g, and which could scarcely bear the weight
of his body. To disperse the unwholesome humours, his arm had been
cauterized; to cut, carve and hack the poor flesh of humanity formed, as
we know, the basis of the scientific and medical equipment of the
period. These sufferings, which he brought as a sacrifice to our Divine
Master, were not sufficient for him; he continued in spite of them to
wear upon his body a coarse hair shirt. He had to serve him only one of
those Brothers who devoted their labour to the seminary in exchange for
their living and a place at table. This modest servant, named Houssart,
had replaced a certain Lemaire, of whom the prelate draws a very
interesting portrait in one of his letters: "We must economize," he
wrote to the priests of the seminary, "and have only watchful and
industrious domestics. We must look after them, else they deteriorate in
the seminary. You have the example of the baker, Louis Lemaire, an
idler, a gossip, a tattler, a man who, instead of walking behind the
coach, would not go unless Monseigneur paid for a carriage for him to
follow him to La Rochelle, and lent him his dressing-gown to protect him
from the cold. Formerly he worked well at heavy labour at Cap Tourmente;
idleness has ruined him in the seminary. As soon as he had reached my
room, he behaved like a man worn out, always complaining, coming to help
me to bed only when the fancy took him; always extremely vain, thinking
he was not dressed according to his position, although he was clad, as
you know, more like a nobleman than a peasant, which he was, for I had
taken him as a beggar and almost naked at La Rochelle.... As soon as he
entered my room he sat down, and rather than be obliged to pretend to
see him, I turned my seat so as not to see him.... We should have left
that man at heavy work, which had in some sort conquered his folly and
pride, and it is possible that he might have been saved. But he has been
entirely ruined in the seminary...." This humorous description proves to
us well that even in the good old days not all domestics were perfect.

The affectionate and respectful care given by Houssart to his master
was such as is not bought with money. Most devoted to the prelate, he
has left us a very edifying relation of the life of the venerable
bishop, with some touching details. He wrote after his death: "Having
had the honour of being continually attached to the service of his
Lordship during the last twenty