But there were, nevertheless, occasional visitations beyond
her control. The Ehone and the Duranse would overflow their
banks and spread devastation far and wide ; famines arose, and
there was no Egypt and no Joseph to supply them with corn.
Several times the plague decimated the country, on one occasion,
it is recorded, claiming 100,000 victims.
Against this they could do nothing. They could not fight
with shadows ; could not stay the famine, or the rising waters,
or the black plague. But so lighthearted were they that the
evil once past, they quickly returned to their songs and laughter




BUINS OF MONASTEBT, VILLENEUVi;.
VILLENEUVE.
329



and saTis-soud. The mercury of their temperament would rise
to fair weather at the smallest parting of the clouds.
" Sur le pont d' Avignon
Tout le monde y passe."

So rang the rhyme. And spring and summer, autumn and
winter, they danced the hours away.
DOOBWAT OF CHUBCH IN VII/LBNEUVE.
But the popes possessed more than Avignon.
On the right bank of the Ehone was the picturesque and
flourishing town of Villeneuve ; high up on the rock the splendid
and impregnable Fort St. Andre with its castellated walls and
magnificent gateway.
The town has become a dead city, sad and desolate, but most
interesting to visit.
The church still exists, with its fine doorway and remarkable



330 IN THE VALLEY OF THE RH6nE.
cloisters. It dates from the fourteenth century and was built
by the nephew of the first pope, John XXII. In the cloisters
there reigned a semi-darkness, throwing over them an air of
mystery. Men at work seemed to have turned them into a
carpenter's shop.
