FOOTNOTES:
[42] Our Doctor of the Sorbonne and Abbé Boileau (whose meaning is here faithfully laid before the reader) speaks with much confidence of the proofs he derives in support of his opinion, from the above Latin lines, which he adds he thinks he has done well and wisely to produce; and I have postponed to the end of his argument, to make any remark upon the subject, in order to let him enjoy his triumph a little longer. However, his whole reasoning is no more than a quibble on the sense of the word flagrum; which, indeed signifies a whip, but also signifies a lustful passion: both come from the verb flagrare, to burn; and flagrare amore, to burn with love: hence the word flagrans delictum, which is said of a Man who is caught in the act of debauching another Man’s wife, or as some Civilians express it, alienam Uxorem subagitans: from the above expression the French have made the words flagrant délit, which have the same meaning; and they say of a Man under the above circumstances, that he is caught en flagrant délit. The real meaning of the Latin lines above-quoted, is, therefore, that Christians ought to be free, not from every kind of flagellation, but from lustful passions. Those lines, it may be observed, together with the quibble contained in them, of which our Author has availed himself to support his private opinion, are in the same taste with the other productions of Monks, during the times of the middle age, and of the general decay of literature, when finding out quibbles and puns, and succeeding in composing acrostics, anagrams, and other difficiles nugæ, engrossed the whole ambition of Versificators: though, to say the truth, worse lines than the above have been written in that kind of style.
[43] Instances of revelations, like those of St. Bridget, concerning the person of Jesus Christ and his sufferings, are very frequent among Nuns; and, to say the truth, it is nowise surprising that they should, at times, have visions of this kind. As those Women who are destined to live in the condition of Nuns, are commonly, not to say always, made to take their vows at an early age, that is, at a time when their passions are most disposed to be inflamed, and when an object of love may be looked upon as one of the necessaries of life, this, together with the circumstance of their close confinement, induces a number of them to contract a real and ardent love for the person of Jesus Christ, whose pictures they see placed almost in every corner, who is, besides, expressly called their Husband, whose Spouses they are said to be, and to whom, at the final and solemn closing of their vows, they have been actually betrothed, by having a ring put on their finger. To the mind of such of those unfortunate young Women as have once begun to indulge fancies of this kind, the image of their beloved Spouse is continually present, under some one of the figures by which he is represented in the above-mentioned pictures; and his flagellations, and other hardships he was made to undergo, are, among other things, the objects of their tenderest concern: hence the numberless visions and revelations which Nuns, like St. Bridget, have at all times had upon those subjects: and several among them, whose love was more fervent, or who thought themselves intitled to some particular distinction from their Spouse, have even fancied, on certain occasions, that they had been favoured with a visible impression of his sacred Stigmats, that is, of the marks of the five main wounds which he received when he was put to death. The idea of those visible marks or Stigmats of Jesus Christ’s wounds, we may observe, was, in the first instance, a contrivance of St. Francis, who pretended that they had been impressed on his body during a vision he had in a remote place; and he prevailed upon his Monks, and other adherents, to consider them as emblems of a close affinity between him and our Lord, and as a kind of order of knighthood that had been conferred on him.
[44] Among those Solitaries who, as is above-mentioned, fixed their habitations upon the tops of columns, particular mention is made of one who was afterwards, on that account, denominated St. Simeon Stylites, from the Greek word Στύλος, a column. This St. Simeon Stylites was a native of Syria; and the column upon which he had chosen to fix his habitation, was sixty cubits high. Numbers of people resorted to it from all parts, in order to consult him upon different subjects, and he delivered his oracles to them from his exalted mansion. One of his methods of mortifying himself was, to make frequent genuflexions; and he made them so quickly, it is said, and in such numbers, that a person, who one day spied him from some distance, and attempted to count them, grew tired, and left off when he had told two thousand.
The existence of the above Hermit, as well as of those mentioned by our Author, together with the hard penances to which they submitted, seem in general to be facts pretty well ascertained; and the amazing hardships which the Fakirs in the East Indies, still continue in these days to impose upon themselves, make the above accounts appear the less incredible. However, they have been since wonderfully magnified in the Compilations of Lives of Saints, and Histories of miracles; especially in that called the Golden Legend, which is the most remarkable of all, and was compiled a few Centuries ago by one Jacobus de Voragine, and has been since translated into several languages: it is a thick folio book, bound in parchment, which is found at all the Inns in Catholic Countries.
The life of a Hermit still continues to be followed by several persons. Those who make profession of it, are Men who, like the first Anchorites of the East, choose to live by themselves, in places more or less remote from Towns, without being tied by any vows; they only wear a particular kind of habit, and perform certain religious duties.
Whatever may be the real or affected sanctity of a few of them, the whole tribe of Hermits, however, have not escaped the common misfortune of Friars and Nuns, who have numbers of amorous stories circulated on their account; often for no other reason, we are charitably to suppose, than the additional degree of relish which they derive from the contrast between the facts they contain, and the outward life and professions of those of whom they are related. Thus, the celebrated La Fontaine has made the contrivance of a certain Hermit, for obtaining possession of a young Woman who lived in a neighbouring cottage, the subject of one of his Tales. And Poggio has related another story of an Hermit, which I think worthy of a place here, since this book is designed no less for the entertainment than the information of the Reader.
The Hermit in question lived in the neighbourhood of Florence. He was a great favourite with the Ladies; and the most distinguished at Court flocked daily to the place of his retreat. The report of the licentious life he led, reached the ears of the Grand Duke, who ordered the Man to be seised and brought before him: and as it was well known he had been connected with the first Ladies at Court, he was commanded by the Secretary of State to declare the names of all the Ladies whose favours he had received: when he named three or four, and said there were no more. The Secretary insisted upon his telling the whole truth, and as he was very hard upon him, the Hermit named a few more, assuring that now he had told all. The Secretary then gave him threats, and again insisted with great warmth upon his declaring the names of all the Ladies; when the Hermit, fetching a deep sigh, said, Well then, Sir, write down your own: which words confounded the Secretary, and afforded much merriment to the Grand Duke and his Courtiers.