d there as a
priest-in-charge, he received a prebendal stall, thanks to the same
patrons, in the collegiate church of Sainte-Croix.

It is easy to understand that the bestowal of these two positions on so
young a man, who did not even belong to the province, made him seem in
some sort a usurper of rights and privileges belonging to the people of
the country, and drew upon him the envy of his brother-ecclesiastics.
There were, in fact, many other reasons why Urbain should be an object
of jealousy to these: first, as we have already said, he was very
handsome, then the instruction which he had received from his father had
opened the world of science to him and given him the key to a thousand
things which were mysteries to the ignorant, but which he fathomed with
the greatest ease. Furthermore, the comprehensive course of study which
he had followed at the Jesuit college had raised him above a crowd of
prejudices, which are sacred to the vulgar, but for which he made no
secret of his contempt; and lastly, the eloquence of his sermons had
drawn to his church the greater part of the regular congregations of the
other religious communities, especially of the mendicant orders, who had
till then, in what concerned preaching, borne away the palm at Loudun.
As we have said, all this was more than enough to excite, first
jealousy, and then hatred. And both were excited in no ordinary degree.

We all know how easily the ill-natured gossip of a small town can rouse
the angry contempt of the masses for everything which is beyond or above
them. In a wider sphere Urbain would have shone by his many gifts, but,
cooped up as he was within the walls of a little town and deprived of
air and space, all that might have conduced to his success in Paris led
to his destruction at Loudun.

It was also unfortunate for Urbain that his character, far from winning
pardon for his genius, augmented the hatred which the latter inspired.
Urbain, who in his intercourse with his friends was cordial and
agreeable, was sarcastic, cold, and haughty to his enemies. When he had
once resolved on a course, he pursued it unflinchingly; he jealously
exacted all the honour due to the rank at which he had arrived,
defending it as though it were a conquest; he also insisted on enforcing
all his legal rights, and he resented the opposition and angry words of
casual opponents with a harshness which made them his lifelong enemies.

The first example which Urbain gave