Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/214

186 was regarded with veneration by the people, and hailed as a welcome missionary. He assisted at several deathbeds; came in for numerous legacies; ministered at the confessional; and was the recipient of the most confidential secrets. He also accepted considerable donations for the benefit of the Church; but appropriating some of these acquisitions to his own use, the imposition was discovered. The mock priest was apprehended, tried, and sentence of death passed upon him; but it was commuted to perpetual imprisonment. There is not a more corrupt and shameless villain than this quondam "padre," within the precincts of the Accordada.

At one corner of the square, is a knave with a callous yet merry countenance, surrounded by an amused throng, to whom he is relating a few of the most racy of his past adventures. As the rascal chuckles over the narration of some peculiarly clever trick, the attention of his auditors is absolutely riveted upon him; and as the words, darkness, confessional, priests, ladies, and robbery, escape his lips, roars of laughter resound from every side. The groups around him are evidently receiving some striking lessons in vice at his hands—