‘lecturer on skulls in Vienna. 
_ taking leave we deposited our mite 
easionally have robbed the church- 
yard of a few lay-brethren, and 
perhaps now and then of a heretic. 
(as strangers are interred in their 
burying ground,) in order to ac- 
¢umulate such a prodigious number 
which, on a rough computation, I 
should suppose to amount to at least 
three thousand. The skull of one 
of the holy brotherhood was point- 
ed out as having a lock-jaw, which 
‘occasioned his death ; and from the 
garrulity of our attendant, I have 
no doubt we might have heard the 
history of many more equally im- 
portant, which, though thrown 
away upon us who had no taste 
for craniology, would, in all pro- 
bability, have been highly inter. 
esting to Doctor Gall, the famous 
On 
on the altar, as charity to’ the con- 
vent, which seems to be the princi. 
pal object in view of collecting and 
exhibiting this memento mori of the 
monastic and mendicant order of St, 
Francis. 
There are other convents, to 
which young women are sometimes 
Prr 
_ bands. 
sent for the purpose ef completing 
their education ; but not a single 
instance of the. veil. having been 
_ taken occurs for many years past. 
- Married women also, who are par- 
ticularly tenacious of their charac- 
_ ter, and who wish to be considered 
as models of chastity and virtue, 
sometimes retire into a cenvent 
during the absence of thcir hus- 
In those which were visited 
by our party, we saw only a few 
antiquated virgins, who affected a 
considerable degree of shyness ; 
and though their air and general ap- 
pearance were not ill calculated to 
_ spire feelings of pity, it was not 
however, of that kind which ‘ melts 
CHARACTERS. 859 
the soul to love,” but whose less 
powerful influence pleads rather 
to the purse than to the heart: and 
accordingly we gave them, what 
was considered to be the most ac- 
ceptable, a few dollars in exchange 
for pieces of paper cut into repre- 
sentations of the virgin, and saints, 
and crucifixes. A general languor, 
occasioned by confinement and the 
unvaried insipidity of a monastic 
life, frequently passes in the nun as 
the token of patient resignation ; 
and we are apt to attach a liyely in. 
terest to young females, who are 
thus so cruelly, as we suppose, se- 
parated for ever from all society ex- 
cept that of each other: butit is by 
no means clear that we do net often 
ascribe to persons under such cir- 
cumstances notions of purity’ and 
delicacy, which are more romantic 
than just. It is extremely doubt- 
ful if they possess those exalted 
sentiments, nice feelings, and sound , 
understandings, which prevail 
among females of those countries 
where they are allowed to enjoy un- 
restrained freedom. The education 
of the former is suited to prepare 
them for their. future condition : 
they are held in such littie con. 
sideration in their own family, that 
they are fully aware they cannot be 
less esteemed in a convent; and 
they make the sacrifice of their liber- 
ty under the consoling reflection 
that by so doing, they shall secure 
everlasting. happiness in the world 
to come. 
The residence of a few days 
among a foreign people cannot be 
supposed to furnish much informa- 
tion of their manners, character, 
and condition. It requires no little 
time to get rid of our own preju- 
dices; and while labouring under 
the influence of those, we are apt 
i2 
