[36] Ibid. pars iv. cap. xvi. § 3.
[37] Const. pars iv. cap. i. § 1, 6.
[38] Const. pars ii. cap. iii. § 5, 6, 8.
[39] In most monasteries, and more particularly in those of the Capuchins and Reformed (Riformati), there begins at Christmas a series of feasts, which continues till Lent. All sorts of games are played, the most splendid banquets are given, and in the small towns, above all, the refectory of the convent is the best place of amusement for the greater number of the inhabitants. At carnivals, two or three very magnificent entertainments take place, the board so profusely spread that one might imagine that Copia had here poured forth the whole contents of her horn. It must be remembered that these two orders live by alms. The sombre silence of the cloister is replaced by a confused sound of merrymaking, and its gloomy vaults now echo with other songs than those of the Psalmist. A ball enlivens and terminates the feast; and, to render it still more animated, and perhaps to shew how completely their vow of chastity has eradicated all their carnal appetite, some of the young monks appear coquettishly dressed in the garb of the fair sex, and begin the dance along with others transformed into gay cavaliers. To describe the scandalous scene which ensues would be but to disgust my readers. I will only say that I have myself often been a spectator at such saturnalia.
[40] A Vincenzo Gioberti Fra Pellico della Compagnia di Gesù, pp. 35, 36.
[41] Examen, iv. § 10-15.
[42] Examen, iv. § 17.
[43] Const. Pars v. cap. iv. § 4.
[44] Const. Pars v. cap. iv. § 2.
[45] Const. Pars ix. cap. iii. § 9.