e on Sunday, where he explains the national catechism to them in a
private room. Beyond this he has nothing to do in the house. This practice
may be known at court, but it was neither enjoined nor recommended by the
court. This is the account I have collected of the Jesuits in Russia, and,
I am persuaded, that they are not more restricted than the catholics in
general, whom sir John appears to attack through the Jesuits, for in this
long note (page 36), which seemed exclusively designed for the exposure of
their Russian degradation, he slides unexpectedly into an exposure of "the
restrictions, which attach _generally_ upon the exercise of the Roman
catholic discipline." In this I have here no part to take, the general
question has passed through abler hands than mine; my subject confines me
to the society of the Jesuits, and in so doing calls upon me to notice the
advertisement prefixed to sir John Hippisley's Speech. In that
advertisement we find it to be sir John's opinion, {94} that the bull of
Pius VII, by which the order of Jesuits is restored, should not be
published without the rescript of Clement XIV, by which it was suppressed,
as a pendant; and, in a style of triumphant irony, he leaves it to the
consideration of an author favourable to the society[37], on comparing the
pontifical acts, "whether he can advantageously take the field against the
memorable rescript of Ganganelli, and enter the lists with the living
writers _of his own communion_, who espouse that deliberate pontifical act;
for," says he, "it does not appear, that the denunciation pronounced by the
bull of Pius VII has extinguished the ardour of the opponents of the
constitution, which he has so solemnly re-embodied. Two publications on the
subject have issued from the French press, since the date of this bull,
namely, _Du Pape et des Jesuites_, and, _Les Jesuites tels qu'ils ont ete
dans l'Ordre Politique, Religieux, et Moral_. {95} The first is ascribed to
the pen of a _Pere de l'Oratoire_, the other announced as the work of _M.
S***, Ancien Magistrat_. A perusal of these tracts," continues sir John,
"and especially the brief of Pius VII, will lead to the discovery, whether
the society have been most successfully attacked or defended by the French
writers or by Mr. Plowden."

The Jesuits are more obliged to sir John for this position of the subject
than, I believe, he meant they should be. I cannot judge of Mr. Plowden's
success, not having seen h