CXXXll. PROLEGOMKNA. 



Catholic times there were very few gaols in 

 England, no workhouses, and hardly any culprits 

 or paupers. Princes were condescending', land- 

 lords kind, the farmers were opulent, the tenants 

 contented, and the poor labourer provided for in 

 the spirit of Christian charity, while everybody 

 was hospitable. The cause of this happy state 

 of society was the union of heart and unity of 

 purpose imparted to all by the spirit of the 

 Catholic religion. The community of interests 

 produced by the doctrine of Christian charity, 

 and the concord of sentiment in matters of faith, 

 added to the security of society, both political 

 and moral, as well as religious ; and the influence 

 which the watchful and kind priests, Avhile they 

 lived in poverty, exercised over their flock, toge- 

 ther with the salutary influence of the confessional, 

 attacked, in the very bud, all those vices to which 

 we are prone by nature in our fallen state ; and 

 thus the old and excellent proverb that prevention 

 is better than cure, was exemplified in the absence 

 of crimes and of the beggary and wretchedness 

 that they occasion. In the reign of Edward 

 III., when the Catholic church was in her full 

 power in England, one might have left a bag of 

 money on a post in London streets all night with 

 safety. And there are still some parts of 

 Catholic Europe, distinguished by the total 

 absence of infidels and heretics, where the same 



