labour a priest between them. The Papal question
with the Roman priesthood is thus a question of daily bread, and it is
surely no want of charity to suppose that the material aspect influences
their minds quite as much as the spiritual. Still even with regard to
the priests there are two sides to the question. The system of political
and social government inseparable from the Papacy, which closes up almost
every trade and profession, drives vast numbers into the priesthood for
want of any other occupation. The supply of priests is, in consequence,
far greater than the demand, and, as the laws of political economy hold
good even in the Papal States, priest labour is miserably underpaid. It
is a Protestant delusion that the priests in Rome live upon the fat of
the land. What fat there is is certainly theirs, but then there are too
many mouths to eat it. The Roman priests are relatively poorer than
those in any other part of Italy. It is one of the great mysteries in
Rome how all the priests who swarm about the streets manage to live. The
clue to the mystery is to be found inside the churches. In every church
here, and there are 366 of them, some score or two of masses are said
daily at the different altars. The pay for performing a mass varies from
a "Paul" to a "Scudo;" that is, in round numbers, from sixpence to a
crown. The "good" masses, those paid for by private persons for the
souls of their relatives, are naturally reserved for the priests
connected with the particular church; while the poor ones, which are paid
for out of the funds of the church, are given to any priest who happens
to apply for them. So somehow or other, what with a mass or two a day,
or by private tuition, or by charitable assistance, or in some cases by
small handicrafts conducted secretly, the large floating population of
unemployed priests rub on from day to day, in the hope of getting
ultimately some piece of ecclesiastical patronage. Yet the distress and
want amongst them are often pitiable, and, in fact, amongst the many
sufferers from the artificial preponderance given to the priesthood by
the Papal system, the poorer class of priests are not among the least or
lightest.

The nobility as a body are sure to be more or less supporters of the
established order of things. Their interests too are very much mixed up
with those of the Papacy. There is not a noble Roman family which has
not one or more of its members among the highe