mm 



30 



PROFESSION Of A FRIAR. 



Franciscan friar. We had a journey in con- 

 templation for the next day, and thought it high 

 time to get away. Parties of this kind are not 

 frequent, and in a general way these people live 

 in a very quiet manner. The old Doctor is a 

 native of Lisbon, and a great friend to English- 

 men ; he was young at the time of the great 

 earthquake, and says he shall never forget that 

 he was in part cloathed from the necessaries sent 

 out by the British government for the assistance 

 of the Portuguese after that dreadful calamity. 



On the following afternoon, the friar, myself, 

 and a servant, proceeded to Iguaracu, a small 

 town distant from Recife seven leagues, for the 

 purpose of witnessing the entrance of a novice 

 into the Order of St. Francis. We arrived about 

 nine o'clock at night at the gates of the convent; 

 the friar rang the bell three times, as the signal 

 of the arrival of one of the Order ; a lay Brother 

 came, and asked who it was that demanded ad- 

 mittance ; he was answered, that it was brother 

 Joseph from the convent of Recife accompanied 

 by a friend ; the porter shut the gates again, but 

 soon returned, saying that the Guardian, the 

 name given to the principal of a Franciscan con- 

 vent, allowed us to enter. We were conducted 

 up a flight of steps into a long corridore, at the 

 end of which sat the Guardian, to whom we were 

 introduced ; he directed us to the brother who 

 had the management of the accommodations for 



