PROLEGOMENA. CXXvii. 



protestant religion, as our chronicles inform 

 us, introduced the custom of giving the whole 

 tithe to the clergy. Nobody grumbled at paying 

 , a rate that went to support the poor, and to repair 

 the church ; nor did they begrudge the priest his 

 pittance, considering that his life was one of 

 perpetual labour for the good of the people ; as 

 is the case still in catholic countries. 



Added to all these things, the number of 

 monasteries, hospitals, and institutions for charity 

 which sprung out of the catholic religion, and 

 were supported by the opulent of all ranks, 

 together with the spirit of hospitality, the Old 

 Christmas cheer, the landlord's Yule clog on the 

 fire, and the festivity of which the poor in those 

 days of humility always partook, contributed so 

 largely to the support and comfort of the in- 

 digent, that there was no need of workhouses ; 

 nor was farming the poor, and other practices at 

 which humanity revolts, ever heard of in Catholic 

 Times. 



It has been sometimes asked — why this state 

 of things fell; and why the Catholic church was 

 not proof against the bribery and villany of 

 the monster Henry VIII. The answer is easy, 

 that luxury had crept into our church with the 

 accumulation of property : fasts and abstinences 

 and all those austerities, so necessary a part 

 of the cross of Christ, got into disuse; and 



