I speak, I did not see the impropriety of this mode of speech. There was something very elevating, on the contrary, to my mind, in the idea of my being called "la sposa. And here, if it were not out of place, I could remark, how directly the monastic system leads to that spirit in the individual, which is expressed in these words, Stand by, I am holier than thou.

Our conference with the abbess was long, and it was arranged during that conference that I should be received the next day as a pensionnaire, with the view of taking the white veil as soon as possible,-Madame la Superieure having taken much pains to convince me that it would be quite as easy for me to return to the world after having laid aside my secular habits as before, and not dropping the smallest hint by which I might be led to understand the truth, namely, that such a step would infallibly destroy my credit, not only with good Catholics, but with the world itself. For much as the world may be supposed to think lightly of a religious profession, it has no charity for one who, having once set his hand to the plough, turns back again from that which he has undertaken. I hope I do not wrong the superieure, and with her all the rulers of monastic orders, by saying, that they are very skilful in fitting their temptations to the supposed state of mind of the person whom they intend to allure,-stooping to arts which would hardly be believed by persons not acquainted with their ideas of expediency. Of this, however, I shall presently give an example; for, before we took leave, my friend having expressed a wish to see some of my future companions, if it were not contrary to the rules of the house, the superieure arose with alacrity, and passing out through an inner door, spoke to a person without, and returned immediately to her seat near the grate. It was, however, nearly ten minutes before the summons was obeyed. At the end of which time three sisters entered the apartment.

My Protestant reader, although it may be that you have never seen a religieuse, yet I cannot suppose but that you have formed some idea of one; and if your imagination has any life in it, you have already depicted to yourself the sort of figures which were to appear at the summons of the superieure; and I think I may be well assured that your ideas will not be consonant with the reality. The three young ladies who entered be

hind the grating were as elegant young women, as to their carriage, as I had ever seen; and this will be understood, when I explain that the principal part of the business of the life of a religieuse is to form a part in the pantomime of the apostate church, and to fill up a portion of a picture meant to be imposingly beautiful. A graceful manner, therefore, is often very remarkable among the sisters; but the three who had been selected to be introduced on the present occasion were, as I afterward found, particularly suited for an exhibition of this kind, and for the part they were to act in it. I knew them afterward by the names of Honorine, Catharine, and Marguerite. They were the most beautiful girls in the convent, with the exception of two only, of whom I shall speak more hereafter. They were entirely devoted, I can hardly venture to say to their religion, but to their party; hence they possessed as eager desires to augment their numbers, as a sergeant (to use a homely simile) would naturally feel who is to get his reward for every recruit. They knew perfectly well wherefore they were called, and that it was their clew to seem excessively gay. Hence they entered all smiling, and as it were full of rapture, being flushed, at the same time, at the sight of strangers; and ranging themselves by their spiritual mother, they began a somewhat elaborate yet successful display of their extreme happiness, the superieure, at the same time, enjoying the surprise of my friend.

"Behold my daughters," she said; "do they seem very sad? which of the pale votaries of worldly pleasures resemble my blooming children ?"—and while she continued to hold forth in this strain, my future companions were addressing me and each other by turns. The sister Marguerite, who was the oldest of the party, and therefore the most at home in the character she was to act, having looked at me a moment, whispered to the others, "Ah! comme elle est jolie!" and then proceeded to remark, how a habit such as they wore would become me; to which the others assented, looking eagerly through the grating. I knew that I had never been thought beautiful, and yet I was pleased; and having my hand on the grate, Marguerite put hers through, and seizing it, said, "Now we have you, and we will keep you;" on which they all laughed heartily, being joined by the superieur

Our conference broke off soon after this, and I returned to my friend's house, impatient for the day in which I was to renew my acquaintance with the three charming girls whom I had seen behind the grate.

I now proceed to the period of my becoming an inmate of the house. It was on the morning of the third day after my visit that I found myself again within the outer door mentioned above. The portress having barred the gate behind me, selected another key from her huge bunch, and having opened the grated gate described on occasion of my first visit, and permitted me to pass through it, she stopped again to lock it.

We had, it seemed, passed the eastern side of the church, and come into a line with that apartment called in a convent le chœur; viz. that part of the church occupied during service by the sisters, and communicating with the body of the church by gratings. This apartment, the door of which was open, resembled a beautiful hall in the style of the florid Gothic, having several richly painted windows, in the centre compartment of each of which was a human figure crowned with a resplendent glory. The flooring was a tesselated pavement, and round the apartment were stalls, or seats of oak, so old as to be nearly black; these also were richly wrought. There were besides several fine paintings on the wall. In one corner of the apartment, which in fact was a part of the church, was a confessional, communicating with a recess behind the high altar, where the priest could hear the confession without being admitted into the chœur. Having stopped one instant to look around, I passed on, and then saw the square court in the centre of which was the cross of which I spoke before, and perceived that this court was not paved, but covered with grass.

"That, my sister," said the portress, "is our buryingground; as we pass from the refectory to the chapel, we have the edifying view of this place always before our eyes. We all select the precise spot where we would lie; and some of us are already provided with our coffins; it is a laudable and religious work to become thus familiarized with death, and one greatly acceptable in the sight of our Lord." I would wish my reader to understand that in many instances in which I shall use the word Lord, that of husband was what the speaker

really served herself withal: but this is blasphemy, which I tremble to repeat even from the mouth of another.

I was not altogether inclined to sympathize with the old woman in these speculations on death, though I did not presume to question the propriety of encouraging thoughts of this kind. Indeed, I supposed it to be an important duty, and if not agreeable to me, I imagined that it was owing to some great defect in my own mind.

But passing away from the view of the cemetery, the portress led me through a sort of ante-room, into which more than one curtained grating opened, into a parlour appertaining to the superieure, and where, as she informed me, I must await the arrival of madame. So saying, she left me to amuse myself by examining the apartment, in which there was nothing very remarkable as to furniture, though the chamber had a peculiarly sombre appearance, from the dark colour of the wainscot, and the depth of the walls, by which the light of the windows was considerably obscured. There were several crosses and many paintings in the room, with more than one effigy of the Virgin. But the abbess did not leave me long alone; she presently entered, and advancing to embrace me, exclaimed, in high enthusiastic mood, which I did not then suspect to be affected, "Suffer me, sweet child, to welcome you to this abode of peace, these blessed walls, from whence all the evil passions of a cruel and corrupt world are excluded. I trust, my child, that you come with the firm purpose of devoting yourself to God, by a life of poverty, celibacy, and piety; for blessed are those, my daughter, who cast themselves in the flower and bloom of their age into the arms of a celestial Bridegroom,-thus to wear out their days in performing those services of prayer, of penance, and of self-mortification, which are no other than the tokens of the love of the espoused, as exhibited in the personal absence of her divine Husband."

These blasphemies, for I can call them no other, with many others to the same effect, she ran off with a sort of heartless and simpering glibness, which, when I reflected upon them in after-life, conveyed the idea to my mind that she had many such by rote, always ready for use as occasion called for them.

In reply, however, to these observations, I informed her that my mind was fully made up to the life of a re

ligieuse, requesting to know how soon I might be per. mitted to take the white veil.

She mentioned fifteen days as the very shortest time; and then informed me that she trusted her dear daughter, for such she continued to call me, would employ that interval in those exercises of devotion and meditation which would render her more acceptable to that glorious Consort to whom she was about to be affianced in exclusion of all earthly rivals. She enlarged much on this point, using that style of language which I have hinted at before; and then proceeded to show me how I ought to prepare myself for these glorious espousals,-showing me how every moment of my time ought to be filled up in some meritorious form; and then flying off in a sort of general panegyric of the happy lives of those who had already devoted themselves to the heavenly Bridegroom.

"How little can the world comprehend our bliss, my daughter!" she said; "how little can it understand the transports which are enjoyed by the espoused of God in the service of their Beloved! What time have we for ennui? Who can say how sweetly or rapidly our hours pass on from time to eternity? or tell how blessed to us must be the passage from youth to age, and from life to death, occupied as we are most of the day in the service of him to whom we are espoused, and rapt, as it were, in soul to his presence? The pains and fatigues of body which we experience (for the flesh is weak) only remind us of our spiritual bliss, and add more and more to those graces which render us lovely in his eyes."

Whether there was sense or nonsense, truth or falsehood in all this, I know not; but this I know, that it so wrought upon me that I was quite impatient to begin my course of duties; at the same time that I was rather mortified to be told that I could only be permitted to see the sisters in general during certain hours of prayer in the chapel. "I would, sweet girl," added the superieure, caressingly, gladly skip over this rule for your sake; but a wife must be obedient, you know;-the Master of this house must be obeyed. However," she added, “you shall not be quite solitary; I shall introduce you to la mère assistante, and to one of my dear children, who, though young, is already so entirely devoted, that I do not hesitate to say that she may be of as much use to

66