WHILE he was laying plans for getting
The honours of the Chapeau rouge,
The Cardinal Du Bois was ever fretting;
All his days and nights allotting
To bribes and schemes, intriguing, plotting,
Until his face grew yellow as gambouge,
His eyes sepulchral, dull, and gummy,
And his whole frame a walking mummy.
Meanwhile his steward, De la Vigne,
Seem'd to be fattening on his master;
For, as the one grew lank and lean,
The other only thrived the faster,
Enjoying, as he swell'd in figure,
Such constant spirits, laugh, and snigger,
That it e'en struck his Excellency,
Who call'd him up, and ask'd him whence he