While the storm was spending its fiercest hate
(And what he saw, so much the sight
Impress'd him, he wrote as soon as he woke
—Was it a dream or a wicked joke?),
What pass'd before that Gate.

And, since after the fashion most in vogue,
He wrote it in form of a dialogue,
Not averring, as he did, the tale to be true,
In all else, as he wrote it, I write it for you.

          VOICE OUTSIDE THE GATE.

Peter, Peter, open the Gate!

          VOICE WITHIN THE GATE.

I know thee not. Thou knockest late.

          FIRST VOICE.

Late! yet Peter, look and see
Who calleth.

          SECOND VOICE.

                     Nay, I know not thee.
What art thou?

          FIRST VOICE.

                         Peter, Peter, ope
The Gate!

          SECOND VOICE.

                  What art thou?

          FIRST VOICE.

                                        I? The Pope.

          SECOND VOICE.

The Pope, what is it?

          FIRST VOICE.

                                          In men's eye
Thy successor once was I,
What was there was given to me.

          SECOND VOICE.

Martyrdom and misery?

          FIRST VOICE.

Nay, yet power to bind and loose.
In thy name have I burn'd Jews
And heretics, and all the brood
Of unbelief——

          VOICES FAR WITHIN.

                    Avenge our blood,
Lord!

          FIRST VOICE.

             And in thy name have blest
Kings and Emperors, confest
Earth's spiritual head, whilst there
I sat ruling in thy chair.

          VOICES FAR WITHIN.

Woe, because the Kings of Death
Were with her in her wicked mirth!

          FIRST VOICE.

In thy name, and for thy cause,
I made peace and war, set laws
To lawgivers——

          VOICES FAR WITHIN.

                       And all nations
Drunk with the abominations!
Of her witchcraft.

          FIRST VOICE.

                                         In thy name,
And for thy cause, to sword and flame
I gave sinners, and to those
Who fear'd the friends and fought the foes
Of him from all manhood selected
To keep thy name and cause respected,
Riches and rewards I gave,
And the joy beyond the grave.

          VOICES FAR WITHIN.

Souls of men, too, chafering lies,
Did she make her merchandise.

          FIRST VOICE.

By all means have I upheld
Thy patrimony—nay, 'tis swell'd.

          VOICES FAR WITHIN.

For herself she glorified
In the riches of her pride.

          FIRST VOICE.

Wherefore, Peter, ope the gate,
If my knocking now be late.
Little time, in truth, had I
—I, the Pope, who stand and cry
For other cares than those that came
Upon me, in thy cause and name
Holding up the heavy keys
Of Heaven and Hell.

          SECOND VOICE.

                                      If so, if these
Thou hast in keeping, wherefore me
Callest thou? Thou hast the key.
Truly thou hast waited late,
Open then thyself the gate.

And here the Monk breaks off to state,
With befitting reflections by the way,
With what great joy the Pope, no doubt,
Soon as he heard the stern voice say
Those words, began to search about
Among his garments for the key
Which, strange to say, 'twould seem that he
Had not bethought him of before.
And now that joy from more to more
Wax'd most (the historian of his dream
Observes as he resumes the theme)
When after search grown desperate
A key he found, just at his need,
Seem'd at the worst—a key indeed!
But, ah, vain hope! for, however the Pope
Tried the key in the fasten'd gate,
Turning it ever with might and main
This way, that way, every way at last,
Forwards, backwards, round again
Till his joy is turn'd to sheer dismay at last,
And his failing force will no longer cope
With the stubborn gate it declines to ope.
A key, indeed! but not, alas,
THE KEY! Who shall say what key it was?
The Monk who here, I must believe,
Is laughing at us in his sleeve
(Like any vulgar story-teller,
Fabling forms to vent his spleen),
Surmises that it must have been
The key of the Pope's own cellar.

TRANSFER OF COLONIAL LAND.

Adelaide, South Australia, Nov. 26, 1861.

SIR,—About two years back there appeared
in All the Year Round an article headed
"Economy in Sheepskins," descriptive of the method
of conveyancing by registration of title in operation
in this colony. Your article was doubtless
written with a view to disseminate information
upon a question of great importance, yet it may