Series 1 > Journals of Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, with his observations on public affairs and other memoranda, 1665-1676

BELL-RINGING DURING THUNDER
49
That its not so palpable amongs them as in the Spaniard we
impute to that naturall courtoisie and civility they are given to,
that tempers it or hides it a little, being of the mind that if
the Spaniard had a litle grain of the French pleasantness, the
pride for which we tax them sould not be so apparent.
Yet we discovered a beastly proud principle that we have
observed the French from the hiest to the lowest (let him be
never so base or so ignorant) to carry about wt them, to wit,
that they are born to teach all the rest of the world knowledge
and manners. What may be the mater and nutrix of this
proud thought is not difficult to ghess; since wtout doubt its
occasioned by the great confluence of strangers of all sorts
(excepting only the Italian and Spaniard, who think they have to
good breeding at home to come and seik it of the French) who
are drawen wt the sweitness of the country, and the common
civility of the inhabitants. Let this we have sayd of the French
pass for a definition of him till we be able to give a better.
About the beginning of September at Poictiers, we had the
newes of a horrid murder that had bein perpetrat at Paris, on a
Judge criminell by tuo desperat rascalls, who did it to revenge
themselfes of him for a sentence of death he had passed against
their brother for some crime he had committed. His wife
also, as she came in to rescue hir husband, they pistoled. The
assassinats ware taken and broken on the wheell. He left 5
million in money behind him, a terrible summe for a single
privat man, speaking much the richness of Paris.
The palais at Poictiers (which with us we call the session)
raises the 1 Saturday of September, and sittes doune again at
Martimess.
We remember that in our observations at Orleans we marked
that the violent heats heir procures terrible thunders and
lightnening, and because they are several tymes of bad conse¬
quence, the thunder lighting sometymes on the houses, some-
tymes on the steeples and bells, levelling all to the ground,
that they may evite the danger as much as they can they sett
all the bells of the city on work gin goon.1
A man may speir at me what does the ringing of the bells
1 Ding dong.