ks of the Gentiles, that is to say, the classics. He handles
his theme sensibly and liberally. Piety, of course, is to come before
eloquence, and there is to be choice of books. Anything of loose
tendency is to be forbidden, but he would encourage the reading of
Cicero, Seneca, and Aristotle's Ethics. The last was only accessible
to himself, he says regretfully, in Latin, because he knew no Greek--a
loss which he greatly deplores, desiring to read the Greek Fathers.
The third conversation is about the Benedictine rule, directed to the
lawless monks who contended that they were only bound by the customs
of the particular monastery they had entered, and not by the general
ordinances of their founder. He combats at length the contention that
the world has grown old, and that latter-day men cannot be expected to
undergo the rigorous fasts and penances achieved by St. Antony and St.
Benedict. He is quite alive to the weakness of the age, to the need
for improvement in the monasteries; and the word Reformer is applied
with praise to the leaders of the movement. This was before the days
of Luther, though only just before.

Incidentally, an argument is reported between a Christian and an
agnostic. After their diverse opinions have been rehearsed, the
Christian concludes with what is meant to be a crushing
reply--certainly it silences his opponent: 'On your own theory you
don't know what will happen after death. On mine you will prosper, if
you believe; if not, you will go to hell. Therefore safety lies in
believing mine.'

There are one or two glimpses of the life of the monks. At the end of
one conversation, the other brother hears the bell ringing for prayers
and runs off to chapel; Fernand, being old and lame, will be forgiven
if he is a little late, and not fined of his dinner. In other ways
consideration was shown to him, and he was often sent to dine in the
infirmary, not being expected with his toothless jaws to munch the dry
crusts set before the rest of the house. This, it seems, was a custom
which had been learnt from St. Justina's at Padua, to put out the
stale crusts first, before the new bread, to break appetite upon: just
as in the old Quaker schools a hundred years ago, children were set
down to suet-pudding, and then broth, before the joint appeared; the
order being, 'No ball, no broth; no broth, no beef'.

We are in a position to view from the inside another Benedictine house
at this period, that of Ottobeur