Gl. Did you spend your Winter in Ireland?

Pa. No.  But by that Time I had been among them two Months I sail’d into Scotland.

Gl. What displeas’d you among them?

Pa. Nothing, but that I thought their Discipline was not severe enough for the Deserts of one, that once Hanging was too good for.

Gl. Well, what past in Scotland?

Pa. Then I chang’d my Linnen Habit for a Leathern one, among the Carthusians.

Eu. These are the Men, that in Strictness of Profession, are dead to the World.

Pa. It seem’d so to me, when I heard them Singing.

Gl. What?  Do dead Men sing?  But how many Months did you spend among the Scots?

Pa. Almost six.

Gl. A wonderful Constancy.

Eu. What offended you there?

Pa. Because it seem’d to me to be a lazy, delicate Sort of Life; and then I found there, many that were not of a very sound Brain, by Reason of their Solitude.  I had but a little Brain myself, and I was afraid I should lose it all.

Po. Whither did you take your next Flight?

Pa. Into France:  There I found some cloath’d all in Black, of the Order of St. Benedict, who intimate by the Colour of their Cloaths, that they are Mourners in this World; and among these, there were some, that for their upper Garment wore Hair-Cloth like a Net.

Gl. A grievous Mortification of the Flesh.

Pa. Here I stay’d eleven Months.

Eu. What was the Matter that you did not stay there for good and all?

Pa. Because I found there were more Ceremonies than true Piety:  And besides, I heard that there were some who were much holier, which Bernard had enjoin’d a more severe Discipline, the black Habit being chang’d into a white one; with these I liv’d ten Months.

Eu. What disgusted you here?

Pa. I did not much dislike any Thing, for I found them very good Company; but the Greek Proverb ran in my Mind;

      [Greek:  Dei tas chelonas e phagein e me phagein.]

      One must either eat Snails, or eat nothing at all.

Therefore I came to a Resolution, either not to be a Monk, or to be a Monk to Perfection.  I had heard there were some of the Order of St. Bridget, that were really heavenly Men, I betook myself to these.

Eu. How many Months did you stay there?

Pa. Two Days; but not quite that.

Gl. Did that Kind of Life please you no better than so?

Pa. They take no Body in, but those that will profess themselves presently; but I was not yet come to that Pitch of Madness, so easily to put my Neck into such a Halter, that I could never get off again.  And as often as I heard the Nuns singing, the Thoughts of my Mistress that I had lost, tormented my Mind.