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and fierceness seemed blended in his counte

nance.

This prejudice was far from being diminished by the seeming indifference with which he heard of the assault made on the ship's crew; and his treating it as a matter of such common occurrence, as n ther to excite surprise or anger, made de Clisson, in his resentment, almost fancy he winked at, if indeed he did not approve, such doings, and share the spoil with the spoilers.--In short the countenance, conversation, and demeanor, of the Monk were such, as to impress de Clisson with a notion of his having but few, if any, of those virtues which would have induced the pious founder of his order to have chosen him as the director of it.

The Brethren had met for the purpose of eating and drinking, not that of conversation; and they well performed their avocations. There you might have seen men, who, in the daily habit of preaching fast to others,―to whom by the bye poverty had rendered such an admonition altogether useless, indulging their palates with the flavor of the choicest viands,

and the greatest delicacies which could be obtained on that far spot, to pamper them; and who, sometimes filling up a bowl of claret to the brim, and casting a hasty glance towards one another, as if grudging time-drank to the healths of their fellow wassailers, and then fell to again. Little was spoken during the process, and that little is not worth the being repeated.

At length the Brethren having satisfied the cravings of hunger and thirst, thought fit to pay some attention to those of sleep; so rising up, they saluted their Prior and retired.

CHAPTER XII.

"I am his Majesty's dog at Kew,-
Pray, Sir, whose dog are you?"

WHETHER it was, that he wished to make a farther acquaintance with de Clisson, or because it was his usual habit to remain longer than the rest, I know not; but, instead of leaving the refectory with them, the Prior, turning round his stool towards a fire still blazing on the hearth, and inviting de Clisson to imitate his example, ordered a large bowl of hot spiced wine to be produced when filling his cup, and wishing health to him, he went a good way towards emptying it at a draught, and repeated this operation so frequently, that at last de Clisson, who had long suspected it, became quite convinced that whatever high though hidden virtues

he might possess, he lacked one which was very essential to his peculiar situation,-that of temperance.

This, however, did not immediately become apparent; at first he spoke rationally enough, though with a little more laisser aller, than, from his former taciturnity, might have been judged consistent with his temperament.

"You are from France, son," he said. "And if I be not deceived, your accent speaks you to be of Britany."

"'Tis true, father, I am a Briton, and was born at Fougères, though that is not the spot of my inheritance."

"We were then near neighbours," replied the Prior, "I came out of Normandy."

"You a Norman, father! until now, judging from your accent and demeanour, I guessed you came from a more northern land.-From Artois, Picardy, or perhaps from Flanders."

The Monk seemed disconcerted, and hesitating a moment, replied, "I said not that I was a Norman, that is, that I was born in Normandy, but that I came thence, as in troth

I did: having once lived there, and served the office of Sacristan in a Monastery within't.

""Twas a good jump, father, from the sacristy of a Norman monastery to the priorship of an English convent! 'Twas doubtless merit did procure this high advancement; else might I ask who 'twas did help you to't!" said de Clisson, as if wishing to learn how he got it.

The monk felt himself constrained to reply, yet seemed not exactly to know the answer he should give. ""Twas from a Flemish,—that is, 'twas in the monastery of St. Michael's, that I was Sacristan, and doing some service to a certain lord, a potent Seigneur, he did entreat the Abbot to reward me with the priorship of this convent, a cell-as you may chance to know— of that in Normandy, and subject to it.”

De Clisson could not but perceive a great reluctance in the monk to tell the exact manner in which he had obtained his priorship: and, therefore, more with that ill-natured feeling, which we all possess in a greater or less degree, than because he cared about the matter, he determined to press him on the subject.

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