FOOTNOTES:
[51] The whole substance of the Abbé Boileau’s arguments (so far as it has been possible to make them out) is contained in the three first Chapters of this Work, and in those two which precede this: the Author is now to continue the text part of the Book, without any farther prospect of assistance from the Abbé’s observations and directions; except in the last Chapter, in which they are once more to meet, and to lay again their wise heads together.
[52] “Noli perdere paternam diligentiam quam in ipsâ inquisitione servasti, quando tantorum scelerum confessionem cruisti, non extendente equuleo, non sulcantibus ungulis, non urentibus flammis, sed virgarum verberibus. Qui modus coercionis & à magistris artium liberalium, & ab ipsis parentibus, & sæpè etiam in judiciis solet ab Episcopis adhiberi.”—This Letter of St. Augustin, addressed to a Man invested both with military and civil power, as the Tribune Marcellinus was, in order to exhort him to employ violence and whipping against those who differed from him in their opinions, is an additional proof of a melancholy truth that has often been noticed; which is, that those who exclaim most bitterly against persecution, when exercised against them, and are the most ready to claim toleration in their own favour, are not always the most willing to grant the same favour to others.
[53] Cap. XVI. De mendace, fure, & percussore Monacho.... Si nec sic se emendaverit, flagelletur acerrimè.
[54] “Furti scilicet conscium, si adhuc vocare possumus Monachum, quasi adulterum secundum, flagello subdi & magnâ coërceri afflictione jubemus; dantes illi unam cum fornicante sententiam, quia & ipse furatus est ut luxuriaretur.”
It is a little surprising that repeated adultery is, in the above Rule, expressly placed on a level with simple fornication. Whether the Framer of this Rule has done so purposely, and thought that adultery ought to be treated with indulgence, on account of the uncommon temptation he supposed Men were under to commit it, or has only been very careless in his manner of expressing himself, I shall not attempt to discuss. Yet, lest the Reader should thence be led to entertain too bad an opinion of the tenets and morals of Monks in general, I shall observe, that all are not in the same way of thinking with respect to adultery, as the Framer of the above Rule seems to have been. As a proof of this, the instance, I think, may be produced of that Monk, mentioned in one of the Epigrams of the Poet Rousseau, who was a great enemy to that sin: one day preaching against it, he grew so warm in his arguments, and took so much pains to convince his Congregation of his own abhorrence of it, that at last he broke out into the following solemn declaration: ‘Yea, my Brethren, I had rather, for the good of my soul, to have to do with ten Maidens every month, than in ten years touch one married Woman.’
The following is the Epigram of Rousseau, which is written in Marotic verses; a kind of jocular style among the French, which admits of old words and turns of phrase.
Un Cordelier prêchoit sur l’adultère,
Et s’échauffoit le Moine en son harnois
A démontrer par maint beau commentaire
Que ce péché blessoit toutes les loix.
Oui, mes Enfans, dit il, haussant la voix,
J’aimerois mieux, pour le bien de mon ame,
Avoir à faire à dix filles par mois
Que de toucher en dix ans, une femme.
[55] “Monachus parvulorum & adolescentulorum consectator, vel qui osculo vel de quâlibet occasione turpi deprehensus fuerit inhiare, comprobatâ patenter, per accusatores verissimos, sive testes, causâ, publice verberetur.”
[56] ... Hic ego durare non possum, sed accipiam casulam, & eam ubi voluerit Dominus.
[57] Cap. XV. De lascivis & clamosis.
[58] “Qui solus cum solâ fœminâ sine personis certis loquitur familiariter, maneat sine cibo, duobus diebus, in pane & aquâ, vel ducentis plagis afficiatur.”
This Article, in which the Founder of a religious Order expressly rates the hardship of living upon bread and water for one day, at that of receiving an hundred lashes, is somewhat surprising. And supposing the generality of Readers should agree that the loss of a good dinner has really been over-rated by the good Father, his decision on that head, may then serve as one proof of that remarkable love of good eating and drinking which prevails among Monks; a disposition with which, to say the truth, they have long ago been charged. On this occasion, I shall quote the two following lines in Monkish style, recited by Du Cange in his Glossary, in which the love of good cheer is said to be one of the three things that prove the ruin of Monks: these lines only mention the black Monks; but this has been done, we may suppose, for the sake of the measure, and their meaning was, no doubt, also intended to be applied to the Grey and White.
Sunt tria nigrorum, quæ vastant res Monachorum,
Renes & venter, & pocula sumpta frequenter.
Other modern Latin Writers have also exerted their wit at the expence of the Clergy: some have pretended that the word Sorbona (the Sorbonne) comes from sorbendo[59]; and others have derived the word Præsbiter (a Priest), from præ aliis bibens ter[60], &c. &c.
As an instance of the love of Monks for entertainments, I shall relate the following story, which is extracted from a Monkish Book, and may serve to give the reader some insight into the manner in which Monks live among themselves, and the internal polity of their Convents.
A certain Friar, in a Convent of the Benedictine Order, found means to procure, besides plenty of good wine, a certain number of dishes extremely nice and well seasoned, several of which were expressly forbidden by the Institutes of the Order; and he invited a select party of Brothers to partake of his fare. As they could not, with any degree of safety, carry on the entertainment in the cell of any of them, they thought of repairing to one of the cellars of the House; where they hid themselves in one of those wide and shallow tuns (about eight or nine feet in diameter, and three or four deep) which serve in the making of wines. The Abbot, in the meanwhile, missing so many of the Monks from the Convent, went in search of them through all the different apartments: being unable to find them, he at last went down into the cellars, and soon perceived whereabout they lay: he stepped up to the place, and, on a sudden, made his appearance over the edge of the tun. The Monks were prodigiously alarmed at this unexpected appearance of the Abbot; and there was none among them but who would have gladly compromised the affair, by giving up his remaining share of the entertainment, and submitting to instant dismission. But the Abbot, contrary to all hope, put on a mild and chearful look: he kindly expostulated with the Monks on their having made a secret of the affair to him; expressed to them the great pleasure it would have been for him to be one of their party; and added, that he should still be very glad to be admitted to partake of the entertainment. The Monks answered, by all means: the Abbot thereupon leaped into the tun; sat down among them; partook of their excellent wine and well-seasoned dishes with the greatest freedom, in just the same manner as it is said the late Sir James Lowther would of the dinner of his servants in his own kitchen; and, in short, spent an hour or two with them in the tun, in the most agreeable and convivial manner.
At last, the Abbot thought proper to withdraw; and as soon as he had taken his leave, some of the Monks began to admire his extraordinary condescension; while the others were not without fears that it foreboded some misfortune. Indeed, the latter were in the right; for the Reader must not think that the Abbot had acted in the manner above-described, out of any sudden temptation he had felt at the sight of the jollity of the Friars, or of the dainties that composed their entertainment: by no means; his design had only been, by thus making himself guilty along with them, to be the better able to shew them afterwards the way to repentance, and thereby derive good from evil. In fact, the next day, a chapter having been summoned, the Abbot desired the Prior to fill his place, while himself took his feat among the rest of the Monks. Soon after the Chapter was met, he stepped forward into the middle of the Assembly, accused himself of the sin he had committed the day before, and requested that discipline might be inflicted upon him. The Prior objected much to a discipline being inflicted on the Abbot; but the latter having insisted, his request was complied with. The other Monks were at first greatly astonished; but seeing no possibility of keeping back on that occasion, they stepped into the middle of the Chapter, and likewise confessed their sin; when the Abbot, by means of a proper person he had selected for that purpose, got a lusty discipline to be inflicted upon every one of his late fellow-banqueters.
[59] Which signifies, to sip, or to swallow.
[60] He who drinks three times before the others.