LEGENDS OF THE SAINTS. "This likë monk let olde thinges pace,
And held after the newë world the trace. He gave not of the text
a pulled hen, That saith, that hunters be not holy men, Ne that
a monk, when he is reckëless, Is like to a fish that is
waterless; This is to say, a monk out of his cloister, This like
text held he not worth an oyster, And I say his opinion was
good." -- The Canterbury Tales:-- CHAUCER. THE process through
which a man, who has made himself remarkable to his ignorant
fellow-men, is passed after death -- first, into the hero
performing fabulous exploits, and eventually into the giant --
is not difficult to understand. The remembrance of great deeds,
and the memory of virtues,-- even in modem days, when the
exaggerations of votaries are subdued by the influence of
education,--ever tends to bring them out in strong contrast with
the surrounding objects. The mass of men form the background, as
it were, of the picture, and the hero or the saint stands forth
in all his brightness of colour i