had seen the souls that were groaning underneath the altar on All-souls'
day; and I said I had heard the voice, but had seen nothing." "So,
sirrah, come now, tell everything." "I said moreover," he continued,
"that I had heard that you were playing tricks on us unlettered hinds,
that, instead of souls, there was nothing but crabs making a row under
the carpet." "Oh, thou hell-hound! cursed knave!" cried the confessor,
"but, proceed, mastiff." "And that it was a wire that turned the image
of St. Peter, and that it was along a wire the Holy Ghost descended from
the roodloft upon the priest." "Thou heir of hell!" cried the shriver,
"Ho there, torturers, take him and cast him into that smoky chimney for
tale-bearing." "Well, this is the church Hypocrisy insists upon calling
the Catholic Church, and she avers that these only are saved," said the
Angel; "they once had the proper spectacles, but they cut the glass into
a thousand forms; they once had true faith, but they mixed that salve
with substances of their own, so that they see no better than the
unbelieving."

Leaving the cell we came to a barn {26a} where someone was delivering a
mock sermon extempore, sometimes repeating the same thing thrice in
succession. "These," said the Angel, "have the right sort of spectacles
to see 'the things which belong unto their peace,' but there is wanting
in their ointment one of the most necessary ingredients, namely, perfect
love. People come hither for various reasons; some out of respect to
their elders, some from ignorance, and many for worldly gain. One would
think, looking at their faces, that they are on the point of choking, but
they will swallow frogs sooner than starve; for so does Princess
Hypocrisy teach those meeting in barns.

"Pray tell," said I, "where may the Church of England be?" "Oh, it is
yonder in the upper city, forming a large part of the Catholic Church,