Excerpt from Saints and Sinners, Vol. 2 of 2: Or, in Church and About It In those old days an abbot was a princely person, especially reverenced, and scrupulously obeyed. When he passed by, all inferior brethren rose and saluted their chief. At night it was no less a person than his own chaplain who carried the lantern before him No one could walk by his side except to mass, and no man ever dared sit by the side of a lord abbot without in vitation, except a Soverfign prince; and he who was invited to Sit near him first bowed lowly, and then took his seat with the air of a man who thought the honour far beyond his merits. Whoever presented any object to the abbot, or received from him any thing, always kissed his hand. In short, no king had more courteous allegiance paid him than a lord abbot in a great monastery. If an archbishop now were to order his chaplain to carry a lantern before him, the good man would be amazed, but an abbot's chaplain would have kissed his lord's hand and have ushered him with pride as being, or rather as bearing, a light upon his path. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.