Page:Two Mock Epics (Hanuman and Tantum Religio), Lyrics, Post Meridian Verse, The Turret Captain's Toast and other Verses.pdf/93

 In brief, a small collapsing cell,

Whose iron walls, that formed a square,

Enclosed a space some ten feet wide,

The iron plates being so applied

They could at need be made recede,

And then the room they formed expanded;

As they approached the space grew spare

And could be made to disappear—

If circumstances should demand it.

Just in the middle of this cell

Was sunk an awful shaft or well,

To which the walls, contracting, swept

As onward, inch by inch, they crept

The wretch within ’em to the oubliette:

Death’s natural horror’s not sufficient

To punish folks, in faith deficient,

So Church, a natural proficient

In butchery, has not idly slept

But done her utmost to quintuple it.

(According to strict rules of grammar

The “it” refers to faith instead of

That final act we're all in dread of,

And Church made thrice more awful, d—n her.)

I trust the couplet thus amended

Conveys the meaning here intended.

Well, to return from this digression,

These iron walls I’ve laid such stress on

With frightful fiends were decorated,

Such as your Christian’s never sated

With fancying and depicting where

In keeping—say, his house of prayer.

This cell being destined for religious