highwayman's life is the fullest of zest,
So the highwayman's death is the briefest and best;
He dies not as other men die, by _degrees_!
But AT ONCE! without wincing, and quite at his ease!
_Derry down._

And thus, for the present, we leave him. O rare Dick Turpin!

_CHAPTER X_

_SAINT CYPRIAN'S CELL_

Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch' entrate.

DANTE.

Cyprian de Mulverton, fifth prior of the monastery of Saint Francis, a
prelate of singular sanctity, being afflicted, in his latter days, with
a despondency so deep that neither penance nor fasting could remove it,
vowed never again to behold, with earthly eyes, the blessed light of
heaven, nor to dwell longer with his fellowmen; but, relinquishing his
spiritual dignity, "the world forgetting, by the world forgot," to
immure himself, while living, within the tomb.

He kept his vow. Out of the living rock that sustained the saintly
structure, beneath the chapel of the monastery, was another chapel
wrought, and thither, after bidding an eternal farewell to the world,
and bestowing his benediction upon his flock, whom he committed to the
care of his successor, the holy man retired.

Never, save at midnight, and then only during the performance of masses
for his soul's repose, did he ascend from his cell: and as the sole
light allowed within the dismal dungeon of his choice was that of a
sepulchral lamp, as none spoke with him when in his retreat, save in
muttered syllables, what effect must the lustre emanating from a
thousand tapers, the warm and pungent odors of the incense-breathing
shrine, contrasted with the earthy vapors of his prison-house, and the
solemn swell of the Sanctus, have had upon his excited senses? Surely
they must have seemed like a foretaste of the heaven he sought to gain!

Ascetic to the severest point to which nature's endurance could be
stretched, Cyprian even denied himself repose. He sought not sleep, and
knew it only when it stole on him unawares. His couch was the flinty
rock; and long afterwards, when the zealous resorted to the sainted
prior's cell, and were shown those sharp and jagged stones, they
marvelled how one like unto themselves could rest, or even recline upon
their points without anguish, until it was explained to them that,
doubtless, He who tempereth the wind to the shorn lamb had made tha