To whom was due his own poor rent,
His savings being in masses spent.
Not long, they’d threatened to distrain;
For Churchmen waste not threats in vain,
But misery’s last mite extract
With the sleek gusto once they racked.
But well he knew the legal screw
Was in the fire, his fate was settled;
For Father Fuchs, the Capuchin,
Owed him a grudge, and that’s a sin
Past shrift; so, desperate and nettled,
He turned an ear to Blasio’s offer,
Defied the Pope and housed the scoffer.
Great was the scandal: deputations
Poured to the house, with execrations
And protests ’gainst such desecrations
Of Sondrian rookeries, yet unsullied;
Fat priests wheezed vague vaticinations
Of famine, plague, dread expiations,
And bull necks Tully’s self out-tullied.
Others rushed up with book and candle
And boys, to exorcise the scandal.
From wine-tubs some denounce the outrage,
Others perambulate and spout rage;
Some quote Ezekiel, some the Pandects,
All thump their fists, till every hand aches;
