Yet These
Forty Were Reduced In A Few Days To Nineteen.
The plague was the
messenger that summoned them to a taste of real death; but the
circumstances under which
They perished are rather curious; and
though I have no authority for the story except an Italian
newspaper, I harbour no doubt of its truth, for the facts were
detailed with minuteness, and strictly corresponded with all that I
knew of the poor fellows to whom they related.
It was about three months after the time of my leaving Jerusalem
that the plague set his spotted foot on the Holy City. The monks
felt great alarm; they did not shrink from their duty, but for its
performance they chose a plan most sadly well fitted for bringing
down upon them the very death which they were striving to ward off.
They imagined themselves almost safe so long as they remained
within their walls; but then it was quite needful that the Catholic
Christians of the place, who had always looked to the convent for
the supply of their spiritual wants, should receive the aids of
religion in the hour of death. A single monk therefore was chosen,
either by lot or by some other fair appeal to destiny. Being thus
singled out, he was to go forth into the plague-stricken city, and
to perform with exactness his priestly duties; then he was to
return, not to the interior of the convent, for fear of infecting
his brethren, but to a detached building (which I remember)
belonging to the establishment, but at some little distance from
the inhabited rooms.
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