ded Sisters, (whom Heaven convert!) it is my intention to
revive the laws of our order in their full force. That against
incontinence is severe, but no more than so monstrous an offence
demands: Submit to it, Daughter, without resistance; You will find the
benefit of patience and resignation in a better life than this. Listen
then to the sentence of St. Clare. Beneath these Vaults there exist
Prisons, intended to receive such criminals as yourself: Artfully is
their entrance concealed, and She who enters them, must resign all
hopes of liberty. Thither must you now be conveyed. Food shall be
supplied you, but not sufficient for the indulgence of appetite: You
shall have just enough to keep together body and soul, and its quality
shall be the simplest and coarsest. Weep, Daughter, weep, and moisten
your bread with your tears: God knows that you have ample cause for
sorrow! Chained down in one of these secret dungeons, shut out from
the world and light for ever, with no comfort but religion, no society
but repentance, thus must you groan away the remainder of your days.
Such are St. Clare's orders; Submit to them without repining. Follow
me!'

Thunderstruck at this barbarous decree, my little remaining strength
abandoned me. I answered only by falling at her feet, and bathing them
with tears. The Domina, unmoved by my affliction, rose from her seat
with a stately air. She repeated her commands in an absolute tone:
But my excessive faintness made me unable to obey her. Mariana and
Alix raised me from the ground, and carried me forwards in their arms.
The Prioress moved on, leaning upon Violante, and Camilla preceded her
with a Torch. Thus passed our sad procession along the passages, in
silence only broken by my sighs and groans. We stopped before the
principal shrine of St. Clare. The Statue was removed from its
Pedestal, though how I knew not. The Nuns afterwards raised an iron
grate till then concealed by the Image, and let it fall on the other
side with a loud crash. The awful sound, repeated by the vaults above,
and Caverns below me, rouzed me from the despondent apathy in which I
had been plunged. I looked before me: An abyss presented itself to my
affrighted eyes, and a steep and narrow Staircase, whither my
Conductors were leading me. I shrieked, and started back. I implored
compassion, rent the air with my cries, and summoned both heaven and
earth to my assistance. In vain! I was hurried down