"My dear friend, is it new to you? What would the Inquisition be without the Jesuits? The Dominicans may call themselves Inquisitors; but they could not even decline the noun _Inquisition_, unless the Jesuits taught them. In fact, what do the Inquisitors search out? They sit still to receive denunciations. The Holy Office would be but badly supported if it depended solely on the exertions and abilities of its own immediate officials. Unquestionably, St. Dominic, with his cloudy intellect, was an Inquisitor; Peter of Verona, commonly called Peter the Martyr, was more efficient, but his imprudence cost him his life. I marvel much that a similar fate did not befall Domenico di Guzman! He slew, and caused to be slain, many more than Peter of Verona ever did; of a ruddy complexion, fierce and sanguinary, he was equally imprudent as his disciple. Far otherwise was Ignatius Loyola; cautious and wary in all his operations, and, although a soldier, averse to exposing himself to danger, he cautioned his followers to use the utmost prudence in carrying out their measures, and by no means to expose themselves foolishly to public odium or indignation. I say foolishly, because what, after all, is the amount of profit, to those who are in the service of the Inquisition? You, who are a Dominican, understand this better than I do." "Oh! it is next to nothing. Our Inquisitors in Umbria and Romagna receive from the Holy Office in Rome, under the head of 'vestment money,' the paltry sum of three _scudi_ (about 13_s._ 6_d._) a month; which they have no means of increasing, unless they can occasionally pick up a trifle by saying a few masses. The monastery allows them no other advantage than the ordinary diet of the friars. Besides, it not unfrequently happens that, on account of the Inquisitors claiming exemption from the duties of the monastery, the prior deprives them of what he grants to the other members. In a visit I once made to the Monasteries of Spoleto, Foligno, Perugia, and other places, I found the Priors and the Inquisitors in open dispute with each other. The Priors complained that the Inquisitors refused to sing in the choir; and the Inquisitors, on the other hand, were indignant that they had not enough to eat, nor any wood to burn during the winter." "They were not denied what was wanted for an _auto-da-fé_. I suppose: but continue your recital."