re admitted only after having for some
years belonged to the secular clergy and taken holy orders.

In a kind of life so extraordinary, so distinct, and so marked among all
human associations, they were unable to form relations of friendship,
even among individuals of the same community. They, therefore, seldom
saw and scarcely knew each other. Their salutation, when they met, was
brief but expressive; the senior began with _Morir hemos_, {52a} and the
junior answered, _Ya_, _lo sabemos_. {52b} Beyond this the conversation
did not extend. Once a-year the chapter met together to decide on the
urgent and important matters of business of their society; and once in
three years to elect a prior and a _procurator_, who were the only two
persons authorised to treat with the world without, and direct the
material interests of the establishment.

There is recorded of one of those Carthusian monasteries a narrative of a
circumstance which at first was attempted to be concealed by all possible
means, but at last came to be made known and fully authenticated. The
case is shortly told. There was in that monastery a monk, who, for many
years prior to his entering on a monastic life, had encouraged a vehement
passion for one of the principal ladies of the city. The flame was
mutual; but the lovers finding great obstacles in the way of their union,
agreed to wait, in the hope that time might afford a favourable
opportunity of realising their wishes. The father of the lady offered
her hand to a gentleman very high in the hierarchy. She, not having
sufficient courage to resist the parental authority, obeyed the mandate,
thus sacrificing herself on the altar of filial obedience. The lover
gave himself up a victim of despair, abandoned the world, and retired to
the monastery. A few months after the marriage the husband died. The
lady's affection revived; the flame was kindled anew in her heart; and
she formed the resolution of uniting herself with the object of her first
love, and of overcoming all obstacles which stood in the way of her
determination. In male attire she wandered long in the neighbourhood of
the monastery, informing herself most minutely of its internal position,
and reflecting on the means of introducing herself to the cell of her
beloved Carthusian. The stream of water which served to irrigate the
gardens of the monastery, entered a wall by a large semicircular arch or
opening near the garden itself. The l