pleasure But one of the chief Doctors of Physick whom I had a particular acquaintance with and whom I will not name for fear of exposing him to the hatred of his Collegues assured me that it was very true He related the matter of Fact to me in this manner A young Gentleman of the Country of the Grisons of a very good Family but somewhat stinted in his Estate had apply'd himself with extraordinary diligence to the Study of the Canon Law and had very regularly perform'd all his Exercises in the University and his time being out he presented himself in order to be admitted Doctor But notwithstanding that his Capacity was without exception yet there still remained an insuperable Difficulty for want of Mony This troubled him so much that he Writ to his Father about it and they resolved together to put a Trick upon the Rector of the University a man of a most sordid Covetousness The Students Father comes to Padua having borrowed a considerable Sum of Mony of one of his Friends and having brought his Ass with him took up his Lodging in the most famous Inn that was in the whole Town This done he goes to the Rector about Eleven a Clock at Night telling him that a young Lord a Stranger whom he nam'd to him was come in Post to Town to take his Degree but that he found himself so extreamly tired and discompos'd with his Journy that it was Impossible for him to come and present himself in Person and that besides he was obliged to be on Horse-back again by Three or Four in the Morning to get a Benefice at Rome which he could not be qualified for without having taken his Doctors Degree and to give more Life and Energy to his words he presents him with a Purse stuff'd with Ducats and told him that as soon as his Letters should be ready his Master in acknowledgment of so great a favour would be very ready to gratifie him further The Rector dazled with this charming Present and in the hopes of a second part to the same Tune required nothing of him but the Name of the young Lord he got his Letters ready and with the same Expedition sent them to the Chancellor of the University to have the Seal put to them Thus all passed admirably well without Rub or Let in favour of good Doctor Martin for that was the Name they had given him and which still to this Day is the common Name of all the Asses of the Country This was that the Doctor related to me of this Story but he proceeded not to tell me what others add to it which is that the next Morning at the opening of the College-Gates the Grison Gentleman drove Doctor Martin into the great Hall being the place of publick Disputation with his Letters Patent hung about his Neck and a Doctors Bonnet fastned to his Ears to the great Astonishment of all the Doctors who could not sufficiently admire the Port and Majesty of their New-Collegue I don't love to relate Matters that turn so much to the Confusion of these great Bodies of the Universities for whom I have always had respect and Veneration and I had rather incline my Reader to believe that all this is no more than the pure Invention of some witty Droll whereby he had a mind to express to the World that these Rectors are commonly more sensible of the Mony than of the Merits of those they promote However thus much I think my self oblig'd to declare to the Honour of these Illustrious Bodies that they have at all times made themselves Renowned by some great Men that have signaliz'd themselves amongst them by their extraordinary Parts and Learning And when I say that Ignorance Reigns amongst them I speak only of the generality or greater part of them For I know that there are always found amongst them Spirits naturally elevated above the common Pitch and who by the Noble Efforts they make to raise themselves out of the Dust do justly deserve to be distinguisht Neither am I Ignorant that many of them have given sufficient Proof of their Learning by the gallant Works they have left us and many Persons who have Travelled in Italy have received much Pleasure and Satisfaction in their Conversation Some of these Travellers have proceeded so far in honouring of them as to give them particular Elogies in the Relations they have given us of their own Travels Yet for my part I am Inclin'd sometimes to understand these kind of Encomiums with restriction and that for two Reasons The first is this that Travellers are very often prepossest with the Learning of some Persons before they are well acquainted with it and are sometimes strongly carried to Proclaim them vast Scholars because they have done them some Service or have exprest a great deal of Civility to them on their Voyage I know at Bononia a Person of mean Learning and Parts who compell'd a Stranger to go and spend Eight days at his Country-House where he Treated him most Sumptuously every day and sent for all the Rarities that were to be got about Bononia only because he had heard this Stranger say that he intended to Publish his Voyage of Italy His Son having demanded of him why contrary to the Genius of the Country he would put himself to so great Charges in Treating of a Person who was a perfect Stranger to him The Father Answered that what he did was not without Reason forasmuch as that honest Man had declared that he intended to Rank his Name amongst the Learned Men of Italy in the Book of his Travels he intended to Publish It is not of to day only that the Italians are accused for being Liberal in nothing but Ceremonies and Compliments and extreamly cautelous and reserved about any thing that may engage them in any particular Expences But yet if a man would take the pains to comport with them in their humour and more especially flatter them in the vain Ambition they have tho' very Ignorant to pass for Learned Men a Man might draw from them what he pleased himself A second Reason why I would not always take the Praises that Travellers bestow according to the rigour of the Letter is this because there be many Italians who practise that which may be called the Art of being esteem'd Learned at a cheap rate This Art consists in chusing out some particular and select Points and bestowing all their Application and Study upon them for some time together until that they are become perfectly Masters of them and till they find themselves in a Condition to resolve all the doubts that can be objected against them If it be a matter that may be confirm'd by Authorities care is taken to get the most considerable by heart and if it depend more upon Experience they endeavour to exercise themselves therein until the managing of it be made easy to them and they have got the perfect Command of it And after all say
them to be taken up for Dinner his Men went in a way of Mockery and Derision to him but were extreamly surpriz'd when being come at the place where the Carot Seed had been Sow'd they found very fair and large Carots of an admirable good taste and which serv'd for a Dinner to his Guests The Monk told me that this Miracle had in some sort been continu'd ever since for that the Carots that were Sown in that Garden retain an extraordinary pleasant taste Upon his telling of me so I made bold to pluck up one of them out of the Ground and having scrap'd it with my Knife I tasted of it by way of Devotion but found it of a very flat taste I threw it away Hold Sir said the Religious they are not to be Eaten so they must be Boyl'd and drest with good Oil or good Butter and good Spices We have a Cook that knows how to dress them admirably well You put so many good things to them my good Father said I smiling that at last you make them if not miraculously at least admirably good This Religious after having shew'd me the Garden only had the Civility according to the Order he had received to lead me to a Chamber where I was to Dine They brought me a Dish with Fish and another with some of those Holy Roots which indeed were extreamly well drest After Dinner I apply'd my self to take a view of the Top of Mount Soraéle from whence certainly there is the best Prospect that can be the whole Country about Rome lying open to it together with that Proud City in its whole extent This Mountain stands single and is not joyned to any other having on all sides of it most rich and fertil Plains that surround it and being very high and steep on all sides with great white Rocks one would take it at a distance for some very high Steeple having its Top in the Clouds and more especially in the Winter time when the Snow covers some little Shrubs of Trees which have their Roots in the Rocks whereof Horace makes mention in one of his Odes Cernis ut altâ stet Nive candidum Soracte I came down the Mountain by a much more pleasant and easie Way than that by which I went up to it In my way I met with the Old Hermit of whom I made mention before who return'd from saying Mass in a Village at the Foot of the Mountain He enquir'd of me Whether I had been to Visit the Hermitages or the Abby I told him that I came from the Holy Places which S. Sylvester had sanctified by his Retirement God be praised for it Sir said he it is very well done of you This is the good Pattern which the other Hermits of this Mountain and I my self have propounded to our selves to imitate and to speak truth he pours forth abundance of Graces upon those who are devoted to him and put their Trust in him It is now One and Twenty years I have had the Honour of wearing the Sacred Habit you see upon me and the further I proceed the more pleasure and satisfaction do I find in the Ways of the Lord. To hear him Talk one would have taken him for another S. Paul of Thebes who was the first Hermit But for all his fine Talk I took care to keep my self at a certain distance from him that his great Dagger might not reach me in case he had gon about to make use of it But at last he bid me Farewell wishing me a Thousand Blessings He held a great Bead-row or Pater-noster of Wood in his Hand the Beads whereof were as big as a Nut and he had a Cross fastned to his Girdle with many great Medals which made a great Noise as he went by striking one against the other he leaned upon his Staff and in all points acted the Hypocrit to admiration The Eremitical Habit is of a brown Tawny Colour consisting of a short Tunicle reaching a little lower than the mid-Leg they have a great Cowl upon their Head of a Pyramidal Figure and a little Mantle about their Shoulders not much unlike to that of the Capucins These kind of Antick Habits seem to have been contriv'd for no other end but to make terrible impressions on the Senses the better to dispose the Minds of Men to conceive a great esteem and veneration for those that wear them He that should go about to vilifie or undervalue this external Garb in the presence of a Papist had almost as good profane whatsoever is most Holy in his Religion as if forsooth there could be no wicked Men in the garb of Satyrs I met with my two French Hermits some time after at Venice who told me They had accused the Old Hermit but he having very dexterously slipt away his Lady denied all and made these Poor Men to pass for Slanderers to that degree had he Charmed the People by his Hypocrisie Whereupon they had been forced to quit their Hermitages and were then going for Hungary to take upon them the Habit of Souldiers which they said was every whit as Holy as that of a Hermit I have since this in my Travels seen many fair Hermitages more particularly on the Apennine which are those Mountains that divide all Italy in the length of it I have had occasion to pass and repass them several times in various parts of them where are to be seen wonderful places in the Woods and upon the very points of Rocks which they told me were Hermitages But since the time I knew that the most of those that dwelt in them were only a Company of base Fellows I took care not to Visit them Many of these wretched Hermits have been publickly Executed from time to time for committing the most enormous Crimes There was one of them taken at Venice who confessed at his Death that he had killed above Threescore Persons as well Men as Women He had his Hermitage between Venice and Buran in a little Island of about Two hundred Paces in Circuit where is still to be seen the Ruins of his Hermitage which they demolished This wretched Person went by Night to Sea in a Disguise and Masked accompanied with three or four Robbers to whom his Hermitage serv'd for a Retreat They went and stopt the Gondola's or small Boats that past through the Channels and murther'd those that refused to surrender their Purses There had been Reports abroad for a considerable time of great Robberies and Murthers that were committed about this Hermitage but who could ever have believ'd that a Person wearing so holy a Habit and so venerable a Beard had been the Head and Captain of these Murtherers He was at last discovered by the Sons of a Rich Merchant of Venice their Father who took pleasure in the Company of such kind of Hypocrits went one day out of Devotion to Visit this Hermit and had acquainted his Wife and Sons with his intent He carried along with him
conceived of him neither was it known how possibly he could gather all that Mony This Hermit entertain'd us with good and witty Discourse and had seen the World in his time He had Travell'd in France and Germany before that he was an Hermit He seem'd to be of a plain open and free Spirit and quite different from the ordinary Temper of the Monks and Frati of Italy whence the Capucins also had taken occasion to Accuse him before the Bishop of Caieta that he was not of an Hermetick Spirit with intent of thrusting him out of that Place and putting in themselves but fail'd of their design I formerly was not unacquainted of the Capucins being irreconcilable Enemies to the Hermits because of the resemblance of their Habits and of their same way of Subsistence which is Alms Figulus odit Figulum Two of a Trade seldom love one another But this Hermit it seems had kept his Station in spite of all their Efforts and had so far gain'd the Spirit of the Poor by his Alms of the Common People by his Familiarity and that of the Great Ones by his unaffected Air and pleasant Comportment that they despair'd of ever gaining their End upon him He told me That they gave Meat every Day to above Forty poor People I desired him to tell me how it was possible for them to do so since they liv'd upon nothing but Charity themselves He reply'd That they had mnch more bestowed upon them than they could spend that every Morning they had two Asses sent to them loaden with Provisions and that besides this he went every Evening to demand a Charity at all the Gentlemens Houses where he was known that when he came there they led him into their Cellars where their best Wine was and afterwards into their Butteries saying to him Hermit if there be any thing here you like pray take what pleaseth you best Here it is said he that I and my Companion do fill our Knapsacks When we have a mind to have some Fish we go in the Evening to the Haven where the Fisher-Boats come and they give us abundantly and that too which is very good as you will find by what you shall have for your Dinner But on the other hand also these Persons some time or other return the Visit to us and we entertain them with the Best that we have We are not at all Covetous of that which cost us nothing and indeed this is the way for us to have still more for by this means these Persons do not know how to make us good Chear enough when we come to them again The Capucins said he do not take this method they are insatiable and have a Temporal Father as they call him to whom they send the Surplus of their Alms and who turns it into Mony to Buy for them whatsoever they desire They touch no Mony nor buy any thing but he toucheth it and buys it for them If they give some bits of Bread to the Poor at their Gate they are only some Scraps of the Brownest which they could not sell But as for us we bestow upon them indifferently of all we have this is that which hath procur'd us the Affection of the Poor and to that degree that they would certainly sacrifice their Lives for us rather than to suffer the Hermitage to be taken out of our hands This good Hermit after having discours'd thus a good while against the Capucins order'd Dinner to be brought up which indeed was Order'd and Drest very handsomly tho' in Wooden Dishes My Companion would eat no Pottage because they had no other but Wooden Spoons This made the Hermits to laugh heartily They asked one another where they might get a Silver Spoon for this Gentleman This was a young Priest who never had Travell'd and who had always been brought up in his Father's House But at last seeing that the Pulse look'd very well he ventur'd to taste of them and finding them extreamly well drest and season'd Well said he I don't matter a Spoon now I shall make a shift good enough to eat them with my Fingers The Hermits and Capucins have the gift of Dressing Meat perfectly well and it seems as if they made it part of their Study Neither would I have any one to take an estimate of their Mortification by their Wooden Spoons but by that which is in them The Father Hermit drank to us in most excellent Wine tho' out of a Wooden Cup And for his part was not slack to encourage us to eat and drink by his good Example I am no Hypocrite said he as many Hermits are When one comes to Visit them they will tell you They have not eat of Four days and that they are yet Fasting For my part to tell you Truth I eat but Four times a day and do not think that Holiness consists in not Eating but in Eating well that is with giving Thanks except only on Fast-Days enjoyned by the Holy Church I seeing that our Father Hermit was in a good humour desired him to tell me his Opinion concerning the Miraculous Chapel Alas said he I was not there when the Miracle was done but if God was pleased to work one for the Founding of it we have need he should work another now for the preserving of it for ever and anon Stones fall down from the Rock and much endamage the Roof of it so that all the Mony of the Pilgrims is scarcely sufficient to Repair it continually But as for the Miracles which are wrought in the Chapel tho' they say that a great many happen there every Day we never saw so much as One only Yea what is more yet about Thirty or Forty Miles from hence you shall hear them talk of Miracles which they say have been wrought here that we our selves never heard of before I suppose them to be some Beggars who pass this way and who go afterwards into the Villages and report there that they have been miraculously healed of their Infirmities to induce People to give more liberal Alms to them This Hermit exprest a great Air of sincerity in all that he said which gave me indeed a great esteem for his Person for many others of his Coat are so far from owning any such thing that they would rather have been of the Humour to exaggerate all such Reports and been ready to invent a thousand Falsities to raise the Credit of the place of their Devotion After Dinner the Hermit had no leisure to Discourse us any longer by reason of the great Numbers of Poor that waited at the Gate for his Charity We therefore took our leaves of him after that we had thanked him for his Civility and his good Dinner and so return'd to Cajeta Seeing that an occasion has been here presented me to speak of these Hermits and that this hath brought to my remembrance many things I have observ'd in Italy concerning this kind of Life as well as those that
S. Bennet chose for his Retreat when he was as yet but a young Child In another Journy I made to Naples finding my self near this place some advantageous Accounts I had receiv'd concerning it inclined me to go and Visit it I first Arrived at the Burrough of Sublac where the Monks of S. Bennet have both Temporal and Spiritual Jurisdiction There is an Abby of Nuns of the same Order and a League further in the same Valley but in a part of it that is Narrower there is a very Fair Abby of Monks who are very Civil to Strangers especially to those who come with an intent of Visiting the Grotto of their Patriarch S. Bennet I met here with a Father who was a French Man by Nation and to whom my Relations in France were not unknown who was the cause of staying me here a whole Day and he himself led me to the Grotto of S. Bennet which is about a quarter of a League further in the Narrowest part of the said Valley The Mountains on both sides are very steep and the Brook that runs between them takes up well nigh the whole Space of the Valley However these Fathers have made a shift to find place enough to Build here a Monastery all in length which can contain Fifty or Threescore Monks and yet it serves but for a Lodging to Ten only whom they call Hermits tho' indeed they be only so by Name because they live in a Community and because they only stay there for the space of Two Months after which they send Ten others thither out of the Neighbouring Monastery to relieve them Thus they succeed by Turns to one another The only difference there is in their Observance is this That those of the Monastery where the Grotto of the Saint is do eat no Flesh-Meat and in the other as throughout all the Order in Italy they eat Meat Four times a Week notwithstanding that the use of it be forbid them by the Rules of their Institution which they have Vow'd to observe They say It is out of the Respect they have to these Rules that their Abbots have order'd That no Flesh should be eaten in this Little Monastery no more than in their Great One of Mâ—nt Cassin that it might be true at least That the Rule of S. Bennet was observ'd in Two of their Monasteries which as they believe is sufficient to quiet their Consciences as to this matter The Fathers pretend forsooth That the Bodies of Men are much changed in their Constitution since the time of their Legislator and that they are not so strong nor consequently so able to undergo such Rigid Observances and indeed they Treat all their other Rules much in the same manner and content themselves with the observing of them by Turns or by Halves In this Little Monastery they shewed me the Grotto of S. Bennet upon which they have built an Altar and we see there also a most curious Statue of white Marble representing this Saint very young and upon his Knees with a Countenance very humble and penitent The Habit wherewith he is represented serves to condemn that which the Benedictins of Italy do wear at present they have so amplified and pleated it for to make it shew fine and magnificent that it is no more to be known to be a Copy from this Original The Father Benedictins of the Congregation of S. Maurus in France have taken the form of their Habit from this Figure and retain the same to this Day as believing it with Reason to be the true Pattern After we had said our Prayers in this Little Chapel they led me to a little Garden and they bade me take notice of a huge Stone at the Top of the Rock they wished me to observe it very well as being no less than a perpetual Miracle which demonstrated the visible Protection God afforded to that Holy Place and to those that dwelt there This Stone according to their Talk was quit loosned from the Rock and suspended in the Air by the alone Divine Power God not suffering it to fall down because if it should it could not fail of utterly destroying the Grotto and the whole Monastery I told them after that I had viewed it very narrowly that I saw it so well fastned to the Rock that in my thoughts it would be a Miracle indeed if it should fall and that they ought not to pretend the contrary to those that had good Eyes I saw well enough that my Answer did not please them but I was so weary to hear them talk of such kind of Miracles which they will force upon Men contrary to all Reason that I could not by times hinder my self from expressing my resentment of it The French Father that was my Guide wish'd me to cast my Eye upon certain Rose-Trees which were in a Corner of the Garden and told me that as soon as we were got out of the Hermitage he would tell me the mystery of them And in the mean time he shewed me the rest of the Buildings I did not find the place so frightful as was the Impression they had given me of it tho' it must be owned That in S. Bennet's Time it was a very Desert place Having therefore taken a View of all we return'd to the Great Monastery from whence we came where being arrived the Father told me as to those Rose-Trees which he had wished me to take notice of that the Monks had not thought sitting to tell me of the great Miracle wherewith they commonly entertain Strangers for fear I should reflect upon them for it as I did upon occasion of the Stone It is Related said he in the Life of our Blessed Father S. Bennet That he had one day a furious Temptation of the Flesh in this place and that in order to quell it he went and rowled himself stark naked upon Thistles and Thorns that were near unto his Cell and made all his Body on a Gore-blood until he found that the Temptation was quite dissipated Now the History tells us that these Thistles and Thorns ting'd with the Blood of S. Bennet were miraculously changed into Roses Wherefore special Care has been taken always to preserve these Rose-Trees the Roses whereof we dry and being pulverized do exhibit them to those that are Sick for it is an universal Remedy against all manner of Diseases to those who take them in Faith I told this French Father That the Monks his Confraters had done very well not to mention this Miracle to me for I should presently have put them in mind of the Fable of Pyramis and Thisbe whose Blood changed the colour of Mulberries from white to red Could they have shewn me Thistles Nettles or some Blackberry-Bushes and Brambles that brought forth Roses this would have been something rare indeed I will not say miraculous for I know not whether they have found out the Art of grafting Rose-Trees upon these kind of Wild Plants but to shew a
Protestant in giving an Account of them would rather deplore the Blindness of this Poor People who are so ignorant of the true Ways of Salvation as to believe that by employing themselves in this kind of Practices they go strait to Heaven and that by this means their Sins are blotted out without having recourse to serious Repentance The same Father Mabillon makes mention of the Close-Stool or Chair with a Hole in it called Sedes Stercoraria on which formerly the Popes were carried after their Exaltation to the Throne of S. Peter He puts an Explication upon it which I suppose was scarcely thought of at that time He saith This Ceremony was made use of to put the Popes in mind after their Election that they ought to keep themselves humble in the midst of that Greatness to which God had been pleased to raise them as from the Dust and Dunghil alluding to that of the Psalmist Psal 113. 7. De Stercore erigens Pauperem Some Writers whom this Author terms Hereticks give a very different account of it and say That this kind of Chair was made use of in the Ceremony of the Papal Exaltation ever since they had been Impos'd upon by Pope Joan as a necessary Precaution to prevent the like Mistake for the time to come For they made the Pope to Seat himself in this Chair which afterwards they held Lifted up on High till all the Cardinals had perform'd their Scrutiny concerning the Holy Father Whether he was furnish'd with all the Constitutive Parts of a Perfect Man 'T is hard to determine whether of these two Explications be the true one However the Abolition they have since made of this Ceremony might make one suspect that there was indeed something in this Action that did not comport with the Glory of the Heads of the Church of Rome or else that the Popes have renounced those humble Thoughts of themselves which this Close-Stool might serve to inspire them with I have Read in the Books of Travellers many other Observations which in dignity do not in the least out-vy those which by times come to my mind and which I hear relate to you rather for the Consequences which may be drawn thence or for the Reflections they may occasion than for the importance of the Matters of Fact themselves After having taken some time to view these Chapels and observe the Superstitious Practices of these poor People we have just now related we at last Arriv'd at Averse where we were Witnesses of a very pleasant Encounter which is well worth the relating in all its Circumstances For the better understanding of it I must put you in mind that the Italian Dames are kept up worse than Slaves to that degree that they have not so much as the liberty of the Rooms of their own Houses In the Kingdom of Naples the Custom is to lock them up in the Garrets which for that reason they call the Womens Apartment Whenever they have a mind to buy any thing that is Cry'd along the Streets or to give an Alms to any poor Body they have Baskets which they fasten to a great Rope and let them down to give or receive what they please A Fryer Carmelite who was making his Quest a genteel word to express Begging in honour of the little Scapulary was waiting under the Window of a Dame of Quality for the descent of some Alms the Gentlewoman it seems having too great a kindness for him to send him away empty conveigh'd down to him in her Basket a great white-Loaf which the good Fryer was reaching out his Arms to receive when two French Men coming by that were almost Famish'd prov'd more nimble than he and disappointed him of his Prey for the one of them having rudely thrust the Fryer to the over-side of the Street the other laid hold upon the Basket and having taken out what was in it they both betook themselves to their Heils The Carmelite who was sensible of his Guilt and was therefore very desirous of getting the Loaf into his own hands fell a running after them with all his might Crying out Stop the Thieves stop the Thieves Whereupon the People soon stopt them as supposing that they had Robb'd something considerable but these poor Wretches gave good Evidence that it was nothing less than Necessity had put them upon this Piece of Thievery for without being mov'd or skar'd at the Uproar made about them he who had Stolen the Loaf broke it in two and gave the one half of it to his Companion As this was doing some Papers dropt out of it upon the Street which an Italian immediately snatch'd up and the Carmelite who till then had exprest such earnestness to have his Loaf back again slipt away through the Crowd without making any further enquiries concerning it Every one of the Spectators were curious to know the Contents of these Papers and the Italian to avoid the Throng of People retired to one of the Chambers of the Inn where we were for to read it After that he had read it by himself he was willing to Communicate it to all for a notable Piece of Gallantry that desir'd to hear it There were two Letters the one enclos'd in the other whereof the one was the Fryer Carmelite's Letter and the other contain'd the Ladies Answer We heard both of them read but I am not able to repeat the Contents of them to you word for word therefore shall only mention those Expressions I more particularly took notice of for the Amorous Gallantry they contain'd Their Custom in Italy is to demand Alms for the honour of the Mother of God that is the Holy Virgin accordingly this Devout Fryer began his Letter with these words Anima devota della grand Madre Venere fatemi la Carità povero Fraticello deh per pietà datemi un squárdo un riso un bacio qualehe cosetta par l' amor del Dio Cupido In English thus Devout Soul of the great Mother Venus give an Alms to a poor Fryer vouchsafe to me I pray you for Charity a Look a Smile a Kiss some little thing or other for the sake of the God Cupido At the bottom of his Letter he desir'd the Lady that she would be pleas'd to honour him with a word in Answer and to send him back his own Letter as well to set his Heart at rest in that regard as that she might not be expos'd to a Surprize of her Husband The Letter had no Name to it and concluded with these words the poorest of all your Lovers The Ladies Answer had an Air of Galantry no whit inferiour to that of the Fryers she told him That if he had demanded any Favour of her she would before have desired him to inform her of his Rank and Quality but seeing that he only demanded an Alms every one might without abasing themselves afford that to the most poor and miserable That tho' she had had no opportunity of