Note 1 — PREFACE.

During the pontificates of Clement VII. and Paul III. there were long and warm disputes between the Capuchins and Observantins about cowls, whether they should be square, round, sharp-pointed, oblong, &c. Boverius, the annalist of the Capuchins, wrote a geometrical work, containing eleven demonstrations, in order to fix the real form of the cowl of St. Francis. Wigs, among the clergy, have likewise caused terrible disputes. The Sulpicians alone have withstood this fashion with a laudable resolution. Mr. de Thiers wrote a history of wigs, which, as well as the history of cowls, evinces the narrowness of the human mind, and justly exposes it to ridicule. O curas hominum!