THE SAPPHIRi:. 99
They
are thick, clumsy, block-shaped, hump-backed, Rings, furnished in
several instances with mock Sapphires, of pretentious blue paste ; or
even simply of opaque glass. The shabby, pretentious grandeur •of these
adornments, associated of old with Cardinals, and other high
dignitaries of the opulent Romish Church, is surprising.
In those most fascinating (whilst somewhat broad) Legends of Mirth, and Marvel, by
Thomas Ingoldsbv, Esquire (Revd. Thomas Barham), 1840: (rhymed with
marvellous facility, and humorous to the last degree), the talented
Author has translated—"De Must. Ord. Cisterc,"—a tale well known to
every admirer of the best English literature,—" The Jackdaw of Rheims."
The classical argument on which this most popular "tale is founded, runs as follows :—Tunc
miser Corvus adeo conscientim stimulis compunctus fuit, et exec-ratio
eum tantopere excarnificavit, tit exinde tabes-cere inciperet, tnaciern
contraheret, omnem cibum aversaretur, nee amplius .crocitaret; pennce
prmterea ei defluebant, et alls pendulis omnes facetias intermisit ; et
tarn macer apparuit ut omnes ejus miserescent.—Tunc Abbas
sacerdotibus mandacit ut rursus furem absoherent; quo facto, Corvus,
omnibus mirantibus, propediern convaluit, et pristinam sanitatem
recuperavit."
To
begin-with, a feast is capitally versified, whereat •the Lord Primate
is served by a goodly company of " Bishop, and Abbot, Monk, and Friar:
many a Knight, and many a Squire " ; the Jackdaw sitting demurely
enough meantime on the Cardinal's chair. Presently, " In and out
through the motley rout this little Jackdaw kept hopping about ; here
and there, like a dog in a Jair." Then:—
