he majority of Spaniards, that the most popular
priests are those who say the shortest masses.

We have heard such and such a father spoken of with enthusiasm who says
the mass in twelve minutes, although it appears impossible even to read
the parts composing it in less than eighteen or twenty. On the other
hand, when a devout and scrupulous priest recites these offices with due
deliberation, and performs the ceremonies with a becoming degree of
solemnity and decorum, the church is deserted. The popular phrase in
such cases is "Father So-and-so is heavy in the mass,"--("_El padre tiene
la misa pesada_.")

There are some persons who, during the mass, read their prayers
translated into Spanish; but this is really a French custom, and wholly
inadmissible among a people the great majority of whom are unable to
read. But the most objectionable thing in the mass is its mercenary
character. The object which induces a Christian to pay for a mass, is to
recompense the priest for applying the merits of the sacrifice to
_desires_ and _intentions_, sometimes not very pure, on the part of those
who pay.

Thus they pay for a mass to obtain the health of a sick person, security
during a journey, a good result from a speculation, or the preservation
of a soul from the fire of purgatory. Even robbers will give a certain
portion of their plunder to a priest to say a mass for their next
adventure. The ordinary phrase in these cases, at the time of paying the
father for the mass, is this:--"Say a mass for my _intention_;" so that
the priest has recourse to the throne of the Most High, immolates the
most sacred of victims, believes that he introduces to his own body that
of the Saviour, and all this without knowing why or wherefore! He who
orders a mass and pays for it has no need to reveal to any one his object
or intention; and if he likes to be silent, it is a want of discretion
and of delicacy on the part of the priest to question him on that point.

The price of a mass varies from a shilling to one pound sterling. A high
mass is much dearer, and its price depends on the pomp and ornaments
bespoken by the person desiring it. In wills and testaments it is very
common to order a number of masses to be said for the soul of the
testator; and even in recent times, it has been a common practice to
found what are called "pious works." These consist in giving to a church
a sum of money, a rural or a city property, bound by an oblig