o much so that it
nearly happened that he passed on without paying the promised visit.
Several of the brethren round about had met Francis on his way, as
naturally he halted at any monastery on the route. The conversation
that he heard among these brethren troubled him not a little. He heard
that there had been important additions made to the humble house the
lawyer had given to Bernardo when he came first to Bologna. What put
the finishing touch to his sadness was when an inhabitant of the city
alluded to the building as "the Friars' house," then he knew they had
departed from their first principles, for there was no "me" or "mine"
in the Order of the Friars Minor. It was a heavy blow to him, sick and
smarting under a sense of failure as he was, and he declared that he
would not shelter under its roof, but would go elsewhere and beg for
hospitality. He sent a message to the monastery to command every one
of them to turn out at once! This was done instantly, and even those
who were ill were carried into the street! A historian, who was a
friar at the time, writes, "he who writes this history was one of the
number; he was taken out of his bed and laid in the street like the
others."

This summary proceeding naturally caused a tremendous stir in the
city, and what the outcome of it would have been we cannot say if
Ugolino, who seems to have had a knack of turning up at every crisis,
had not appeared just then. He went to Francis, and with great
difficulty succeeded in quieting him. He would never have done this
had he not been able to assure him that the house was his and in no
way belonged to the friars. When Francis saw that the brethren were in
no danger of becoming proprietors, he allowed them to go back and
consented to preach in the city. History tells us that that preaching
was one of the most glorious on record. It was through it that
Professor Pepoli joined the Friars Minor. But Francis felt keenly that
the government of a multitude is difficult and that increase of
followers does not invariably mean increase of joy. For several years
after this he rather discouraged than encouraged people to enter the
First Order.

[Sidenote: _Orphans._]

But the whole Bologna affair made a deep impression upon Francis. For
the first time in his career his brave spirit suffered defeat, the
first declension in principle, together with his own failing strength
was too much for him. At the next Chapter he presided over, which w