_Qui est exposé dans la grande Eglise cathédrale de St. Pierre et
St. Paul de Rome, pour implorer la miséricorde de Dieu_.
Air: du Théodore Français.
APPROCHEZ-VOUS, Chrétiens fidèles,
Afin d'entendre réciter:
Ecoutez tous avec un grand zèle,
Avec ferveur et piété,
Le voeu que nous avons fait,
D'aller au grand Saint Jacques;
Grace à Dieu nous l'avons accompli,
Pour l'amour de Jésus Christ.
Dieu créa le ciel et la terre,
Les astres et le firmament;
Il fit la brillante lumière,
Ainsi que tous les autres élémens,
Il a tiré tout du néant,
Ce qui respire sur la terre:
Rendons hommage à la grandeur
De notre divin Créateur.
[156]Tous les jours la malice augmente, Il y a très-peu de religion; La
jeunesse est trop petulante, Les enfans jurent le saint Nom. Et comment
s'étonneroit-on Si tant de fléaux nous tourmentent? Et si l'on voit tant
de malheurs, C'est Dieu qui punit les pécheurs.
Souvent on assiste à l'Office, C'est comme une manière d'acquit, Sans
penser au saint Sacrifice; Ou s'est immolé Jesus Christ. On parle avec
ses amis, De ses affaires temporelles, Sans faire aucune attention Aux
mystères de la religion.
Réfléchissez bien, pères et mères, Sur ces morales et vérités: C'est la
loi de Dieu notre Père; C'est lui qui nous les a dictées: Il faut les
suivre et les pratiquer, Tant que nous serons sur la terre. N'oublions
point qu'après la mort, Nos ames existeront encore.
The day was beginning to wear away fast, and I had not yet accomplished the
favourite and indispensable object of visiting the PUBLIC LIBRARY. I made
two unsuccessful attempts; but the third was fortunate. I had no letter of
introduction, and every body was busied in receiving the visits of their
country friends. I was much indebted to the polite attention of a stranger:
who accompanied me to the house of the public librarian, his friend, who,
not being at home, undertook the office of shewing me the books. The room
in which they are contained--wholly detached--and indeed at a considerable
distance from the cathedral--is about sixty English feet long, low, and
rather narrow. It is absolutely crammed with books, in the most shameful
state of confusion. I saw, for the first time in Normandy, and with
absolute gladness of heart, a copy of the _Complutensian Polyglot Bible_;
of which the four latter volumes, in vellum binding, were tall and good:
the earlier ones, in calf, not so desirable. For the first time too, since
treading Norman soil, I saw a tolerably good sprinkle of _Italian_ books.
But the collection stands in dreadful need of weeding. Indeed, this
observation may apply to the greater number of public collections
throughout Normandy. I thanked my attendant for his patient and truly
friendly attention, and took my leave.
In my way homewards, I stopped at M. Joubert's, the principal bookseller,
and "beat about the bush" for bibliographical game. But my pursuit was not
crowned with success. M.J. told me, in reply to black-letter enquiries,
that a Monsieur A----, a stout burly man, whom he called "un gros
papa"--was in the habit of paying yearly visits from Jersey, for the
acquisition of the same black-letter treasures; and that he swept away
every thing in the shape of an ancient and _equivocal_ volume, in his
annual rounds. I learnt pretty nearly the same thing from Manoury at Caen.
M. Joubert is a very sensible and respectable man; and is not only "_Seul
Imprimeur de Monseigneur l'Evêque"_ (PIERRE DUPONT-POURSAT), but is in fact
almost the only bookseller worth consulting in the place. I bought of him a
copy of the _Livre d'Eglise ou Nouveau Paroissien à l'usage du Diocèse de
Coutances_, or the common prayer book of the diocese. It is a very thick
duodecimo, of 700 double columned pages, printed in a clear, new, and
extremely legible character, upon paper of sufficiently good texture. It
was bound in sheepskin, and I gave only _thirty sous_ for it new. How it
can be published at such a price, is beyond my conception. M. Joubert told
me that the compositor or workman received 20 francs for setting up 36
pages, and that the paper was 12 francs per ream. In our own country, such
prices would be at least doubled.
It is impossible not to be struck here with the great number of YOUNG
ECCLESIASTICS. In short, the establishment now erecting for them, will
contain, when completed, (according to report) not fewer than four hundred.
It is also impossible not to be struck with the extreme simplicity of their
manners and deportment. They converse with apparent familiarity with the
very humblest of their flock: and seem, from the highest to the lowest, to
be cordially received. They are indifferent as to personal appearance. One
young man carries a bundle of linen to his laundress, along the streets:
another carries a round hat in his hand, having a cocked one upon his head:
a kitchen utensil is seen in the hand of a third, and a chair, or small
table, in that of a fourth. As these Clergymen pass, they are repeatedly
saluted. Till the principal building be finished, many of them are
scattered about the town, living quite in the upper stories. In short, it
is the _profession_, rather than the particular candidate, which seems to
claim the respectful attention of the townsmen.
[152] See page 13 ante.
[153] Mr. Cotman has a view of this church, in his work on Normandy.
[154] I suspect that the "peaceful" waters of this stream were frequently
died with the blood of Hugonots and Roman Catholics during the fierce
contests between MONTGOMERY and MATIGNON, towards the latter half of
the sixteenth century. At that period St. Lo was one of the strongest
towns in the Bocage; and the very pass above described, was the avenue
by which the soldiers of the captains, just mentioned, alternately
advanced and retreated in their respective attacks upon St. Lo: which
at length surrendered to the victorious army of the _latter_; the
leader of the Catholics. SEGUIN: _Histoire Militaire des Bocains_; _p.
340-384_; 1816, _12 mo_.
[155] The reader will be doubtless gratified by the artist-like view of
this cathedral, by Mr. Cotman, in his _Architectural Antiquities of
Normandy_.
[156] It cannot fail to be noticed that the following sentences are in fact
_rhyming verse_, though printed prose-wise.