Here are priests of all persuasions—Brahmins, friars, drones, monks, and monkeys not a few.
A figure of Time with his scythe, eagerly pressing towards the altar with rams' heads, is arrested in his course by a sort of slaughterman, with a mask, shaven crown, and short apron, who violently grasps his wing with one hand, and with the other lifts up a hatchet, which with fatal force he aims at his head. For sanctuary, this feeble figure lays hold of one of the horns of the altar, but is frustrated in his attempt to reach the steps by a bishop, who, with his sacrificing knife, coolly stabs him to the heart; while a monkey, in the habit of a chorister, holds a basin to catch the blood, the fumes from which he snuffs up with ineffable delight. This I apprehend to be a metaphorical view of a prelate killing Time at a masquerade.
Next to this group is a Mother Shipton, hooking on the arms of a clown; and near them a harlequin endeavouring to draw the attention of a graceful columbine from a turban'd Turk, who attempts to seduce her from her party-coloured gallant. A female, with the mask of a monkey's head, salutes a nun in a black veil; and while an old Capuchin, with the face of an ape, whispers soft things to a young girl, a fellow somewhat like Tiddy-doll draws up her head-dress to a point, like a fool's cap. A man in the right-hand corner, solicitous to give a glass of wine to one of the sisterhood, lifts up her veil for the purpose of her drinking it.[120]
ADDENDA.
ADDENDA.
