verred that a nun, with whom she was acquainted, had
assured her that strange and unearthly forms were often encountered by
those inmates of the establishment who were hardy enough to venture into
the chapel, or to traverse the long corridors or gloomy cloisters after
dusk.

These vague and uncertain reports did not, however, prevent some of the
wealthiest families in Florence from placing their daughters in the
Carmelite Convent. A nobleman or opulent citizen who had several
daughters, would consider it a duty to devote one of them to the service
of the church; and the votive girl was most probably compelled to
perform her novitiate and take the veil in this renowned establishment.
It was essentially the convent patronized by the aristocracy; and no
female would be received within its walls save on the payment of a
considerable sum of money.

There was another circumstance which added to the celebrity and
augmented the wealth of the Carmelite Convent. Did a young unmarried
lady deviate from the path of virtue, or did a husband detect the
infidelity of his wife, the culprit was forthwith consigned to the care
of the abbess, and forced to take up her abode in that monastic
institution. Or, again--did some female openly neglect her religious
duties, or imprudently express an opinion antagonistic to the Roman
Catholic Church, the family to which she belonged would remove her to
the spiritual care of the abbess.

The convent was therefore considered to be an institution recognized by
the state as a means of punishing immorality, upholding the Catholic
religion, persuading the skeptical,--confirming the wavering, and
exercising a salutary terror over the ladies of the upper class, at that
period renowned for their dissolute morals. The aristocracy of Florence
patronized and protected the institution--because its existence afforded
a ready means to get rid of a dishonored daughter, or an unfaithful
wife; and it was even said that the abbess was invested with
extraordinary powers by the rescript of the duke himself, powers which
warranted her interference with the liberty of young females who were
denounced to her by their parents, guardians, or others who might have a
semblance of a right to control or coerce them.

Luther had already begun to make a noise in Germany; and the thunders of
his eloquence had reverberated across the Alps to the Italian states.
The priesthood was alarmed; and the conduct of the reformer was an