His imps came flying around him, From the north, and the south, and the east, and the west; They brought him the news that he liked best, Of the things they had done, Seven And the souls they had won, There came a devil posting in years had he been gone from Hell, And now he came grinning for joy. "Seven years," quoth he, "of trouble and toil Have I labour'd the Pope to win ; And I to-day have caught him, Oh, then King Beelzebub for joy, You might have seen his iron teeth, He wagg'd his ears, he twisted his tail, In his hoofs and his horns, in his heels and his corns, The Bishop who beheld all this, And he said a Pater-noster As fast as he could say, And made a cross on the Devil's head, Away, away, the Devil flew, Without bridle, or saddle, or whip, or spur, Away they go like the wind; The beads of the Bishop are hanging before, And the tail of the Devil behind. They met a Witch and she hail'd them As soon as she came within call; "Ave Maria!" the Bishop exclaim'd, It frightened her broomstick and she got a fall. He ran against a shooting star, So fast for fear did he sail, And he singed the beard of the Bishop And he pass'd between the horns of the Moon, And there was an eclipse that night, The Bishop just as they set out, And he was by the bed of the Pope The Pope fell down upon his knees, And all the Popes in bliss that be, But what was this the Pope had done Ah! that is the mystery of this wonderful history, But would you know, there you must go, It is a broad and a well-known road And you must look in the Devil's book; You will find one debt that was never paid yet you search the leaves throughout; If And that is the mystery of this wonderful history, And the way to find it out. Bristol, 1802. GONZALO HERMIGUEZ. This story is related at length by Bernardo de Brito in his Cronica de Cister., L. vi. C. 1., where he has preserved also part of a poem by Gonzalo Hermiguez. The verses are said to be the oldest in the Portugueze language, and Brito says there were more of them, but he thought it sufficient to cite these for his purpose. If they had been correctly printed, it might have been difficult to make out their meaning, but from a text so corrupted it is impossible. 1. In arms and in anger, in struggle and strife, He slew the Moor who from the fray The gauntlet was bloody that graspt the Maid; |