Quench thou the fires of hate and strife
The wasting fevers of the heart.

At this moment a calf's head was brought in, very tender and
succulent, and the rest of the quotation was drowned in the clatter
of plates and dishes. At last the voice emerged from the tumult:

"Which I have seen in these fens, whither Satan and his imps do
often resort to cool themselves in these stagnant waters. And first
there be the misshapen, goggle-eyed goblins, with faces like the
full moon, only never saw I the moon so hideous; these be the
demons of sensuality, gluttony and sloth--libera nos Domine, and
then there be . . ."

The wine was handed round, wine of Gascony, where the friars of
Michelham had vineyards; full drinking, rich-bodied red wine,
brought in huge jugs of earthenware, and poured generally into
wooden mugs. Only the prior and subprior had silver goblets: glass
there was none.

Again the voice rose above the din:

"Affect the fat soils of our marsh land, and there, maybe, find
convenient prey amongst the idle and inebriate brethren who forget
their vows, or the sottish loony who from the plough tail seek the
ale house. And moreover there be your fiends, long and slim, and
comely in garb, with tails of graceful curve, and horns like a
comely heifer. Natheless their teeth be sharp and their claws
fierce. But they hide them, for they would fain appear like angels
of light, yet be they the demons of pride and cruelty, first-born
of Lucifer, son of the morning . . ."

Here the sweets and pastries came in, fruits of the abbey gardens,
skilfully preserved, and cunning devices of the baker: there was a
church built of pie crust; a monk, baked brown and crisp, with
raisins for his eyes, which, withal, filled his paunch, and,
cannibal like, the good brethren ate him. Finally, that they, the
brethren, might not be without a memento mori, was a sepulchre or
altar tomb, likewise in crust, and when the top was broken, a
goodly number of pigeons lurked beneath, lying in state:

"Which mop and mow, and chatter like starlings, but all, either
naught in sense or naughty in meaning, oh these chattering goblins.
Be not like them, my brethren--libera nos Domine."

Here to those who sat at the upper board were next presented, by
the serving brethren, dainty cups of hippocras, medicated against
the damps and chills of the low grounds, or perchance the crudities
of the stomach, or the cruel pinches of podagra dolorosa--

"Ah! wil