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to Jerusalem, in quest of their Well-beloved. One was, as her name imported, mild and prudent; the other, obstinate and capricious. The contrasted behaviour, and the different issue of the adventures which happen to these two sisters on their journey, form the intrigue of the romance. Thus, they arrive at a village during a fair or festival: Volontairette mingles in a crowd who are following a mountebank; she returns covered with vermin, and her person is depopulated with much trouble. The other sister escapes by remaining at home, engaged in devotional exercises. This romance is mystical throughout: It is invariably insipid, and occasionally blasphemous.

A number of spiritual romances were written by Camus, bishop of Bely,' in the beginning of the 17th century. At the time when this prelate entered the ecclesiastical state, the taste for romance was so strong as to exclude almost every other species of reading. Hence, he is said to have found it necessary to present his flock with fictions, of which the scope was to impress their minds with sentiments of piety. As he had much zeal, and some imagination, and as his readers had but an indifferent taste, these works may have produced,

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in his own time, the benefit he expected; but he wanted the art and judgment which alone could have rendered them lastingly popular : his nume rous and mystical productions fell into disesteem, in the progress of refinement and learning, and a single specimen will satisfy the reader that they are hardly worth being rescued from the oblivion to which they have been consigned.

Achantes, a gentleman of Burgundy, is repres sented as the model of every Christian virtue. His wife Sophronia, whose character is drawn at full length, is an example of piety and conjugal affec tion. After the lapse of many years, in the course of which this union was blessed with a number of daughters, Achantes passed to a better life. His relict made a vow of perpetual widowhood, which probably no one had any intention of interrupting, and devoted her time to the education of her daughters, especially of the eldest, called Darie, the heroine of the romance. This young lady was afterwards placed under care of Theophilus, an enlightened ecclesiastic; and the first fruit of her tuition was the foundation of a monastery. Her education being completed, she was married; but her husband, soon after the nuptials, went abroad and died. The intelligence of his decease was communicated to his spouse by Theophilus, who

embraced that opportunity of expatiating on the various topics of religious consolation. Premature labour, however, was the consequence of the disastrous news, and Darie expired, after having been admitted among the number of the religious of that convent which she had formerly founded and endowed.

Of the works of Camus, however, many are ra ther moral than spiritual romances; that is to say, some moral precept is meant to be inculcated, independent of acts of devotion, the performance of pilgrimages, or foundation of monasteries. All of them are loaded with scriptural quotation, some times not very aptly applied, all are of a length fatiguing when compared with the interest of the story, and all are disfigured with affected antithesis and cumbrous erudition.

We have already had occasion to mention the Contes Devots, which were coeval with the Fabliaux of the Trouveurs. A collection of stories, partly imitated from spiritual tales, particularly the Pia Hilaria of Angelin Gazée, and partly extracted from larger works of devotion, with some added by the publisher, appeared in modern French in the middle of the seventeenth century. A few examples may be given, as instances of the ex

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treme of superstitious folly, and as specimens of what for a considerable period formed the amusement of the religious communities of France and the Netherlands.

A countryman one day was driving some lambs to slaughter; fortunately for them, St Francis happened to be on the road. As soon as the flock perceived him, they raised most lamentable cries. The saint asked the clown what he was going to do with these animals cut their throats,' replied he. Good St Francis could not contain himself at this revolting idea, nor resist the sweet supplications of these innocents; he left his mantle with the barbarous peasant, obtained the lambs in exchange, and conducted them to his convent, where he allowed them to live and thrive at their lei

sure.

Among this little flock there was a sheep which the saint loved tenderly: he was pleased sometimes to speak to her, and instruct her. "My sister," said he," give thanks to thy Creator according to thy small means. It is good that you enter sometimes into the temple; but be there more humble than when you go into the fold; walk only on tiptoe; bend your knees, give example to little children. But, above all, my dear sister, run not

after the rams; wallow not in the mire, but modestly nibble at the grass in our gardens, and be careful not to spoil the flowers with which we deck our altars."

Such were the precepts of St Francis to his sheep. This interesting creature reflected on them in private, (en son particulier,) and practised them so well, that she was the admiration of every one. If a Religious passed by, the beloved sheep of St Francis ran before him, and made a profound reverence. When she heard singing in the church, she came straightway to the altar of the Virgin, and saluted her by a gentle bleat; when a bell was sounded, which announced the sacred mysteries, she bent her head in token of respect. O bless ed animal!" exclaims the author, "thou wert not a sheep, but a doctor: thou art a reproach to the worldly ones, who go to church to be admired, and not to worship. I know," continues he, "that the Hugonot will laugh, and say this is a grandmother's tale; but, say what he will, heresy will be dispelled, faith will prevail, and the sheep of St Francis be praised for evermore."

On another occasion, St Francis contracted with a wolf, that the city would provide for him, if he would not raven as heretofore. To this condition he readily assented, and this amiable qua

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