Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

388

CLASSICAL TOUR

Ch. XL

sists of twenty-seven mansions, each the abode
of one monk, all on the same plan taken from
the original residence of St. llomuald the foun-
der of the Order, which is still preserved by the
monks, as the thatched cottage of Romulus
was by the Romans, with the greatest vene-
ration. Each of these mansions consists of a
bed-room, a sitting-room, a working-room, a
little oratory, and a garden, all on a very small
scale, and furnished with the utmost plain-
ness and simplicity. They are surrounded by
a wall forming a general enclosure. The in-
habitants are taken from the abbey, and return
thither after having passed two years in the soli-
tude of the hermitage. At present there are
four-and-twenty only. The abbot always resides
among them, and governs the monastery below
by a delegate called the Prior. The life of these
hermits is unusually austere and mortified. Their
diet consists entirely of vegetables and eggs, as
meat is utterly prohibited. On Fridays they con-
fine their repasts to bread and water. In sum-
mer, out of regard, it seems, to the genial in-
fluence of the season that must naturally invite
to social enjoyments, the hermits are allowed to
converse together at certain stated hours three
days in the week. In winter, when the gloom of
the weather and the horrors of the surrounding
wikis are supposed to be more favorable to me-