9tt ROSCOE'S SPANISH NOVELISTS. 



and betrayed my own Lord and master ?" Then next approached the race of 

 patriarchs ; and next the apostles, who took up their places by the side of St. 

 Peter. It was well worth observing, that on this day there was not a whit 

 of distinction between kings and beggars ; all were equal before the judgment- 

 seat. Herod and Pilate had no sooner put out their heads, than they found 

 it was likely to go hard with them. " My judgment, however, is just," ex- 

 claimed Pilate : " But alas I" cried Herod, what have I to confide in ! Hea- 

 ven is no abiding place for me, and in Limbo I should fall among the very 

 innocents whom I murdered ; I have no choice, therefore, but must e'en take 

 up my quarters in Hell the general refuge for the most notorious malefac- 

 tors." After this, a rough sort of sour, ill-grained fellow, made his appear- 

 ance ; " See here," he cried, " here are my credentials take these letters." 

 The company, surprised at his odd humour, inquired of the porter who he 

 was ? " Who am I," quoth he, " I am master of the noble science of de- 

 fence :" then pulling out a number of sealed parchments, " These will bear 

 witness to my exploits." As he said these words, the testimonials fell out of 

 his hand, and two devils near him were just going to pick them up, to keep 

 as evidence against him at his trial, but the fencer was too nimble for them, 

 and seized on them. An angel, however, now offered him his hand to help 

 him in ; while he, as if fearing an attack, leapt a step back, throwing him- 

 ing himself into an attitude of defence. " Now," he exclaimed, " if you 

 like, I will give you a taste of my skill;" upon which the company set a 

 laughing, and this sentence was pronounced against him : " That since by 

 his art he had caused so many duels and murders, he should himself be al- 

 lowed to go to the devil in "a perpendicular line." He pleaded he was no 

 mathematician, and knew no such line ; but with that word a devil came up, 

 and gave him a twirl or two round, and down he tumbled before he could 

 bring his sentence to an end. 



" The public treasurers came after him, pursued by such a hooting at their 

 heels, that some supposed the whole band of thieves themselves were com- 

 ing : which others denying, the company fell into a dispute upon it. They 

 were greatly troubled at the word thieves, and one and all requested they 

 might be permitted to have the benefit of counsel. " For a very good rea- 

 son," said one of the devils ; " here's a discarded apostle, a Judas, that play- 

 ed into both hands at once ; seize him !" 



" On hearing this, the treasurers turned away, but a vast roll of accusa- 

 tions against them, held in another devil's hand, met their eyes, and one of 

 them exclaimed, " For mercy's sake away with those informations ! We will 

 one and all submit to any penalty ; to remain in purgatory a thousand years, 

 if you will only remove them from our sight." " Is it so ?" quoth the cun- 

 ning devil that had drawn out the charges " you are hard put to it to think 

 of compounding on terms like these." The treasurers had no more to say ; 

 but, finding they must make the best of a bad case, they very quietly follow- 

 ed the dancing-master. 



" Close upon the last came an unfortunate pastryman, and on being asked 

 if he wished to be tried, he replied that he did, and with the help of the 

 Lord would stand the venture. The counsel against him then prest the 

 charge ; namely, that he had roasted cats for hares, and filled his pies with 

 bones in place of meat, and sold nothing but horse-flesh, dogs, and foxes, in 

 lieu of good beef and mutton. It turned out, in fact, that Noah never had so 

 many animals in his ark as this ingenious fellow had put in his pies (for we 

 hear of no rats and mice in the former) : so that, in utter despair, he threw 

 up his cause, and went to be baked in his turn with other sinners like himself. 



" ' Next came and next did go ' a company of bare-foot philosophers with 

 their syllogisms, and it was amusing enough to hear them chop logic, and 

 try all manner of questions in mood and figure, at the expense of their own 

 souls. Yet the most entertaining of them all were the poets, who refused to 



