I could easily chant it like them if I would; but they
don't understand their business at all. I should like to know if it
becomes those rogues of Jews to speak as loud as our Lord? No, no,
madame; rest assured that in my parish it is my will that God be master,
and he shall be as long as I live, and let others do in their parishes
according to their understanding."
[153] "Jesus, therefore, knowing all things that should come
upon him, went forth, and said unto them, 'Whom seek
ye?' They answered him, 'Jesus of Nazareth.'"--_Gospel
of S. John_, xviii, 4, 5.
This is another of Des Periers' comical tales at the expense of the
clerical orders: There was a priest of a village who was as proud as
might be because he had seen a little more than his Cato. And this made
him set up his feathers and talk very grand, using words that filled his
mouth in order to make people think him a great doctor. Even at
confession he made use of terms which astonished the poor people. One
day he was confessing a poor working man, of whom he asked: "Here, now,
my friend, tell me, art thou not ambitious?" The poor man said, "No,"
thinking this was a word which belonged to great lords, and almost
repented of having come to confess to this priest; for he had already
heard that he was such a great clerk and that he spoke so grandly that
nobody understood him, which he knew by the word _ambitious_; for
although he might have heard it somewhere, yet he knew not at all what
it meant.
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