the old manners of their fathers,--if they desired to sell their free souls and become the servants of princes?... But all was useless. ‘It is like throwing water on a ball,’ said the afflicted parents; ‘not a drop stays there.’--‘What would you have?’ replied these giddy youths. ‘It is stronger than us. As soon as the charms of the world appear, our appetites carry us away, like runaway horses.’ The monks did not remain behind in this work of corruption. On the 20th of May the Dominicans celebrated the Feast of St. Ives, and invited the youth to one of those notorious vigils where all sorts of abominations were practised. The syndics complained ineffectually to the vicar-general of the scandalous lives (_sceleratæ vitæ_) of these friars. ‘Go to the convent and remonstrate with them,’ said this ecclesiastic. And when the syndics went there, the prior acknowledged that the monks led a dissolute life, but, he added, ‘it is to no purpose that I speak to them of correction; they answer that, if I do not hold my tongue, they will turn me out of the monastery.’[324] By their vices the clergy were digging a gulf beneath their feet, into which they would drag everything--doctrine, worship, and Church. All appeared to combine for the enslavement of Geneva. Neither the emperor, nor the king, nor the pope, nor the bishop, nor the Swiss, nor even the Genevese themselves, watched over the independence of the city. The living waters of the Gospel alone could purify these Augean stables. ‘God only remained,’ said Bonivard; ‘but while Geneva slept, He kept watch for her.’[325] Geneva was indeed about to wake up. The enervating dreams of the ‘golden youth’ were beginning to fade away. Not only those to whom the New Testament had been brought, not only the friends of independence, but thoughtful men of order and of law were going to oppose the duke. A new martyr was to fertilise a generous soil with his blood, and prepare the final victory of right and liberty. CHAPTER XXIII. AIMÉ LÉVRIER, A MARTYR TO LIBERTY AND RIGHT AT THE CASTLE OF BONNE. (MARCH 1524.)