32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 



4 



wine ; we therefore make use of that which we gather 

 from our own vines : this wine is very good. Ask the 

 prior to let you taste it, when on leaving this you go to 

 breakfast with him. For the rest, you can assure your- 

 self this instant of the truth of what I say to you." And 

 he presented me the goblet to drink from. I resisted 

 strongly, not only because I considered it indecent to 

 give this invitation in the middle of the mass, but be- 

 cause, besides, I must own I conceived the thought for 

 a moment that the monks wished, by poisoning me, to 

 revenge themselves on me for M. Biot having insulted 

 them. I found that I was mistaken, that my suspicions 

 had no foundation ; for Father Trivulce went on with 

 the interrupted mass, drank, and drank largely, of the 

 white wine contained in one of the goblets. But when I 

 had got out of the hands of the two monks, and was able 

 to breathe the pure air of the country, I experienced a 

 lively satisfaction. 



The right of asylum accorded to some churches was 

 one of the most obnoxious privileges among those of 

 which the revolution of 1789 rid France. In 1807, this 

 right still existed in Spain, and belonged, I believe, to all 

 the cathedrals. I learnt, during my stay at Barcelona, 

 that there was, in a little cloister contiguous to the largest 

 church of the town, a brigand, a man guilty of several 

 assassinations, who lived quietly there, guaranteed against 

 all pursuit by the sanctity of the place. I wished to as- 

 sure myself with my own eyes of the reality of the fact, 

 and I went with my friend Rodriguez into the little 

 cloister in question. The assassin was then eating a 

 meal which a woman had just brought him. He easily 

 guessed the object of our visit, and made immediately 

 such demonstrations as convinced us that, if the asylum 



