In every church here, and there are 366 of them, some score or two of masses are said daily at the different altars.

The pay for performing a mass varies from a "Paul" to a "Scudo;" that is, in round numbers, from sixpence to a crown.

The "good" masses, those paid for by private persons for the souls of their relatives, are naturally reserved for the priests connected with the particular church; while the poor ones, which are paid for out of the funds of the church, are given to any priest who happens to apply for them.

So somehow or other, what with a mass or two a day, or by private tuition, or by charitable assistance, or in some cases by small handicrafts conducted secretly, the large floating population of unemployed priests rub on from day to day, in the hope of getting ultimately some piece of ecclesiastical patronage.

Yet the distress and want amongst them are often pitiable, and, in fact, amongst the many sufferers from the artificial preponderance given to the priesthood by the Papal system, the poorer class of priests are not among the least or lightest.
The nobility as a body are sure to be more or less supporters of the established order of things.