M O 
an <5 tlie individuals are freed from thofe diftra£lions which 
are caufed hy the pleafures and occupations of a fecular 
life, it icon degenerates from its original fpirit. Hence 
the great ideas thefe monks had framed of the excellence 
of their Hate filled them with pride : they gradually 
began to dogmatife, and form variety of caballing parties ; 
and their very induftry, which made them opulent, ren¬ 
dered them alfo ambitious. The true objedl of their 
legiflators was to provide a calm retreat for the children 
6f peace amidft the general diforders of fociety; to afford 
them means of fecuring their innocence againlt the cor¬ 
ruptions of a depraved world ; or to give repentant tinners 
an opportunity of repairing, in a riper age, the follies of 
an irregular youth. But, about the beginning of the ninth 
century, great relaxations were brought in; and the ori¬ 
ginal fchemes of thefe pious founders were totally fub- 
verted. Manual labour began to be negledled and de- 
fpifed; long vocal prayers were lubftituted in its Head; 
and the wile inftitutes of Benedict were let afide under 
the notion of embracing a more perfeft fyftem of life. A 
iiew diftin&ion between choir-religious and lay-brothers 
was, in the eleventh age, introduced in the monaltery of 
Vallombrofa ; and this has ever been a plenteous fource 
of fadlion and difagreement. The privileges, immunities, 
and donations, which were bellowed by kings and empe¬ 
rors on various orders, overthrew the very elfence of the 
inftitute. In an abbey of twenty or thirty monks, who 
together enjoyed an annual income of two or three thou¬ 
sand pounds, betides lands and houles all untaxed, each 
particular member began to plume liimfelf with the idea 
of being a co-proprietor of thefe coniiderable revenues : 
the conlequence of which generally was, that he fought 
to be nourilhed, clothed, and lodged, in at leall as fump- 
tuous a manner as he fuppofed the convent could afford. 
Hence the diet, even where flelh-meats were entirely pro¬ 
hibited, was delicate and expentive ; their drel's was line 
and coflly ; and their apartments were furnilhed with 
every convenience, and many luxuries. Abbots would 
not ltir abroad without the retinue of princes; and were 
conlidered, within the preempts of their jurifdidlion, as 
fo many abfolute fovereigns ; and we read, that, about 
the year 1301, Ralph, the abbot of St. Augultine’s, ex¬ 
pended 3000I. when he gave a repall at his inltalla- 
tion; we read alfo, in authentic documents, of monks 
•complaining againll their abbots for depriving them of 
three out of thirteen dilhes they were accultomed to have 
at each meal; of others partaking of feventeen dilhes 
conllantly, all of which were drefTed with fpices and rich 
fauces ; of 400I. being paid for almond-milk for the 
ufe of thefe lelf-mortifying brethren on fiih-days ; and 
of an archbilhop (Neville) who had, among other dain¬ 
ties, at one of his fealls, a thouland of thole Beautiful 
birds of the heron kind, called egrette, ierved at his 
table, fince which they are become fo l'carce in this 
kingdom, that he may be jultly charged vvith having al- 
moll deltroyed the whole fpecies at one meal. Thefe l’en- 
iiial enormities are not however to be conlidered as hav¬ 
ing been confined to England ; for on the continent they 
appear to have been even more prevalent; and we read 
with equal horror and difgull of a favourite preacher in 
France, who to excefiive epicureanifm fuperadded the 
impious prophanenel's of reading from the pulpit a peti¬ 
tion from the pheafants, partridges, and ortolans, that 
the clergy alone would eat them, “ fo that, being incor¬ 
porated with their glorious bodies, they might be railed 
to heaven, and not go with infamous devourers to the 
infernal regions.” 
When we contiderthe fplendourand comforts enjoyed 
in thefe religious congregations, we cannot wonder at 
what we find related in the Chronicle of the Benedifitine 
Order, by a Spanilh writer, viz. that it had in its bol'om 
47,000 abbeys, 14,000 priories, and 15,000 convents of 
women ; that it had been embraced by 40 popes, 100 car¬ 
dinals, 50 patriarchs, 1600 archbilhops, 4600 bilhops, 12 
emprelfes, 41 queens, and 3600 canonifed faints. We may 
Vo b. XV, No. 1075. 
N R. 673 
however allow that thefe were, in fome degree, but the 
pious exaggerations difilated by the efprit de corps fo 
deeply engraven in fome of the children of Benedifil. 
From this alfo frequently arofe various jealoufies and 
quarrels about their founders, or fuch other l'ubjefils as 
were fuppofed, by their piety or erudition, to have re- 
flefled particular honour on their refpe&ive bodies; 
which proceeded fo far, that Cajetan, a Benedifitine abbot 
in the diocefe of Pilloia in Tufcany, about 1650, more 
full of zeal than fcience, maintained, in his writings, that 
Ignatius-of Loyola, Francis of Aflyfium, and Thomas 
Aquinas, the Jefuit, Friar, and Dominican, were all of 
the order of St. Benedict. It was of this monopolifer of 
faints that cardinal Cobelucci humouroully faid, that he 
was greatly afraid he would foon difeover St. Peter him- 
felf to have been a Benedifiline. 
The phrenzy of erefting, perpetually, new orders of 
various denominations, obliged the council of Lateran, 
in 1215, to forbid the ellablilhment of anymore ; but this 
lalutary law was fo little minded, that, fhortly after, feve- 
ral wereinllituted with the exprefs approbation of the fee 
of Rome. St. Bafil, in his rule, would not allow, in the 
fame town, of two different houfes even of the fame in- 
llitute, for fear of quarrels and diffeniions ; and the de¬ 
cree of Lateran was fixty years after renewed in the coun¬ 
cil of Lyons. But ambitious zeal and importunity con¬ 
tinued to prevail, as may be feen in the hiftory of the 13th 
century, wherein fo many new orders were admitted; and 
fufficient reafons were always found to negleiit the poli- 
tive determinations of thefe affemblies. 
The Mendicants, more dependant on the fee of Roms 
than others, were alfo in a particular manner attached to 
it; though the bull for the fupprefiion of the Jeftpts, iji 
1773, acknowledges, only in general terms, that it owes 
to the religious orders its dignity and fplendour. Hence 
it is natural that the popes lhould, at all times, have de¬ 
clared themfelves in favour of them, as in fa£l we find ha* 
always been the cafe. Thus they have reciprocally ferved 
to fupport each other; and this was, perhaps, the chief 
motive why the different inftitutes of Francifcans, not- 
withllanding the prohibitions of the councils, were fo- 
lemnly approved ; as well as thofe of the Dominicans# 
Capuchins, &c. It is alfo remarkable, that all the fupe- 
riors of the mendicant orders were obliged to refide at 
Rome. Innocent III. objefted, indeed, at firft, to the 
fcheme of Francis, when he applied to have his new in- 
llitute approved ; till the cardinal of St. Paul, bilhop of 
Sabina, told him, that, if he rejedted the petition of that 
poor man, he mull be cautious, left, at the fame time, he 
rejedled the Golpel itfelf. But, fays Fleury, thefe good 
men had neither of them conlidered the text of the apoltle 
upon which the whole of their petition relied, Poff'eJ's nei¬ 
ther gold norfdver; which evidently had no other mean¬ 
ing, than that the difciples were not to draw any pecu¬ 
niary advantages from the gift which they had received 
of working miracles, beyond the mere neceffarics of life ; 
as il Chrilt had laid : “ Gratuitoully difpenfe what you 
have gratuitoully received ; and reft allured, that thole to 
whom you fliall have reftored health or life will never 
fuller you to be in want.” This is, to be lure, the real 
fenl'e of the pa flag,e ; and it by no means proves that the 
world was obliged to feed thole fwarms of mendicant* 
who neither could work miracles, nor produce any other 
proofs of an extraordinary million. Theapollle leems to 
have forefeen thefe abufes, when he lays to the Thellalo- 
njans, “ Even when we were with you, this we command¬ 
ed you, that, if any would not work, neither lhould he eats 
for we hear that there are fome who walk among you dif- 
orderly, not working, but going about as buly-bodies.” 
2 Theft, iii. 10, 11. He would allow of no fuch idlenefs 
under any pretext whatever, not even of apollolic labour. 
The popes would have rendered a much more fignal 
fervice to religion if they had reformed and employed the 
fecular clergy in a proper manner, without calling in the 
unnecefi’ary affiftance of thefe foreign auxiliaries. Sec 
.8 I Mendicant# 
