lived. And as for the third vow—one cannot strictly say that chastity also is relative, yet men know the dark ways of compromise that have been trod by those who failed to follow either the steep heavenward path of observance or the flagrant way of open breach.
In all the long record—from St. Augustine's protest against the upstart ways of the low-born monks unused to respect, down to the recommendation of a Christian Pope in 165o that certain monasteries be closed, their revenues to go to the Venetian State for the making of bloody war; in a hundred ways we learn that the cloister was at once a chamber- of travail and of triumph for a few pure religious souls, and, for grosser minds, a comfortable refuge from the rough battle of life, or an alcove for crime. Its occupant made a better bargain with this world than many a poor devil outside, caught in the meshes of a society marked by poverty for the mass, privilege for the class, and turbulence for all. Such was European society when it bred many monks. Such is Tibet to-day, save that the turbulence perhaps is less than that which existed generally in Europe during monkish days. This probably is due to the steady pressure from without — from China — a directing force which has permitted the churchman to control the state, thus making his career more than usually attractive, while rendering the suzerain's task less trying. If the country were a fertile, temperate land, even this ecclesiastic rule might not be bad enough—economically bad—to prevent an accumulation of wealth among the people and a subsequent revival
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