V.
PETER OF BLOIS
Peter of Blois, archdeacon of Bath, was a man of letters who flourished towards the end of the twelfth century. There is something ironical about this summary account of him, true as it is. For in the first place there is remarkably little to connect him with Bath; though a letter describing some annoyance to which he was put on a return journey from his archdeaconry is evidence that once at least he visited it. Secondly, while he certainly was a man of letters in the accepted sense of that term, yet his original works and his wide acquaintance with the literature accessible in his day would never have gained him a place in history, had he not been also a great letter- writer, writing letters not merely on his own account, but also for some of the most notable personages of his time, who had discovered his value as a secretary. Lastly, to say of him that he flourished at any period of his career is to use a technical phrase which is in cruel contrast with the actual conditions of weak health, disappointment, and debt, which are the prominent features of his personal story. He was a Frenchman by birth, though of Breton origin: but first Normandy and then England drew him away; and, often as he sighed for his native land, he found no attraction sufficient to recall him to it. He nursed his grievance as an exile, but it was only one of many grievances; and we may be content to accept his statement that, though his friends had bitterly disappointed him and his detractors were very spiteful, his life as he looked back on it had not on the whole been unhappy. He was an adventurer, no doubt; but it was an age of adventurers; and, though Peter was ambitious and self-important, he was free from avarice, and his frequent praise of poverty was quite sincere.
He had some means of his own, but he never understood how to keep out of debt; and he was far too conscientious to make money as he easily might have made it in the various positions of trust which he filled. His morals were beyond reproach; and his standard of clerical piety was so high that it was only at an advanced age that he could be persuaded to take priest's orders. But notwithstanding his unblemished character and his literary attainments there was something which held him back from the highest preferment; perhaps
