The holy man betook himself to a tower in the middle of the Rhine; (Tours des Rats) but the nimble little quadrupeds swam across in legions—scaled the tower—and devoured the bishop!
One morning his skeleton there was seen,
By a load of flesh the lighter,
They had picked his bones uncommonly clean,
And eaten his very mitre!
The moral is good, though the tale is improbable. But if the Auto da Fé of the bishop was a romance, the atrocity of the action has too often been surpassed even in our time—and that by “butcherly blockheads” in the cause of bigotry and superstition, though in the name of religion!
I suspect that the moral of the “Mouse or Rat Tower” lies much deeper than is supposed. It seems to indicate that, although the rich and the powerful may sometimes evade the law, they can never escape punishment. The inward monitor cannot be stifled, cross what rivers, seas, or mountains we may—
“Cœlum non animum mutant
qui trans mare currunt.”
which I would liberally translate thus:—