xii 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



tarried for a while, in hopes that I might have once 

 more the opportunity of assuring Father Capistrani 

 how much we considered ourselves indebted to him 

 for his valuable services. But, I was disappointed 

 in my expectations. We were doomed to see his 

 venerable face no more, for he had descended, we 

 suppose, to his convent by another flight of steps. 

 I fear that we must have broken in upon his 

 precious time, and sacerdotal arrangements ; as this 

 day had been to him one of unmitigated duty ; 

 being the glorious festival, known throughout all 

 Catholic Christendom, under the denomination of 

 All Saints. 



On descending to our hotel, three circumstances 

 forcibly presented themselves to my mind. Firstly, 

 the extraordinary scene which we had just witnessed, 

 probably never to be observed again ; secondly, 

 the |mild and imposing demeanour of Father 

 Capistrani; and thirdly, the total absence of 

 anything like studied show, or the smallest 

 attempt to represent things in an interested point 

 of view; or indeed, to represent them in any 

 view at all. For it was no easy matter to gain 

 admission to the Ecstatica ; and after we had gained 

 that admission, we were left entirely to our own 

 discernment and conclusions. 



The fixed posture of the Ecstatica, and then, the 



