The Desultory Man: Collection of Ancient and Modern British Novels and Romances. Vol. CXLVII.James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
General
The Desultory Man: Collection of Ancient and Modern British Novels and Romances. Vol. CXLVII.
James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
Fiction
I was one day riding to Corsieul with my friend, Monsieur R----, to
see the curious Roman remains which have been found in that
neighbourhood, when, as we mounted the hill, and came suddenly in
sight of the chapel of St. Anne, we saw a vast variety of booths and
tents, with a multitude of people, men, women, and children, in all
their gay holiday attire, waiting round the chapel for the
commencement of the mass. "I had forgot that to-day is the fête of St.
Anne," said R----, "would you like to see a miracle. There is one
performed here every year."
"Above all things, let us see it," replied I. So we dismounted, and
went into the chapel. There were a great many people waiting about, to
see (I suppose) if they could get a bit of miracle too; but above all
others, we remarked one old woman, with whom the saint had to deal
more particularly. She seemed very poor, and very devout; for, not
being able to kneel, from her lameness, she sat before the shrine
telling her beads, and praying as hard as she could; while a young
priest stood beside her to keep off the profane vulgar, being probably
of opinion, with the copy-line, that, "evil communications corrupt
good manners." However, we remarked that her dress was that of a
remote canton, and we learned from the people round that she was a
stranger, come from a great way to see what St. Anne would do for her.
"A prophet is no prophet, in his own country," says the old proverb,
and I rather think that saints take care not to practise their
miracles upon their next-door neighbours. However the mass commenced,
and at the appointed place the old lady began to cry out. The priests
swung their censers at her head, as if they would have broke it; and
before the mass was over, the miracle was completed, and the lame
woman firmly re-established on her legs.
We spent a very pleasant day at Corsieul, and before we returned, it
was dark. In passing by the Chapel of St. Anne, however, we saw all
the tents and booths, illuminated; cider and _eau de vie_ handing out
in abundance; and, in short, a complete fair, in honour of the miracle
and the saint. Hearing the dulcet notes of a cracked fiddle in one of
the tents, we dismounted and went in, when, to our surprise, we beheld
the miraculous old lady dancing away as hard as she could, and doing
_dos-à-dos_ with a bumkin of Corsieul. Now let those deny miracles
that like--I saw this myself. I do not mean to say I saw that the
woman was lame, but I will swear that she danced.
---------------
Our next evening's contributions were of a more serious character, and
the two first came from the pen of my excellent friend Colonel W----,
whose long residence in India, though it had injured his health, and
whitened the hair upon his brow, had not taken away one fine feeling
or impaired one high principle.
THE REPROOF OF ALLI.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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