the list of satirical and calumnious works which have appeared against them
in almost every language in Europe. Of these, perhaps the most celebrated
is the well-known `Monarquia de los Solipsos',* by Padre Melchior Inshoffer,
an ex-Jesuit, who describes the company in the worst possible terms.
It is interesting chiefly on account of the portraits of well-known
people of the time (1615 to 1648), as Pope Clement VIII., Francisco Suarez,
Claudio Aquaviva, and others, veiled under easily distinguishable pseudonyms.
The object of the writer, as the title indicates, is to show that the Jesuits
endeavoured to turn all to their own profit. In this, if it was the case,
they do not seem to have been greatly different from every other associated
body of men, whether lay or clerical. The celebrated Spanish proverb,
`Jesuita y se ahorca, cuenta le hace', meaning, Even if a Jesuit is hung
he gets some good out of it, may just as well be applied
to members of other learned professions as to the Jesuits.

--
* Madrid, 1770.
--

The world has rarely persecuted any body of men conspicuous by its poverty,
or if it has done so has rarely persecuted them for long.
The Inquisition of Spain, violent against the wealthy Jews
and comfortable Moriscos, took little notice of the Gipsies;
but, then, `Pobre como cuerpo de Gitano' was and is a common saying in Spain.

As in the case of the Templars, persecution only began against the Jesuits
when it became worth while to persecute them. Ignatius Loyola,
Francisco Xavier, and Diego Lainez, as long as they
confined themselves to preaching and to teaching, were safe enough.
Even the annals of theological strife, bloodthirsty and discreditable