Part 118 (1/2)

TEMPLAR.

Reverend father!

Suppose a Jew possessed an only child-- A girl--whom he with fond parental care Trained to each virtue, treasured as his soul, Whilst she, with love as ardent as his own, Repaid his love,--suppose it rumoured then That she was not the daughter of this Jew, But a poor orphan, purchased in her youth, Or stolen, or found--or anything, but still Of Christian birth, and in her youth baptised, And that the Jew had reared her in his faith, Allowed her to be thought a Jewish maid, And firmly to believe herself his child,-- Say, reverend father, what should then be done?

PATRIARCH.

I shudder at the thought! But, worthy Sir, Say, is this fact, or mere hypothesis?

That is, if your own head has framed the case, Or has it happened--does it still exist?

TEMPLAR.

That's unimportant, and could not a.s.sist Your reverence to p.r.o.nounce upon the point.

PATRIARCH.

What! unimportant! See, Sir Knight, how apt Proud reason is to err in sacred things.

'Tis of deep import; though, 'tis true, the case May be the offspring of your sportive wit, When we should straight dismiss it from our thoughts, And I should then refer you to the stage Where _pros_ and _cons_ like these are oft discussed With loud applause. But if the object be, By something better than a sleight of hand, To sound my judgment, if the thing be fact, And may have happened in our diocese, Here in our dear Jerusalem itself, Why then----

TEMPLAR.

What then?

PATRIARCH.

Then were it well, Sir Knight, To execute at once upon the Jew The penalty provided for the case, By Papal and Imperial laws, against So foul a crime, such dire iniquity.

TEMPLAR.

Indeed!

PATRIARCH.

The laws I mention have decreed That if a Jew shall to apostasy Seduce a Christian, he shall die by fire.

TEMPLAR.

Indeed!

PATRIARCH.

How much more when a Jew by force Tears from baptismal bonds a Christian child?

For all that's done to children is by force, Save what the Church shall order and perform.

TEMPLAR.

What if the child were steeped in misery, And must have died, but for this bounteous Jew?

PATRIARCH.

It matters not: the Jew should still be burnt.

'Twere better to expire in misery, Than live to suffer never-ending pains.