CHARLES WATERT0N, ESQ. cvii 



great benefit to all ranks of people. The time 

 of the inmates is spent either in salutary advice 

 at the confessional, or in offering up prayers for 

 the nation, or in attending at stated hours to 

 the wants of the poor and the distressed. The 

 good monks may be seen taking the fresh air 

 in the evening, for the preservation of their 

 health, in some favourite quarter of the town, 

 but they all retire to the convent before it is 

 dark; the " Ave Maria," or short form of 

 prayer to implore the intercession of the blessed 

 Virgin for the welfare of the city, announcing 

 that the time of returning within their en- 

 closures has already arrived. 



There was a lay-brother from the convent of 

 San Pietro in Montorio, who often came to see 

 us. I do not recollect, in the course of my 

 travels, ever to have met a person more kind, 

 more affable, or more engaging, than this excel- 

 lent man. He had always some little treat of 

 choice fruit from the garden of his convent for 

 our acceptance* We did not hesitate to receive 

 it, seeing the frankness with which he offered 

 this small tribute of his regard for us. His name 

 was Fra Francesco ; and he esteemed us as much 

 as we esteemed him ; for when he heard of our 



