probability, have acquired so bad a name for the dwelling that no
servants would have inhabited it. The circumstance was told to Sir
Walter Scott by the gentleman to whom it happened.
But, in general, houses that have acquired this character, have been
more indebted for it, to the roguery of living men, than to accidents
like these. Six monks played off a clever trick of the kind upon that
worthy King, Louis, whose piety has procured him, in the annals of his
own country, the designation of "the Saint." Having heard his confessor
speak in terms of warm eulogy of the goodness and learning of the monks
of the order of Saint Bruno, he expressed his wish to establish a
community of them near Paris. Bernard de la Tour, the superior, sent
six of the brethren, and the King gave them a handsome house to live
in, in the village of Chantilly. It so happened that, from their
windows, they had a very fine view of the ancient palace of Vauvert,
which had been built for a royal residence by King Robert, but deserted
for many years. The worthy monks thought the palace would just suit
them, but their modesty was so excessive that they were ashamed to ask
the King for a grant of it in due form. This difficulty was not to be
overcome, and the monks set their ingenuity to work to discover another
plan. The palace of Vauvert had never laboured under any imputation
upon its character until they became its neighbours; but, somehow or
other, it almost immediately afterwards began to acquire a bad name.
Frightful shrieks were heard to proceed from it at night--blue, red,
and green lights were suddenly observed to glimmer from the windows,
and as suddenly to disappear: the clanking of chains was heard, and the
howling as of persons in great pain. These disturbances continued for
several months, to the great terror of all the country round, and even
of the pious King Louis, to whom, at Paris, all the rumours were
regularly carried, with whole heaps of additions, that accumulated on
the way. At last a great spectre, clothed all in pea-green, with a long
white beard and a serpent's tail, took his station regularly at
midnight in the principal window of the palace, and howled fearfully
and shook his fists at the passengers. The six monks of Chantilly, to
whom all these things were duly narrated, were exceedingly wroth that
the devil should play such antics right opposite their dwelling, and
hinted to the commissioners, sent down by Saint Louis to i
|