264 F. WINTEBTON:

been edified, when he read those decrees, to see what the real feelings of the Society were. But perhaps he did not know what the Jesuits were perfectly well aware of : every rule, every decree, has to be interpreted according to the meaning of those who draw it up. The following anecdote, which is perfectly authentic, may give an idea of what inter- pretations can be given to the strictest rules ; and it is an axiom in the Society that rules are to be interpreted accord- ing to custom and precedent, unless a new decree supervenes to define their signification more exactly. A novice was in France some years ago, at the time when the Comte de Chambord and Don Carlos were much talked about. He had heard the rule, read every month in the refectory, to the effect that no one was to speak about the wars and quarrels between Christian kings and princes. Now all the novices were busied during the time of recrea- tion with the hopes of Henry V., the white flag, the blockade of Bilbao, and so forth, talking of all these 'subjects without the slightest pangs of conscience on account of the rule. Nay, more, when the Master of the novices came amongst them, he used to set the example of such discourse, with so much enthusiasm for the Royal cause, and so much apparent forgetfulness of the rule, that the young man took the earliest opportunity of asking for an explanation. It then appeared that the rule was only intended to suppress opposite national feelings ; but that when anti-religious Republicans stood on one side and Christian Monarchists on the other, politics, forbidden when they have only a strictly temporal object, become allowed as soon as spiritual interests are concerned. I have related this merely as an instance of legitimate interpretation, which sometimes may lead to unexpected results ; and indeed it was no difficult task for the Jesuits, without any far-fetched interpretation, and keeping strictly to the letter of the decree, to do pretty much as they liked with St. Thomas. One thing alone was clearly understood : that they were to respect him very much, and not to set his opinions aside without reason. But as for adopting his opinions without reason, that was another extremity from which they were guaranteed by the very letter of the decree. Between slavish reverence and disrespectful freedom there is a great distance, and one may find between the two a very considerable borderland of independent reverence and freedom blended with respect. On this borderland the Jesuits very cleverly pitched their tents, and took up a strong position. Their position is well illustrated by the works of Suarez, the