The World will not have it at any price. It was known already at Geneva in 1523 that the world was giving a bad reception to the Gospel: ‘They shall say all manner of evil against you, and shall persecute you.’ As he could not be cured by the priests, and would not be cured by the Bible, the World called in the Doctor (_le Médecin_), and carefully described his disease: I am so troubled, and teased, and tormented, With all the rubbish that they have invented ... That flat here on my bed I lie. DOCTOR. What rubbish? THE WORLD. That a _deluge_ by-and-by Will come, and that a _fire_ to boot Will burn us all both branch and root. But the Doctor happens to be (as was often the case in the sixteenth century) one of those who believe the text of the Bible to be infallible; he begins to paint the liveliest picture of the disorders of the clergy, in order to induce his patient to take the remedy prescribed for him: Why are you troubled, Sir World, at that? Do not vex yourself any more At seeing these rogues and thieves by the score Buying and selling the cure of souls ... Children still in their nurses’ arms Made abbots and bishops and priors... * * * * * For their pleasure they kill their brothers, Squander their own goods and seize another’s; To flattering tongues they lend their ear; For the merest trifle they kindle the flame Of war, to the shame of the christian name.[318] The World, astonished at a description so far from catholic, becomes suspicious, thinks the language heretical, and exclaims: ... Mere fables these: From the land of LUTHER they came. DOCTOR. Upon Luther’s back men lay the blame, If you speak of sin.... At Geneva, therefore, as well as in all the catholic world, Luther was already known as the man who laid bare sins. The Doctor did not allow himself to be disconcerted by this charge of Lutheranism: World, would you like to be well once more? THE WORLD, _with firmness_. Yes! DOCTOR. Then think of abuses what a store Are daily committed by great and small, And _according to law_ reform them all. This was demanding a Reformation. The huguenots (_Eidguenots_) applauded; the foreign merchants were astonished; the courtiers of Savoy, and even Maurienne himself, smiled. Still Maison-Neuve, Vandel, Bernard, and all those who had ‘talked with’ the evangelicals, and especially the author of the drama, knew the difficulties the Reformation would have to encounter in Geneva. The World, irritated against these laymen who turn preachers, exclaims: This impudent doctor so mild of speech, I asked him to cure me, not to _preach_. The fool! Another personage, alarmed at so unprecedented a thing: Good heavens! it can’t be true. THE WORLD.