unduly protracted, and our suspicious superiors politely recommended him an hotel in the city.
Impostors find great difficulty in penetrating into the order as novices in modern times, for there are numerous formalities to comply with. Not only are his baptismal certificate and a letter from his bishop necessary, but inquiries are made as to whether there is any hereditary disease, or insanity, or heresy in his family, whether he is single, legitimate, and a host of other qualifications. In olden times anybody who presented himself was admitted to ‘the habit of probation’ without inquiry, and it is a well-known fact that women have thus obtained entrance into the monastery and remained in it until their death.
An amusing case of imposture occurred at Forest Gate a few years ago. A young man of very smart appearance presented himself at the monastery and intimated a desire to enter the order as a lay-brother. He had no credentials, but mentioned casually one or two friars in other monasteries ‘whose Masses he had served.’ He represented himself as a cook, saying that he had been at Charing Cross Hotel and other places. Without a single inquiry he was received into the monastery, where he remained for three weeks, cooking for the brethren and maintaining a very modest and satisfactory demeanour. On the third Sunday, however, he vanished with the whole of the money which had been collected in the church on that day and a quantity of clothing, &c., which he had borrowed.
