4. 
His holy friends then came about,
And with long preaching and persuasion
Convinced the patient that, without
The smallest shadow of a doubt,
He was predestined to damnation. 20

5. 
They said—­’Thy name is Peter Bell;
Thy skin is of a brimstone hue;
Alive or dead—­ay, sick or well—­
The one God made to rhyme with hell;
The other, I think, rhymes with you. 25

6. 
Then Peter set up such a yell!—­
The nurse, who with some water gruel
Was climbing up the stairs, as well
As her old legs could climb them—­fell,
And broke them both—­the fall was cruel. 30

7. 
The Parson from the casement lept
Into the lake of Windermere—­
And many an eel—­though no adept
In God’s right reason for it—­kept
Gnawing his kidneys half a year. 35

8. 
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; 40

9. 
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. 45

10. 
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. 50

11. 
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. 55

12. 
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. 60

13. 
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. 65

14. 
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. 70

15. 
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! 75