Page:A New Survey of the West Indies or The English American his Travel by Sea and Land.djvu/73

 Qtáp. iXf of ée Weft-IndíesJ J^

to be courfe Sackcloth ; their Girdles made of Hemp, £hould be no finer than ftrong Halters ; their Shirts ihould be bit Woollen, their Legs fhould know no ftockins, their Feet no fhoes, but at the moft and beft either wooden clogs or fandals of Hemp, their hands and fingers iliould not fo much as touch any money, nor they have the ufe, or poffeííion, or propriety of any, nor their joujneys be made eafie with the help of Horfes to carry them, but painfully they ought to travel on foot i and the breach of any of thefethey acknowledge to be a deadly and mortal fin, with the guilt of ahigh Soul-damn~ ing, and Soul-curfing Excommunication. Yet for all thefe Jponds and Obligations, thofe wretched Imps live in thofc parts, as though they had never vowed unto the Lord, {hew- ing in their lives, that they have vowed what they are not able to perform. It was to usa ftrange and fcandalous fight, to fee here in Xalappa a Frier of the Cloifter riding with his Lackey-boy by his fide, upon a goodly Gelding (having gone but to the fowns end, as we were informed, to hear a dying man** Coufeifion) with his long Habit tucked up to his Girdle, making fliew of a fine fiik Orange-colour Stockin upon his legs, and a neat Cordovan (hoe upon his foot, with a fine Holland pair of Drawers, with a Lace three inches broad at knee. This fight made us willing to pry further into this and the other Friers carriages, under whofe broad fleeves we Could perceive their ^Doublets quilted with filk, and at their wrifts the Laces of their Holland ihirts. In their talk we could difcern no Mortification, but mere vanity and world- linefs. After Supper, feme of them began to talk of carding and dicing : They challenged us that were but new comers to thofe parts» to a Primera j which though moft of ours re- fufed, fome for want of money, fome for ignorance of that Game, yet at laft> with much ado, they got two of our Friers to joyn with two of theirs; fo the Cards were hand- femcly íhufíled, the vies and revies were doubled, Lofs made fpnje hot and bhnd with paffion^ Gain made others eager and covetous: And thus was that Religious Cloifter made all night a Gaming- houie* and fworn Religious Poverty, turned in* to profane aad worldly Covetoufnefs. We that beheld fome