and four months old when I entered this establishment.

Chap. 4.

I shall now give you a brief history of the college of Sorèze, as
I had it from Dom Abal, a former vice principal, whom I saw often in
Paris during the Empire.

When, under Louis XV, it was resolved to clear the Jesuits out of
France, their defenders claimed that they alone knew how to educate
children. The Benedictines, sworn enemies of the Jesuits, wished to
prove that this was not so; but as it did not suit them, although
they were studious and learned, to turn themselves into
schoolmasters, they selected four of their houses to be turned into
colleges, among which was Sorèze. There they placed those members of
the order who had the most aptitude for teaching, and who could,
after working for several years, retire to other monasteries of the
order. The new colleges prospered, Sorèze in particular stood out,
and the crowd of pupils, who hurried there from all parts, made a
larger number of teachers necessary. The Benedictines attracted
there many learned laymen, who established themselves, with their
families, in the little town in which the monastery was situated. The
children of these lay teachers, who attended the college free as day
pupils, formed, later, a nursery of masters of all the arts and
sciences. Eventually the ability to give lessons at a very
reasonable cost led to the setting up of several boarding houses for
young ladies, and the little town became remarkable in that its
citizens, even the simple merchants, had an extended education and
practised all the fine arts. A crowd of foreigners, principally
English, Spanish and American, came to stay there, in order to be