The cells of the monks,
the long corridors, refectories for the different classes of travellers,
and suited to the numbers of the guests, as well as those for the canons
and their servants, and lodging rooms of different degrees of magnitude
and convenience, with a chapel of some antiquity and of proper size,
composed then, as now, the internal arrangements. There is no luxury, some
comfort in behalf of those in whom indulgence has become a habit, and much
of the frugal hospitality that is addressed to the personal wants and the
decencies of life. Beyond this, the building, the entertainment, and the
brotherhood, are marked by a severe monastic self-denial, which appears to
have received a character of barren and stern simplicity from the
unvarying nakedness of all that meets the eye in that region of frost and
sterility.
We shall not stop to say much of the little courtesies and the ceremonious
asseverations of mutual good-will and respect that passed between the
Bailiff of Vevey and the Prior of St. Bernard, on the occasion of their
present meeting. Peterchen was known to the brotherhood, and, though a
Protestant, and one too that did not forbear to deliver his jest or his
witticism against Rome and its flock at will, he was sufficiently well
esteemed.
Pages:
607
608
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
617
618
619
620
621
622
623
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631