20 TIIK TKMri.AltS IX CYI'RCS. [ACT I. CHAPLAIN. Oh, friend, this art Ranks o'er all other arts, tho Quintessence It is (as by my Prior I was taught Who understood what I but speak) of all States-craft and of all dogma. GOTTFRIKD. I am lost In wonder. CllAl'LAlN. Yes, beloved Son in Christ ! Therefore, observe ! when high and noble Lords Or Prelates shall be written for, ono makes Immense parado of twisted characters Themselves unmeaning, and in context only As they're together strung, to be explained, And that in various ways as best they please ; And an assemblage of such crooked signs (With which one wisely spares oneself the pains Of what blind heathens call a " train of thought ") Is called, when it has neither stamp nor seal, And if 'tis thick,—a book—an actual book, 1 Such as tho reader with his fists can grasp. Per contra, when an aggregate of letters, Meant to secure tho writer his desire, Has under it a pliant seal of wax, And largo,—'tis called an Instrument of Peace, Bull, Mandate, Rescript, Record, Interdict, Or when, as reservatio mentalis, The wax is spared, and only L. S. stands At bottom, then, d'you see, its value's nought. GOTTFRIED. That last I can most readily conceive. 1 The word book is used frequently to imply a paper of political instructions or a signed agreement. Sec I. Hinry IV., Act iii.. 1. "Our book's drawn: we'll but seal." Vol. I. Brewer's Henry VIII., p. 234. Kvery composition whether play, ballad, or history, was called a book, on the registers of ancient publications.—Chalmcr't note to Henry IV.—Tram.