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had ever visited ; but even here the question of " servants " was an irritation to the nerves of the patient monks. M y own servants were excellent, and never quarrelled or complained ; they appeared to have been mesmerised by the placid character of their position, and to have become angelic ; especially in not fatiguing themselves through over-exertion. With the monks the case was different. In this quiet retreat, where man reigned alone, as Adam in the Garden of Eden ; where the cares and anxieties of married life were unknown within the sacred walls of celibacy, a single representative of the other sex existed in the ubiquitous shape of a " maid of all work ; " and as Eve caused the first trouble in the world, so the monastery " maid " disturbed the otherwise peaceful existence of Néophitos. This maid's name was " Christina, " and she received the munificent sum of one hundred piastres per annum as wages, which in English money would be fifteen shillings and sixpence every year. The world is full of ingratitude, and strange to say, Christina was dissatisfied, which naturally wounded the feelings of the good monks, as in addition to this large sum of money she received her food and clothes ; the latter consisting of full trousers, and a confusion of light material, which, having no shape whatever, I could not describe. Christina, though young, was not pretty, and she "was always either crying or scolding, which would of course spoil any beauty ; while at the same time she was either washing all the clothes belonging to the whole establishment of monks (a very disagreeable business), or hanging them out to dry near the spring ; or she was sweeping the monastery ; or arranging the very dirty rooms of the establishment ;

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