forty-one priests in
this diocese. Of convents for women there were in 1839 two within what
is now the diocese of Westminster; there are at present thirty-eight.

In calculating the amount of Roman Catholic influence and activity, we
must remember that in their churches and chapels service is always being
performed; and that thus one Romanist place of worship for all practical
purposes may often be considered as equivalent to a dozen Protestant
places, especially where the incumbents are of the class of old-fashioned
clergymen who have a relish for port and what used to be considered a
gentlemanly religion. For instance, let us see what is the round of
services at the cathedral, Blomfield Street, Moorfields. On Sundays and
holidays there is mass at seven, eight, nine, ten, and high mass at
eleven. At three there is catechism, at four baptism, and on Wednesdays
and Fridays at eleven A.M.; vespers, sermon, and benediction at seven.
On week-days mass is performed at half-past seven, eight, and ten. On
Thursday, rosary, sermon, and benediction at eight; on the other evenings
of the week rosary and night prayers at that hour. On the first Friday
of the month there is sermon and benediction in honour of the Sacred
Heart; on the second Friday of the month the Way of the Cross. There are
the confessions, sometimes twice a day; and the Confraternities of the
Blessed Sacrament, of the Sacred Heart, of Holy Angels for Children.
Then there are the Societies, such as the Holy Family Total Abstinence
Society, Holy Family Provident Society, Benevolent Society for the Relief
of the Aged and Infirm Poor, and the Night Refuge for Homeless Women of
Good Character. Nor is this the only way in which Roman Catholic
influence is felt in this district. On good works the Roman Church has
ever laid great stress, and thus we find from the centre in Blomfield
Street the priests have specially assigned to them Newgate Prison, Old
Bailey; Debtors' Prison, Lower Whitecross Street; St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, Metropolitan Free Hospital, Royal London Ophthalmic
Hospital,--an amount of exertion incompatible with spiritual ease and
worldly enjoyment. I mention this to show that you are not to judge by
what you see; attendance at any particular time is no criterion as to the
state of the Catholic community. You may depend upon it that it is
always much stronger than it seems. Those present are but a tithe of the
Romanists in any particular loc