me. I got so lost at last, that I would not consent for my Priest to come to my house; and if I saw him in the street, I felt as if I wanted to tear him to pieces; and when I was laboring in this state of mind, I once tore his habit off him in the street. He at last got afraid of me, and all the other Priests would try to shun me, when they met me in the street.

It became public to all, from the oldest down to the youngest, who I was; and the cry was with them publicly when I went into the street: "Look at that poor American girl, who lives with Father Canto! He has made her crazy by malediction and Priestcraft!" This had become so public, that all the people were ringing it in each other's ears. And they pitied me, and blamed the Priest. The old Bishop, and some of the Priests, consulted together what could be done.* There was a respectable family, that would send for me, and talk and plead with me, to leave the Priest. I remember the kindness of that family. Their name is Soutan, and they live in Cui St. Phillipe. Mr. Soutan transacts business in the Alcada's, or chief judge's office. He is an intimate acquaintance of my Godfather. They made me an offer, to take me and give me a home with them, telling me it was so wicked to live with him; that God would never forgive me. I then asked them, if it was not wicked for him to do so. They would say, yes, yes; but that he could save his own

* For all this was a very public matter, so much so, that I was myself annoyed in the streets, when I had my reason, by people pointing at me when I passed, and hissing to each other, as their custom is when they would arrest attention, and saying one to another:-"That is the poor American girl the Priest's have made crazy with their Priesteraft." [They all knew that she was living with Father Manuel Canto, and knew that it was a sin; and they believed that the sin was visited wholly on her head, through the prevailing power of the Holy Priest with the Virgin and the Saints, to save his own soul. While this served to confirm their opinion of the Holy Priest's power, and filled them with fear of the men, who have such power with the Gods of Rome, the Virgin and the Saints, many still felt sympathy for the interesting young stranger, who wandered among them a monument of Divine wrath, smitten and broken, by the influence of the prayers of that man, for whose pleasure she lived, and to whose pleasure she ministered.]

soul; that he could pray all the curses of the sin, on the woman who had any thing to do with him; and the curses would fall on her. This was all the comfort I could get from them.

CHAPTER IX.

"How poor, how weak, how impotent, is man !——
Cradled in imbecility, the prey

Of those who love him fondest, who will fan
His passions by indulgence, and will sway
To sense, and self, and pride, and fear, and play
Their apish tricks upon him, till his soul
Has lost its native innocence."

PERCIVAL.

Rosamond disguised as a Priest, by Father R—.—Pays a visit to Father Canto, in St. Francisco Convent.-Her surprise at the thought of being confined there.-Manuel receives her gladly, and desires to know all her history, and her religion, and her mind. She opens her mind freely. His confessions. His contrition. His advice to her to become a Nun in St. Claro Convent.-Manuel about to prepare to go on penance. After three days, Rosamond returns from the Convent, in charge of the same Father R- --Tells her Godmother where she had been. Her horror at this unpardonable sin.-Rosamond attempts to escape from Cuba.-Prays to the Virgin Mary.

AFTER a little, I became more reconciled in my mind. God was so merciful to me, I enjoyed my natural reason in some measure; but I was still wretched and unhappy. Soon after, my Priest was taken sick in the Convent, and confined to his room. It was his wish for me to go to the Convent, to see him; and he sent a Priest, Father Rwho lived in the same Convent with him, to call on me with a letter, stating, that I must go to him in disguise, as a Priest, in their garb of a habit and a wig. They have wigs in the same form, as they shave their own heads, for the purpose of getting married, and enticing young ladies into their Convents, as I have heard the Priests themselves frequently say; for, in this disguise, they can pass them in, without notice from any one.

The same Priest, Father R- who came for me, I saw only the day previous, next door to me, hearing the Confession of a dying lady.

I knew and felt that it was wrong for me to put this disguise on, and to go to the house of God, as I thought it; but as I was so much in their power, I did not dare