of the collegiate church of San Isidro, in Madrid, which had
belonged to the Jesuits, were all conferred on wise and virtuous
clergymen who were generally known as confirmed Jansenists. Indeed there
were very few of the Spanish clergy who assisted in that establishment
that were not addicted to the same doctrines.

Hitherto no mention has been made of the parish priests. In the ancient
organization of the clergy these ecclesiastics participated, in some
dioceses, in the tithes; but the principal part of their incomes arose
from the surplice-fees, called in Spanish, _de pie de altar_, which were
those payable on baptism, interment, and marriage. The quota from these
sources varied according to the pomp and luxury of the ceremonies
performed. In baptisms, this augmentation of splendour consisted chiefly
in music, flowers, and lighted candles, in the chapel where the rite was
performed. But the extravagance of the rites of interment extended
itself to a wider range; for the idea was deeply rooted in the public
mind, that the greater the expense incurred in a funeral, the greater
would be the efficacy of the service in favour of the soul of the
departed. The sums which were wont to be spent in this ceremony are
incredible; and from their results many families have been entirely
ruined. This subject will, however, be more particularly considered in a
subsequent part of this work.

In the yearly receipts of those parish priests there is an enormous
difference, which depends on the number, the class, and the wealth, of
the parishioners living within the parish. There are some cases in which
those receipts amount to nearly 2000 pounds per annum; whilst in some
others the sum total is hardly sufficient to sustain an existence of
misery and penury. Notwithstanding this deplorable condition, there have
been, it must in candour be said, notable examples of charity, zeal, and
self-denial, among the inferior classes of the parochial clergy. The
poor have frequently found in their priests consolation in their
afflictions and succour in their miseries. In small towns the priest is
the first personage of the place. But still it cannot be concealed that
there is a sad deficiency in the inculcation of the fundamental
principles of scriptural truth in the exercise of his ministry; this same
deficiency is equally observable in other Catholic countries. As a
general rule, the only instruction which children receive from the prie