SIX MONTHS IN MEXICO. 



93 



apartments are generally occupied about twelve 

 times in the year, and some oftener, so that 

 upwards of one thousand persons annually 

 receive the benefit of this pious institution. 



It is inhabited alternately by male and 

 female occupants, the abode of the clergymen 

 being in a separate court of the building. 

 The reverend brother of our conductor was 

 from home, but we walked into his rooms, and 

 found them well furnished, having some good 

 Flemish pictures and prints, of sacred subjects. 

 I was rather surprised to find several well 

 bound modern authors, and amongst them 

 Volney, Voltaire, and others, who must be 

 considered by the church of Rome as incul- 

 cating latitudinarian principles ; but on taking 

 these up we found every leaf torn in the 

 middle, lengthways, and it turned out that 

 they had been delivered up by the recluses to 

 their spiritual directors from scruples of con- 

 science. 



