About the book: 1958 / "Abbot Coignard was not characterized by a feeling of admiration. Nature denied him it, and he himself did nothing to acquire it. He was afraid, by exalting some, to humiliate others, and his all-encompassing mercy fell equally on the humble and the proud. True, it extended with greater concern to the victims, to the victims, but the executioners themselves seemed to him too despicable to inspire hatred. He did not wish them harm, he only pitied them for the fact that they had so much anger.»