Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 2).djvu/204

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sumed and finished the service with his usual steadiness; a solemn mass was then again said, for the soul of the departed, after which Father Bertrand pronounced a short and pathetic eulogium on her:—"The loss, my friends (said he, as he concluded it) which you have sustained by the death of this truly good woman, is indeed great; but man is born to suffer, and continually liable to such deprivations as you have experienced; murmur not therefore at the common lot, but, by patient resignation to the will of the Almighty, strive to deserve a continuance of your remaining blessings: instead of quitting this place with a vain sorrow, quit it with a noble resolution to perform your allotted parts, and to pursue, as far as lies in your power, the example of your lamented benefactress. So may you hope, at the last day, to ascend with her to life immortal."


The lights in the chapel, and the torches were now extinguished, and the monks re-