.1f1!
II
il
lived, the only Christians who penetrated
into the retired valleys of the Alps came
in troops clad in steel, to cut the throats of
other Christians, headed by barons or
armed bishops, who met them for the
same kind purpose; and both parties plundered,
ravished, or murdered the poor Pagans
who lay in their route. Such practices
were not well suited to recommend
the religion of the
then was
cross: debased as it
it seemed to possess but little
advantage over heathenism. But St. Bernard
was a Christian of a very different
kind. He considered his religion as something
better than “ a cunningly devised fable,”
and that it was intended for nobler
purposes than to fill the coffers of the
clergy. He was, perhaps, the first true
Christian the Pagans of the Alps had ever
seen. His enthusiasm and perseverance,
tempered with benevolence and good sense,
produced the effects of the fabled lyre of
Orpheus in humanizing the savages of the
desert.
St. Bernard was not so successful in
combating the degeneracy and corrupt morals
of the higher orders of the priesthood,
which he discovered with not less surprise
than grief when he visited Borne. Against
this degeneracy he long remonstrated, and
continued to remonstrate, in his letters to
the Pope, who appears to have received
his advice with much good nature, always
courteously thanking him for it; assuring
him that he would set about the reformation
of the clergy whenever the pressure of
weightier matters would permit. St. Bernard
died in 1008, aged 85. Tradition relates,
that his parents, after having bewailed
the unknown fate of their son for
twenty-six years, discovered him at the
newly erected hospice on the Great St.
Bernard.
Besides the castles already described,
there are the remains of an old tower, and
also of an ancient fort or castle at the
southern end of the lake; and about three
miles from the lake, on a considerable
eminence stands Chateau Giez, the sum-
mer-residence of the Marquis de Villette.
There is nothing striking in the chateau ;
it is merely an ancient building with four
round towers; but the surrounding grounds
are in the highest style of wild natural
beauty, richly adorned with the most luxuriant
walnut and chesnut trees, inter