t22 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



dent, however, to me, that they were not held in 

 very high estimation atnong their flocks. One of 

 the most respectable Cophts at Echmhnm came to 

 visit me in the iiouse which I occupied ; he spoke 

 to ms very contemptuously of ihc Franciscans. 

 They had too much money, he told me ; it was this 

 which made them disdain to receive me ; at another 

 time they would have welcomed me with eagerness. 

 The same Egyptian complained loudly of their ava- 

 ricious spirit. The poor were neglected by them, 

 and the rich beheld them incessantly at their doors. 

 I was likewise informed that they made heavy com- 

 plaints of the English traveller Bruce, who, having 

 made some stay with them, had not apparently con- 

 sented to satisfy their love of money, by paying 

 them with heaps of gold for a venal hospitality. 



The Catholics had, like those of Tahta^ a cure of 

 their nation. He alsohad passed ten years at Rome, 

 and spoke Italian well, and Latin tolerably. But, 

 less artful than the missionaries, he was in great 

 distress. Jealous of his situation^ of the confidence 

 with which he inspired his compatriots, and the' 

 practice of physic \o which he had applied himself, 

 these evangelical men tormented him to the utmost 

 oftheir power; they raised persecutionsagainst him; 

 and faithful observers oi seraphic charity, they did 

 not permit a single opportunity of defaming him td 

 escape, and of doing him all the injury they could. 



If 



