Le Président à barbe grise
Sur La Montagne va monter;
Mais certes il peut bien compter
D'en descendre comme Moïse.
A word or two on the fees exacted by the clergy for the burial of the laity. Formerly, at the decease of each individual, the bishops had the contents of his will made known to them; and forbade those to receive the rights of sepulchre who had died "unconfessed," i.e., left no legacy to the Church, unless the relatives went to the official, who commissioned a priest, or some other ecclesiastic, to repair the fault of the deceased, and make a legacy in his name. The curates also opposed the profession of such as wished to turn monks, until they had paid their burial-fees; saying that since they died to the world, it was but right that they should discharge what would have been due from them had they been interred.
But the frequent disputes occasioned by these vexations obliged the magistrates to fix the rate of these singular fees. The following is extracted from a regulation on this subject, brought in by Francis de Harlai de Chamvallon, archbishop of Paris, on May 30, 1693, and passed in the court of parliament on the tenth of June following:
Marriages.
Liv. Sous.
For the publication of the bans.......... 1 10For the betrothing....................... 2 0For celebrating the marriage............. 6 0For the certificate of the publication ofthe bans, and the permission given tothe future husband to go and be marriedin the parish of his future wife....... 5 0For the wedding mass..................... 1 10For the vicar............................ 1 10For the clerk of the sacrament........... 1 10For blessing the bed..................... 1 10
Funeral Processions.
Of children under seven years old, whenthe clergy do not go in a body:For the curate........................... 1 10For each priest.......................... 1 10When the clergy go in a body:For the curial fee....................... 4 0For the presence of the curate........... 2 0For each priest.......................... 0 10For the vicar............................ 1 10For each singing-boy, when they carry
the body............................... 8 0And when they do not carry it............ 5 0And so of young persons from seven totwelve years old.Of persons above twelve years old:For the curial fee....................... 6 0For the curate's attendance.............. 4 0For each vicar........................... 2 0For the priest........................... 1 0For each singing-boy..................... 0 10Each of the priests that watch the bodyin the night, for drink, etc........... 3 0And in the day, each..................... 2 0For the celebration of the mass.......... 1 0For the service extraordinary; called thecomplete service; viz., the vigils andthe two masses of the Holy Ghost andthe Holy Virgin........................ 4 10For each of the priests that carry thebody................................... 1 0For carrying the great cross............. 0 10For the holy water-pot carrier........... 0 5For carrying the little cross............ 0 5For the clerk of the processions......... 0 1For conveying bodies from one church toanother there shall be paid, for eachof the above fees, one-half more.For the reception of bodies thus conveyed:To the curate............................ 6 10To the vicar............................. 1 10To each priest........................... 0 15
TEARS.
Tears are the silent language of grief. But why? What relation is there between a melancholy idea and this limpid and briny liquid filtered through a little gland into the external corner of the eye which moistens the conjunctiva and little lachrymal points, whence it descends into the nose and mouth by the reservoir called the lachrymal duct, and by its conduits? Why in women and children, whose organs are of a delicate texture, are tears more easily excited by grief than in men, whose formation is firmer?
Has nature intended to excite compassion in us at the sight of these tears, which soften us and lead us to help those who shed them? The female savage is as strongly determined to assist her child who cries, as a lady of the court would be, and perhaps more so, because she has fewer distractions and passions.
Everything in the animal body has, no doubt, its object. The eyes, particularly, have mathematical relations so evident, so demonstrable, so admirable with the rays of light; this mechanism is so divine, that I should be tempted to take for the delirium of a high fever, the audacity of denying the final causes of the structure of our eyes. The use of tears appears not to have so determined and striking an object; but it is probable that nature caused them to flow in order to excite us to pity.
There are women who are accused of weeping when they choose. I am not at all surprised at their talent. A lively, sensible, and tender imagination can fix upon some object, on some melancholy recollection, and represent it in such lively colors as to draw tears; which happens to several performers, and particularly to actresses on the stage.