CHARLES WATERT0N, ESQ. iii 



Foreseeing how difficult it would be to have an 

 interview with the Ecstatica, a letter was forwarded 

 by the Bishop of Bruges to the Bishop of Trent, 

 asking permission for us to enter the convent 

 where she resided. But, it so happened, that this 

 letter, by some mishap or other, did not reach 

 Botzen till after our arrival in the town. 



May I here request my good Protestant readers, 

 for obvious reasons, to skip over the following 

 little narrative. It will do them no good ; — but, 

 should they read it, probably, it will place me 

 before their eyes, in the unenviable light, either 

 of a knave, or of a dupe : — two characters very 

 repugnant to the feelings of my interior man. I 

 frankly own, that, if I saw any one labouring under 

 a palpable delusion, I would do my best to clear 

 away the mist from before his eyes. And I declare, 

 on the word of an honest rover, that, if I had a 

 cheat to deal with, I would expose him before 

 the face of the public ; just as I did with the 

 impostor in his barefaced account of the city of 

 Ixymaya, and the two dwarfs named Astegs. 



During our stay at Inspruck, the good Jesuit 

 Fathers there, gave us a letter of introduction to 

 the Baron Giovanelli, in Botzen. He was very 

 attentive to us, and most useful at the same time : 

 for he not only furnished us with the necessary 



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