There yet remains7 a remnant of the miserable8 people called Cagots in the valleys of the Pyrenées; in the Landes near Bourdeaux; and, stretching up on the west side of France, their numbers become larger in Lower Brittany. Even now, the origin of these families is a word of shame to them among their neighbours; although they are protected by the law, which confirmed them in the equal rights of citizens about the end of the last century. Before then they had lived, for hundreds of years, isolated9 from all those who boasted of pure blood, and they had been, all this time, oppressed by cruel local edicts. They were truly what they were popularly called, The Accursed Race.
All distinct traces of their origin are lost. Even at the close of that period which we call the Middle Ages, this was a problem which no one could solve; and as the traces, which even then were faint and uncertain, have vanished away one by one, it is a complete mystery at the present day. Why they were accursed in the first instance, why isolated from their kind, no one knows. From the earliest accounts of their state that are yet remaining to us, it seems that the names which they gave each other were ignored by the population they lived amongst, who spoke10 of them as Crestiaa, or Cagots, just as we speak of animals by their generic11 names. Their houses or huts were always placed at some distance out of the villages of the country-folk, who unwillingly12 called in the services of the Cagots as carpenters, or tilers, or slaters—trades which seemed appropriated by this unfortunate race—who were forbidden to occupy land, or to bear arms, the usual occupations of those times. They had some small right of pasturage on the common lands, and in the forests: but the number of their cattle and livestock13 was strictly14 limited by the earliest laws relating to the Cagots. They were forbidden by one act to have more than twenty sheep, a pig, a ram15, and six geese. The pig was to be fattened16 and killed for winter food; the fleece of the sheep was to clothe them; but, if the said sheep had lambs, they were forbidden to eat them. Their only privilege arising from this increase was, that they might choose out the strongest and finest in preference to keeping the old sheep. At Martinmas the authorities of the commune came round, and counted over the stock of each Cagot. If he had more than his appointed number, they were forfeited18; half went to the commune, and half to the baillie, or chief magistrate19 of the commune. The poor beasts were limited as to the amount of common land which they might stray over in search of grass. While the cattle of the inhabitants of the commune might wander hither and thither20 in search of the sweetest herbage, the deepest shade, or the coolest pool in which to stand on the hot days, and lazily switch their dappled sides, the Cagot sheep and pig had to learn imaginary bounds, beyond which if they strayed, any one might snap them up, and kill them, reserving a part of the flesh for his own use, but graciously restoring the inferior parts to their original owner. Any damage done by the sheep was, however, fairly appraised21, and the Cagot paid no more for it than any other man would have done.
Did a Cagot leave his poor cabin, and venture into the towns, even to render services required of him in the way of his trade, he was bidden, by all the municipal laws, to stand by and remember his rude old state. In all the towns and villages in the large districts extending on both sides of the Pyrenées—in all that part of Spain—they were forbidden to buy or sell anything eatable, to walk in the middle (esteemed the better) part of the streets, to come within the gates before sunrise, or to be found after sunset within the walls of the town. But still, as the Cagots were good-looking men, and (although they bore certain natural marks of their caste, of which I shall speak by-and-by) were not easily distinguished22 by casual passers-by from other men, they were compelled to wear some distinctive23 peculiarity24 which should arrest the eye; and, in the greater number of towns, it was decreed that the outward sign of a Cagot should be a piece of red cloth sewed conspicuously25 on the front of his dress. In other towns, the mark of Cagoterie was the foot of a duck or a goose hung over their left shoulder, so as to be seen by any one meeting them. After a time, the more convenient badge of a piece of yellow cloth cut out in the shape of a duck’s foot, was adopted. If any Cagot was found in any town or village without his badge, he had to pay a fine of five sous, and to lose his dress. He was expected to shrink away from any passer-by, for fear that their clothes should touch each other; or else to stand still in some corner or by-place. If the Cagots were thirsty during the days which they passed in those towns where their presence was barely suffered, they had no means of quenching26 their thirst, for they were forbidden to enter into the little cabarets or taverns27. Even the water gushing28 out of the common fountain was prohibited to them. Far away, in their own squalid village, there was the Cagot fountain, and they were not allowed to drink of any other water. A Cagot woman having to make purchases in the town, was liable to be flogged out of it if she went to buy anything except on a Monday—a day on which all other people who could, kept their houses for fear of coming in contact with the accursed race.
In the Pays Basque, the prejudices—and for some time the laws—ran stronger against them than any which I have hitherto mentioned. The Basque Cagot was not allowed to possess sheep. He might keep a pig for provision, but his pig had no right of pasturage. He might cut and carry grass for the ass1, which was the only other animal he was permitted to own; and this ass was permitted, because its existence was rather an advantage to the oppressor, who constantly availed himself of the Cagot’s mechanical skill, and was glad to have him and his tools easily conveyed from one place to another.
The race was repulsed29 by the State. Under the small local governments they could hold no post whatsoever30. And they were barely tolerated by the Church, although they were good Catholics, and zealous31 frequenters of the mass. They might only enter the churches by a small door set apart for them, through which no one of the pure race ever passed. This door was low, so as to compel them to make an obeisance32. It was occasionally surrounded by sculpture, which invariably represented an oak-branch with a dove above it. When they were once in, they might not go to the holy water used by others. They had a bénitier of their own; nor were they allowed to share in the consecrated33 bread when that was handed round to the believers of the pure race. The Cagots stood afar off, near the door. There were certain boundaries—imaginary lines—on the nave34 and in the aisles35 which they might not pass. In one or two of the more tolerant of the Pyrenean villages, the blessed bread was offered to the Cagots, the priest standing36 on one side of the boundary, and giving the pieces of bread on a long wooden fork to each person successively.
When the Cagot died, he was interred37 apart, in a plot of burying-ground on the north side of the cemetery38. Under such laws and prescriptions39 as I have described, it is no wonder that he was generally too poor to have much property for his children to inherit; but certain descriptions of it were forfeited to the commune. The only possession which all who were not of his own race refused to touch, was his furniture. That was tainted40, infectious, unclean—fit for none but Cagots.
When such were, for at least three centuries, the prevalent usages and opinions with regard to this oppressed race, it is not surprising that we read of occasional outbursts of ferocious42 violence on their part. In the Basses-Pyrenées, for instance, it is only about a hundred years since, that the Cagots of Rehouilhes rose up against the inhabitants of the neighbouring town of Lourdes, and got the better of them, by their magical powers, as it is said. The people of Lourdes were conquered and slain43, and their ghastly, bloody44 heads served the triumphant45 Cagots for balls to play at ninepins with! The local parliaments had begun, by this time, to perceive how oppressive was the ban of public opinion under which the Cagots lay, and were not inclined to enforce too severe a punishment. Accordingly, the decree of the parliament of Toulouse condemned46 only the leading Cagots concerned in this affray to be put to death, and that henceforward and for ever no Cagot was to be permitted to enter the town of Lourdes by any gate but that called Capdet-pourtet: they were only to be allowed to walk under the rain-gutters, and neither to sit, eat, nor drink in the town. If they failed in observing any of these rules, the parliament decreed, in the spirit of Shylock, that the disobedient Cagots should have two strips of flesh, weighing never more than two ounces a-piece, cut out from each side of their spines47.
In the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, it was considered no more a crime to kill a Cagot than to destroy obnoxious48 vermin. A “nest of Cagots,” as the old accounts phrase it, had assembled in a deserted49 castle of Mauvezin, about the year sixteen hundred; and, certainly, they made themselves not very agreeable neighbours, as they seemed to enjoy their reputation of magicians; and, by some acoustic50 secrets which were known to them, all sorts of moanings and groanings were heard in the neighbouring forests, very much to the alarm of the good people of the pure race; who could not cut off a withered52 branch for firewood, but some unearthly sound seemed to fill the air, nor drink water which was not poisoned, because the Cagots would persist in filling their pitchers53 at the same running stream. Added to these grievances54, the various pilferings perpetually going on in the neighbourhood made the inhabitants of the adjacent towns and hamlets believe that they had a very sufficient cause for wishing to murder all the Cagots in the Chateau55 de Mauvezin. But it was surrounded by a moat, and only accessible by a drawbridge; besides which, the Cagots were fierce and vigilant56. Some one, however, proposed to get into their confidence; and for this purpose he pretended to fall ill close to their path, so that on returning to their stronghold they perceived him, and took him in, restored him to health, and made a friend of him. One day, when they were all playing at ninepins in the woods, their treacherous57 friend left the party on pretence58 of being thirsty, and went back into the castle, drawing up the bridge after he had passed over it, and so cutting off their means of escape into safety. Then, going up to the highest part of the castle, he blew a horn, and the pure race, who were lying in wait on the watch for some such signal, fell upon the Cagots at their games, and slew59 them all. For this murder I find no punishment decreed in the parliament of Toulouse, or elsewhere.
As any intermarriage with the pure race was strictly forbidden, and as there were books kept in every commune in which the names and habitations of the reputed Cagots were written, these unfortunate people had no hope of ever becoming blended with the rest of the population. Did a Cagot marriage take place, the couple were serenaded with satirical songs. They also had minstrels, and many of their romances are still current in Brittany; but they did not attempt to make any reprisals60 of satire61 or abuse. Their disposition62 was amiable63, and their intelligence great. Indeed, it required both these qualities, and their great love of mechanical labour, to make their lives tolerable.
At last, they began to petition that they might receive some protection from the laws; and, towards the end of the seventeenth century, the judicial64 power took their side. But they gained little by this. Law could not prevail against custom: and, in the ten or twenty years just preceding the first French revolution, the prejudice in France against the Cagots amounted to fierce and positive abhorrence65.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Cagots of Navarre complained to the Pope, that they were excluded from the fellowship of men, and accursed by the Church, because their ancestors had given help to a certain Count Raymond of Toulouse in his revolt against the Holy See. They entreated66 his holiness not to visit upon them the sins of their fathers. The Pope issued a bull—on the thirteenth of May, fifteen hundred and fifteen—ordering them to be well-treated and to be admitted to the same privileges as other men. He charged Don Juan de Santa Maria of Pampeluna to see to the execution of this bull. But Don Juan was slow to help, and the poor Spanish Cagots grew impatient, and resolved to try the secular67 power. They accordingly applied68 to the cortes of Navarre, and were opposed on a variety of grounds. First, it was stated that their ancestors had had “nothing to do with Raymond Count of Toulouse, or with any such knightly69 personage; that they were in fact descendants of Gehazi, servant of Elisha (second book of Kings, fifth chapter, twenty-seventh verse), who had been accursed by his master for his fraud upon Naaman, and doomed71, he and his descendants, to be lepers for evermore. Name, Cagots or Gahets; Gahets, Gehazites. What can be more clear? And if that is not enough, and you tell us that the Cagots are not lepers now; we reply that there are two kinds of leprosy, one perceptible and the other imperceptible, even to the person suffering from it. Besides, it is the country talk, that where the Cagot treads, the grass withers72, proving the unnatural73 heat of his body. Many credible74 and trustworthy witnesses will also tell you that, if a Cagot holds a freshly-gathered apple in his hand, it will shrivel and wither51 up in an hour’s time as much as if it had been kept for a whole winter in a dry room. They are born with tails; although the parents are cunning enough to pinch them off immediately. Do you doubt this? If it is not true, why do the children of the pure race delight in sewing on sheep’s tails to the dress of any Cagot who is so absorbed in his work as not to perceive them? And their bodily smell is so horrible and detestable that it shows that they must be heretics of some vile17 and pernicious description, for do we not read of the incense75 of good workers, and the fragrance76 of holiness?”
Such were literally77 the arguments by which the Cagots were thrown back into a worse position than ever, as far as regarded their rights as citizens. The Pope insisted that they should receive all their ecclesiastical privileges. The Spanish priests said nothing; but tacitly refused to allow the Cagots to mingle78 with the rest of the faithful, either dead or alive. The accursed race obtained laws in their favour from the Emperor Charles the Fifth; which, however, there was no one to carry into effect. As a sort of revenge for their want of submission79, and for their impertinence in daring to complain, their tools were all taken away from them by the local authorities: an old man and all his family died of starvation, being no longer allowed to fish.
They could not emigrate. Even to remove their poor mud habitations, from one spot to another, excited anger and suspicion. To be sure, in sixteen hundred and ninety-five, the Spanish government ordered the alcaldes to search out all the Cagots, and to expel them before two months had expired, under pain of having fifty ducats to pay for every Cagot remaining in Spain at the expiration80 of that time. The inhabitants of the villages rose up and flogged out any of the miserable race who might be in their neighbourhood; but the French were on their guard against this enforced irruption, and refused to permit them to enter France. Numbers were hunted up into the inhospitable Pyrenées, and there died of starvation, or became a prey81 to wild beasts. They were obliged to wear both gloves and shoes when they were thus put to flight, otherwise the stones and herbage they trod upon, and the balustrades of the bridges that they handled in crossing, would, according to popular belief, have become poisonous.
And all this time, there was nothing remarkable82 or disgusting in the outward appearance of this unfortunate people. There was nothing about them to countenance83 the idea of their being lepers—the most natural mode of accounting84 for the abhorrence in which they were held. They were repeatedly examined by learned doctors, whose experiments, although singular and rude, appear to have been made in a spirit of humanity. For instance, the surgeons of the king of Navarre, in sixteen hundred, bled twenty-two Cagots, in order to examine and analyse their blood. They were young and healthy people of both sexes; and the doctors seem to have expected that they should have been able to extract some new kind of salt from their blood which might account for the wonderful heat of their bodies. But their blood was just like that of other people. Some of these medical men have left us a description of the general appearance of this unfortunate race, at a time when they were more numerous and less intermixed than they are now. The families existing in the south and west of France, who are reputed to be of Cagot descent at this day, are, like their ancestors, tall, largely made, and powerful in frame; fair and ruddy in complexion85, with gray-blue eyes, in which some observers see a pensive86 heaviness of look. Their lips are thick, but well-formed. Some of the reports name their sad expression of countenance with surprise and suspicion—“They are not gay, like other folk.” The wonder would be if they were. Dr. Guyon, the medical man of the last century who has left the clearest report on the health of the Cagots, speaks of the vigorous old age they attain87 to. In one family alone, he found a man of seventy-four years of age; a woman as old, gathering88 cherries; and another woman, aged89 eighty-three, was lying on the grass, having her hair combed by her great-grandchildren. Dr. Guyon and other surgeons examined into the subject of the horribly infectious smell which the Cagots were said to leave behind them, and upon everything they touched; but they could perceive nothing unusual on this head. They also examined their ears, which, according to common belief (a belief existing to this day), were differently shaped from those of other people; being round and gristly, without the lobe90 of flesh into which the earring91 is inserted. They decided92 that most of the Cagots whom they examined had the ears of this round shape; but they gravely added, that they saw no reason why this should exclude them from the good-will of men, and from the power of holding office in Church and State. They recorded the fact, that the children of the towns ran baaing after any Cagot who had been compelled to come into the streets to make purchases, in allusion94 to this peculiarity of the shape of the ear, which bore some resemblance to the ears of the sheep as they are cut by the shepherds in this district. Dr. Guyon names the case of a beautiful Cagot girl, who sang most sweetly, and prayed to be allowed to sing canticles in the organ-loft. The organist, more musician than bigot, allowed her to come; but the indignant congregation, finding out whence proceeded that clear, fresh voice, rushed up to the organ-loft, and chased the girl out, bidding her “remember her ears,” and not commit the sacrilege of singing praises to God along with the pure race.
But this medical report of Dr. Guyon’s—bringing facts and arguments to confirm his opinion, that there was no physical reason why the Cagots should not be received on terms of social equality by the rest of the world—did no more for his clients than the legal decrees promulgated95 two centuries before had done. The French proved the truth of the saying in Hudibras,
He that’s convinced against his will
Is of the same opinion still.
And, indeed, the being convinced by Dr. Guyon that they ought to receive Cagots as fellow-creatures, only made them more rabid in declaring that they would not. One or two little occurrences which are recorded, show that the bitterness of the repugnance to the Cagots was in full force at the time just preceding the first French revolution. There was a M. d’Abedos, the curate of Lourbes, and brother to the seigneur of the neighbouring castle, who was living in seventeen hundred and eighty; he was well-educated for the time, a travelled man, and sensible and moderate in all respects but that of his abhorrence of the Cagots: he would insult them from the very altar, calling out to them, as they stood afar off, “Oh! ye Cagots, damned for evermore!” One day, a half-blind Cagot stumbled and touched the censer borne before this Abbé de Lourbes. He was immediately turned out of the church, and forbidden ever to re-enter it. One does not know how to account for the fact, that the very brother of this bigoted96 abbé, the seigneur of the village, went and married a Cagot girl; but so it was, and the abbé brought a legal process against him, and had his estates taken from him, solely97 on account of his marriage, which reduced him to the condition of a Cagot, against whom the old law was still in force. The descendants of this Seigneur de Lourbes are simple peasants at this very day, working on the lands which belonged to their grandfather.
This prejudice against mixed marriages remained prevalent until very lately. The tradition of the Cagot descent lingered among the people, long after the laws against the accursed race were abolished. A Breton girl, within the last few years, having two lovers each of reputed Cagot descent, employed a notary98 to examine their pedigrees, and see which of the two had least Cagot in him; and to that one she gave her hand. In Brittany the prejudice seems to have been more virulent99 than anywhere else. M. Emile Souvestre records proofs of the hatred100 borne to them in Brittany so recently as in eighteen hundred and thirty-five. Just lately a baker101 at Hennebon, having married a girl of Cagot descent, lost all his custom. The godfather and godmother of a Cagot child became Cagots themselves by the Breton laws, unless, indeed, the poor little baby died before attaining102 a certain number of days. They had to eat the butchers’ meat condemned as unhealthy; but, for some unknown reason, they were considered to have a right to every cut loaf turned upside down, with its cut side towards the door, and might enter any house in which they saw a loaf in this position, and carry it away with them. About thirty years ago, there was the skeleton of a hand hanging up as an offering in a Breton Church near Quimperle, and the tradition was, that it was the hand of a rich Cagot who had dared to take holy water out of the usual bénitier, some time at the beginning of the reign103 of Louis the Sixteenth; which an old soldier witnessing, he lay in wait, and the next time the offender104 approached the bénitier he cut off his hand, and hung it up, dripping with blood, as an offering to the patron saint of the church. The poor Cagots in Brittany petitioned against their opprobrious105 name, and begged to be distinguished by the appellation106 of Malandrins. To English ears one is much the same as the other, as neither conveys any meaning; but, to this day, the descendants of the Cagots do not like to have this name applied to them, preferring that of Malandrin.
The French Cagots tried to destroy all the records of their pariah107 descent, in the commotions108 of seventeen hundred and eighty-nine; but if writings have disappeared, the tradition yet remains, and points out such and such a family as Cagot, or Malandrin, or Oiselier, according to the old terms of abhorrence.
There are various ways in which learned men have attempted to account for the universal repugnance in which this well-made, powerful race are held. Some say that the antipathy109 to them took its rise in the days when leprosy was a dreadfully prevalent disease; and that the Cagots are more liable than any other men to a kind of skin disease, not precisely110 leprosy, but resembling it in some of its symptoms; such as dead whiteness of complexion, and swellings of the face and extremities111. There was also some resemblance to the ancient Jewish custom in respect to lepers, in the habit of the people; who, on meeting a Cagot, called out, “Cagote? Cagote?” to which they were bound to reply, “Perlute! perlute!” Leprosy is not properly an infectious complaint, in spite of the horror in which the Cagot furniture, and the cloth woven by them, are held in some places; the disorder112 is hereditary113, and hence (say this body of wise men, who have troubled themselves to account for the origin of Cagoterie) the reasonableness and the justice of preventing any mixed marriages, by which this terrible tendency to leprous complaints might be spread far and wide. Another authority says, that though the Cagots are fine-looking men, hard-working, and good mechanics, yet they bear in their faces, and show in their actions, reasons for the detestation in which they are held: their glance, if you meet it, is the jettatura, or evil-eye, and they are spiteful, and cruel, and deceitful above all other men. All these qualities they derive114 from their ancestor Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, together with their tendency to leprosy.
Again, it is said that they are descended115 from the Arian Goths, who were permitted to live in certain places in Guienne and Languedoc, after their defeat by King Clovis, on condition that they abjured116 their heresy117, and kept themselves separate from all other men for ever. The principal reason alleged118 in support of this supposition of their Gothic descent, is the specious119 one of derivation,—Chiens Gots, Cans Gots, Cagots, equivalent to Dogs of Goths.
Again, they were thought to be Saracens, coming from Syria. In confirmation120 of this idea, was the belief that all Cagots were possessed121 by a horrible smell. The Lombards, also, were an unfragrant race, or so reputed among the Italians: witness Pope Stephen’s letter to Charlemagne, dissuading122 him from marrying Bertha, daughter of Didier, King of Lombardy. The Lombards boasted of Eastern descent, and were noisome123. The Cagots were noisome, and therefore must be of Eastern descent. What could be clearer? In addition, there was the proof to be derived124 from the name Cagot, which those maintaining the opinion of their Saracen descent held to be Chiens, or Chasseurs des Gots, because the Saracens chased the Goths out of Spain. Moreover, the Saracens were originally Mahometans, and as such obliged to bathe seven times a-day: whence the badge of the duck’s foot. A duck was a water-bird: Mahometans bathed in the water. Proof upon proof!
In Brittany the common idea was, they were of Jewish descent. Their unpleasant smell was again pressed into the service. The Jews, it was well known, had this physical infirmity, which might be cured either by bathing in a certain fountain in Egypt—which was a long way from Brittany—or by anointing themselves with the blood of a Christian125 child. Blood gushed126 out of the body of every Cagot on Good Friday. No wonder, if they were of Jewish descent. It was the only way of accounting for so portentous127 a fact. Again; the Cagots were capital carpenters, which gave the Bretons every reason to believe that their ancestors were the very Jews who made the cross. When first the tide of emigration set from Brittany to America, the oppressed Cagots crowded to the ports, seeking to go to some new country, where their race might be unknown. Here was another proof of their descent from Abraham and his nomadic128 people; and, the forty years’ wandering in the wilderness129 and the Wandering Jew himself, were pressed into the service to prove that the Cagots derived their restlessness and love of change from their ancestors, the Jews. The Jews, also, practised arts-magic, and the Cagots sold bags of wind to the Breton sailors, enchanted130 maidens131 to love them—maidens who never would have cared for them, unless they had been previously132 enchanted—made hollow rocks and trees give out strange and unearthly noises, and sold the magical herb called bon-succès. It is true enough that, in all the early acts of the fourteenth century, the same laws apply to Jews as to Cagots, and the appellations133 seem used indiscriminately; but their fair complexions134, their remarkable devotion to all the ceremonies of the Catholic Church, and many other circumstances, conspire135 to forbid our believing them to be of Hebrew descent.
Another very plausible136 idea is, that they are the descendants of unfortunate individuals afflicted137 with go?tres, which is, even to this day, not an uncommon138 disorder in the gorges139 and valleys of the Pyrenées. Some have even derived the word go?tre from Got, or Goth; but their name, Crestiaa, is not unlike Cretin, and the same symptoms of idiotism were not unusual among the Cagots; although sometimes, if old tradition is to be credited, their malady140 of the brain took rather the form of violent delirium141, which attacked them at new and full moons. Then the workmen laid down their tools, and rushed off from their labour to play mad pranks142 up and down the country. Perpetual motion was required to alleviate143 the agony of fury that seized upon the Cagots at such times. In this desire for rapid movement, the attack resembled the Neapolitan tarantella; while in the mad deeds they performed during such attacks, they were not unlike the northern Berserker. In Béarn especially, those suffering from this madness were dreaded144 by the pure race; the Béarnais, going to cut their wooden clogs145 in the great forests that lay around the base of the Pyrenées, feared above all things to go too near the periods when the Cagoutelle seized on the oppressed and accursed people; from whom it was then the oppressors’ turn to fly. A man was living within the memory of some, who had married a Cagot wife; he used to beat her right soundly when he saw the first symptoms of the Cagoutelle, and, having reduced her to a wholesome146 state of exhaustion147 and insensibility, he locked her up until the moon had altered her shape in the heavens. If he had not taken such decided steps, say the oldest inhabitants, there is no knowing what might have happened.
From the thirteenth to the end of the nineteenth century, there are facts enough to prove the universal abhorrence in which this unfortunate race was held; whether called Cagots, or Gahets in Pyrenean districts, Caqueaux in Brittany, or Vaqueros in Asturias. The great French revolution brought some good out of its fermentation of the people: the more intelligent among them tried to overcome the prejudice against the Cagots.
In seventeen hundred and eighteen, there was a famous cause tried at Biarritz relating to Cagot rights and privileges. There was a wealthy miller148, Etienne Arnauld by name, of the race of Gotz, Quagotz, Bisigotz, Astragotz, or Gahetz, as his people are described in the legal document. He married an heiress a Gotte (or Cagot) of Biarritz; and the newly-married, well-to-do couple saw no reason why they should stand near the door in the church, nor why he should not hold some civil office in the commune, of which he was the principal inhabitant. Accordingly, he petitioned the law that he and his wife might be allowed to sit in the gallery of the church, and that he might be relieved from his civil disabilities. This wealthy white miller, Etienne Arnauld, pursued his rights with some vigour149 against the Baillie of Labourd, the dignitary of the neighbourhood. Whereupon the inhabitants of Biarritz met in the open air, on the eighth of May, to the number of one hundred and fifty; approved of the conduct of the Baillie in rejecting Arnauld, made a subscription150, and gave all power to their lawyers to defend the cause of the pure race against Etienne Arnauld—“that stranger,” who, having married a girl of Cagot blood, ought also to be expelled from the holy places. This lawsuit151 was carried through all the local courts, and ended by an appeal to the highest court in Paris; where a decision was given against Basque superstitions152; and Etienne Arnauld was thenceforward entitled to enter the gallery of the church.
Of course, the inhabitants of Biarritz were all the more ferocious for having been conquered; and, four years later, a carpenter, Miguel Legaret, suspected of Cagot descent, having placed himself in church among other people, was dragged out by the abbé and two of the jurats of the parish. Legaret defended himself with a sharp knife at the time, and went to law afterwards; the end of which was, that the abbé and his two accomplices154 were condemned to a public confession155 of penitence156, to be uttered while on their knees at the church door, just after high-mass. They appealed to the parliament of Bourdeaux against this decision, but met with no better success than the opponents of the miller Arnauld. Legaret was confirmed in his right of standing where he would in the parish church. That a living Cagot had equal rights with other men in the town of Biarritz seemed now ceded157 to them; but a dead Cagot was a different thing. The inhabitants of pure blood struggled long and hard to be interred apart from the abhorred158 race. The Cagots were equally persistent159 in claiming to have a common burying-ground. Again the texts of the old Testament160 were referred to, and the pure blood quoted triumphantly161 the precedent162 of Uzziah the leper (twenty-sixth chapter of the second book of Chronicles), who was buried in the field of the Sepulchres of the Kings, not in the sepulchres themselves. The Cagots pleaded that they were healthy and able-bodied; with no taint41 of leprosy near them. They were met by the strong argument so difficult to be refuted, which I have quoted before. Leprosy was of two kinds, perceptible and imperceptible. If the Cagots were suffering from the latter kind, who could tell whether they were free from it or not? That decision must be left to the judgment163 of others.
One sturdy Cagot family alone, Belone by name, kept up a lawsuit, claiming the privilege of common sepulture, for forty-two years; although the curé of Biarritz had to pay one hundred livres for every Cagot not interred in the right place. The inhabitants indemnified the curate for all these fines.
M. de Romagne, Bishop164 of Tarbes, who died in seventeen hundred and sixty-eight, was the first to allow a Cagot to fill any office in the Church. To be sure, some were so spiritless as to reject office when it was offered to them, because, by so claiming their equality, they had to pay the same taxes as other men, instead of the Rancale or poll-tax levied165 on the Cagots; the collector of which had also a right to claim a piece of bread of a certain size for his dog at every Cagot dwelling166.
Even in the present century, it has been necessary in some churches for the archdeacon of the district, followed by all his clergy167, to pass out of the small door previously appropriated to the Cagots, in order to mitigate168 the superstition153 which, even so lately, made the people refuse to mingle with them in the house of God. A Cagot once played the congregation at Larroque a trick suggested by what I have just named. He slily locked the great parish-door of the church, while the greater part of the inhabitants were assisting at mass inside; put gravel93 into the lock itself, so as to prevent the use of any duplicate key,—and had the pleasure of seeing the proud pure-blooded people file out with bended head, through the small low door used by the abhorred Cagots.
We are naturally shocked at discovering, from facts such as these, the causeless rancour with which innocent and industrious169 people were so recently persecuted170. The moral of the history of the accursed race may, perhaps, be best conveyed in the words of an epitaph on Mrs. Mary Hand, who lies buried in the churchyard of Stratford-on-Avon.
What faults you saw in me,
Pray strive to shun171;
And look at home: there’s
Something to be done.
For some time past I had observed that Miss Duncan made a good deal of occupation for herself in writing, but that she did not like me to notice her employment. Of course, this made me all the more curious; and many were my silent conjectures—some of them so near the truth that I was not much surprised when, after Mr. Dawson had finished reading his Paper to us, she hesitated, coughed, and abruptly172 introduced a little formal speech, to the effect that she had noted173 down an old Welsh story, the particulars of which had often been told her in her youth, as she lived close to the place where the events occurred. Everybody pressed her to read the manuscript, which she now produced from her reticule; but, when on the point of beginning, her nervousness seemed to overcome her, and she made so many apologies for its being the first and only attempt she had ever made at that kind of composition, that I began to wonder if we should ever arrive at the story at all. At length, in a high-pitched, ill-assured voice, she read out the title:
“The Doom70 of the Griffiths.”
点击收听单词发音
1 ass | |
n.驴;傻瓜,蠢笨的人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 continental | |
adj.大陆的,大陆性的,欧洲大陆的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 insular | |
adj.岛屿的,心胸狭窄的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 unwilling | |
adj.不情愿的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 repugnance | |
n.嫌恶 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 isolated | |
adj.与世隔绝的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
10 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
11 generic | |
adj.一般的,普通的,共有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
12 unwillingly | |
adv.不情愿地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
13 livestock | |
n.家畜,牲畜 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
14 strictly | |
adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
15 ram | |
(random access memory)随机存取存储器 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
16 fattened | |
v.喂肥( fatten的过去式和过去分词 );养肥(牲畜);使(钱)增多;使(公司)升值 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
17 vile | |
adj.卑鄙的,可耻的,邪恶的;坏透的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
18 forfeited | |
(因违反协议、犯规、受罚等)丧失,失去( forfeit的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
19 magistrate | |
n.地方行政官,地方法官,治安官 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
20 thither | |
adv.向那里;adj.在那边的,对岸的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
21 appraised | |
v.估价( appraise的过去式和过去分词 );估计;估量;评价 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
22 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
23 distinctive | |
adj.特别的,有特色的,与众不同的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
24 peculiarity | |
n.独特性,特色;特殊的东西;怪癖 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
25 conspicuously | |
ad.明显地,惹人注目地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
26 quenching | |
淬火,熄 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
27 taverns | |
n.小旅馆,客栈,酒馆( tavern的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
28 gushing | |
adj.迸出的;涌出的;喷出的;过分热情的v.喷,涌( gush的现在分词 );滔滔不绝地说话 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
29 repulsed | |
v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 );驳斥;拒绝 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
30 whatsoever | |
adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
31 zealous | |
adj.狂热的,热心的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
32 obeisance | |
n.鞠躬,敬礼 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
33 consecrated | |
adj.神圣的,被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣,给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 );奉献 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
34 nave | |
n.教堂的中部;本堂 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
35 aisles | |
n. (席位间的)通道, 侧廊 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
36 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
37 interred | |
v.埋,葬( inter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
38 cemetery | |
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
39 prescriptions | |
药( prescription的名词复数 ); 处方; 开处方; 计划 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
40 tainted | |
adj.腐坏的;污染的;沾污的;感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 );使污染;败坏;被污染,腐坏,败坏 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
41 taint | |
n.污点;感染;腐坏;v.使感染;污染 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
42 ferocious | |
adj.凶猛的,残暴的,极度的,十分强烈的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
43 slain | |
杀死,宰杀,杀戮( slay的过去分词 ); (slay的过去分词) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
44 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
45 triumphant | |
adj.胜利的,成功的;狂欢的,喜悦的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
46 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
47 spines | |
n.脊柱( spine的名词复数 );脊椎;(动植物的)刺;书脊 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
48 obnoxious | |
adj.极恼人的,讨人厌的,可憎的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
49 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
50 acoustic | |
adj.听觉的,声音的;(乐器)原声的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
51 wither | |
vt.使凋谢,使衰退,(用眼神气势等)使畏缩;vi.枯萎,衰退,消亡 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
52 withered | |
adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
53 pitchers | |
大水罐( pitcher的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
54 grievances | |
n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 );苦衷;不满;牢骚 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
55 chateau | |
n.城堡,别墅 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
56 vigilant | |
adj.警觉的,警戒的,警惕的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
57 treacherous | |
adj.不可靠的,有暗藏的危险的;adj.背叛的,背信弃义的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
58 pretence | |
n.假装,作假;借口,口实;虚伪;虚饰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
59 slew | |
v.(使)旋转;n.大量,许多 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
60 reprisals | |
n.报复(行为)( reprisal的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
61 satire | |
n.讽刺,讽刺文学,讽刺作品 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
62 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
63 amiable | |
adj.和蔼可亲的,友善的,亲切的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
64 judicial | |
adj.司法的,法庭的,审判的,明断的,公正的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
65 abhorrence | |
n.憎恶;可憎恶的事 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
66 entreated | |
恳求,乞求( entreat的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
67 secular | |
n.牧师,凡人;adj.世俗的,现世的,不朽的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
68 applied | |
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
69 knightly | |
adj. 骑士般的 adv. 骑士般地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
70 doom | |
n.厄运,劫数;v.注定,命定 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
71 doomed | |
命定的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
72 withers | |
马肩隆 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
73 unnatural | |
adj.不自然的;反常的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
74 credible | |
adj.可信任的,可靠的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
75 incense | |
v.激怒;n.香,焚香时的烟,香气 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
76 fragrance | |
n.芬芳,香味,香气 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
77 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
78 mingle | |
vt.使混合,使相混;vi.混合起来;相交往 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
79 submission | |
n.服从,投降;温顺,谦虚;提出 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
80 expiration | |
n.终结,期满,呼气,呼出物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
81 prey | |
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
82 remarkable | |
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
83 countenance | |
n.脸色,面容;面部表情;vt.支持,赞同 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
84 accounting | |
n.会计,会计学,借贷对照表 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
85 complexion | |
n.肤色;情况,局面;气质,性格 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
86 pensive | |
a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
87 attain | |
vt.达到,获得,完成 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
88 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
89 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
90 lobe | |
n.耳垂,(肺,肝等的)叶 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
91 earring | |
n.耳环,耳饰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
92 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
93 gravel | |
n.砂跞;砂砾层;结石 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
94 allusion | |
n.暗示,间接提示 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
95 promulgated | |
v.宣扬(某事物)( promulgate的过去式和过去分词 );传播;公布;颁布(法令、新法律等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
96 bigoted | |
adj.固执己见的,心胸狭窄的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
97 solely | |
adv.仅仅,唯一地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
98 notary | |
n.公证人,公证员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
99 virulent | |
adj.有毒的,有恶意的,充满敌意的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
100 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
101 baker | |
n.面包师 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
102 attaining | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的现在分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
103 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
104 offender | |
n.冒犯者,违反者,犯罪者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
105 opprobrious | |
adj.可耻的,辱骂的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
106 appellation | |
n.名称,称呼 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
107 pariah | |
n.被社会抛弃者 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
108 commotions | |
n.混乱,喧闹,骚动( commotion的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
109 antipathy | |
n.憎恶;反感,引起反感的人或事物 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
110 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
111 extremities | |
n.端点( extremity的名词复数 );尽头;手和足;极窘迫的境地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
112 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
113 hereditary | |
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
114 derive | |
v.取得;导出;引申;来自;源自;出自 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
115 descended | |
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
116 abjured | |
v.发誓放弃( abjure的过去式和过去分词 );郑重放弃(意见);宣布撤回(声明等);避免 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
117 heresy | |
n.异端邪说;异教 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
118 alleged | |
a.被指控的,嫌疑的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
119 specious | |
adj.似是而非的;adv.似是而非地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
120 confirmation | |
n.证实,确认,批准 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
121 possessed | |
adj.疯狂的;拥有的,占有的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
122 dissuading | |
劝(某人)勿做某事,劝阻( dissuade的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
123 noisome | |
adj.有害的,可厌的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
124 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
125 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
126 gushed | |
v.喷,涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 );滔滔不绝地说话 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
127 portentous | |
adj.不祥的,可怕的,装腔作势的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
128 nomadic | |
adj.流浪的;游牧的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
129 wilderness | |
n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等,荒漠 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
130 enchanted | |
adj. 被施魔法的,陶醉的,入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
131 maidens | |
处女( maiden的名词复数 ); 少女; 未婚女子; (板球运动)未得分的一轮投球 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
132 previously | |
adv.以前,先前(地) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
133 appellations | |
n.名称,称号( appellation的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
134 complexions | |
肤色( complexion的名词复数 ); 面色; 局面; 性质 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
135 conspire | |
v.密谋,(事件等)巧合,共同导致 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
136 plausible | |
adj.似真实的,似乎有理的,似乎可信的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
137 afflicted | |
使受痛苦,折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
138 uncommon | |
adj.罕见的,非凡的,不平常的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
139 gorges | |
n.山峡,峡谷( gorge的名词复数 );咽喉v.(用食物把自己)塞饱,填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 );作呕 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
140 malady | |
n.病,疾病(通常做比喻) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
141 delirium | |
n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
142 pranks | |
n.玩笑,恶作剧( prank的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
143 alleviate | |
v.减轻,缓和,缓解(痛苦等) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
144 dreaded | |
adj.令人畏惧的;害怕的v.害怕,恐惧,担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
145 clogs | |
木屐; 木底鞋,木屐( clog的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
146 wholesome | |
adj.适合;卫生的;有益健康的;显示身心健康的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
147 exhaustion | |
n.耗尽枯竭,疲惫,筋疲力尽,竭尽,详尽无遗的论述 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
148 miller | |
n.磨坊主 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
149 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
150 subscription | |
n.预订,预订费,亲笔签名,调配法,下标(处方) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
151 lawsuit | |
n.诉讼,控诉 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
152 superstitions | |
迷信,迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
153 superstition | |
n.迷信,迷信行为 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
154 accomplices | |
从犯,帮凶,同谋( accomplice的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
155 confession | |
n.自白,供认,承认 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
156 penitence | |
n.忏悔,赎罪;悔过 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
157 ceded | |
v.让给,割让,放弃( cede的过去式 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
158 abhorred | |
v.憎恶( abhor的过去式和过去分词 );(厌恶地)回避;拒绝;淘汰 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
159 persistent | |
adj.坚持不懈的,执意的;持续的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
160 testament | |
n.遗嘱;证明 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
161 triumphantly | |
ad.得意洋洋地;得胜地;成功地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
162 precedent | |
n.先例,前例;惯例;adj.在前的,在先的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
163 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
164 bishop | |
n.主教,(国际象棋)象 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
165 levied | |
征(兵)( levy的过去式和过去分词 ); 索取; 发动(战争); 征税 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
166 dwelling | |
n.住宅,住所,寓所 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
167 clergy | |
n.[总称]牧师,神职人员 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
168 mitigate | |
vt.(使)减轻,(使)缓和 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
169 industrious | |
adj.勤劳的,刻苦的,奋发的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
170 persecuted | |
(尤指宗教或政治信仰的)迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 ); 烦扰,困扰或骚扰某人 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
171 shun | |
vt.避开,回避,避免 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
172 abruptly | |
adv.突然地,出其不意地 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
173 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
欢迎访问英文小说网 |