The Monk and Jew. A Tale. Thomas Paine Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Cleary, Scott M., ed. Claeys, Gregory, gen. ed. Thomas Paine Collected Writings. Vol. II. Part 2: Poetry. Princeton Princeton UP 2026 pp. []-[]. 5 Volumes.

This e-text is part of the Works section of the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

XML created for the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center; text-align: right; text-align: left; display: inline font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;
The Monk and Jew . A Tale . To make new Converts truly blest , A Recipe — Probatum est . — Stern Winter , clad in frost and snow , Had now forbad the streams to flow ; And skaited Peasants swiftly glide , Like swallows , o’er the slippery tide : When Mordecai ( upon whose face The synagogue you plain might trace ) Fortune with smiles deceitful bore To a curst hole , but late skinn’d o’er . Down plumps the Jew , and sinking found , Tho ’ deep the hole , the distant ground : Rising , the friendly ice he caught , Which kept him from the chilling draught ; He gasp’d — he yell’d a hideous cry , No friendly hand , alas , was nigh , Save a poor Monk , who quickly ran To snatch from death the drowning man . But when the holy father saw A limb of the Mosaic law , His hand outstretch’d he quickly withdrew , “ For Heav’n’s sake help ! ” — exclaims the Jew . “ Turn christian first ” the father cries . “ I’m froze to death ” — the Jew replies . “ Froze ! quo the Monk — too soon you’ll know , “ There’s fire enough for Jews below : “ Renounce your unbelieving crew , “ And help is near ” — “ I do — I do . ” “ Damn all your brethren great and small ” “ With all my heart , — Oh , damn ’em all : “ Now help me out ” — “ There’s something more , “ Kiss this blest cross , and Christ adore ; ” “ There , there — I Christ adore , ” — “ ’Tis well , “ Thus armed , defiance bid to Hell ; “ And yet — another thing remains “ To guard against eternal pains ; “ Do you our papal father hold “ Heav’n’s vicar? — and believe all told “ By holy church ? ” — “ I do , by G-d , “ One moment more I’m food for Cod ; “ Drag , drag me out , — I freeze , — I die . ” “ Your peace my friend is made on high ; “ Full absolution here I give ; “ Saint Peter will your soul receive : — “ Wash’d clean from sin , and duly shriven “ New converts always go to heaven ; “ No hour for death so fit as this ; “ Thus — thus — I launch you into bliss . ” So said — the father in a trice His convert launch’d beneath the ice .