Such an absolute continuity is sometimes assumed without warrant; but Descartes already recognized that the world was no continuous process, " Tria mirabilia fecit Dominus; res ex nihilo, liberum arbitrium et hominem Deum."
The subject - the descent of Christ into Hades to succour the souls of the just, as related in the apocryphal gospel of Nicodemus - is introduced in a kind of prologue; then follows the dispute between "Dominus" and "Satan" at the gate of Hell; the gatekeeper runs away, and the just are set free, while Adam, Eve, Habraham, David, Johannes and Moyses do homage to the deliverer.
The master (dominus) could inflict on his coloni " moderate chastisement," and could chain them if they attempted to escape, but they had a legal remedy against him for unjust demands or injury to them or theirs.
That of "count" was, as Luchaire points out, "equivocal" even as late as the 12th century; any castellan of moderate rank could style himself comte who in the next century would have been called seigneur (dominus).
In conformity with the motto of the city, Nisi Dominus frustra, there are numerous handsome places of public worship. St Giles's church, which was effectively restored (1879-1883) by the liberality of Dr William Chambers the publisher, has interesting historical and literary associations.
