while rioting
on the luxuries that devotees lavished upon them, has not been
forgotten. These holy brothers had a hand in the Inquisition as well as
the Dominicans. They were a set of scamps set to watch the purity of
other men's lives, while they themselves lived a life of habitual
profligacy. The ruins of their old convent, the _Desierto_, is still
one of the most attractive spots about the city. As the traveler
wanders among its ruined walls, he will find in the subterraneous cells
ring-bolts fastened in the walls, where poor prisoners for their faith
endured something more than self-mortification.

The monks of Santiago, San Augustin, and the Capuchins have all fine
convents, and are rich; but the monks of Saint James are the most
inveterate beggars.

The monks of San Fernando enjoy an enviable reputation compared with
the spotted sheep I have just been considering. They are late comers,
and have not learned all the ways of wickedness of the older orders.
Next come the "Brethren of the Profession," of whom it is pleasant to
speak, after saying so many hard things of their neighbors. They stand
so high as men of character and learning, that I am tempted to tell
their story on hearsay, for want of better authority. They were once
Jesuits, but when the royal _cebula_ of Carlos III. came for their
expulsion, these fathers had sustained so good a character for charity
and usefulness that they were allowed to return, on condition of
renouncing the name and peculiarities of that order. I am inclined to
believe this strange story to be substantially true, for clearly they
are of the Jesuits, and yet they are not Jesuits. The reputation which
they enjoyed in 1767 they still retain, and not only command the
respect of all classes of society in Mexico, but their chapel is the
fashionable church of the city, where genteel people resort to say
their prayers.

"The Brethren of the Holy Places of Jerusalem"--the Hieronomite monks,
are not numerous, and are known in the markets as lenders of money,
with the interest of which they support themselves and "the poor saints
of Jerusalem;" that is, a portion of those lazy, greasy, fighting Latin
monks at Jerusalem, that have been one of the causes of the present war
in Europe.

"The Hospitalers of Saint John" (_Juanos_) are better known for their
exploits in the time of the Crusaders than for any thing they have done
in Mexico.

It would be a thrice-told tale to repeat the story