Edward Cracroft Lefroy: His Life and Poems including a Reprint of Echoes from Theocritus: By Wilfred Austin Gill: With a Critical Estimate of the Sonnets by the late John Addington Symonds |
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 | Edward Cracroft Lefroy: His Life and Poems |  |
C
THE INQUISITOR
Yes, pain is grievous; argumentum stat.
But not so frightful as the flames of—well,
You know. And by compare, as schoolmen tell,
These pangs are scarce the stinging of a gnat.
Besides, we have the Church's mandate—flat!
“Compel them to come in,”—I say—“compel!”
Now if through naughtiness the flesh rebel,
And need sharp goading, dare we shrink from that?
No, no; last week a heretic we tried
Who much annoyed us, being obstinate
Beyond the measure of his kind. We plied
All engines; [OMITTED] for his sin was great.
Then I took unction just before he died
And sent him pardoned through St. Peter's gate.
April 1891.
| Edward Cracroft Lefroy: His Life and Poems | |