be their inconsistency, they come amongst us with the same stereotyped profession, the same archaic customs and costumes of their long-buried brethren.
Their reappearance has provoked several controversies of actual interest. When the monks last vanished from the stage in England they left behind them a dishonourable record which their enemies were not slow to publish. Are modern monasteries and convents the same whitened sepulchres as their predecessors on whom the scourge of the Reformation fell so heavily? A strong suspicion is raised against them by their former history. The suspicion is confirmed by a number of 'escaped' monks and nuns who have traversed the land proclaiming that such is the case; although, it must be borne in mind, they usually come from that distant land which is not remarkable for the accuracy of its contributions to our literature. The impenetrable secrecy of monastic life is also far from reassuring.
On the other hand Roman Catholics appeal to their monastic institutions as an eloquent proof of their undying spiritual vitality. From the schismatic churches (such as the Anglican), the detached branches of the great tree of Christianity, the life has naturally departed; it flows on with perennial youth in the mother church of Rome. Rome alone can now inspire moral heroism, but Rome can do it, in spite of the rapid beat of time and the corroding forces of a
