Part 32 (2/2)
The King flushed at this reply, and answered in feords: ”Marcus Aurelius's action to his brother enerous; it was none the less inconsiderate By his own confession, the Emperor Verus proved, by his debauchery and his vices, unworthy, of the honour which had been done hi the Pannonian War, and Marcus Aurelius could only do well from that day on”
Monsieur, annoyed with his erudition and confused at his escapade, sought to change the conversation The King, passing into his cabinet, left hie I scolded him for his inconsequences, and he dared to iht way,” to beco Monsieur le Dauphin, whom she loved already with her whole heart
CHAPTER X
The Benedictines of Fontevrault--The Head in the Basin--The Unfortunate Delivery--The Baptise--Foundation of the Royal Abbey of Fontevrault
Two or three days after our arrival at Fontevrault, the King, who loves to know all the geographical details of important places, asked ave him a natural description of it
”They are two vast communities,” I told him, ”which the founder, for some inexplicable whim, united in one doination”
The Coarded as the first, because of the abbotorial dignity it possesses The Community of Benedictine Monks is only second,--a fact which surprises greatly strangers and visitors
Both in the nificent, the courts spacious, the woods and strea you hs issue from both establishments; these spread over the plain and till an ithe products of the fields, the meadows, or the orchards Innuions of women and herds are employed to look after these estates
”The aspect of Fontevrault gives an exact idea of the ancient homes of the Patriarchs, in their rereat proprietors delighting in their natal hearth, and finding their glory, as well as their happiness, in fertilising or assisting nature
”The abbess rules like a sovereign over her cohbours She appoints their officers and their temporal prince It is she who admits postulants, who fixes the dates of ordinations, pronounces interdictions, graces, and penances They render her an account of their administration and the employment of their revenues, from which she subtracts carefully her third share, as the essential right of her crosier of authority”
”Have you invited the Benedictine Fathers to your fete in the wood?” the King asked
”We had no power, Sire,” I answered ”There areeducated with the nuns of Fontevrault The parents of these young ladies respectful as they are to these monks, would have looked askance at the innovation The Fathers never go in there They are to be seen at the abbey church, where they sing and say their offices Only the three secular chaplains of the abbess penetrate into the house of the nuns; the youngest of the three cannot be less than fifty
”The night of the feast the monks draw near our cloister by means of a wooden theatre, which forms a terrace, and from this elevation they participate by the eye and ear in our ah”
”Has Madain of her abbey?”
resu to tell you of it, for it is extremely curious; it is not as it is related in the books, and I take the facts froood authority You must hear of it, and you will see
”There was once a Coiven for a husband the greatest hunter in the world This ly passed his life in the woods, where he hunted, night and day, e call, in hunter's parlance, 'big ga won the victory over a monstrous boar, he cut off the head hiwonancy She was filled with repugnance and fright at the sight of this still-threatening head; it troubled her to the prejudice of her fruit
”Eight, or seven and a half, irl as human in her whole body, but above had the horrible head of a wild boar! Irief, what despair! The cure of the place refused baptism, and the Count, broken down and desolate, ordered the child to be drowned
”Instead of throwing it into the water, his servant scrupulously went straight to the monastery where your sister rules He laid down his closed packet in the church of the monks, and then returned to his lord, who never had any other child
”The religious Benedictines, not knohence this y in it They baptised in this little person all that was not boar, and left the surplus to Providence They brought up the singular creature in the greatest secrecy; it drank and lapped after the rew up it walked on its feet, and that without the least io on its knees, and even make a courtesy But it never articulated any distinct words, and it had always a harsh and rough voice which howled and grunted Its intelligence never reached the knowledge of reading or writing; but it understood easily all that could be said to it, and the proof was that it replied by its actions