_Pietro_. O! a religious pllicie.
_Malevole_. But damnation on a politique religion!
In act ii. sc. 5 we find the following:--
_Malevole_. I meane turne pure Rochelchurchman. [62]
I--
_Mendozo_. Thou Churchman! Why? Why?
_Malevole_. Because He live lazily, raile upon authoritie,
deny Kings supremacy in things indifferent, and be a pope in mine owne
parish.
_Mendozo_. Wherefore doost thou thinke churches were made?
_Malevole_. To scowre plow-shares. I have seene oxen plow
uppe altares: _Et nunc seges ubi Sion fuit_.
Then there is again what appears to be an allusion to Hamlet, act i.
sc. 4, resembling that in 'Volpone':--
I have seen the stoned coffins of long-flead Christians burst up
and made hogs troughs.
In act iv. sc. 4, Mendozo says to Malevole, whom he wishes to use for
the murder of a hermit:--
Yea, provident. Beware an hypocrite!
A Church-man once corrupted, Oh avoide!
A fellow that makes religion his stawking horse.
He breeds a plague. Thou shalt poison him.
From the many hints in 'Volpone' and in 'The Malcontent,' it clearly
follows that Shakspere was to be represented, in those dramas, before
the public at large, as an Atheist. [63] According to Jonson, he
counted 'ALL OLD DOCTRINE HERESIE.' According to Marston, he
had an aversion for all sects, and 'CONTEMPT OF HOLY POLICIE,
REVERENT COMELY SUPERIORITIE, AND ESTABLISHT UNITIE.
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