“The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have
pleasure therein.”—PSALM cxi. 2.
PALISSY had not exaggerated when he said that the influence of the
Reformed church in Saintes was changing the whole aspect of the town.
Though but of short duration, its period of prosperity was bright and
happy, and he was prominent among its firm and peaceable supporters. The
picture he has drawn of it is a lovely one. “You would have seen in
those days,” he says, “fellow-tradesmen, on a Sunday, rambling through
the fields, groves, and other places, singing in company psalms,
canticles, and spiritual songs—reading and instructing one another. You
would also have seen the daughters and maidens, seated by troops, in the
gardens and other places, who, in like way, delighted themselves in
singing of all holy things. The teachers had so well instructed the
young, and affairs had so much prospered, that people had changed their
old manners, even to their very countenances.”
Nor was this merely a question of psalm-singing and prayers, he assures
us. The Reformation was practical and earnest. Quarrels, dissensions,
and hatreds were reconciled; unseemly conduct and debauchery suppressed;
and this had been carried so far that “even the magistrates had assumed
the control of many evil things which depended on their authority.”
Innkeepers were forbidden to have gaming in their houses, and to
entertain the householders, whose duty it was to abide with their own
families, not eating and drinking their substance elsewhere. Even the
enemies of the church were constrained, to their very great regret, to
speak well of the ministers, and especially of M. de la Boissière, who
seems to have won general respect and esteem by his judicious and manly
piety, as well as his pastoral instructions. Thus were the opponents of
the gospel fairly silenced, and recourse was had to a system of
counteraction, in the shape of a reformation on the part of the Roman
Catholics. This went to such a point that Palissy says, “certain of the
priests began to take part in the assemblies, and to study and take
counsel about the church.” In fact, it was time they should be on the
alert, for the monks and ecclesiastics were blamed in common talk; that
is, by those who cared nothing for religion, but who were ready enough to
throw a stone at these idle shepherds. “Why do you not exhort your
people, and pray, as these ministers do?” they asked; “you are paid
salaries for preaching.” These taunts reaching the ears of Monsieur, the
theologian of the chapter, measures were taken accordingly, and the
shrewdest and most subtle monks engaged for the service of the cathedral
church. “Thus it happened that, in these days, there was prayer in the
town of Saintes every day, from one side or the other.” But the thing
which worried the priests more than any other, and which seemed to them
very strange, was, that several poor villagers refused to pay tithes,
unless they were supplied with ministers. It was certainly a strange
thing to see, as Palissy says, when certain farmers, who were no friends
to the religion, finding these things so, actually went to the ministers,
praying them to exhort the people of the districts they farmed, in order
that they might get paid their tithes; the labourers having refused to
supply them with corn and fruits on any other conditions. In short, the
efforts of the little church had so well prospered, that they had
constrained the wicked to become good—at all events, to seem so.
How delightful to think of Bernard now! at his ease, rejoicing in the
peace and happiness around him, and in the religious aspect of his town;
frequently journeying abroad, to Écouen and elsewhere, to and fro, as his
business required, and coming home again, to wander, thoughtfully and
tranquilly, among the rocks and fields in which he took such delight. He
was now so well supplied with patronage that he might have been growing
rich, had he not, with his own ardent zeal and restless energy, been ever
expending time, and toil, and money, on new efforts to improve his art.
Now, too, he had leisure to pursue those inquiries which, in his
character of a naturalist, so deeply interested him. With surprising and
marvellous sagacity he penetrated some of the problems which have puzzled
the most skilful investigators, and there was always mingled with his
love of nature a spirit of glowing and unaffected piety. The bright
gladness of his pious soul was as a beaming light that shone upon his
path and made it ever radiant.
[Picture: “This dish is charming!” said the lady]
How skilfully he turned to use all the modes of acquiring knowledge, and
what good account he made of his own sharp wits, we see in a little
incident he has recorded. It chanced one day, he received a visit from
the Dame de la Pons, for whom he was executing a commission, in which the
lady felt, naturally, a woman’s interest. She had ordered a complete set
of dishes, to be adorned with his favourite “rustic figulines;” the work
was progressing favourably; there remained only a few pieces to be
completed; and she had come to see and to criticise. “This dish is
charming,” said the lady; “the bottom covered with sea weeds and corals,
while the fish, with open fins, seem darting across the water. Really,
one can fancy the slight tremor of the tail, so like the helm of the
living ship. The cray-fish, too, the spider of the waters, stretches his
long claws as if to grip the rock, and shrink into its crevices.” “And
see this one, mamma,” said her daughter, who had accompanied her, “this
is for the fresh water fish. Look at the edges, fringed with the dank
mosses, and the sides covered with the broad leaves of the plants. It is
the subaqueous world of waters, with all the leaves, stems, and flags of
the marsh, and its aquatic animals, transferred to clay, as true in form,
and as brilliant in colours, as if a housemaid had dipped one of her
plates in the stream, and drawn it out, filled to the brim, with the
plants, shells, and animals of the brook.” “It is admirable,” said her
mother. Palissy’s eyes sparkled, for praise is sweet; and what son of
Adam is there to whom it does not come doubly welcome from the lips of a
woman?
“What a curious shell is this!” exclaimed Madame, taking up one, from
which Palissy was modelling. “That comes from the shores of Oléron,”
said the artist; “there are numbers more on yonder table,” and he pointed
to one, covered with a multitude of similar ones. “I engaged a score of
women and children to search for them on the rocks. And now, lady, I
must tell you something curious about those shells. Only a day or two
after they were brought to me, I chanced to call on M. Babaret, the
advocate, who, you know, is a man famous for his love of letters and the
arts. We fell into some discussion upon a point in natural history, and
he showed me two shells exactly similar to these—urchin shells; {93} but
which were quite massive; and he maintained that the said shells had been
carved by the hand of the workman, and was quite astonished when I
maintained, against him, that they were natural. Since that time, I have
collected a number of these shells converted into stones.” “You surprise
me,” said his attentive hearer; “I was indeed greatly puzzled myself,
some years since, when I chanced to find certain stones embedded in rock,
made in the fashion of a ram’s horn, though not so long nor so crooked,
but commonly arched, and about half a foot long. I could not imagine,
nor have I ever known how they could have been formed.” “Your
description, madame, much interests me; for, it so happens that I have
also seen, nay, possess, a stone of the kind you describe, which was
brought to me one day by Pierre Guoy, citizen and sheriff of the town of
Saintes. He found, in his farm, one of these very stones, which was
half-open, and had certain indentations, that fitted admirably, one into
the other. Well knowing how curious I am about such things, he made me a
present of it, which I was greatly rejoiced at; for I had seen, as I
walked along the rocks in this neighbourhood, some similar stones, which
had awakened my curiosity; and from that time I understand that these
stones had formerly been the shells of a fish, which fish we see no more
at the present day.” He then showed his visitors the picture of a rock,
in the Ardennes, near the village of Sedan, in which were paintings of
all the species of shells that it contained.
“The inhabitants of that place,” said he, “daily hew the stone from that
mountain to build; and in doing so, the said shells are found at the
lowest, as well as at the highest part; that is, inclosed in the densest
stones. I am certain that I saw one kind which was sixteen inches in
diameter. From this I infer that the rock, which is full of many kinds
of shells, has formerly been a marine bed, producing fishes.” “You speak
as if stones grew, or were made, in process of time,” said the lady;
“while we know that from the beginning, God made heaven and earth. He
made also the stones; and from that time there have been none made, for
all things have been finished from the commencement of the world.” {95}
“It is indeed, madame, written in the book of Genesis that God created
all things in six days, and that he rested on the seventh. But yet, for
all that, God did not make these things to leave them idle. Therefore,
each performs its duty according to the commandment it received from him.
The stars and planets are not idle. The sea wanders from one place to
another, and labours to bring forth profitable things. The earth
likewise is never idle; that which decays naturally within her, she forms
over again; if not in one shape she will reproduce it in another. It is
certain that if, since the creation of the world, no stones had grown
within the earth, it would be difficult to find any number of them, for
they are constantly being dissolved and pulverized by the effects of
frosts, and an infinite number of other accidents, which daily spoil,
consume, and reduce stone to earth.” “You tell us startling things; very
hard to be understood, Master Bernard,” said the Dame de la Pons, “yet
full of deep interest to one who loves to note the wonderful works of
creation, and would fain learn to see them with discernment as well as
admiration.” Palissy paused from his work, (he had continued to sketch
while he conversed,) and opening a cabinet with drawers which stood near
him, he showed the ladies several specimens of fossils and minerals,
which in his enthusiastic researches he had collected; for, with the
acuteness of a philosophic observer, he had perceived the importance of a
detailed study of fossil forms to the discovery of geological truths; and
it may be truly said that the first who pursued this study (on which
undoubtedly modern geology and all its grandest results are founded) was
Palissy, the self-educated potter, who had taught himself in the school
of nature. “I have been anxious,” said he, “to represent by pictures,
the shells and fishes which I have found lapidified, to distinguish
between them and the sorts now in common use; but because my time would
not permit me to put my design in execution, I have, for some years,
sought, according to my power, for petrifactions, until at length I have
found more fishes and shells in that form petrified upon the earth than
there are modern kinds inhabiting the ocean.” He then showed them a
small specimen which he begged them carefully to observe. “What can it
be?” they inquired; “it resembles wood more nearly than anything else.”
“You will think it very strange when I assure you that it is indeed wood,
converted into stone. It came into my possession through the kindness of
the Seigneur de la Mothe, the secretary to the king of Navarre, a man
very curious and a lover of _virtú_. He was once at court in company
with the late king of Navarre, when there was brought to that prince a
piece of wood changed into stone. It was thought so great a curiosity
that the king commanded one of his attendants to lock it up, among his
other treasures.
“Taking occasion to speak with the gentleman who had received this
charge, Monsieur de la Mothe begged that he would give him a little
morsel of it, which he did; and some time after, passing through Saintes,
be brought the treasure to me, and seeing how much pleasure and interest
I took in examining it, he gave it me. I have since made inquiry, and
find that it was brought from the forest of Fayan, which is a swampy
place. It appears to me, indeed I am persuaded, that in the same manner
as the shells are converted into stone, so is the wood also transmuted,
and being petrified it preserves the form and appearance of wood,
precisely like the shells. By these things you see how nature no sooner
suffers destruction by one principle, than she at once resumes working
with another; and this is what I have already said—to wit, that the earth
and the other elements are never idle.” “Where can you have learned all
this?” asked the young lady, with girlish wonder; “I would fain know to
what school you have been, where you have learned all that you are
telling us.” “In truth, Mademoiselle,” said Palissy smiling, “I have had
no other teacher than the heavens and the earth which are given to all,
to be known and read. Having read therein, I have reflected on
terrestrial matters, because I have had no opportunity in studying
astrology to contemplate the stars.”