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What’s devotion to thee or to me?I devoutly believe there’s a heaven on earth,And I believe that that heaven’s in thee. 151At the same time, Thomas Love Peacock’s Headlong Hall (1816) depicts religion as aforeclosure <strong>of</strong> critical thought: Reverend Doctor Gaster defends the claim that allanimals, even the tiger who devours a person, were created solely and exclusively forthe use <strong>of</strong> humanity. He declares, “It requires no pro<strong>of</strong> […] it is a point <strong>of</strong> doctrine.It is written, therefore it is so.” 152 Far more starkly, Shelley’s Queen Mab (1813)declares <strong>of</strong> Jesus <strong>of</strong> Nazareth thatHe lit within their souls<strong>The</strong> quenchless flames <strong>of</strong> zeal, and blessed the swordHe brought on earth to satiate with the bloodOf truth and freedom His malignant soul. (7.169-72). 153Shelley thus flatly contradicts the Gospels’ and the Church’s pacifistic representation<strong>of</strong> Jesus. Especially because it is declarative, this quatrain goes farther intounorthodoxy than Don Juan’s playful questioning, but Byron apparently did not haveany strong expectation that his protestations would be accepted by all:I have thought since – that your bigots would have “saddled me with aJudgment” as Thwackum did Square when he bit his tongue in talkingMetaphysics – if anything had happened <strong>of</strong> consequence. – <strong>The</strong>se fellowsalways forget Christ in their Christianity – and what he said when “the tower<strong>of</strong> Siloam fell”. 154 (10.52, to Murray 9/12/22).151 “<strong>The</strong> Catalogue”, Poetical Works <strong>of</strong> the Late Thomas Little, 1803, p.128, in Coleridge 6.43n.152 Peacock, Headlong Hall, ch 2, in Novels <strong>of</strong> Thomas Love Peacock, ed. by Arthur Calder-Marshall(London: Pan, 1967), p.24.153 <strong>The</strong> Complete Works <strong>of</strong> Percy Bysshe Shelley, 4 vols (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972), I, 279.154 “<strong>The</strong>re were present at that season some that told him <strong>of</strong> the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate hadmingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, “Suppose ye that theseGalilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay:but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower inSiloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? Itell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”” (Luke 13:1-4).92

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