~ COSI-SANCTA, OR A LITTLE HARM IT AN AFRICAN TALE. (1746.) T is a maxim founded upon error that it is not allowable to commit a small fault in order that a greater good may result. St. Augustine was decidedly of this opinion, as it is easy to see from his mention of that little occurrence which took place in his diocese, under the proconsulship of Septimus Acindynus, and which is related in his work entitled "The City of God."1 There lived at Hippo an old parish priest, a great founder of brotherhoods, and father-confessor to all the young damsels in the neighbourhood; who had the reputation of being a man inspired by God, because he took upon himself to utter predictions, a vocation in which he acquitted himself tolerably well. One day a young girl was brought to him named CosiSancta, the most beautiful in all the province. Her father and mother were Jansenists, and they had brought her up in the strictest principles of virtue; and of all the admirers that she had had, not one had been able to cause her so The reference should have been to St. Augustine's "Treatise upon the Sermon on the Mount" (lib. i. chap. xvi. ). much as a moment's distraction in the midst of her devotions. She had been for some time betrothed to a little withered old man, whose name was Capito, a councillor in the inferior court of justice at Hippo. He was a cross and crabbed little man, not without some sense of humour, but affected in his conversation, given to sneers, and fond of ill-natured ridicule; moreover, he was as jealous as a Venetian, and would not for all the world have consented to be on friendly terms with his wife's lovers. The young creature did all she could to love him, because he was to be her husband; she set herself to make the attempt with all sincerity, and yet she scarcely succeeded. She went then to consult her parish priest, to know if her marriage would be happy. The good man told her in the tone of a prophet: 66 'My daughter, your virtue will cause you much unhappiness, but you will be one day canonised for having been three times unfaithful to your husband." This oracle sorely astonished and perplexed the innocent young maiden. She shed tears; she asked for an explanation, thinking that some mysterious meaning must be concealed behind those words; but all the explanation that was vouchsafed her was that the three times were not to be understood as three assignations with the same lover, but as three different adventures. Then Cosi-Sancta uttered loud cries; she even made some rude remarks to the old priest, and swore that she would never be made a saint. She was made one, however, in spite of that, as you will soon see. She was married not long afterwards, and the wedding was a very grand one. She bore pretty well all the sly speeches that she had to encounter, all the coarse jokes, and all the ill-disguised ribaldry with which it is the custom to embarrass the modesty of young brides. She danced extremely gracefully with several well-made and |