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the Order, whose beard was silvered o'er with age, shewed us their garden, their dormitory, and their refectory, on the table of which he was himself occupied in setting the Brethren's supper: and in justice to their professed austerity* I have to state, that their meal was as simple as their garments were coarse: "a guiltless feast,"

"With herbs and fruits supplied,

"And water from the spring."

Having been given to understand that the Convent of the Ursulines was less rigid in its rules than that of the Visitation, we applied for admittance, and, though the time of day for granting such requests was just gone by, we were received. In the parloir were displayed some of the chaplets, artificial flowers, and other pretty things made by the nuns, and sold to whomsoever is disposed to purchase. In this introductory apartment was a young lady in close and earnest conversation with an elderly dame: it was mother and daughter, the latter not yet in the dress or capacity of a religieuse, but placed in the convent for education! Presently two staid virgins of between forty and fifty, in the habits of their order, entered, and announced themselves ready to shew us the convent. The Ursulines are not veiled; they wear a hood, and a robe of white cloth, trimmed and garnished with black. We were conducted up-stairs, through several spacious corridors, into which the apartments of the nuns open:

* D'Emillianne says of the Capucines that "they have found the art to render the practice of their rigid Rules and Constitutions very sweet and agreeable, and they would not change the liberty they have to ramble up and down in towns, and in the country to secular houses, with the richest foundations of the Monasteries of the Benedictines, nay not with the purse of the Jesuits."-Hist. of Monastic Orders.

these galleries are well lighted, and look into a large garden. When we entered the chapel a young nun was kneeling at the shrine of the canonized Patroness, to all appearance so absorbed in intense meditation, that, after passing with our conductresses behind her, I thought it no harm to turn round and look at her: the fair recluse turned round too: our eyes met: I caught a momentary glance of a handsome face, and by its expression, as it was quickly averted from me again, became confirmed in my contumacious opinion, that “ the world forgetting" is a consummation not so easily, not so soon achieved, even with all Romish "appliances and means to boot," as that of being "by the world forgot." We were permitted to see two of the apartments of the sisterhood; comfortable little rooms enough; containing a bed, table, chairs, and chest of drawers; the walls and mantle-piece adorned with numerous miniature pictures of Saints-chiefly Jesuits.* The elderly ladies who led us through this establishment, stated that they had been much impoverished by the Revolution, and reduced to the necessity of resorting to the charitable and benevolent for the means of subsistence; but that they were now in easier circumstances, and hoped to be restored to more of their former ample endowments. One of these nuns was a tall jolly dame, who looked and "e'en talked a little like a friend of this world." The other was a small thin personage, of a "vinegar aspect," and laconic to the very verge of

The Ursulines are the Female Order of the Jesuits, founded in 1572, and derive their name from a Holy Virgin called Ursula, who suffered martyrdom, according to Romish fables, near Cologne, with eleven thousand young ladies who went to wait on her. In some places they are confined to their cloisters, and in others they have liberty to go abroad, and keep every where an intimate familiarity with the Jesuits.—D'Emillianne.

taciturnity. My friend asked them if the sprightly girl we had just seen in the parloir designed ultimately to profess; the fat sister laughed and nodded an answer in the affirmative; but the other, darting a look of reproof at her less discreet colleague, for thus trifling with the secrets of the prison-house, said—“ Non, elle est actuellement en pension-Voila tout." In taking leave, we did not omit an offrande d'argent; whereupon the Holy Sisters spontaneously declared their kind intention to include us in their prayers; and, taking it for granted that they kept the promise, there is little doubt but that in their orisons our mortal sin of heresy was especially remembered!

This antique town is a multum in parvo of monachism. It contains four convents for men, viz. the Capuchins, the Franciscans, the Augustinians, and the Jesuits; and four for women, viz. the Visitantines, the Ursulines, the Capucine Nuns, and another. The latter are subject to the same rules as those by which communities of a similar kind in France are governed; and as in all Catholic countries, there are some more strict than others.

On leaving the Jesuitesses we proceeded to the Jesuits; in our way to whose college we met the Chief Magistrate of the place, who, here as well as in some other Swiss cities, has the title of Avoyer.* The gentleman was walking from

• The Government of Fribourg is Aristocratic. The sovereign power of the canton resides in the Assembly of Two Hundred, who form the Grand Council. A person is eligible to be a member of it at twenty years of age; but the right of entering it, and of holding the first offices, is reserved to seventy-one families, named Patricians, to the exclusion of all others. The Burghers of Fribourg, and those of twenty-seven circumjacent parishes, have the privilege of voting for the election of Avoyer, who is the head of the Government; for that of Burgomaster; of Chancellor or Town Secretary; and of first Chaplain or Curé.-The Small Council, composed of twenty-four members, forms the Council of State.

church, in a court suit, with a black gown of office over it: a powdered bag wig, a sword by his side, and a silver rod on his arm, formed the other appointments; but with these his pedestrian march, though preceded by two municipal officers, was by no means in harmony. As this worthy State Functionary passed us, we paid him the obeissance due to his rank and station; but could not avoid being struck with the peculiar manner of managing these matters of civic parade in Fribourg; for, on his presently stopping at his own door, we observed the swordand-gown-encumbered Avoyer, stretching forth the only hand at liberty to lift the knocker, which his two attendants very quietly suffered him to do, whilst they themselves stood like a couple of posts on each side of the portal.

We ascended to the church of the College by a staircase of about a hundred steps: it is a large and handsome building, on whose interior, gilding, carving, and painting have been lavished with more than sufficient profusion. The ceiling is charged with a design which, in a very florid tone of colouring, and much in Verrio's sprawling" style, represents the patron, Saint Michael the Archangel, striking Satan down into the place prepared for him and his compeers of darkness,

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"There to dwell in adamantine chains and penal fire.”

The grand altar is entirely of marble, upon which the artist has spared no pains in the embellishments of imagery and architecture. Close to it is the tomb

It has the charge of daily affairs, regulates the haute police, and is a Court of Appeal in civil cases.-There are two Avoyers, who take alternate years, and succeed each other in the exercise of power and authority.— The one who is in office is called the Avoyer Regnant.”—Robert.

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of Father Canisius, a celebrated theologian among the Romanists, and by whom the church was founded. The spot where his remains are interred is marked by a marble slab, inscribed "Ossa P. P. Petri Canisii. Soc. Jesu. Theolog. Obiit. MDXCVII."

From the Church we proceeded to the College adjoining. It is a large and commodious place, well suited for its purpose as a seminary of Learning, whose besetting difficulties in the road to Fame, its situation on the brow of a steep rock, not inappropriately typifies. We were shewn the refectory, a lofty and capacious room, much resembling in appearance and arrangement those essential accommodations called Halls, in our English Universities. The tables were set out for supper in a stile of bonne chère that would have put the poor Capuchins at the other end of the town to the blush. Each man had his

and the Brother

bottle of wine by the side of his plate: who conducted us admitted that they lived on the fat of the land. Since the re-establishment of this Order by the Pope, the Government of Fribourg has, it seems, surrendered to the Jesuits the province of public education, together with the landed property, funds, and rents formerly belonging to them in that canton. The almost immediate consequence has been the arrival of a full complement of Professors, some from France, others from Savoy, the Valais, and Italy. A numerous accession of pupils has also followed, pari passu, from various Catholic States of Europe; nor are they without recruits from England; insomuch that scarcely a chamber is left vacant in the college, and their different schools for classics and divinity are filled with students. In the garden we saw several of the Fathers and many of the scholars; their costume,

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