tually tyrannise over the friaries in which they are found, and even contrive at the elections to keep near them one or two less gifted brethren whom they may bully and banter at will. As they are men of high authority and influence, their victims find it expedient to submit patiently to their constant flight of rudely fashioned shafts for a year or two; in the end they usually find themselves elevated to some position to which their intrinsic merit could hardly have aspired.
For throughout the length and breadth of the Franciscan Order (and every other order) ambition and intrigue of office is the most effectual hindrance to fraternal charity. All officials are elected and frequently changed, so that the little province is as saturated with jealousy and intrigue as an American Republic. Every three years a general election is held at which the General from Rome is supposed to preside. The usual course is for the General (whose real name is ‘general servant’ of the fraternity, but it is usually preferred in the abbreviated form) to send a deputy to the province which is about to hold its elections. The deputy or visitator visits all the monasteries in succession and affords each friar an opportunity, in private conversation, to submit his personal grievances or his knowledge of general abuses. Of the former, however, the visitator takes little notice, referring them to more immediate superiors, and he is usually quite powerless to correct any general abuse. One of our English friars was deputed to visit the
