CHURCH MOUSE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Church mouse

... as ambassador, and I as his physician. There was then at the Spanish Court a very handsome hidalgo, Don Hernando—I forget all his names, but his surname was De Sandoval. He was of the bluest blood in Spain, and a marquis, but poor as a church mouse. He had a great reputation for gallant adventures and for mysterious scientific studies. On the last ground I sought and cultivated his acquaintance. But he was a proud, reserved person, and I could never quite make ...

— Master of His Fate • J. Mclaren Cobban