Memorials of Human Superstition: being a paraphrase and commentary on the Historia Flagellantium of the Abbé Boileau, Doctor of the SorbonneLolme, Jean Louis de
History
Memorials of Human Superstition: being a paraphrase and commentary on the Historia Flagellantium of the Abbé Boileau, Doctor of the Sorbonne
Lolme, Jean Louis de
Boileau, Jacques, 1635-1716. Historia flagellantium; Flagellants
[41] This _Superanus_, who considered whipping as a necessary
circumstance to make a complete education, has been followed in that
opinion by no less a man than the celebrated Loyola, the Founder
of the Order of the Jesuits. Ignatius of Loyola, after having led
a military life, took it into his head, though past thirty years
of age, to begin his studies; and in order to render his course
of learning as complete as possible, he insisted, on a certain
occasion, on the Master inflicting the correction of the School upon
him, in the presence of all the Boys. Some Writers have advanced,
that Loyola was thirty-three years old, when he underwent the above
flagellation; while others say, he was thirty-seven. On the other
hand, certain Protestant Authors, in order to rob the Saint of the
praise of humility he acquired on that occasion, pretend, that
when he desired to undergo the above correction, he knew that the
Professor had, of himself, resolved to inflict it upon him. The
question is also examined in _Bayle’s_ Dictionary, whether Ignatius
of Loyola was served in the manner above-recited, at Bayonne, or in
the _Montaigu_ School, at Paris.
Molière, in his _Bourgeois Gentilhomme_, introduces just such another
character as Superanus and Loyola. M. Jourdain, though a Man of a
middle age, and without education, takes it into his head to be on a
sudden a learned Man and a fine Gentleman: and in consequence of this
fancy, fills his house with Fencing Masters, Dancing Masters, Masters
of Music, Masters of Philosophy, and Masters of every kind. His Wife
and Maid Servant, being very angry to see their apartments full of
dust, and their floors covered with dirt, take him to task on that
account, and the Wife, who is a sort of blunt, vulgar Woman, among
other peevish expressions of her displeasure, asks him, “Do you mean,
at your age, to get yourself whipped, one of these days?”--To which
Mr. Jourdain, like a true _Superanus_, answers, “Why not? Would to
God I were whipped this very instant before all the world, and knew
what is to be learnt at School.”
_Madame_ JOURDAIN.
_N’irez vous point un de ces jours vous faire donner le fouët, à
votre âge?_
_M._ JOURDAIN.
_Pourquoi non? Plût à Dieu d’avoir tout à l’heure le fouët, devant
tout le monde, & savoir ce qu’on apprend au Collège._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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