Page:Mistral - Mirèio. A Provençal poem.djvu/51

] people, and then returned to the place of their landing to die. (See Canto XI.)

"It is reported that a prince whose name is unknown, learning that the bodies of the holy Maries were interred on this spot, built a church over it in the form of a citadel, that it might be safe from piratical invasion. He also built houses round the church and ramparts, for the safety of the inhahitants. The buildings that remain bear out this tradition."

$13$ The choir of the church presents the peculiarity of being composed of three stories,—a crypt, which is pointed out as the very site of the ancient oratory of the saints; a sanctuary, raised higher than usual; and a chapel above, where the reliquaries are exposed. A chain is attached to the latter, so that, by the unwinding of a capstan, they may be let down into the church. The moment when they descend is the one propitious to miracles, like that which Vlncen describes.

$14$ John of Cossa, a Neapolitan noble who had followed King René. He was Grand Seneschal of Provence, and died in 1476. John of Cossa is very popular at Tarascon, where the people ascribe to him the building of St. Martha's steeple. He is interred in the crypt of that church; and his statue, in a recumbent attitude, surmounts the tomb.

$15$ The chivaus-frus, or painted cardboard horses, used in Provence at public rejoicings, and particularly at Aix in the Fête Dieu. The seeming riders attach them to the waist, and prance the streets to the sound of the tambourine.