The Romany Rye: A sequel to "Lavengro"Borrow, George
General
The Romany Rye: A sequel to "Lavengro"
Borrow, George
Adventure stories; England -- Fiction; Romanies -- Fiction
IN the evening I received another visit from the man in black. I had
been taking a stroll in the neighbourhood, and was sitting in the dingle
in rather a listless manner, scarcely knowing how to employ myself; his
coming, therefore, was by no means disagreeable to me. I produced the
Hollands and glass from my tent, where Isopel Berners had requested me to
deposit them, and also some lump sugar, then taking the gotch I fetched
water from the spring, and, sitting down, begged the man in black to help
himself; he was not slow in complying with my desire, and prepared for
himself a glass of Hollands and water with a lump of sugar in it. After
he had taken two or three sips with evident satisfaction, I, remembering
his chuckling exclamation of “Go to Rome for money,” when he last left
the dingle, took the liberty, after a little conversation, of reminding
him of it, whereupon, with a he! he! he! he replied: “Your idea was not
quite so original as I supposed. After leaving you the other night, I
remembered having read of an Emperor of Germany who conceived the idea of
applying to Rome for money, and actually put it into practice.
“Urban the Eighth then occupied the papal chair, of the family of the
Barbarini, nicknamed the _Mosche_, or Flies, from the circumstance of
bees being their armorial bearing. The Emperor having exhausted all his
money in endeavouring to defend the Church against Gustavus Adolphus, the
great King of Sweden, who was bent on its destruction, applied in his
necessity to the Pope for a loan of money. The Pope, however, and his
relations, whose cellars were at that time full of the money of the
Church, which they had been plundering for years, refused to lend him a
scudo; whereupon a pasquinade picture was stuck up at Rome, representing
the Church lying on a bed, gashed with dreadful wounds, and beset all
over with flies, which were sucking her, whilst the Emperor of Germany
was kneeling before her with a miserable face, requesting a little money
towards carrying on the war against the heretics, to which the poor
Church was made to say: ‘How can I assist you, O my champion, do you not
see that the flies have sucked me to the very bones?’ Which story,” said
he, “shows that the idea of going to Rome for money was not quite so
original as I imagined the other night, though utterly preposterous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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