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xxvi himself reprehensible for having rendered himself so obnoxious to the ministers of religion.

The following whimsical extract will serve to give the reader some idea of the unlimited vituperation which the bard occasionally lavished on the religious orders of his time:—

With a false form of holy life, O’er all the wide world they are rife! Dull friars!—(each pair of equal age Should bear the yoke of marriage.) With hateful strains a holy man, A fat mouthed brother, thus began, With pertinacious preaching bent, On turning me from my intent; Such was the sage advice that hung On his discreet and brazen tongue!

Remember that thou must behold The beauteous maiden turned to mould! And then her lovely figure must Lose all its graces in the dust!

No! black red man! the green sod’s bloom, The form of dark mould may assume; But beauty’s flesh and charms sublime Must ever wear the hue of lime!

For thee—the love of damsel thin, With matchless, long, and radiant hair, The caldron lined with fire will win, And never-ending sufferings there!