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morality and religion;* and advert to the recorded fact that a society thus selected, constituted, actuated, and directed, was the one to claim and obtain in less than a century after its foundation, the almost exclusive instruction of youth in Catholic countries, becoming within the same space of time the confessors of kings, spiritual rulers, and temporal sovereigns, to say nothing of their successful enterprises as mercantile speculatorst—when we reflect on the wealth they accumulated, the power they acquired, the influence they exercised, the objects they aimed at, the career they pursued, up to the very moment when so many potentates of their own persuasion drove them from their dominions, on charges which were recognized as just by the Bull for their suppression-when we "think on these things," it surely may well prompt us, if not to dread, at least to watch the operations of that bold, persevering, shrewd, and artful policy, which in the face of a preceding judgment, unscrupulous about the pretext to be assigned for so palpable a breach in the Catholic unity of proceedings,‡ induced Pius the Seventh, just liberated from captivity in France, to abrogate the Brief of Ganganelli, and restore to the Jesuits, as pledged warriors of the triple-crown, not only "a local habitation and a name," but the full

See Pope Clement XIV.'s Bull for their suppression, dated July 21st, 1773.

+ Robertson's Charles V.

+ When Pope Clement XIII. in 1768, was applied to jointly by France, Spain, and Austria, to revoke the Brief in which he claimed the sovereignty of Parma, and declared the Duke to be only his feudatory, the Pontiff refused, saying that it was not the custom of the Holy See to revoke its judgments, which were never passed till after the most mature deliberation, and always with the assistance of the Holy Ghost!!

possession of all their former rights, privileges, and employments, with the liberty of extending the sphere of their activity wherever they should be allowed to set foot, and whenever they should regain the means of permanently establishing themselves.*

They are going to have a new convent of Jesuits at Estavayer. Fribourg and Lucerne are the only two cantons that have as yet permitted the re-establishment (re-intègration) of the Society within their respective territories. The opinion of a considerable party in Soleure (a Roman Catholic canton) has been strongly declared against them: nor are they restored to the exercise of any rights and privileges at variance either with the public laws of the Swiss Confederation, or with the cantonal constitutions. Their influence over Education has hitherto, in spite of their intrigues, been resisted with decision and effect by the leading Catholic inhabitants of the Pro

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See the Bull of Pope Pius VII. dated Rome, August 7, 1814. From that curious document it appears, that the non-Catholic Autocrat of Russia, Paul I. was the personage, on whose recommendation the late Pope, in 1800, took the first step towards placing "under his own immediate tutelage and obedience, and granting power for the education of youth to," an Order whom ALL the Catholic Sovereigns of the House of Bourbon had expelled from their respective states as dangerous intermeddlers in political affairs!" Totally disregarding the heavy and repeated complaints subsequently made against the conduct of "the Company of Jesus" by the Emperor Alexander, His Holiness declares the said Society to be the most proper one "to relieve the spiritual wants of the Catholic world." He restores an Institution, which forty-one years before had been abolished for having "disturbed the public peace, favoured idolatrous practices, perverted moral maxims, and falsely interpreted gospel doctrines”—abolished for these reasons, by that same "Holy See" which forsooth "is not accustomed to revoke its judgments; which judgments are never passed until after the maturest deliberation, and always with the assistance of the Holy Ghost"!!!

testant Cantons.* Catholics, conducted without the least help or interference on the part of the Jesuits, and the children of the principal families of that persuasion in the Pays-de-Vaud are sent there for instruction.

At Lausanne there is a school for the

Bearing in mind what Addison has said of the "escargatoire" at Fribourg, we took the liberty of asking our conductor at the College of Jesuits, whether a ragout of snails was still a favourite item in the carte of their well furnished board. From his expression of "je n'en sçais rien," in brief and dry answer to our inquiry, we were ready to infer that this article of food was not now in request here, whatever it might have been in the century preceding. But such a conclusion would have been completely erroneous.-A person, to whom we afterwards took occasion to mention the circumstance, observed to us-"When you asked the Reverend Father where la place des Escargots was, I am not surprised that he pretended not to understand you. The Gastronomes, particularly the Priests, have Snails (as well as Frogs),

Not so however, in an important part of his Britannic Majesty's dominions, as appears by that invaluable work, the "Digest of Evidence on the State of Ireland, by Messrs. Phelan and O'Sullivan."-" A Roman Catholic (says the Rev. M. O'Sullivan), stated to me his very great distress of mind that the Jesuit-school at Clongowes, in Ireland, was so much resorted to by persons of his own persuasion; he stated to me that so considerable a change had taken place in the minds of the young Roman Catholics, that now, instead of thinking lightly of the subjects of controversy, as they were thought of some time since, they would not only dispute seriously for them, but he thought, that if opportunity served they would fight for them." Dr. Doyle had previously admitted in evidence, that two clergymen of the Jesuit's-house at Clongowes, had gone to Rome, and he suspected that they assisted there at the election of the last Superior of that Order. Part I. p. 246

cooked in a dozen different modes of seasoning. And these animals, from the manner in which they are dressed for table, form a very exciting kind of dish, and furnish matter for coarse jests."-Casks-full of Snails are sent from the Pays-de-Vaud to Fribourg, where the consumption is stated to be prodigious, especially in the monasteries. The Catholics, and above all their ecclesiastics, it is said eat this food in great quantities, by way of indemnifying themselves for the butcher's meat, which their church interdicts them, two days in the week, without reckoning Lent.*

The Cathedral is a noble edifice, in the pointed and florid stile; erected in the latter end of the 14th century. The nave is lofty; and the tower, which, with its pinnacles, measures three hundred feet in height, is one of the finest specimens of gothic architecture in Switzerland: the width of its base occupies the whole west front of the church. In the centre of the grand portal is a well carved statue of the Patron St. Nicholas: beneath which à very curious group suggests reflections on the ancient practice of caricaturing

* Snails are eatable only in April, May, and June; during which three months in every year the poor people go in search of them for the supply of the convents, where they are preserved in a kind of field, which almost always abuts on the gardens that surround the Monastic buildings. They retain their freshness in the grass, and live, as is pretended, on the dew, which at that fine season of the year is said to have a balsamic property. Be this however as it may, the broth made of these creatures, boiled up with goats' milk, is considered to be a specific for disorders of the chest. The first physicians of the country prescribe it to persons of a delicate constitution, as a strengthening medicine, which may be taken by patients of all ages, in the Spring, without the slightest hazard. It is probable that our celebrated countryman visited Switzerland at that season and thus might have been enabled to see the Escargotage of which he makes mention, in its perfection.

Religion in sculpture. On the right hand, in this design, you see St. Peter, distinguished by his keys, leading a throng of the faithful to the gates of Paradise, an Angel following by way of rear-guard. On the left the Devil and his Angels are stirring up a large cistern in which several human figures are plunged up to their waists, whilst a little imp of darkness is busily blowing the fire under it. Another full-grown demon, with the head of a bog, is bringing up a fresh array of condemned souls to fill up the measure of judgment, and make the infernal "cauldron boil and bubble"!! In the middle of the Cathedral, we observed an enclosed seat, inscribed "Banc pour les Seigneurs Secrèts." Our conductor told us that it was appropriated to the use of a peculiarly privileged portion of the members of the municipality, who twice a year, viz. St. John's Day and a Sunday called Secret Sunday, after attending divine service, proceed to the Hotel de Ville, where, under the name of La chambre secrète, they hold a council, before which the different persons in office are obliged each in their turn to pass through an ordeal, and those whose conduct was in the opinion of such judges deemed reprehensible, were censured, or if necessary turned out of their situations.*

From the Cathedral, which stands in the middle of La-ville-haute, our guide conducted us through the Place-des-Fontaines, where we descended into the lower town by a flight of four hundred steps, and ascending

For a full explanation of the prerogatives and functions of a committee which "though not any public or responsible part of administration, is yet the concealed spring that puts the wheel of government in motion”— the reader is referred to Mr. Coxe's Letters on Switzerland, vol. 2, p. 190.

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