ising that the consecrated wafer or host received the most
extravagant marks of adoration. The king himself was often foremost in
public demonstrations in its honor. Louise de Savoie, mother of Francis
the First, relates in her quaint diary the pompous ceremonial observed
in restoring to its original position a pyx containing the host which
had been stolen from the chapel of the palace of St. Germain-en-Laye.
The culprit had suffered the customary penalty, having had his hand cut
off and being afterward burned alive. In the expiatory procession which
took place a few days later, Francis himself walked with uncovered head
and carrying a lighted taper in his hand, from Nanterre to St. Germain.
If we may credit his mother's somewhat partial account, the sight of the
monarch's signal piety was so touching as to bring tears to the eyes of
admiring spectators.[95]

In view of the general prevalence of debasing forms of superstition
among the people, it is not inappropriate to consider the condition of
that class of the population which is wont to exert the most potent
influence in forming the moral sentiments and moulding the character of
the unlettered masses. We have already touched upon the external
relations of the clergy to the king and to the Pope; let us now look
more narrowly into its internal state.

[Sidenote: Wealth and power of the clergy.]

At the period of which I am now treating, the clergy, both regular and
secular, had attained unprecedented wealth and power. Never, perhaps,
had France been more fully represented in the "Sacred College."
Assuredly never since the residence of the Popes in Avignon had the
French members possessed such immense riches. Thirteen French cardinals
sat in the papal consistory at one time in the reign of Francis the
First; twelve at the accession of his son to the throne.[96] Their
influence in the kingdom was almost beyond conception, both on account
of the multitude of benefices they held, and the distinction of the
families from whom they sprang and whose titles they retained. Some were
the incumbents of as many as _ten_ bishoprics and abbeys; while the
cardinals of Bourbon, of Lorraine, of Chatillon, of Du Bellay, and of
Armagnac were of the best blood in the realm, and enjoyed in their own
right, or by reason of their office, very extensive jurisdiction.

[Sidenote: Non-residence of the prelates.]

A standing reproach against the prelates was their non-residence in the
dioc