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48 MEDIAEVAL THAITS.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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except thrashings . The " fole " determined for once to indulge her whiinspartly because he was not a very inhuman person hy nature ,
and partl , y because they happened at the time to chance upon the cell of an occasional " armyte" where they supposed provisions were
to be obtained , seeing that a , hermit must eat as well as a Sybarite . On enquiring at the door of this cellthe hermit provided them with
, a " barly lofe" and " gode . watur- " These provisions proved acceptable to Florence , but unacceptable to Mylys , who asserted that the
bread stuck in his throat . " I may not get hit downe , " said he graphically , and then went on to call the hermit a churl , and to give
him this injunction : —• _" Or Brynge y scliall us of crake thy th be y ttur crowne bredd . " ,
The anchorite protested against this summary mode of proceedingstating that he had had " no better this seven yere . _" This
assertion , excited no veneration in the mind of the " graceles fole , " who immediately determined to make an example of the hermit ,
as a warning to all other ill-provisioned hermits . Having lit a iire in the middle of the floor , and having made it blaze in spite of the
damp and draughts , he put the hermit on it . Had he lived in modern times , he would without doubt have given that person
notice of his intention , by the words " I'll warm yer , " now so much admired for the impression of relentless hostility they convey . As
it was , however , he put him on the fire without comment . When he was burning , it may be conjectured that the good Florence
fainted , as she said nothing . But when he had been " brente to dedd , " the smell of burnt hermit acted on her in the same way as
that of burnt feathers , and she recovered her senses and her power of speech simultaneously . But this time she did not say " welawaye . "
No , indeed , she did much more than that ! She << And say bega de , nne Trayt to cry , _tliou and shalt yelle , bee in helle ,
Tliere evyr to wonne and bee . " in return for which piece of vaticination , the " wykkyd man" made
her swear not to tell , on pain of being put on the fire too . It is lucky ,-however , that the story came to the ears of the minstrel , as
otherwise , we should never have been able to see the difference between a " ladye ' s" expressions of condolence for herself , and those
for a person of sanctity . Possessing this story , we cannot for a moment doubt the religious enthusiasm of the person who wrote it
, or of the persons about whom he wrote . The same enthusiasm sometimes led the knights into encounters
with antagonists not usually included among the enemies of the Faith par excellence . Few people would be inclined to consider a
Dragon generically schismatic ; yet the fact that knights looked upon Dragons , and Saracens much in the same light , seems to give some
presumption that the Draconic race was regarded as sectarian or
48 Mediaeval Thaits.
48 _MEDIAEVAL THAITS .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Sept. 1, 1858, page 48, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01091858/page/48/
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