en, who under the cloak of piety raise
their hands and tongues against their father and mother! The crows and
birds of prey shall feed upon their tongues, and the wrath of God shall
wither up their hands."

The demolition of D, the devout, only whets X's appetite; and heedless of
his coming doom, M, the moderate, enters the lists. As a specimen of
Papal mild facetiousness, I quote the commencement of the second
dialogue.

M. "Great news! a great book!"

X. "Where from?"

M. "From Paris."

X. "A dapper-dandy then, I suppose?"

M. "No, a political pamphlet."

X. "Well, that is the same as a political dandy."

M. "A pamphlet explaining the policy of the Moderates."

X. "You mean, of the Moderate intellects?"

M. "No, I mean the policy of the Moderates, a policy of compromise,
between the Holy Father and, and--"

X. "Say what you really mean,--between the Holy Father and the Holy
Revolution."

After this test of M's intellectual calibre, I am not surprised to learn
that he is treated throughout with the most contemptuous playfulness. He
is horror-struck at learning that, in fact, he is nothing better "than a
mediator between Christ and Beelzebub." He is joked about the _fait
accompli_; and asked whether he would consider a box on his ears was
excused and accounted for by a similar denomination of the occurrence;
questioned, whether he would like himself to be deprived of all his
property; and at last dumbfounded by the inquiry, whether the reasoning
of his beloved pamphlet is anything but rank communism. M, in fact,
after this tirade ceases any attempt at argument, and contents himself
with feeble suggestions, which afford to X fertile openings for the
exercise of his vituperative abilities. For instance, M drops a hint
that the Pope might be placed under the guarantee and protection of the
Catholic powers; on which X retorts: "The Catholic powers indeed! First
of all, you ought to be sure whether the Catholic powers will not
co-operate with the Jew, in the disgraceful act of plundering Christ
through his Vicar, in order to guarantee him afterwards the last shreds
of his garment." (Another somewhat novel view, by the way, of Gospel
history.) "Secondly, you should learn whether any tribunal in the world,
in the name of common justice, would place the victim under the
protection and guarantee of his spoiler." When M expresses a doubt
whether there is any career for a soldier or statesman un