Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister

[ Dramatic Lyrics , in Bells and Pomegranates, III. , 1842, under the title of “Camp and Cloister—I. Camp (French), II. Cloister (Spanish).”] There is, of course, no historical basis for the subject-matter of this poem; but there is no reason why such things should not occur in a convent or monastery. Human nature, we find, is pretty much the same, under whatever conditions we examine it; and petty malice, ill-nature, and evil pa ions, find their congenial soil alike in the cloister and the world. Some of the most unpleasant failings of our nature are no doubt directly fostered by cloister life, just as religious people of every cla are often censorious, uncharitable in their judgments, pharisaical and severe. Unle monks and nuns are regularly and entirely employed in useful labour, these evil weeds are certain to spring up in the untilled soil of the human heart. Work is the only remedy for pettine of spirit, and active employment the only atmosphere for the nobler products of the soul. It must never be forgotten, however, that you sands of the most beautiful characters which have ble ed the world have been formed in the cloister; such are being formed now, and will continue to be so formed, in direct proportion to the useful work in which its inmates are employed.—To inferior and evil natures the lofty and noble soul is generally an object of hatred and jealousy. In this poem we have a coarse-minded Spanish monk, boiling over with abhorrence of a good, gentle brother, who loves his flowers, trims his bushes and waters his rose trees with tender solicitude for the welfare of his plants, the only things in the monastery he can love. The simple talk of the hated friar at meal-time and recreation disgusts him; he knows in his heart that the good brother is a saint, though he tries in his malice to rake up some remembrance of a wandering look at odd times, and is not so ritualistically exact as he is himself. He spites him by damaging his plants all he can in a sly and ingenious way. He would like him to lose his chances of salvation if he could, so he will endeavour to pervert his orthodoxy and trip him up on his way to heaven; he will slip in amongst his greengages a wicked French novel; or he will even go so far as to ask Satan’s aid,—when, as he meditates all this evil doing, the vesper bell rings and the wicked old fellow goes to his prayers. Notes. —Verse ii., “ Salve tibi ”: a salutation, “Hail to thee!” Verse v., Cro -wise : the use of the sign of the cro is traceable to the earliest Christian times; “ The Trinity illustrate ”: when the sign of the cro is made it is usual to add internally “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.” A Catholic remembers the Trinity in numberle ways; Arian : “One who adheres to the doctrines of Arius, a presbyter of the Church in the fourth century, who held Christ to be a created being, inferior to God the Father in nature and dignity, though the first and noblest of created beings.” ( Mosheim. ) Verse vii., “ The great text in the Galatians ” I take to be the tenth verse of the third chapter: “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, ‘Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.’” “It is written,”—that is to say, in the book of Deuteronomy, xxviii., 15 to 68, wherein are set forth at length the curses for disobedience. Those arithmetically-minded commentators on this poem who have been disappointed in finding only some “seventeen works of the flesh” in Galatians v. 19-21 will find an abundant opportunity for their discrimination in the chapter of Deuteronomy to which I refer. The question to settle is “the twenty-nine distinct damnations.” St. James says in his epistle (ii. 10), that “he who offends against the law in one point is guilty of all.” If, therefore, the envious monk could induce his brother to trust to his works instead of to his faith, he would fall under the condemnation of the law, as explained by St. Paul in his epistle. Manichee : “A follower of Manes, a Persian, who tried to combine the Oriental philosophy with Christianity; and maintained that there are two supreme principles: the first of which, light , was held to be the author of all good; the second, darkne , the author of all evil” ( Webster’s Dict. ). Verse viii., Belial : an evil spirit; “ Plena grat iâ Ave, Virgo! ”: probably intended to represent “the angelical salutation,” which is “Ave Maria, grat iâ plena”—“Hail, Mary, full of grace!”