king, who was still holding forth his arms to them. They were
approaching a precipice, said the Prior; they were entering a labyrinth;
and not only was the "sempiternal loss of body and soul impending over
them, but their property was to be taken also, and the cat to be thrown
against their legs." By this sudden descent into a very common
proverbial expression, Sarrasin meant to intimate that they were getting
themselves into a difficult position, in which they were sure to reap
both danger and responsibility.

The harangue had much effect upon his hearers, who were now more than
ever determined to rebel against the government which they had so
recently accepted, preferring, in the words of the Prior, "to be
maltreated by their prince, rather than to be barbarously tyrannized
over by a heretic." So much anger had been excited in celestial minds
by a demand of thirty-five hundred florins.

Saint Aldegonde was entertained in the evening at a great banquet,
followed by a theological controversy, in which John Sarrasin complained
that "he had been attacked upon his own dunghill." Next day the
distinguished patriot departed on a canvassing tour among the principal
cities; the indefatigable monk employing the interval of his absence in
aggravating the hostility of the Artesian orders to the pecuniary demands
of the general government. He was assisted in his task by a peremptory
order which came down from Brussels, ordering, in the name of Matthias, a
levy upon the ecclesiastical property, "rings, jewels, and reliquaries,"
unless the clerical contribution should be forthcoming. The rage of the
bench was now intense, and by the time of Saint Aldegonde's return a
general opposition had been organized. The envoy met with a chilling
reception; there were no banquets anymore--no discussions of any kind.
To his demands for money, "he got a fine nihil," said Saint Vaast; and