Parry

“ Though individual towns might suffer, yet the relative importance of towns in the life of the nation was increased, and the way was prepared for that industrial and commercial supremacy of towns which began to manifest itself in the early years of the fifteenth century. ”

“ Even the priest in charge of the majority of the village churches belonged to the same social grade as his parishioners, and, in many cases, he was as poor as any of them, and glad enough to get a few acres and to add to his income by joining in the common agriculture. ”

“ The custom of establishing schools of theology in connection with cathedral churches was common to all those countries in which the Church had made progress. The Church of France had gained special fame in this respect, and the reputation of its schools had extended throughout the civilised world. Among the celebrated continental schools of this period may be mentioned Tourney, under Odo, Chartres, under Fulbert and Bernard Sylvester, Paris, under William of Champeaux, and Bec, which became famous under the mastership of Lanfranc and enhanced its reputation under Anselm. ”

“ Just as Augustine and his band of monks settled in the capital of the kingdom of Kent and built there a monastery, in which the bishop shared a community life with his monks, and which served as the centre from which their labours were directed, so a secular bishop with his companions settled in the chief town of another kingdom, where a church was ultimately built and a community life established. ”

“ My Paris haunts me just like yours. You—you play your drum among the pines. Me—I write here.... What a right pair of Provencal people we are. Back in Paris, we miss our Alpilles and the smell of wild lavender. Right here and right now, bang in the middle of Provence, we miss our barracks, and everything that reminds us of it is so dear to us!... ”

“ This was given to the brethren of St. Anthony of Vienne in France by Henry III. A hospital consisting of a master, two priests, a schoolmaster, twelve poor brethren, and various officers was established by them. ”

“ The secular clergy fall into one or other of two classes. In the one class, we place those who worked in the various parishes of which they were placed in charge; in the other class, were certain bodies of clergy who were organised into communities, termed colleges, and who served a church in common.
About the beginning of the twelfth century, there was in this country a general movement towards monasticism. Some of the existing secular cathedrals and collegiate churches were made monastic, and, in addition, there was a great increase in the number of monasteries. ”

“ Here in the Temple, though others are judges and benchers and fashionable leaders, you can still wander in shabby honesty in the gardens, pull down some of the old volumes in the library, and dine below the salt with your fellow-ancients. ”

“ Any account of parish life in mediæval England must include much more than might at first sight be supposed. To imagine that the story of the parson and his church could adequately represent the story of the parish, even with all that the one had to do for his people and all that in the other was contained and done, is somewhat like thinking that the biographies of kings and nobles and the chronicle of their battles and achievements would tell properly the story of a people or a country. ”

“ For the sake of convenience, we may here point out the main differences between monasteries and collegiate churches. A monastery consisted of a community of men or women under the rule of an abbot or abbess. The members of a monastery had taken certain vows and were bound to live in accordance with the rules of that Order to which the monastery belonged. A collegiate church consisted of a number of clergy forming a corporate body and living under the supervision of a Dean or Provost and responsible to the bishop. The origin of such churches has been traced to St. ”

“ Campion, the brewer’s—one wonders if he owned tied houses in those days and whether their licenses were spared—and “at after dinner, Mr. Deane and I went to Westminster, and there in the Court we had before us all the officers of the Duchy and of Westminster, and there we have put down nearly an hundred alehouses. ”

“ Naturally they never came near their parishes, but contented themselves with the appointment of an ill-paid parochial chaplain to discharge the necessary duties. This custom was put an end to by the Statute of Praemunire (1392) .
We must also note that the system of pluralities was carried on in the Middle Ages to an extent which seems to us almost incredible to-day. One man might hold several valuable livings which he never went near, whilst a clerk, who was frequently paid a miserable wage, was expected to do the work. ”

“ Effectively to set out the work of the monastic orders for education, it is advisable to consider separately: (I.) schools in connection with monasteries, (II.) almonry schools, (III.) the education of girls, (IV.) the education of the novices, (V.) the monks and university education, (VI.) education and the mendicant orders.
I. Schools in connection with Monasteries.
As a general principle, it may be assumed that a school existed in connection with every large monastery. ”

“ However, admirable as the Paris of to-day may seem to you, reconstruct the Paris of the fifteenth century, call it up before you in thought; look at the sky athwart that surprising forest of spires, towers, and belfries; spread out in the centre of the city, tear away at the point of the islands, fold at the arches of the bridges, the Seine, with its broad green and yellow expanses, more variable than the skin of a serpent; project clearly against an azure horizon the Gothic profile of this ancient Paris. Make its contour float in a winter's mist which clings to its numerous chimneys ”

“ A short time before my arrival at Paris, this great genius, who displays a perfect knowledge of mankind, and particularly of the people over whom he rules, discovered that the parisians, from a familiarity with his person, and from his lady and his family having occasionally joined in their parties of amusement, began to lose that degree of awe and respect for him, which he so well knows how to appreciate, as well as to inspire. ”

“ Remember your Parish, Neighbour.
Die.
You speak truly,
I do remember it, a lewd vile Parish,
And pray it may be mended: To the poor of it,
(Which is to all the Parish) I give nothing,
For nothing, unto nothing, is most natural,
Yet leave as much space, as will build an Hospital,
Their Children may pray for me.
Bar.
What do you give to it?
Die.
Set down two thousand Duckets.
Bar.
'Tis a good gift,
And will be long remembred. ”

“ The Parisians, with their political superstitions, are quite a distinct people in France,—they are caught and bound up in a circle of ideas which are a sacred tradition to them, although when closely examined they turn out to be mere empty phrases. ”

“ The conclusion seems to be that monasteries directly provided schools for their own members only within the walls of the monasteries, and that, when opportunity occurred and necessity demanded, they also undertook the responsibility of providing schools in their neighbourhood for all who might care to attend. ”

“ And so Paris has grown,—beautiful and great,—and the stranger within her gates, whether he come by road or rail, by automobile or railway-coach, is sure to be duly impressed with the fact that Paris is for one and all alike a city founded of and for the people. ”

“ The city found there all that is required for a city like Paris; a chapel in which to pray to God; a plaidoyer, or pleading room, in which to hold hearings, and to repel, at need, the King’s people; and under the roof, an arsenac full of artillery. For the bourgeois of Paris were aware that it is not sufficient to pray in every conjuncture, and to plead for the franchises of the city, and they had always in reserve, in the garret of the town hall, a few good rusty arquebuses. ”

“ Thousands of eager young men flocked to the French city to hear him. Other priests who disagreed with him stepped forward to explain their point of view. Paris was soon filled with a clamouring multitude of Englishmen and Germans and Italians and students from Sweden and Hungary and around the old cathedral which stood on a little island in the Seine there grew the famous University of Paris. ”

“ I have met some of my own countrymen who have seen everything in Paris but never Paris itself—the old story of not seeing the wood for the trees—and who are absolutely convinced that it is a town in which all the people think of is amusement and that a more frivolous creature than the Parisian never existed. ”

“ The Parish partakes of the character of the people who compose it; if they are earnest and devoted, loyal and true to the Church's appointments, the Parish is sure to be prosperous. In other words, the Church lives as they who are of it live. It is vital with their vitality. It is a live body as they are live Christians. Thus the success of a Parish is not wholly dependent on the Rector, but on the people as well. ”

“ The town proper, or old town, consists of a number of low, flat-topped houses of the ordinary Eastern type, built right up to the water's edge. The thoroughfares or streets are of deep sand, there being no necessity for roads, as wheel traffic is unknown here. ”

“ What a splendid view it was,—what a regular and fine-built town Paris is! The Seine is a beautiful river, and unlike the Thames which is dirty near London, is perfectly limpid. Notre Dame.We went down the Seine by steamer to the magnificent church of Notre Dame, which for elaborate carvings and workmanship beats all other churches in France. This church is the subject of a celebrated novel of Victor Hugo. There is another splendid edifice in Paris which has also escaped the ravages of war and which every Frenchman looks on with feelings of pride and veneration. ”

“ PARIS—home of grandeur, elegance, and wit—plays a part in France probably unequalled in any other country, and may be considered, in many respects, as the chief city of Europe, and one of the greatest in the world. ”

“ There are, he tells us, a few connoisseurs who enjoy the Parisian flavour like the bouquet of some delicate wine. To all Paris is a marvel; to them it is a living creature; every man, every fragment of a house, is 'part of the cellular tissue of this great courtesan, whose head, heart, and fantastic manners are thoroughly known to them.' They are lovers of Paris; to them it is a costly luxury to travel in Paris. ”

“ The circumscribed limits of the city, and the density of its population, enable the Parisians to make a glittering display in the streets, in the brilliancy and taste of which they no doubt outdo any other people in the world. ”

“ Sneering Paris has suddenly grown reverent; devotional with Hero-worship. Nobles have disguised themselves as tavern-waiters to obtain sight of him: the loveliest of France would lay their hair beneath his feet. ”

“ It was not only noblemen of high standing who numbered chaplains on their establishment. Knights and gentlemen and even wealthy tradesmen and yeomen also had their domestic chaplains. Sir Thomas More writes: “there was such a rabel (of priests) that every mean man must have a priest to wait upon his wife, which no man almost lacketh now.” [746]
We have thus demonstrated that there existed a considerable demand for men who had received a certain amount of education, and that as a result the demand for schools was stimulated. ”

“ Now Paris, though reared among rude shepherd folk, soon showed that royal blood ran in his veins, and he won great praise from the shepherds for his skill in tending the sheep upon the mountain, and for the daring with which he pursued and slew the wild beasts who sought to devour them.
So Paris grew to man's estate, and in all the land was none fairer than he, or more gracious withal. No marvel, then, that the mountain maid Œnone, whose home was in the vale of Ida, should be smitten by his beauty ”

“ First, it must be understood that all England is divided into parishes—a division recognized by the civil as well as the ecclesiastical law of the land. A parish is that circuit of ground, whether in the city or country, which is committed to the spiritual care of one clergyman. Now the boundaries of these parishes are very rarely defined by any law, except that of custom; and hence in most places it was and is customary once a year to make a solemn procession around the bounds of the parish. ”

“ Paris with its crowded pavements—and such a crowd, where every man and woman awakens interest, excites speculation! Paris, with its blue sky and its trees, and its color—and its fascination there is no describing! ”

“ A provincial or a foreigner might ask with curiosity what part these persons, so strangely armed, play in the social system; but Parisians, to whom they have long been familiar, and to whom they are indeed historical, know them as the chiffonniers or rag-pickers. An observer, if he follows one of these wretched adventurers, will see him stop at every dust-heap lying along the thoroughfares, previously to their being cleared away by the city scavengers. ”

“ Paris
that river to the north, as far as the heights of Montmatre and La Villette,—he can scarcely believe that so lovely a picture is not the vision of a dream, that a view so noble and so perfect can be a busy crowded city, the centre of busy traffic, and swarming with two millions of busy, hard-working men and women!
But the distinguishing and unique beauty of Paris consists not so much in her numerous palaces and noble churches and fine public buildings and streets, as in the harmony and proportion in architecture which strikes the observer in every street that he turns into. ”

“ Churches resound not with excessive groanings; Paris is stoically calm: sobs interrupt no prayers, for indeed none are offered; except Priests' Litanies, read or chanted at fixed money-rate per hour, which are not liable to interruption. The shepherd of the people has been carried home from Little Trianon, heavy of heart, and been put to bed in his own Château of Versailles: the flock knows it, and heeds it not. ”