The Monastery

ritten trouble

ul bosom of th

hs upon t

CB

ore his Superior, propped on the friendly arm of the convent m

ig

s to speak, the first

ily-the moon

ntly; "a merry night have ye chosen for swimmi

said Eustace;-"speak, Fathe

k to your

a most dolorous attempt at the

spleased; "by my halidome he is drunken with wine, and comes to our presence

has had enough; and methinks, the confusion of his eye, is rather that of terr

t up my lever, and was about-Saint Mary forgive me!-to strike where I heard the sound, when, as the saints would have it, I heard the second groan just like that of a living man. So I called up my knaves, and found the Father Sacristan lying wet

ll, Hob Miller; only begone now, and remember a

ler, "not to mistake a holy man for a hog again, so long as I liv

e, "wilt thou tell our venerable Superior what ails thee? art

wine," muttered the

ne may perhaps cure thee;" and he reached him a cup

be carried to the infirmary; for it will prejudice our health, should we he

your reverence." And, accordingly, he attended the Sacrista

said the Abbot; "and through w

Monastery for many a long day." He then gave the Abbot the outlines of the Sacristan's adventures in the homeward journey, and add

, "that Satan has been permitted to put forth h

I have my suspicions, that if the drenching of Father Philip cometh of the E

est doubt that Satan, in former days, hath been permitted to af

this Hob the Miller hath a buxom daughter. Suppose-I say only suppose-that our Sacristan met her at the ford on her return from her uncle's on the other side, for there she hath this evening been-suppose, that, in courtesy, and to sa

be sifted and inquired into; it is not upon us that Father Philip must hope to pass the result of his own evil

g discipline, but also by suppressing and stifling the voice of scandal. If my conjectures are true, the miller's daughter will be silent for her own sake; and your reverence's authority may also impose silence on her father, and on the Sac

uence on the Abbot, because he understood it not fluently, and was asham

g it repeatedly in the course of his examination. The Abbot had compassion with the Sacristan's involuntary frailty, to which something supernatural seemed annexed, and finally became of opinion, that Father Eustace's more natural explanation was rather plausible than just. And, indeed, although we have recorded the adventure as we find it written down, we cannot forbear to add that there was a schism on the subject in the convent, and that several of the bre

f the volume which he had brought with him from the Tower of Glendearg. A copy of the Scriptures, translated into the vulgar tongue, had found its way

er departure from him. Father Eustace went down to the spot in person, and searched all around it, in hopes of recovering the volume in question; but his labour was in vain. He returned to the Abbot,

heretical translation, it may be thou

ly, because of these rash men's proceedings, than a powerful medicine is to be contemned, or held poisonous, because bold and evil leeches have employed it to the prejudice of their patients. With the permission of your reverence, I would that this matter were looked into more closely. I wil

help breaking on the willing ear of the Sacristan his sincere wish, that any spirit, black, white, or gray, would re

wimming merrily down the river with a ghost behind, and Kelpies

we, the moon

fishing, whom wa

thy prayers, compose thyself, and banish that foolish c

les with the psalter-the very bells of the convent seem to repeat the words, and jingle to the tune; and were you to put me

gain bega

k to your

-I am but a lost priest! Swim we merrily-I shall sing it at the very mass-Wo is me!

and concluded the remark with "ho! ho! ho!" for his reverence, as the reader

d to join in the laugh, but his unfortunate canticle came again acros

a religious house, unless he were under mortal sin. Wherefore, say the seven penitentiary psalms-make diligent use of thy scourge and hair-cloth-refrain for three days from all food, s

tired therefore to his cell, to try how far psalmody might be able

on his death, and might be either granted to himself the warder, or to some greater favourite of the Abbot, as matters chanced to stand betwixt them at the time. The Sub-Prior suggested to him also, the necessary connexion of interests betwixt the Monastery and the office which this man enjoyed. He listened with temper to his rude and churlish answers; and by keeping his own interest firm pitched in