Friend, thou art right! A world like this Hath nothing equal to the bliss Enjoyed by yonder lazy friar, Between refectory and choir! The morning pass’d in sacred song, (The task is short—the triumph long!) Why should our portly friar repine? Enough for him—good man! to see His cellar stor’d with rosy wine, His table pil’d with luxury. Come now, come with me, and partake Our friar’s _poor_ and _modest_ board: Meek sufferer—for Jesus’ sake! Self-sacrific’d—to please the Lord!! And is this rich and gay domain His place of penury and pain? That table _his_, where rang’d in state I see so many jovial brothers, Each with his fingers in his plate, And his eyes fix’d upon another’s? O ’tis indeed a lovely sight To see thus earth and heav’n unite; And what an enviable union Of church and kitchen in communion! While, hark! a voice at intervals, The _pious_ grace devoutly bawls Gratias tibi, Domine! While up and down their arms are moving Like engines in a factory: Thus most indisputably proving How calm and meek and patiently These pious souls submit to all The _sorrow_, _suff’ring_ and _privation_ Which may an earthly saint befal: O unexampled resignation!! Principe Perseguido. {4a} Much was apprehended from the recalled Jesuits: they came—not the learned, the illustrious fathers of former days, but a handful of ignorant, helpless old men, incapable of good, and, I trust, incapable of evil. Father Juan Andres died in Rome in 1817. {4b} They enacted this under the pretence that all young men were wanted for the defence of the country. Even the friars were obliged to be silent against such a plea. {4c} Nor are there wanting instances of friars atoning on the scaffold for crimes of the deepest dye; and I could mention examples of fraud, violence and murder committed since the king’s return by individuals among them, whose monstrous atrocity it would be difficult to parallel. {5a} Romerias. That these acts of devotion are always attended with shameful profligacy is sufficiently known. Even Calderon bears testimony to their danger: — Todos los concursos De varias romerias, Tal vez en zelo empiezan Y acaban en delicia; El verse unos con otros Conmuevese á la alegria, La alegria al banquete El banquete á la risa, La risa al bayle, al juego A la vaya, á la grita Escollos en que siempre La devocion peligra. A Maria el Corazon. So, indeed, says the old proverb, “Quien muchos romerias anda tarde ó nunca se santifica.”