The Bishop of Blois was a holy man,-- A holy man was he! For Holy Church He'd seek and he'd search As a Bishop in his degree. From foe and from friend He'd "rap and he'd rend," To augment her treasurie. Nought would he give, and little he'd lend, That Holy Church might have more to spend.-- "Count Stephen"[52] (of Blois) "was a worthy Peer, His breeches cost him but a crown, He held them sixpence all too dear, And so he call'd the Tailor lown." Had it been the Bishop instead of the Count, And he'd overcharged him to half the amount, He had knock'd that Tailor down!-- Not for himself!-- He despised the pelf; He dressed in sackcloth, he dined off delf; And, when it was cold, in lieu of a _surtout_, The good man would wrap himself up in his virtue.[53] Alack! that a man so holy as he, So frank and free in his degree, And so good and so kind, should mortal be! Yet so it is--for loud and clear From St. Nicholas' tower, on the listening ear, With solemn swell, The deep-toned bell Flings to the gale a funeral knell; And hark!--at its sound, As a cunning old hound, When he opens, at once causes all the young whelps Of the cry to put in their less dignified yelps, So--the little bells all, No matter how small, From the steeples both inside and outside the wall, With bell-metal throat Respond to the note, And join the lament that a prelate so pious is Forced thus to leave his disconsolate diocese, Or, as Blois' Lord May'r Is heard to declare, "Should leave this here world for to go to that there." And see, the portals opening wide, From the Abbey flows the living tide;-- Forth from the doors The torrent pours, Acolytes, Monks, and Friars in scores, This with his chasuble, that with his rosary, This from his incense-pot turning his nose awry, Holy Father, and Holy Mother, Holy Sister, and Holy Brother, Holy Son, and Holy Daughter, Holy Wafer, and Holy Water; Every one drest Like a guest in his best, In the smartest of clothes they're permitted to wear, Serge, sackcloth, and shirts of the same sort of hair As now we make use of to stuff an arm-chair, Or weave into gloves at three shillings a pair, And employ for shampooing in cases rheumatic,--a Special specific, I'm told, for Sciatica.