posed: "Absolution for carnal knowledge, the enormity
of which is indicated by fifteen ducats."

Faustus, whom this scene had horribly mortified, on account of the
triumph which it afforded the Devil over him, but who, nevertheless,
wished to have a hit at Borgia, exclaimed, with a voice of thunder,

"Absolution to any parricide, matricide, or fratricide, for three
ducats."

_Pope_. Ho, ho, friend; what are you aiming at now? Will you tax murder
lower than fornication?

_Caesar Borgia_. Holy father, he does not wish, by too high a penalty,
to deter men from the commission of the crime.

_Devil_. You are well aware, gentlemen, that the poor are incapable of
receiving benefit from any of the above-named absolutions and
dispensations.

_Chorus_ (_amidst shouts of laughter_). Damnation to him who has no
money!

_Caesar Borgia_. Whoever commits theft, be it sacrilege or not, shall
have his soul secured from damnation, upon depositing in the papal
treasury three parts of what he has stolen.

_Chorus_. Absolution to all thieves, sacrilegious or not, provided they
share their booty with the Pope.

_Pope_. Thou hast opened a rich mine, Caesar. Write that down, Bishop.

_Faustus_. Absolution to any one who shall practise magic, or enter into
an alliance with the Devil. How high shall I tax that, father?

_Pope_. My son, you will not, by this last article, enrich the papal
treasury. The fiend does not understand his own advantage; we call upon
him in vain.

_Faustus_. But provided that should so happen, how high, I repeat?

_Pope_. For rarity's sake, one hundred ducats.

_Faustus_. Here they are; and now write me out an absolution, that I may
be able to shake it in the face of the Devil, provided I ever sell myself
to him.

_Chorus_. Absolution to him who shall sell himself to the fiend.

_A Nun_. Most reverend Bishop, since you are writing out the absolution
for the magician, be so good as to furnish me with a paper likewise,--you
know for what. Here is my rosary; it is worth fifteen ducats; I shall
have, therefore, something in bank until another absolution becomes
necessary.

Ferrara wrote, and the Pope signed his name beneath.

_Devil_. Does your holiness imagine that Satan will pay any regard to
these scraps of paper?

The grand inquisitor snatched his hand out of the bosom of an abbess, and
screamed, with stammering tongue:

"I smell heresy! Who is the atheist? who has uttered t