332 ANNALS OF SOGER DE HOYEDEN. A.D. 1170 of the mass, every day he re-entered his oratory, and, shutting the door after him, devoted himself to prayer with abundant tears ; and no one hut God alone knew the manner in which he afflicted his flesh. And thus did he do daily mito his flesh until the hour for dining, unless some unusual solemnity or remarkable cause prevented it. On coming forth from his oratory he would come to dine among his people, not that he might sate his body with costly food, but that he might make his household cheerful thereby, and that he might fill the poor ones of the Lord with good things, whom, according to his means, he daily increased in numbers. And although costly and exquisite food and drink were set before him, still, his only food and drink were bread and water. One day, while the archbishop was sitting at the table of Alexander, the Supreme Pontiff, a person who was aware of this secret, placed before him a cup full of water. On the Supreme Pontiff taking it up, and tasting it, he found it to be the purest wine, and delicious to drink ; on which he said : " I thought that this was water ;" and on replacing the cup before the archbishop, the wine immediately returned to its former taste of water. Oh wondrous change by the right hand of the Most High Î Every day, when the archbishop arose from dinner, unless more important business prevented him, he always devoted himself to reading the Scriptures until the hour of vespers, at the time of sunset. His bed was covered with soft coverlets and cloths of silk, embroidered on the surface with gold wrought therein ; and while other persons were asleep, he alone used to lie on the bare floor before his bed, repeating psalms and hymns, and never ceasing from prayers, until at last, overcome with fatigue, he would gradually recline his head upon a stone put beneath it in place of a pillow : and thus would his eyes enjoy sleep, while his heart was ever watchful for the Lord. His inner garment was of coarse sackcloth made of goats' hair; with which his whole body was covered from the arms down to the knees. But his outer garments were remarkable for their splendour and extreme costliness, to the end that, thus deceiving human eyes, he might please the sight of God. There was no individual acquainted with this secret of his way of living, with the exception of two—one of whom was Robert, canon of Merton, his chaplain, and the name of the other was Brun, who had charge of his sackcloth gar