Page:Joan of Arc - Southey (1796).djvu/358

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
346
JOAN OF ARC.
Their prayers aloud, and then he louder laughed:For these were Hypocrites, on earth reveredAs holy ones, who did in public tellTheir beads, and make long prayers, and cross themselves,And call themselves most miserable sinners, 605That so they might be deem'd most pious saints;And go all filth, and never let a smileBend their stem muscles, gloomy sullen men!Barren of all affection! and all thisTo please their God, forsooth! and therefore Scorn 610Grinn'd at his patients, making them repeatTheir solemn farce, with keenest railleryTormenting; but if earnest in their prayer,They pour'd the silent sorrows of the soulTo Heaven, then did they not regard his mocks 615Which then came painless, and HumilitySoon rescued them, and led to Penitence,That She might lead to Heaven.From thence they came, Where, in the next Ward, a most wretched band

Groan'd

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.