Protestantism in Poland and Bohemia - James Aitken Wylie

were forgotten; the noble memories of early times
were buried in the ashes of these fires; and the
Jestuits found it easy to make their pupils believe
that, previous to their arrival, the country had been
immersed in darkness, and that with them came the
first streaks of light in its sky.[7]
The Jesuits who were so helpful in this
"Reformation" were Spaniards. They had brought
with them the new order of the Brethren of Mercy,
who proved their most efficient coadjutors. Of
these Brethren of Mercy, Jacobeus gives the
following graphic but not agreeable picture: --
"They were saints abroad, but furies at home; their
dress was that of paupers, but their tables were
those of gluttons; they had the maxims of the
ascetic, but the morals of the rake." Other allies,
perhaps even more efficient in promoting
conversions to the Roman Church, came to the aid
of the Jesuits. These were the well-known
Lichtenstein dragoons. These men had never faced
an enemy, or learned on the battle-field to be at
once brave and merciful. They were a set of
vicious and cowardly ruffians, who delighted in
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