The bas-relief was originally coloured, and at the corners of the border were armorial bearings. The slab was formerly in the church of S. Blaise and S. Louis, which was destroyed in 1765, and which belonged to S. Julien, only having been separated from it by a narrow passage. It is supposed to have been either a refectory or a private chapel. In 1476 the masons and carpenters of Paris made it the seat of their guild, and built the portal in the Rue Galande; in 1684 it was reconstructed.
Another monument, or rather statue, by Bosio, of Antoine de Montyon, was removed from the old Hôtel Dieu when it was pulled down, and placed over the last burial-place of the philanthropist. Originally interred at Vaugirard, M. de Montyon's body was afterwards placed under the peristyle of the hospital, where it remained until the demolition. M. de Montyon is principally known by his prix de vertu given annually by the Immortals of the Institut. But he left other legacies for prizes: to whomsoever should discover the means of rendering certain industries less unhealthy; to a poor French subject who should write a book the most conducive to morals; for the advancement of medical science or surgery; also for the poor who require aid on leaving the Paris hospitals. All the prizes are distributed by the Academy, and the whole sum left amounted to some seven millions of francs, a considerable fortune seventy years ago (1820) when M. de Montyon died. The principal prize, pour l'action la plus vertueuse, generally falls to the lot of some obscure person, who has passed years of self-sacrificing devotion to the old, the sick, or the poor; virtuous actions, in M. de Montyon's opinion, being those unrecorded works of love and charity which are done in simple homes, without excitement or glamour; works which become great because of their very monotony and which prove the patience and unselfishness of the true Christian.
À LA MEMOIRE
D'ANTOINE J. B. ROBERT AUGET DE MONTYON,
BARON DE MONTYON,
CONSEILLER D'ÉTAT,
DONT L'INÉPUISABLE BIENFAISANCE
ET L'INGÉNIEUSE CHARITÉ
ONT ASSURÉ
APRÈS SA MORT, COMME DURANT SA VIE,
DES ENCOURAGEMENTS AUX SCIENCES,
DES RÉCOMPENSES AUX ACTIONS VERTUEUSES,
DES SOULAGEMENTS À TOUTES LES MISÈRES HUMAINES.
NÉ LE 23 DEC. 1733.—MORT LE 29 DEC. 1820.
ICI REPOSE SA DÉPOUILLE MORTELLE
TRANSPORTÉE DE LA COMMUNE DEMEURE DES MORTS
À L'ENTRÉE DE L'ASILE DES PAUVRES, SOUFFRANTS ET SECOURUS,
COMME À SA PLACE LÉGITIME,
PAR LA PIEUSE RECONNAISSANCE.
DE L'AUTORITÉ MUNICIPALE ET DE L'ADMINISTRATION DES HOSPICES
AUXQUELLES SE SONT ASSOCIÉES
L'ACADÉMIE FRANÇAISE ET L'ACADÉMIE DES SCIENCES,
XXVI MAI M.D.CCC.XXXVIII.
M. de Montyon was a remarkable man, in that he refused the exalted office of Keeper of the Seals offered him by Louis XVI., for fear of his moral character deteriorating: "Dites à Sa Majesté que je suis confus de ses bontés. Si je fais un peu de bien dans la place que j'occupe, c'est que je ne suis pas en évidence. En acceptant celle que l'on me propose, je serais exposé à toutes les intrigues, à toutes les cabales de l'envie; je n'aurais peut-être ni le talent ni la force nécessaires pour y résister; dans le doute, je dois m'abstenir."
SAINT-LAURENT.
There is nothing in the present somewhat spick-and-span church to recall its former state in the 6th century. The patron of Nürnberg, of the Escorial, and of Genoa; the young martyr, who from the earliest beginnings of Christian art has been one of its most popular subjects; the saintly deacon, who, as painted by Fra Angelico, charms us by his expression of sweet sanctity, and who, when depicted by the disciples of horrors, makes us shudder and close our eyes—S. Laurence, the deacon, has always been a favourite, and many are the churches dedicated to him. He was a native of Osca or Huesca, in Aragon, and acted as deacon (although a priest) to Sixtus II., bishop of Rome, in the middle of the 3rd century. He had the care of all the precious vessels of the church, and of the money. Times were bad, and Sixtus was denounced as a Christian; then Laurence, following the example of S. Stephen, petitioned the good bishop to allow him to share the captivity. Before Sixtus died he ordered Laurence to distribute all the money and treasure amongst the poor, and predicted his disciple's martyrdom as worse than his own. Laurence went about the city and distributed the alms, which, when the tyrant heard thereof, caused him so much anger that he thrust the deacon into prison, where he converted his gaoler. But the Prefect ordered him to give up his treasure. Then Laurence gathered together the poor and the sick, and presented them to the Prefect; and he being enraged, concocted a new and terrible torture. He made a sort of gridiron bed, upon which the young deacon was laid, and fire being placed underneath, the victim was roasted to death. "Seest thou not, O thou foolish man, being roasted on one side, thou shouldst turn me over, that the other be well cooked," are the words recorded to prove his steadfastness. Then he lifted his eyes to Heaven, and said, "I thank Thee, O my God and Saviour, that I have been found worthy to enter into Thy blessedness"; and so he passed away into bliss, and was buried in the Via Tiburtina.
Grégoire de Tours speaks of a monastery of S. Laurence in Paris; and S. Domnole, bishop of Le Mans, who died in 581, had been previously its abbot. This abbey has long since disappeared, and been lost to memory; and the parish, which since the 13th century has taken its place, became a dependency of the priory of S. Martin. The façade of the present building is no older than 1622; the nave and transept were erected in the 16th, the choir and apse in the 15th century. A niche containing a statue of S. John Baptist is commendable, and some of the details of corbels, gargoyles, cornices, and other exterior decoration are quaint and often grotesque: little beasties jumping about in foliage; small children in fool's caps tumbling about in grotesque attitudes; one little imp being whipped by the schoolmaster; Angels with animal continuations; a hunter shooting arrows at a salamander, and divers other monstrosities.
The interior is cold and uninteresting, the bosses being the best part of the decoration. They are of all manner of devices: S. Nicholas blessing his children; crowns, garlands, Angels' heads; foliage and draperies, and a mass of ornament and little personages—the Virgin and Child, S. John Baptist with his cross, S. Laurence and his gridiron, the scenes from the Passion, and many other conceits.