"Summa Petit Livor, Perflant Altissima Venti,
Summa Petunt Dextra Fulmina Missa Jovis."
On the same subject, Peter Abelard, in the presence of Philip king
of France, is said to have answered a Jew, who urged these and
similar things against the faith.
"It is true that the lightning
descending from on high, directs itself most commonly to the highest
object on earth, and to those most resembling its own nature; it
never, therefore, injures your synagogues, because no man ever saw
or heard of its falling upon a privy." An event worthy of note,
happened in our time in France. During a contention between some
monks of the Cistercian order, and a certain knight, about the
limits of their fields and lands, a violent tempest, in one night,
utterly destroyed and ruined the cultivated grounds of the monks,
while the adjoining territory of the knight remained undamaged. On
which occasion he insolently inveighed against the fraternity, and
publicly asserted that divine vengeance had thus punished them for
unlawfully keeping possession of his land; to which the abbot
wittily replied, "It is by no means so; but that the knight had more
friends in that riding than the monastery;" and he clearly
demonstrated that, on the other hand, the monks had more enemies in
it.
In the province of Penbroch, another instance occurred, about the
same time, of a spirit's appearing in the house of Elidore de
Stakepole, {116} not only sensibly, but visibly, under the form of a
red-haired young man, who called himself Simon. First seizing the
keys from the person to whom they were entrusted, he impudently
assumed the steward's office, which he managed so prudently and
providently, that all things seemed to abound under his care, and
there was no deficiency in the house. Whatever the master or
mistress secretly thought of having for their daily use or
provision, he procured with wonderful agility, and without any
previous directions, saying, "You wished that to be done, and it
shall be done for you." He was also well acquainted with their
treasures and secret hoards, and sometimes upbraided them on that
account; for as often as they seemed to act sparingly and
avariciously, he used to say, "Why are you afraid to spend that heap
of gold or silver, since your lives are of so short duration, and
the money you so cautiously hoard up will never do you any service?"
He gave the choicest meat and drink to the rustics and hired
servants, saying that "Those persons should be abundantly supplied,
by whose labours they were acquired." Whatever he determined should
be done, whether pleasing or displeasing to his master or mistress
(for, as we have said before, he knew all their secrets), he
completed in his usual expeditious manner, without their consent.
He never went to church, or uttered one Catholic word. He did not
sleep in the house, but was ready at his office in the morning.
He was at length observed by some of the family to hold his nightly
converse near a mill and a pool of water; upon which discovery he
was summoned the next morning before the master of the house and his
lady, and, receiving his discharge, delivered up the keys, which he
had held for upwards of forty days. Being earnestly interrogated,
at his departure, who he was? he answered, "That he was begotten
upon the wife of a rustic in that parish, by a demon, in the shape
of her husband," naming the man, and his father-in-law, then dead,
and his mother, still alive; the truth of which the woman, upon
examination, openly avowed. A similar circumstance happened in our
time in Denmark. A certain unknown priest paid court to the
archbishop, and, from his obsequious behaviour and discreet conduct,
his general knowledge of letters and quick memory, soon contracted a
great familiarity with him. Conversing one day with the archbishop
about ancient histories and unknown events, on which topic he most
frequently heard him with pleasure, it happened that when the
subject of their discourse was the incarnation of our Lord, he said,
amongst other things, "Before Christ assumed human nature, the
demons had great power over mankind, which, at his coming, was much
diminished; insomuch that they were dispersed on every side, and
fled from his presence. Some precipitated themselves into the sea,
others into the hollow parts of trees, or the clefts of rocks; and I
myself leaped into a well;" on which he blushed for shame, and took
his departure. The archbishop, and those who were with him, being
greatly astonished at that speech, began to ask questions by turns,
and form conjectures; and having waited some time (for he was
expected to return soon), the archbishop ordered some of his
attendants to call him, but he was sought for in vain, and never re-
appeared. Soon afterwards, two priests, whom the archbishop had
sent to Rome, returned; and when this event was related to them,
they began to inquire the day and hour on which the circumstance had
happened? On being told it, they declared that on the very same day
and hour he had met them on the Alps, saying, that he had been sent
to the court of Rome, on account of some business of his master's
(meaning the archbishop), which had lately occurred. And thus it
was proved, that a demon had deluded them under a human form.
I ought not to omit mentioning the falcons of these parts, which are
large, and of a generous kind, and exercise a most severe tyranny
over the river and land birds. King Henry II. remained here some
time, making preparations for his voyage to Ireland; and being
desirous of taking the diversion of hawking, he accidentally saw a
noble falcon perched upon a rock. Going sideways round him, he let
loose a fine Norway hawk, which he carried on his left hand. The
falcon, though at first slower in its flight, soaring up to a great
height, burning with resentment, and in his turn becoming the
aggressor, rushed down upon his adversary with the greatest
impetuosity, and by a violent blow struck the hawk dead at the feet
of the king.
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