DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62267#0280
270
CLASSICAL TOUR
Dis.
their profession. In the rural convents, the case
is different. Taste and learning would be an en-
cumbrance to a friar, doomed for life to associate
with rustics : piety, good nature, some Latin, and
a thorough knowledge of his duty, are all that
can be expected, and all that the traveller will
find among these humble Fathers of the Desert.
As to the morality of convents, we must form
our opinion of it with a due regard to their num-
ber, as in all aggregate bodies composed of human
beings some instances must be found of the weak-
ness of our common nature; and such irregulari-
ties, if not beyond the ordinary proportion of
frailty inseparable from the best establishments
in similar circumstances, may claim indulgence.
Now, though instances of gross immorality are
sometimes heard of, and occasional deviations are
perhaps not unfrequent; yet, on the whole, it is
but just to acknowledge, that piety and decorum
generally prevail in convents, and that examples
of devotion, of holiness, and of disinterestedness
are frequent enough to edify the candid observer,
whilst they obliterate all little incidental interrup-
tions of religious regularity. Extremes of vice
are rare, fortunately, in all ranks, and most cer-
tainly very unusual indeed in ecclesiastical corpo-
rations of every description. The friar, in fact,
CLASSICAL TOUR
Dis.
their profession. In the rural convents, the case
is different. Taste and learning would be an en-
cumbrance to a friar, doomed for life to associate
with rustics : piety, good nature, some Latin, and
a thorough knowledge of his duty, are all that
can be expected, and all that the traveller will
find among these humble Fathers of the Desert.
As to the morality of convents, we must form
our opinion of it with a due regard to their num-
ber, as in all aggregate bodies composed of human
beings some instances must be found of the weak-
ness of our common nature; and such irregulari-
ties, if not beyond the ordinary proportion of
frailty inseparable from the best establishments
in similar circumstances, may claim indulgence.
Now, though instances of gross immorality are
sometimes heard of, and occasional deviations are
perhaps not unfrequent; yet, on the whole, it is
but just to acknowledge, that piety and decorum
generally prevail in convents, and that examples
of devotion, of holiness, and of disinterestedness
are frequent enough to edify the candid observer,
whilst they obliterate all little incidental interrup-
tions of religious regularity. Extremes of vice
are rare, fortunately, in all ranks, and most cer-
tainly very unusual indeed in ecclesiastical corpo-
rations of every description. The friar, in fact,