VIII.

And all the rest rushed through the door,
And tumbled over one another,

And broke their skulls. Upon the floor
Meanwhile sat Peter Bell, and swore,

And cursed his father and his mother;

IX.

And raved of God, and sin, and death,
Blaspheming like an infidel;

And said, that with his clenched teeth,
He'd seize the earth from underneath,

And drag it with him down to hell.

X.

As he was speaking came a spasm,

And wrenched his gnashing teeth asunder; Like one who sees a strange phantasm

He lay,

there was a silent chasm

Between his upper jaw and under.

XI.

And yellow death lay on his face;

And a fixed smile that was not human
Told, as I understand the case,

That he was gone to the wrong place:-
I heard all this from the old woman.

XII.

Then there came down from Langdale Pike A cloud, with lightning, wind, and hail; It swept over the mountains like

An ocean, and I heard it strike

The woods and crags of Grasmere vale.

XIII.

And I saw the black storm come
Nearer, minute after minute;

Its thunder made the cataracts dumb;
With hiss, and clash, and hollow hum,

It neared as if the Devil was in it.

XIV.

The Devil was in it:- he had bought

Peter for half-a-crown; and when

The storm which bore him vanished, nought That in the house that storm had caught Was ever seen again.

XV.

The gaping neighbours came next day —
They found all vanished from the shore:
The Bible, whence he used to pray,
Half scorched under a hen-coop lay;

Smashed glass and nothing more!

HE Devil, I safely can aver,

Has neither hoof, nor tail, nor

sting;

Nor is he, as some sages swear,

A spirit, neither here nor there,

In nothing yet in everything.

The Devil is a gentleman;

At others a bard bartering rhymes
For sack; a statesman spinning crimes ;
A swindler, living as he can ;

III.

A thief, who cometh in the night,
With whole boots and net pantaloons,
Like some one whom it were not right

To mention; or the luckless wight

From whom he steals nine silver spoons.

IV.

But in this case he did appear

Like a slop-merchant from Wapping,
And with smug face, and eye severe,
On every side did perk and peer

Till he saw Peter dead or napping.

V.

He had on an upper Benjamin
(For he was of the driving schism)
In the which he wrapt his skin
From the storm he travelled in,
For fear of rheumatism.