XIII.

Lunches and snacks so aldermanic That one would furnish forth ten dinners, Where reigns a Cretan-tonguèd panic, Lest news Russ, Dutch, or Alemannic Should make some losers, and some winners;--

At conversazioni--balls-- Conventicles--and drawing-rooms-- Courts of law--committees--calls Of a morning--clubs--book-stalls-- Churches--masquerades--and tombs.

And this is Hell--and in this smother All are damnable and damned; Each one damning, damns the other; They are damned by one another, By none other are they damned.

'Tis a lie to say, 'God damns[84]!' Where was Heaven's Attorney General When they first gave out such flams? Let there be an end of shams, They are mines of poisonous mineral.

Statesmen damn themselves to be Cursed; and lawyers damn their souls To the auction of a fee; Churchmen damn themselves to see God's sweet love in burning coals.