with this order of men having been in a great measure confined to those of the Protestant Church, men of learning and ingenuity, of quiet, fpeculative, and benevolent difpofitions; it is ufually, indeed, this turn of mind which has inclined them to the ecclefiaftical profeffion. But though my acquaintance with the Roman Catholic Clergy is very limited, yet the few I do know could not be mentioned as exceptions to what I have juft faid of the Proteftant; and, exclufive of all perfonal knowledge of the men, it is natural to think that the habitual performance of the ceremonies of the Chriftian religion, though intermingled with fome fuperftitious rites, and the preaching the doctrines of benevolence and good-will towards men, muft have fome influence on the lives and characters of those who are thus employed. It is a common error, prevailing in Proteftant countries, to imagine that the Roman Catholic Clergy laugh at the religion they inculcate, and regard their flocks as the dupes of an artful plan

of

of impofition. By far the greater part of Roman Catholic priests and monks are themselves moft fincere believers, and teach the doctrines of Chriftianity, and all the miracles of the legend, with a perfect conviction of their divinity and truth. The few who were behind the curtain when falsehood was firft embroidered upon truth, and those who have at different periods been the authors of all the masks and interludes which have enriched the grand drama of fuperftition, have always chofen to employ fuch men, being fenfible that the inferior actors would perform their parts more perfectly, by acting from nature and real conviction. "Paulum intereffe cenfes," fays Davus to Myfis, ex animo omnia ut "fert natura, facias an de induftria *."

The accounts we receive of their gluttony, are often as ill-founded as those of their infidelity. The real character of the majority of monks and inferior ecclefiaftics,

* Andria Terentii.

bǝth

both in France and Italy, is that of a fimple, fuperftitious, well-meaning race of men, who for the moft part live in a very abftemious and mortified manner, notwithstanding what we have heard of their gluttony, their luxury, and voluptuoufness. Accufations are frequently thrown out by those who are ill entitled to make them. I remember being in company with an acquaintance of yours, who is diftinguished for the delicacy of his table and the length of his repafts, from which he feldom retires without a bottle of Burgundy for his own fhare, not to mention two or three glaffes of Champaign between the courses. We had dined a few miles from the town in which we then lived, and were returning in his chariot; it was winter, and he was wrapped in fur to the nofe. As we drove along, we met two friars walking through the fnow; little threads of icicles hung from their beards; their legs and the upper part of their feet were bare, but their foles were defended from the fnow by wooden

fandals,

fandals.

66

"There goes a couple of dainty rogues," cried your friend as we drew near them; "only think of the folly of "permitting fuch lazy, luxurious rafcals to "live in a State, and eat up the portion of "the poor. I will engage that those two "fcoundrels, as lean and mortified as they look, will devour more victuals in a day, than would maintain two industri6 ous families." He continued railing against the luxury of those two friars, and afterwards expatiated upon the epicurism of the clergy in general; who, he said, were all alike in every country, and of every religion. When we arrived in town, he told me he had ordered a little nice fupper to be got ready at his houfe by the time of our return, and had lately got fome excellent wine, inviting me at the fame time to go home with him; for, continued he, as we have driven three miles in fuch weather, we fland in great need of fome refreshment. That in all Roman Catholic countries, and particularly in Italy, the clergy are too

VOL. II.

C c

numerous,

numerous, have too much have too much power, too great a proportion of the lands, and that fome of them live in great pomp and luxury, is undeniable. That the common people would be in a better fituation, if manufactures and the spirit of industry could be introduced among them, is equally true; but, even as things are, I cannot help thinking that the state of the Italian peafantry is preferable, in many refpects, to that of the peasants of many other countries in Europe. They are not beaten by their ecclefiaftical lords, as thofe of Germany are by their mafters, on every real or imaginary offence. They have not their children torn from them, to be facrificed to the pomp, avarice, or ambition of fome military defpot; nor are they themselves preffed into the service as foldiers for life.

In England and in France the 'people take an interest in all national difputes, and confider the cause of their country or their Prince as their own; they enter into the fervice

I