Go, greet that prudent lawyer,
who, when dying offered a thousand pounds for a good conscience, and ask
whether he is now willing to give more. Roast the lawyers by the fire of
their own parchments and papers till their learned bowels burst forth;
let the litigous busybodies hang above them with their nostrils deepest
down the roasting chimneys, in order to inhale the noxious vapors arising
thence, to see if they will ever get their fill of law. Throw the
recorders amongst the retailers who prevent or forestall the sale of
corn, who mix it and sell the mixture at double the price of the pure
corn: similarly, they demand for wrong double the fees formerly given
for right. As to the catchpolls, let them free to hunt about and lie in
the ravines and bushes of the earth, to capture those that are debtors to
the infernal crown; for what devil of you could do the work better than
they?"
Shortly there appear twenty demons, like Scotch-men, with packs across
their shoulders, which they cast down before the throne of despair, and
which turned out to be gipsies. "Ho there!" cried Lucifer, "how was it
that ye who knew the fortune of others so well, did not know that your
own fortune was leading you hither?" No answer was given, for they were
amazed at seeing here beings uglier than themselves.
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