his own time. It is he who
tells of the robber who, being accustomed to commend himself in his
adventures to our Lady, was supported on the gibbet for three days
by her white hands, and received his pardon; and of the illiterate
monk who suffered shame because he knew no more than his _Ave Maria_,
but who, when dead, was proved a holy man by the five roses that came
from his mouth in honour of the five letters of Maria's name; and
of the nun who quitted her convent to lead a life of disorder, yet
still addressed a daily prayer to the Virgin, and who, returning after
long years, found that the Blessed Mary had filled her place, and
that her absence was unknown. The collection known as _Vies des Peres_
exhibits the same naivete of pious feeling and imagination. Man is
weak and sinful; but by supernatural aid the humble are exalted,
sinners are redeemed, and the suffering innocent are avenged. Even
Theophile, the priest who sold his soul to the devil, on repentance
receives back from the Queen of Heaven the very document by which
he had put his salvation in pawn. The sinner (_Chevalier au barillet_)
who endeavours for a year to fill the hermit's little cask at running
streams, and endeavours in vain, finds it brimming the moment one
tear of true penitence falls into the vessel. Most exquisite in its
feeling is the tale of the _Tombeur de Notre-Dame_--a poor acrobat--a
jongleur turned monk--who knows not even the _Pater noster_ or the
_Credo_, and can only offer before our Lady's altar his tumbler's
feats; he is observed, and as he sinks worn-out and faint before the
shrine, the Virgin is seen to descend, with her angelic attendants,
and to wipe away the sweat from her poor servant's forehead. If there
be no other piety in such a tale as this, there is at least the piety
of human pity.

II
THE NATIONAL EPIC

Great events and persons, a religious and national spirit, and a
genius for heroic narrative being given, epic literature arises, as
it were, inevitably. Short poems, partly narrative, partly lyrical,
celebrate victories or defeats, the achievements of conquerors or
defenders, and are sung to relieve or to sustain the passion of the
time. The French epopee had its origin in the national songs of the
Germanic invaders of Gaul, adopted from their conquerors by the
Gallo-Romans. With the baptism of Clovis at Reims, and the acceptance
of Christianity by the Franks (496), a national consciousness began
to exist--a nati