“See how great is God, and how He shows us His power. Since one of His little unimportant winds, which hardly has a name, all but destroyed the King of France, his children, and his wife, and all his household, in peril of the sea.” St. Louis, the king, loved also to tell this tale:-- There was a master in divinity, one who had disputed for the Faith, and he came to Bishop William of Paris in great distress, and said that he was full of doubt, and that his heart would not bend to believe in the Sacrament of the Altar, and that this mood, sent by the Enemy, pressed him sore. To whom Bishop William answered,-- “And does this please you?” To which the argufier answered vehemently,-- “Not at all! I am tormented thereby!” “Sir,” said the bishop again, “would you be pleased that these new doubts should conquer?” “I would rather,” said the poor man, “that my limbs should be torn from my body.” “Why, then,” said Bishop William, “I will give you a parable. You know that the King of France wars now with the King of England, and that on the front of this war stands the castle of Rochelle, which is in the country of Poitiers. Now, if the king had given you Rochelle to guard, upon the edges of the war where the fighting is, but to me the hill of Laon, peaceably in the heart of his kingdom, which would be honour most--to whom would he give the greater reward?” “To the man,” said the doubter, “who held Rochelle.” “Well, then,” said Bishop William, “let me tell you that my heart is not even like the hill of Laon, but rather like the little hill of Montlheri, near Paris, with its tower, for I have never doubted at all. So where God gives me in reward one measure, he will give you four.” St. Louis said that one should never speak ill of any man, and those who listened closely to his talk never remembered his speaking ill of any man; on which account also he would never so much as mention the name of the Devil. Also one day, when he was in Cyprus, on Crusade, he said to a companion that put water into his wine,-- “Why do you put water into your wine?” Then that companion, who was a young man, answered,-- “For two reasons. First, because the physicians have warned me to do so; and secondly, because I do not wish to get drunk.” To which St. Louis answered,-- “You do well. For if you do not learn this custom in youth you will not practise it in age, and if in age you drink your wine unmixed, you will, without doubt, be drunk every evening of your life; which is a horrible thing to see in a valiant man.” And thinking of this, he said again,-- “Would you be honoured in this world, and then have Paradise?” And the young man said “Yes.” Then the king said,-- “This is the rule: Neither say nor do what you would fear that all men should know.” And another time the king said to this young man, when they were on Crusade in the East,-- “Tell me which you would rather be--a leper, or in mortal sin.”