Dives and Lazarus- Hone; 1825
William Hone, The Every Day Book, 2 vols. London: William Tegg, 1825, 1827. Vol. 1 (entry for December 24):
In a carol, still sung, called "Dives and Lazarus," there is this amusing account:
"As it fell it out, upon a day,
Rich Dives sicken'd and died,
There came two serpents out of hell,
His soul therein to guide.
"Rise up, rise up, brother Dives,
And come along with me,
For you've a place provided in hell,
To set upon a serpent's knee."
However whimsical this may appear to the reader, he can scarcely conceive its ludicrous effect, when the "serpent's knee" is solemnly drawn out to its utmost length by a Warwickshire chanter, and as solemnly listened to by the well-disposed crowd, who seem, without difficulty, to believe that Dives sits on a serpent's knee. The idea of sitting on this knee was, perhaps, conveyed to the poet's mind by old wood-cut representations of Lazarus seated in Abraham's lap. More anciently, Abraham was frequently drawn holding him up by the sides, to be seen by Dives in hell. In an old book now before me, they are so represented, with the addition of a devil blowing the fire under Dives with a pair of bellows.