IX.

ARGENTEUIL.-A FAIR PUPIL OF THE NUNS.

LET us pass on to the year 1107. Abelard is gaining strength in his native country, and is doing nothing of particular interest to us. He may now and then have a dialectic tilt with some pugnacious brother Breton, he may visit Roscelin again; but we have a new character to introduce, and must leave him until he returns to the capital of France.

The good sisters of Argenteuil have under their care a little girl, now six years of age, that is destined to become the most renowned of her sex. Her name in the far-off centuries, shall be enrolled with those of Aspasia, the Countess Matilda, Joan of Arc, and St. Theresa herself.

Above all others she shall be celebrated for her learning, her love, her self-sacrificing spirit, and the eloquence of her letters.

But who is she? what is the land of her birth? who are her parents? how came she here among the nuns of Argenteuil ?

We are not altogether certain about her name. The daughters of the convent will not allow us to question

them too closely.* A learned and famous lover will pretend that her name is derived from the Hebrew word Heloim, which is one of the names of the Deity; but lovers always say and do insane things, and we are not in the least inclined to favor such a presumptuous etymology. She shall be known by the name of Heloise, and it matters not what the nuns call her

now.

Paris is her birth-place.

As near as we can ascer

tain, she was born in 1101, the next year after Abelard's arrival.

There seems to be an impenetrable mystery hanging over her parentage. It is generally admitted that Fulbert, the canon of the Cathedral of Paris, is her uncle. Her mother's name is Hersenda, but the name of her father must remain unknown. The gen

eral impression is that noble blood flows in her veins, and this impression is doubtless correct. There are certain whispers about the family of the Montmorencys, but if Heloise is in any way connected with those feudal, fervent loyalists, it is probably on her mother's side. Some silly gossips say that Fulbert is her father, but we would wager the kingdom of France, that the high-souled Heloise is not the daughter of such a piece of stupidity. We will not, however, trouble ourselves about a question that cannot be decided.

* Vie d'Abelard, p. 46.

The little girl is an orphan, and poor, and we will love her for the sake of her childish grace, beauty, activity and brightness. The nuns have they not the hearts of women?-gently kiss her high-arched brow, and her little, thin, half-quivering lips.

Uncle Fulbert, the Canon of Notre-Dame, has giv en orders that she be instructed in the best possible manner. Argenteuil is not far from Paris, the canon can easily watch the progress of his niece, and, moreover, his authority is weighty with the sisters at the convent. They need no watching and admonition, however, for woman is by nature faithful to her trust, and it is a pleasure, rather than a task, to teach so bright a pupil. In the little girl's mystic eye, there is a nameless power that fascinates her teachers. Every nerve seems to be surcharged with vitality, and her touch is magnetic. She is as restless as the breeze of summer, but in every wayward motion or act there is a sweetness and a grace that disarm reproof. She learns without effort what other girls of her age cannot comprehend at all. A gleam of light at times seems to pass over her fair face, and she utters words whose depth of meaning astonishes the nuns and fills them with awe. There are those of lofty spirit, whose presence interprets for us the deep words of Novalis, "There is but one temple in the world, and that is the body of Man. Nothing is holier than this high form. Bending before men is a reverence done to

3*

this Revelation in the flesh. We touch Heaven, when we lay our hand on a human body." Woe to the heaven-defying, sacrilegious man that shall undertake the robbery of such a temple! There are things that may not be forgiven; there are gifts for the accepted worshipper that must not be touched by the hands of the profane. Yet, O mysterious Life, how shall we fathom thy meaning! Solemn words of toleration admonish us to pause: "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

The significance of these half mystic words will appear in due season; for the present, we will leave the dear little innocent Heloise in the care of the pious sisters of Argenteuil. To look beyond the place where earth and sky meet is impossible; with us, as we go, the visible horizon will move. The end of the rainbow, it is said, dips in a vase of gold, but the treasure always recedes when we seek it. The avaricious old Fulbert will act foolishly enough, but, like Judas, he will be an instrument in the hands of an overruling Power, and play the part destined for him in the general progress of things.

X.

THE CONDITION OF WOMAN AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY.

THE state of society may always be determined by ascertaining the condition of woman. When she is the companion of man, and her relation to him that of equality, then we may be sure that a high point of rational and moral development has been attained. The tardiness of civilization has always been chided by the complaints of woman. She represents the higher sentiments, disinterested love, the benevolent affections, religion, and delicate sensibility, the divinest part of humanity, that part of our nature, advance towards the realization of which in practical life, constitutes true progress. The treatment of woman indicates in what estimation man holds the most beautiful portion of his own being. When men are brutes, women will be slaves. The lords of creation may declare that the daughters of Eve are inferior to themselves, but such a declaration only shows their own weakness and defects. He who places a light estimate upon things of highest worth, proclaims his own igno