THE PALATINE SCHOOL.
Thus chatting, the Emperor Charles the Great arrived before a door that
opened on the gallery. He knocked with his cane, and a clerk dressed in
black opened. Struck with surprise, the clerk bent the knee and cried:
"The Emperor!" And as he seemed to be about to rush to the door of a
contiguous hall, the Emperor ordered him to stop:
"Do not budge! Master Clement is giving his lessons, is he?"
"Yes, my august Prince!"
"Remain where you are," and addressing Amael: "Seigneur Breton, you
shall now visit a school that I have founded. It is under the direction
of Master Clement, a famous teacher, whom I have summoned from Scotland.
The sons of the principal seigneurs of my court come here, in obedience
to my orders, to study at this school, together with the poorest of my
attendants."
"This is well done, Charles--I congratulate you on that!"
"And yet it is Charles the Fighter that has done this good thing--let us
go in;" and turning to Vortigern: "Well, my young man, you who cannot
sing mass, open your eyes and ears at their widest; you are about to see
pupils of your own age, and of all conditions."
The Palatine school, directed by the Scotchman Clement, into whose
precincts the two Bretons followed the Emperor, held about two hundred
pupils. All rose at their benches at the sight of Charles, but he
motioned to them to resume their seats, saying:
"Be seated, my boys; I prefer to see you with your noses in your books,
than in air, under the pretext of respect for me." And seeing that
Master Clement, the director of the school, was himself about to descend
from his high desk, Charles cried out to him: "Remain on your throne of
knowledge, my worthy master; here I am only one of your subjects. I only
wanted to cast a glance over the work of these boys, and to learn from
you whether they have made any progress during my absence. Let the boys
come forward, one by one, with the copy-books in which to-day's work is
being done."
The Emperor prided himself not a little on his literacy. He sat down on
a stool near the chair of Master Clement, and carefully examined the
copy-books brought to him. It appeared that the pupils who were the sons
of noble or rich parents, exhibited to the Emperor mediocre, or even
poor work, while, on the other hand, the poorer pupils, or those whose
parents were of lower rank, exhibited such excellent work that Charles,
turning to Amael, said: "If you were as proficient in letters as myself,
seigneur Breton, you would be able to appreciate, as I do, these
manuscripts that I have just been looking over. The sweetest flavor of
science is exhaled by these writings." Thereupon addressing the scholars
who had distinguished themselves, the Emperor said impressively: "I give
you great praise, my children, for the zeal you display in carrying out
my wishes; strive after perfection, and I shall endow you with rich
bishoprics and magnificent abbeys." The Emperor stopped and turned
towards the lazy noblemen's sons and the sons of the idle rich; his brow
puckered, and casting upon them an angry look, he cried out: "As to you,
the sons of my Empire's principal men, as to you, dainty and prim lads,
who, resting upon your birth and fortune, have neglected my orders and
your studies, preferring play and idleness--as to you," the Emperor
proceeded in a voice of ever heightening anger, and smiting the table
with his cane, "as to you, look for admiration from other quarters than
mine. I care nothing for your birth and your fortune! Listen to my words
and keep them firm in your minds: if you do not hasten to make amends
for your negligence by constant application, you will never receive
aught from me!"
The rich idlers dropped their eyes all of a tremble. The Emperor rose
and said to a young clerk, named Bernard, barely twenty years of age,
the excellence of whose work had attracted Charles' attention: "And you,
my lad, you may now follow me. I appoint you from to-day a clerk in my
chapel, nor will the evidence of my protection end there."
The Emperor looked satisfied with himself. With a complaisant air he
turned to Amael: "Well now, seigneur Breton, you have seen Charles the
Fighter, emulating in his humble capacity of man, the acts of our Lord
God when on earth. He separates the wheat from the chaff, he places the
just at his right, the wicked at his left. If you ever return to
Brittany, you will tell the school-masters of your country that Charles
is not altogether a bad superintendent of the schools that he has
founded."
"I shall say, Charles, that I saw you officiating in the midst of the
pupils with wisdom, justice, and kindness."
"I wish letters and science to shed splendor upon my reign. Were you
less of a barbarian, I would have you assist at a sitting of our
academy. We there assume the illustrious names of antiquity. Eginhard is
called 'Homer,' Clement 'Horace,' and I 'King David.' These immortal
names fit us as giants' armors do pigmies. But, at least, we do honor,
at our best, to those geniuses. Now, however," said the Emperor, rising
and breaking off the thread of his discourse on his academy, "let us,
like good Catholics, proceed to church, and hear mass upon our knees."