CHARLES WATERT0N, ESQ. XCV 



fathers were carried to a still higher degree ; and 

 that, during the cholera, their exertions were 

 beyond all praise, for they were seen in the 

 most infected parts of the city, both day and 

 night, performing acts of charity and piety in 

 every shape imaginable. 



As casual conversation is more easily entered 

 into by the light of the moon or the lamp, than 

 under the broad face of day, I was ever and 

 anon exchanging words with those who Were 

 wont to assemble at the porch of the Gesu ere 

 the morning light had dawned. A person in 

 very comfortable circumstances, if I might judge 

 by the neat appearance of his raiment, and ap- 

 parently not far from eighty years of age, would 

 often be pacing to and fro in front of the 

 church full half an hour before the doors were 

 opened. One morning I thought I would ask 

 him if he had ever seen Benedict Joseph Labre, 

 the unknown and humble beggar who had died 

 at Rome in the odour of sanctity, on the 16th 

 of April 1783. He told me that he had often 

 observed this pattern of humility and self-denial 

 both in the streets and in the churches ; but that 

 he had never conversed with Benedict, for that 

 this poor follower of Jesus Christ was never seen 



