^ 



BAPTISMAL AND BURIAL FEES. 263 



never permit either of my remaining three 

 sons to marry." 



This article was certainly an effort of bold- 

 ness against the priesthood, which may have 

 cost the poor * Ranchero' a sentence of ex- 

 communication. Few of Ms countrymen 

 would venture on a similar act of temerity; 

 and at least nine-tenths profess the most pro- 

 found submission to their religious rulers. Be- 

 thus bred to look upon their priests as 

 infallible and holy samples of piety and vir- 

 tue, we should not be so much surprised at 

 the excesses of the ' flock' when a larg-e por- 



ts 



tion of the pastores, the padres themselves, are 

 foremost in most of the popular vices of the 

 country: first at the fandango — first at the 

 gamins table — first at the cock-pit— first at 



bacchanalian orgies — and by no means last 

 in tlie contraction of those liaisons wliich are 

 so emphatically proliibited by their vows. 



The baptismal and burial fees (neither of 

 which can be avoided without incurring the 

 charge of heresy) are also a great terror to 

 the candidates for married life. " If I mar- 

 Vfj' says the poor yeoman, " my family must 

 go unclad to baptize my cliildren ; and if any 

 of them should die, we must starve ourselves 

 to pay the burial charges." The fee for bap- 

 tism, it is true, is not so exorbitant, and in ac- 

 cordance to custom, is often paid by the 

 padrino or sponsor ; but the burial costs are 

 almost equally extravagant with those of mar- 

 riage, vai-jring in proportion to the age and' 



