The following is the Epigram of Rousseau, which is written in _Marotic_ verses; a kind of jocular style among the French, which admits of old words and turns of phrase. _Un Cordelier prêchoit sur l’adultère, Et s’échauffoit le Moine en son harnois A démontrer par maint beau commentaire Que ce péché blessoit toutes les loix. Oui, mes Enfans, dit il, haussant la voix, J’aimerois mieux, pour le bien de mon ame, Avoir à faire à dix filles par mois Que de toucher en dix ans, une femme._ [55] “_Monachus parvulorum & adolescentulorum consectator, vel qui osculo vel de quâlibet occasione turpi deprehensus fuerit inhiare, comprobatâ patenter, per accusatores verissimos, sive testes, causâ, publice verberetur._” [56] ... _Hic ego durare non possum, sed accipiam casulam, & eam ubi voluerit Dominus._ [57] Cap. XV. _De lascivis & clamosis_. [58] “_Qui solus cum solâ fœminâ sine personis certis loquitur familiariter, maneat sine cibo, duobus diebus, in pane & aquâ, vel ducentis plagis afficiatur._” This Article, in which the Founder of a religious Order expressly rates the hardship of living upon bread and water for one day, at that of receiving an hundred lashes, is somewhat surprising. And supposing the generality of Readers should agree that the loss of a good dinner has really been over-rated by the good Father, his decision on that head, may then serve as one proof of that remarkable love of good eating and drinking which prevails among Monks; a disposition with which, to say the truth, they have long ago been charged. On this occasion, I shall quote the two following lines in Monkish style, recited by Du Cange in his Glossary, in which the love of good cheer is said to be one of the three things that prove the ruin of Monks: these lines only mention the _black_ Monks; but this has been done, we may suppose, for the sake of the measure, and their meaning was, no doubt, also intended to be applied to the _Grey_ and _White_. _Sunt tria nigr_orum, _quæ vastant res Monach_orum, _Renes & vent_er, _& pocula sumpta frequen_ter. Other modern Latin Writers have also exerted their wit at the expence of the Clergy: some have pretended that the word _Sorbona_ (the Sorbonne) comes from _sorbendo_[59]; and others have derived the word _Præsbiter_ (a Priest), from _præ aliis bibens ter_[60], &c. &c. As an instance of the love of Monks for entertainments, I shall relate the following story, which is extracted from a Monkish Book, and may serve to give the reader some insight into the manner in which Monks live among themselves, and the internal polity of their Convents.