its unwearied ambition for command and
power had not found out an instrument, much more efficacious, in the
institution of Monachism, the establishment of which propagated itself on
the Spanish soil with more rapidity and in greater numbers than in any
other Catholic nation.

The superiority of the monastic clergy in comparison with the secular, as
to popularity and numbers, was owing to many causes. In the first place,
to become one of the clergy, two things were necessary, and neither of
these were within the reach of the lower classes of the people, viz.,
theological attainments and a _congrua_, which latter word comprehended
the property, income, or pension, indispensable to ensure to the aspirant
a proper and competent maintenance. In many rich families there was,
besides the entail (_el mayorazgo_) pertaining exclusively to the eldest
son, another inheritable portion--the mortmain (_main-morte_), as
inalienable as the entailed estates themselves, and designed for that
individual of the family who might desire to adopt the ecclesiastic
state. These inheritable provisions were called _capellanias_, and
generally the brother, or cousin, or nephew, to whom this right,
separated from the chief inheritance, belonged, took holy orders, but
might or might not practically follow the vocation, by the exercise of
those functions, the discharge of those duties, and submission to those
privations, imposed on one who takes upon himself so high and responsible
a calling. Although there was much laxity in the observance of those
requirements, there were not wanting bishops who insisted on their most
rigorous execution; so that in many dioceses there was great difficulty
in gaining admission to the ranks of the clergy. But none of those
obstacles presented themselves in seeking admission to the monasteries,
or convents. Their doors were constantly open to the poorest and the
most ignorant. In their interior organization there was a sufficient
variety of employment for every class of human beings; the mason, the
carpenter, the simple journeyman, possessed of no other instruments than
his muscular force, was eligible to become a useful member of the holy
community; and, as in the act of taking upon him the habit of the order,
he had guaranteed to him a subsistence and all the conveniences of life,
and at the same time that the habit itself opened to him the doors of
great houses and palaces and placed him on a level with the m