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Statistical Mechanics
Statistical Mechanics
Fourth Edition
R.K. Pathria
Department of Physics
University of California San Diego
La Jolla, CA, United States

Paul D. Beale
Department of Physics
University of Colorado Boulder
Boulder, CO, United States
Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier
125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AS, United Kingdom
525 B Street, Suite 1650, San Diego, CA 92101, United States
50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States
The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Previous editions copyrighted 1972, 1996, 2011
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
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arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be
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be noted herein).
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ISBN: 978-0-08-102692-2

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Contents

Preface to the fourth edition xiii

Preface to the third edition xv
Preface to the second edition xix
Preface to the first edition xxi
Historical introduction xxiii

1. The statistical basis of thermodynamics 1

1.1. The macroscopic and the microscopic states 1
1.2. Contact between statistics and thermodynamics:
physical significance of the number (N, V , E) 3
1.3. Further contact between statistics and thermodynamics 6
1.4. The classical ideal gas 9
1.5. The entropy of mixing and the Gibbs paradox 16
1.6. The “correct” enumeration of the microstates 20
Problems 22

2. Elements of ensemble theory 25

2.1. Phase space of a classical system 25
2.2. Liouville’s theorem and its consequences 27
2.3. The microcanonical ensemble 30
2.4. Examples 32
2.5. Quantum states and the phase space 35
Problems 37

3. The canonical ensemble 39

3.1. Equilibrium between a system and a heat reservoir 40
v
vi Contents

3.2. A system in the canonical ensemble 41

3.3. Physical significance of the various statistical quantities
in the canonical ensemble 50
3.4. Alternative expressions for the partition function 53
3.5. The classical systems 54
3.6. Energy fluctuations in the canonical ensemble:
correspondence with the microcanonical ensemble 58
3.7. Two theorems – the “equipartition” and the “virial” 62
3.8. A system of harmonic oscillators 65
3.9. The statistics of paramagnetism 70
3.10. Thermodynamics of magnetic systems:
negative temperatures 77
Problems 83

4. The grand canonical ensemble 93

4.1. Equilibrium between a system and a particle–energy
reservoir 93
4.2. A system in the grand canonical ensemble 95
4.3. Physical significance of the various statistical quantities 97
4.4. Examples 100
4.5. Density and energy fluctuations in the grand canonical
ensemble: correspondence with other ensembles 105
4.6. Thermodynamic phase diagrams 107
4.7. Phase equilibrium and the Clausius–Clapeyron equation 111
Problems 113

5. Formulation of quantum statistics 117

5.1. Quantum-mechanical ensemble theory:
the density matrix 118
5.2. Statistics of the various ensembles 122
5.3. Examples 126
5.4. Systems composed of indistinguishable particles 131
 Contents vii

5.5. The density matrix and the partition function of a

system of free particles 136
5.6. Eigenstate thermalization hypothesis 142
Problems 151

6. The theory of simple gases 155

6.1. An ideal gas in a quantum-mechanical
microcanonical ensemble 155
6.2. An ideal gas in other quantum-mechanical ensembles 160
6.3. Statistics of the occupation numbers 163
6.4. Kinetic considerations 166
6.5. Gaseous systems composed of molecules with
internal motion 169
6.6. Chemical equilibrium 184
Problems 187

7. Ideal Bose systems 195

7.1. Thermodynamic behavior of an ideal Bose gas 196
7.2. Bose–Einstein condensation in ultracold atomic gases 207
7.3. Thermodynamics of the blackbody radiation 216
7.4. The field of sound waves 221
7.5. Inertial density of the sound field 228
7.6. Elementary excitations in liquid helium II 231
Problems 239

8. Ideal Fermi systems 247

8.1. Thermodynamic behavior of an ideal Fermi gas 247
8.2. Magnetic behavior of an ideal Fermi gas 254
8.3. The electron gas in metals 263
8.4. Ultracold atomic Fermi gases 274
8.5. Statistical equilibrium of white dwarf stars 275
8.6. Statistical model of the atom 280
viii Contents

Problems 285

9. Thermodynamics of the early universe 291

9.1. Observational evidence of the Big Bang 291
9.2. Evolution of the temperature of the universe 296
9.3. Relativistic electrons, positrons, and neutrinos 298
9.4. Neutron fraction 301
9.5. Annihilation of the positrons and electrons 303
9.6. Neutrino temperature 305
9.7. Primordial nucleosynthesis 306
9.8. Recombination 309
9.9. Epilogue 311
Problems 312

10. Statistical mechanics of interacting systems:

the method of cluster expansions 315
10.1. Cluster expansion for a classical gas 315
10.2. Virial expansion of the equation of state 323
10.3. Evaluation of the virial coefficients 325
10.4. General remarks on cluster expansions 331
10.5. Exact treatment of the second virial coefficient 336
10.6. Cluster expansion for a quantum-mechanical system 341
10.7. Correlations and scattering 347
Problems 356

11. Statistical mechanics of interacting systems:

the method of quantized fields 361
11.1. The formalism of second quantization 361
11.2. Low-temperature behavior of an imperfect Bose gas 371
11.3. Low-lying states of an imperfect Bose gas 377
11.4. Energy spectrum of a Bose liquid 382
 Contents ix

11.5. States with quantized circulation 386

11.6. Quantized vortex rings and the breakdown
of superfluidity 392
11.7. Low-lying states of an imperfect Fermi gas 395
11.8. Energy spectrum of a Fermi liquid: Landau’s
phenomenological theory 401
11.9. Condensation in Fermi systems 408
Problems 410

12. Phase transitions: criticality, universality, and scaling 417

12.1. General remarks on the problem of condensation 418
12.2. Condensation of a van der Waals gas 423
12.3. A dynamical model of phase transitions 427
12.4. The lattice gas and the binary alloy 433
12.5. Ising model in the zeroth approximation 436
12.6. Ising model in the first approximation 443
12.7. The critical exponents 451
12.8. Thermodynamic inequalities 454
12.9. Landau’s phenomenological theory 458
12.10. Scaling hypothesis for thermodynamic functions 462
12.11. The role of correlations and fluctuations 465
12.12. The critical exponents ν and η 472
12.13. A final look at the mean field theory 476
Problems 479

13. Phase transitions: exact (or almost exact) results

for various models 487
13.1. One-dimensional fluid models 487
13.2. The Ising model in one dimension 492
13.3. The n-vector models in one dimension 498
13.4. The Ising model in two dimensions 504
x Contents

13.5. The spherical model in arbitrary dimensions 524

13.6. The ideal Bose gas in arbitrary dimensions 535
13.7. Other models 542
Problems 546

14. Phase transitions: the renormalization group approach 555

14.1. The conceptual basis of scaling 556
14.2. Some simple examples of renormalization 559
14.3. The renormalization group: general formulation 568
14.4. Applications of the renormalization group 575
14.5. Finite-size scaling 586
Problems 595

15. Fluctuations and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics 599

15.1. Equilibrium thermodynamic fluctuations 600
15.2. The Einstein–Smoluchowski theory of the
Brownian motion 603
15.3. The Langevin theory of the Brownian motion 609
15.4. Approach to equilibrium: the Fokker–Planck equation 619
15.5. Spectral analysis of fluctuations:
the Wiener–Khintchine theorem 625
15.6. The fluctuation–dissipation theorem 633
15.7. The Onsager relations 642
15.8. Exact equilibrium free energy differences from
nonequilibrium measurements 648
Problems 653

16. Computer simulations 659

16.1. Introduction and statistics 659
16.2. Monte Carlo simulations 662
16.3. Molecular dynamics 665
16.4. Particle simulations 668
 Contents xi

16.5. Computer simulation caveats 672

Problems 673
Appendices 675
A. Influence of boundary conditions on the
distribution of quantum states 675
B. Certain mathematical functions 677
C. “Volume” and “surface area” of an n-dimensional
sphere of radius R 684
D. On Bose–Einstein functions 686
E. On Fermi–Dirac functions 689
F. A rigorous analysis of the ideal Bose gas and
the onset of Bose–Einstein condensation 692
G. On Watson functions 697
H. Thermodynamic relationships 698
I. Pseudorandom numbers 706
Bibliography 711
Index 727
Preface to the fourth edition
The third edition of Statistical mechanics was published in 2011. The new material added
at that time focused on Bose–Einstein condensation and degenerate Fermi gas behavior
in ultracold atomic gases, finite-size scaling behavior of Bose–Einstein condensates, ther-
modynamics of the early universe, chemical equilibrium, Monte Carlo and molecular dy-
namics simulations, correlation functions and scattering, the fluctuation–dissipation the-
orem and the dynamical structure factor, phase equilibrium and the Clausius–Clapeyron
equation, exact solutions of one-dimensional fluid models, exact solution of the two-
dimensional Ising model on a finite lattice, pseudorandom number generators, dozens
of new homework problems, and a new appendix with a summary of thermodynamic as-
semblies and associated statistical ensembles.
The new topics added to this fourth edition are:
• Eigenstate thermalization hypothesis: Mark Srednicki, Joshua Deutsch, and others dis-
covered that it is possible for nonintegrable isolated macroscopic quantum many-body
systems to equilibrate. This overturned the decades-long presumption that equilib-
rium behavior of isolated many-body systems was precluded because of the unitary
time evolution of pure states. Even though an isolated system as a whole will not equi-
librate, most macroscopic many-body systems will display equilibrium behavior for
local observables, with the system as a whole serving as the reservoir for each subsys-
tem. This behavior is the quantum equivalent to ergodic behavior in classical systems.
The exceptions to this are integrable systems and strongly random systems that display
many-body localization.
• Exact equilibrium free energy differences from nonequilibrium measurements: Christo-
pher Jarzynski and Gavin Crooks showed that the average of the quantity exp(−βW )
along nonequilibrium paths, where W is the external work done on the system during
the transformation, depends only on equilibrium free energy differences, indepen-
dent of the nonequilibrium path chosen or how far out of equilibrium the system is
driven. This property is now used to measure equilibrium free energy differences using
nonequilibrium transformations in experiments on physical systems and in computer
simulations of model systems.
• We have rewritten Section 5.1 on the density matrix in coordinate-independent form
using Hilbert space vectors and Dirac bra–ket notation.
• We have expanded Appendix H to include both electric and magnetic free energies and
have rewritten equations involving magnetic fields throughout the text to express them
in SI units.
• We have ensured that all of the edits and corrections we made in the 2014 “second print-
ing” of the third edition were included in this edition.
xiii
xiv Preface to the fourth edition

• We have added over 30 new end-of-chapter problems.

• We have made minor edits and corrections throughout the text.
R.K.P. expressed his indebtedness to many people at the time of the publication of the
first and second editions so, at this time, he simply reiterates his gratitude to them.
P.D.B. would like to thank his friends and colleagues at the University of Colorado
Boulder for the many conversations he has had with them over the years about physics
research and pedagogy, many of whom assisted him with the third or fourth edition: Al-
lan Franklin, Noel Clark, Tom DeGrand, John Price, Chuck Rogers, Michael Dubson, Leo
Radzihovsky, Victor Gurarie, Michael Hermele, Rahul Nandkishore, Dan Dessau, Dmitry
Reznik, Minhyea Lee, Matthew Glaser, Joseph MacLennan, Kyle McElroy, Murray Holland,
Heather Lewandowski, John Cumalat, Shantha de Alwis, Alex Conley, Jamie Nagle, Paul
Romatschke, Noah Finkelstein, Kathy Perkins, John Blanco, Kevin Stenson, Loren Hough,
Meredith Betterton, Ivan Smalyukh, Colin West, Eleanor Hodby, and Eric Cornell. In ad-
dition to those, special thanks are also due to other colleagues who have read sections of
the third or fourth edition manuscript, or offered valuable suggestions: Edmond Meyer,
Matthew Grau, Andrew Sisler, Michael Foss-Feig, Peter Joot, Jeff Justice, Stephen H. White,
and Harvey Leff.
P.D.B. would like to express his special gratitude to Raj Kumar Pathria for the honor of
being asked to join him as coauthor at the time of publication of the third edition of his
highly regarded textbook. He and his wife Erika treasure the friendships they have devel-
oped with Raj and his lovely wife Raj Kumari Pathria.
P.D.B. dedicates this edition to Erika, for everything.

R.K.P.
P.D.B.
Preface to the third edition
The second edition of Statistical mechanics was published in 1996. The new material
added at that time focused on phase transitions, critical phenomena, and the renormal-
ization group – topics that had undergone vast transformations during the years following
the publication of the first edition in 1972. In 2009, R. K. Pathria (R.K.P.) and the publish-
ers agreed it was time for a third edition to incorporate the important changes that had
occurred in the field since the publication of the second edition and invited Paul D. Beale
(P.D.B.) to join as coauthor. The two authors agreed on the scope of the additions and
changes and P.D.B. wrote the first draft of the new sections except for Appendix F, which
was written by R.K.P. Both authors worked very closely together editing the drafts and fi-
nalizing this third edition.
The new topics added to this edition are:
• Bose–Einstein condensation and degenerate Fermi gas behavior in ultracold atomic
gases: Sections 7.2, 8.4, 11.2.A, and 11.9. The creation of Bose–Einstein condensates in
ultracold gases during the 1990s and in degenerate Fermi gases during the 2000s led
to a revolution in atomic, molecular, and optical physics, and provided a valuable link
to the quantum behavior of condensed matter systems. Several of P.D.B.’s friends and
colleagues in physics and JILA at the University of Colorado have been leaders in this
exciting new field.
• Finite-size scaling behavior of Bose–Einstein condensates: Appendix F. We develop an
analytical theory for the behavior of Bose–Einstein condensates in a finite system,
which provides a rigorous justification for singling out the ground state in the calcu-
lation of the properties of the Bose–Einstein condensate.
• Thermodynamics of the early universe: Chapter 9. The sequence of thermodynamic
transitions that the universe went through shortly after the Big Bang left behind mile-
posts that astrophysicists have exploited to look back into the universe’s earliest mo-
ments. Major advances in space-based astronomy beginning around 1990 have pro-
vided a vast body of observational data about the early evolution of the universe. These
include the Hubble Space Telescope’s deep space measurements of the expansion of
the universe, the Cosmic Background Explorer’s precise measurements of the temper-
ature of the cosmic microwave background, and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy
Probe’s mapping of the angular variations in the cosmic microwave background. These
data sets have led to precise determinations of the age of the universe and its compo-
sition and early evolution. Coincidentally, P.D.B.’s faculty office is located in the tower
named after George Gamow, a member of the faculty at the University of Colorado in
the 1950s and 1960s and a leader in the theory of nucleosynthesis in the early universe.
xv
xvi Preface to the third edition

• Chemical equilibrium: Section 6.6. Chemical potentials determine the conditions nec-
essary for chemical equilibrium. This is an important topic in its own right, but also
plays a critical role in our discussion of the thermodynamics of the early universe in
Chapter 9.
• Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations: Chapter 16. Computer simulations
have become an important tool in modern statistical mechanics. We provide here a
brief introduction to Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics techniques and algorithms.
• Correlation functions and scattering: Section 10.7. Correlation functions are central to
the understanding of thermodynamic phases, phase transitions, and critical phenom-
ena. The differences between thermodynamic phases are often most conspicuous in
the behavior of correlation functions and the closely related static structure factors. We
have collected discussions from the second edition into one place and added new ma-
terial.
• The fluctuation–dissipation theorem and the dynamical structure factor: Sections 15.3.A,
15.6.A, and 15.6.B. The fluctuation–dissipation theorem describes the relation be-
tween natural equilibrium thermodynamic fluctuations in a system and the response
of the system to small disturbances from equilibrium, and it is one of the corner-
stones of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. We have expanded the discussion of
the fluctuation–dissipation theorem to include a derivation of the key results from lin-
ear response theory, a discussion of the dynamical structure factor, and analysis of the
Brownian motion of harmonic oscillators that provides useful practical examples.
• Phase equilibrium and the Clausius–Clapeyron equation: Sections 4.6 and 4.7. Much of
the text is devoted to using statistical mechanics methods to determine the properties
of thermodynamic phases and phase transitions. This brief overview of phase equilib-
rium and the structure of phase diagrams lays the groundwork for later discussions.
• Exact solutions of one-dimensional fluid models: Section 13.1. One-dimensional fluid
models with short-range interactions do not exhibit phase transitions but they do dis-
play short-range correlations and other behaviors typical of dense fluids.
• Exact solution of the two-dimensional Ising model on a finite lattice: Section 13.4.A. This
solution entails an exact counting of the microstates of the microcanonical ensemble
and provides analytical results for the energy distribution, internal energy, and heat
capacity of the system. This solution also describes the finite-size scaling behavior of
the Ising model near the transition point and provides an exact framework that can be
used to test Monte Carlo methods.
• Summary of thermodynamic assemblies and associated statistical ensembles: Appen-
dix H. We provide a summary of thermodynamic relations and their connections to
statistical mechanical ensembles. Most of this information can be found elsewhere in
the text, but we thought it would be helpful to provide a rundown of these important
connections in one place.
• Pseudorandom number generators: Appendix I. Pseudorandom number generators are
indispensable in computer simulations. We provide simple algorithms for generating
uniform and Gaussian pseudorandom numbers and discuss their properties.
• Dozens of new homework problems.
Discovering Diverse Content Through
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"Not one bit!" said Amice, with emphasis.

I never was more surprised in my life, for I had always

thought that if any one ever had a vocation it was Amice
Crocker.

"The life is so narrow!" she continued, with vehemence,

pulling so impatiently at her rosemary that she scratched
her fingers. "Just look at the most of our sisters."

"Well, what of them?" I asked. "They are very well, I am

sure. Sister Catherine is rather prying and meddling, and
Sister Bridget is silly, and a good many of them are rather
fond of good eating, and of gossip, but they are kindly
souls, after all. And where will you find better women than
dear Mother Superior, or Mother Gertrude, or a pleasanter
companion than Mother Mary Monica, when she is in the
mood of telling her old tales?"

"That may be all so, but what does it amount to, after all?"
said Amice. "Look at that same Mother Mary Monica. She
has been a nun in this and the other house sixty years, and
what have those sixty years brought to pass? What has she
to show for them?"

"Well, a good deal of embroidery," said I, considering. "She

worked that superb altar cloth, and those copes that we use
still on grand occasions, and she has made hundreds of
pounds of sweetmeats, and gallons on gallons of cordials."

"And the sweetmeats are eaten, and the cordials drank, and
in a few years the embroidery—what remains of it—will be
rags and dust! Old Dame Lee in the village has ten sons,
and I know not how many grandsons and daughters, all
good and useful folk."
"And Roger Smith has a dozen children, each one more
useless and idle than the other," said I.

"I can't endure the thought of such a life," continued Amice.

"It sickens me—it frightens me. I would not be a religious
unless I could be a great saint, like St. Clare or St.
Catherine.'

"Why don't you, then?" I asked.

She looked strangely at me, methought, but made no reply,

and Mother Gertrude calling us, we talked no more at that
time. But I have been considering the matter, and I can't
but think Amice was wrong. I have seen more of home life
than she, and I know that of very necessity a great part of
any woman's life—yea, and of almost any man's—must
needs be spent in doing the same things over and over
again; in making garments to be worn out, and preparing
food to be eaten, and hushing children, and ordering the
household. All these things have to be done, or there would
be no such thing as family life—nay, there could be no
convent life—and so long as they are necessary, I think
there must be some way of hallowing them and making
them acceptable offerings to Heaven, as well as prayers,
and watching, and penance. I mean to ask Mother
Gertrude.
 CHAPTER V.

Eve of St. John, May 5th.

FATHER FABIAN has set me to work, as he promised, and I

like my task very much. I am translating into English the
work of a German monk named Thomas à Kempis. The
piece is called, "The Imitation of Christ," and is, of course,
of a religious character, and is so good, so spiritual, and yet
so plain in its teaching, as I think, nothing could be better,
unless it were the Holy Gospel itself. There is a great deal of
it, and I go on but slowly, for I am desirous of doing my
very best therein; and besides I am often impelled to stop
and meditate on what I am writing. Besides this, Mother
Superior has made me librarian, and I am to keep all the
books in order—no very hard task, methinks, when nobody
ever touches them but Amice and myself.

Amice still studies the lives of the Saints as diligently as

ever. I know not what has come over her, but she seems
very much changed the last few days. She is silent and
reserved, spends as much of her time alone as she possibly
can, eats hardly anything, and only of the plainest and
coarsest food. She has always been very open with me, but
now even when we are together she says hardly a word. I
think I will ask her what is the matter. Maybe I have
offended her in some way, though I am sure I don't know
how.

This afternoon I had the great pleasure of a visit from my

father, who came to consult Father Fabian on the matter of
a priest for the chantry he means to build. He looks worn
and thin, but says he is well, as are all at home. Alice's
babe is a fine boy, at which they are all much pleased, all
the Fultons of the second generation so far being maidens.
Alice herself is well and happy, and sends me her love and a
tiny curl of her boy's hair, of which he has a plenty.

"So he is dark," said I, looking at the pretty tress.

"Aye, black as a Corby," answered my father, smiling more

like himself, than I have seen him in a long time. "'Tis a
true Corbet brat."

"And yourself, dear father, are you quite well?" I ventured to

ask.

"Yes, child, well and over well," he answered, somewhat

peevishly, "if this journey to London does not kill me!"

"To London!" I exclaimed. "Dear father, what can take you

to London?"

"Even that same need which makes the old wife to trot,
chick! I must see my Lord before he goes abroad,
concerning certain leases and the like. It is through no good
will of mine, I promise thee, for I was never fond either of
Court or city in my best days, and now—But how goes it
with you, child?" he asked, interrupting himself. "Methinks
you are thin and pale."

I told him of my cold, and how I had taken it. I could see he
was pleased, though he bade me be careful of my health.

"I would watch a dozen nights myself in the darkest vault

under the church if it would do her any good!" he muttered,
with so sad a look and such a deep sigh, that I was
compelled to speak and tell him how I had been comforted
concerning my mother. He listened in silence, and dashed
the tears from his eyes when I had done.

"I would—I would I could think so," he said; "but to die

without the sacraments—and I was the tempter to lead her
from her vocation. But, take comfort, child, if thou canst. It
may be thou art right, after all."

"I feel sure of it," said I; and then I reminded him how
devout and humble dear mother was—how careful of all
those under her government, and how exact in training
them to ways of devotion and truth; and I repeated to him
sundry verses of the Psalms, on which I had been thinking a
great deal of late.

"Well, well, you seem to have thought to good purpose,"

said he, at last. "Master Ellenwood, at least, would hold with
you. He is all for making of my chantry a school for the
young maids of the village, where they may learn to spin
and sew, and say their prayers, and even to read. He says it
would be a better offering to your mother's memory than a
useless chapel and a lazy fat priest, such as these chantry
clerks often grow to be."

"I am sure mother would be pleased," said I. "You know she

always did favor the notion of a school."

"There is something in that," answered my father,

ruminating in silence a minute. "Well, child, I must needs go
on my way. Hast no word for my Lord and poor Dick, who
goes with him to France?"

I sent my humble duty to my Lord, and with Mother

Superior's permission, a little book of prayers to Dick, who I
know neglects his devotions sometimes. I think he will use
the book for my sake. Dear father bestowed on me his
blessing, and a beautiful gold and ebony rosary, which had
once been mother's, and then rode away. I wondered when
I should see him again. It is a very long and not very safe
journey to London from these parts.

I showed Mother Superior my rosary, and the little lock of

baby's hair. She looked long at the beads, and returned
them to me with a sigh.

"I remember them well," said she. "They came from Rome,
and have the blessing of our Holy Father the Pope. Did your
mother use them?"

"Not often, as I think," I answered. "She liked better a

string of beads of carved wood, which she said my father
brought her from the East country before she was married."

"Olive wood, belike," said Mother, "though I fear 'twas your

father's giving them which made them precious. Your
mother's strong and warm natural affections were a snare
to her, my child. See that they be not so to you, for you are
as like her as one pea is to another."

"But was it not mother's duty to love my father, since she

was his wife?" I ventured to ask.

"Surely, child! 'Tis the duty of all wives. The trouble was in
her being a wife at all, since she forsook a higher vocation
to become one. Nobody can deny that the vocation of a
religious is far higher than that of a wife."

"But if there were no wives, there would by-and-by be no

religious," said I; whereat dear Mother smiled and patted
my cheek, telling me that my tongue ran too fast and far for
a good novice, and that she must find means to tame it.
However, I do not think she was angry.
Sister Frances says that everything I do is right because I
do it, and that I am the favorite both with Mother Superior
and Mother Gertrude. If I am—which I don't believe,
because I think both the dear Mothers mean to be just to all
—I am sure I shall never take any advantage of their
kindness.

When I got a chance, I showed my treasures to Amice.

"You wont keep them, will you?" asked Amice.

"Keep them! Of course I shall!" I answered, rather

indignantly, I am afraid. "What would you have me do with
my dear mother's rosary and the baby's curl?"

"'A good religious will have nothing which she calls her
own,'" said Amice, as if quoting something. "She will strive
for perfection, and to acquire that she must be wholly
detached from all human affections, so that mother or child,
husband or brother, shall be no more to her than the rest of
the world. Are we not expressly told in the lives of the
Saints that St. Francis disregarded the remonstrances and
the curses of his father, and that even the tears and prayers
of his mother were nothing to him? Did not St. Clare, our
blessed founder, fly from her father's house at midnight,
and by the advice of St. Francis himself, conceal the step
she was about to take from her father and mother, and did
not St. Agnes herself shortly do the same, and absolutely
refuse to return, though she was but fourteen years old?"

"But Amice, Master Ellenwood told me himself, that, 'Honor

thy father and mother,' is one of the chief commandments,"
I objected. "And besides I am not yet a religious."

"But you mean to be—you have promised to be one,"

answered Amice. "I don't know about the commandments,
but I do know that our order is specially dedicated to holy
poverty, and you cannot embrace that, and call anything
your own—not so much as your rosary or the clothes you
wear. I think you should burn this hair, and offer the rosary
on the shrine of our Lady, in the garden."

"I will ask Mother Gertrude about it," said I; and the good
Mother entering at that moment, I laid the case before her.
She smiled rather sadly, methought, and looked lovingly at
the little curl of baby hair, as it lay on her hand.

"So you think it is not right for you to keep these things?"
said she.

"Not I, but Amice," I answered. "She says it is not

consistent with holy poverty."

"And dost think, child, it is very consistent with holy

humility, or holy obedience either, for thee to be giving
spiritual council or direction to thy sister?" asked Mother
Gertrude, turning somewhat sharply to Amice, who colored,
but said nothing.

"I don't think Amice was in fault, Mother," I ventured to say,

for I thought she was hard upon Amice. "She only told me
what she thought."

"Well, well, maybe not," answered the old nun, relenting as

she ever does after the first sharp word; "I did not mean to
chide, but I am put past my patience with meddling and
tattling, and what not. As to the rosary, you had better ask
Father Fabian, or Mother Superior. Come, children, you
should be at your work, and not idling here. I wish,
Rosamond, that Father Fabian had found some one else to
copy his precious manuscripts. I want you to help about
ordering the patterns for the new copes, and mending the
altar linen. There is nobody in the house can equal you in a
pattern or a darn, save Mother Mary Monica, and her eyes
and hands are both too far gone, for such work."

"Cannot I help you, Mother?" said Amice, with an evident

effort.

"You! No, child, thank you all the same, not till you learn
the use of your fingers better than you have it now."

Amice colored, but answered not a word.

"But, dear Mother, I dare say the manuscript can wait," said
I. "There is no hurry, I know, for Father Fabian told me I
might take my time about it, and I can do it at one time as
well as another, even by lamplight; when I cannot work, I
can help about the copes, part of the day, or until they are
finished."

"That's my good child," said she. "Well, come down to the

sacristy in about half an hour, and we will get them all out,
and consider them. We want to have everything in apple-pie
order, you see." And the good Mother bustled away.

"So I must leave my writing and go to working, it seems."

said I, rather pettishly, I fear, for I do love my translating,
and I am not devoted to cut-work and darning, though,
thanks to dear Mother, I rather excel in both these arts.
"However, 'tis to please Mother Gertrude, and 'tis all in the
day's work. But what is the matter, Amice?" I added, seeing
tears in her eyes; "surely you need not think so much of a
word from Mother Gertrude. You know 'tis her way?"

"I know it," answered Amice. "I ought to have knelt at her
feet and thanked her for her reproof, instead of feeling hurt.
I have lost a chance for exercising holy humility. I can go
down to the sacristy and do it when you meet her there."
"I'll tell you a better way," said I. "Get a piece of linen and
set yourself to work in earnest to practise the stitches, so
that you can help her another time; for you know, dear, you
really don't work very neatly, because you won't keep your
mind on your work. You are always wool-gathering—maybe
I should say meditating—about something else. Come now,
that will be the best way. I am sure Mother will be willing to
have me teach you, or to show you herself."

"Thank you, sister Rosamond; but really I don't perceive

such a great difference between our work as you do!" said
Amice, coldly. "It will be time to come to the sacristy when I
am asked."

"Just as you please," said I, rather vexed. "I thought you

wished a chance for holy humility, that's all."

And I came away without another word, and went down to

the sacristy, where Mother Gertrude and the Sacristine had
all the vestments spread out in great array. There was one
old cambric cope done in cut-work so fine as to resemble
lace, but so worn and decayed that it fairly broke with its
own weight.

"What a pity!" said the Sacristine. "Do you think you could
mend it, Rosamond? There is not such another—no, not at
Glastonbury itself, Father Fabian says."

"I don't believe it can be mended!" said I, considering it.

"You see the fabric is so old there is nothing to hold the
darning thread. But if I had a piece of fine cambric, I think I
can work another like it. At any rate, I can try; and if I don't
succeed, there will be no great harm done."

The Mothers were both pleased, and Mother Superior

coming in, the matter was laid before her.
"Can you accomplish it, daughter?" she asked. "This is a
very curious piece of work."

"I can try!" said I. "If I fail, there will be no great loss."

"True, my child, but your translation?"

"Oh, Father Fabian will excuse me, or I can work at it a part

of the time. Perhaps that will be the best way!"

So it was settled, and Mother Superior said she would send

directly and procure the cambric and thread.

CHAPTER VI.

May 15th.

I HAVE drawn my patterns and made a beginning, after

practising the lace stitches on something else, and am
really succeeding very well. I take two hours a day for that
and two for my translation. I did not mean to have my work
seen till I found out whether it were like to turn out well,
but Mother Sacristine was so pleased, she must needs
publish the matter. I can see plainly that some of the
Sisters are not pleased at all; indeed Sister Catherine said
plainly 'twas not fit such an honor should be laid on the
youngest person in the house, and not even one of the
professed.

I am sure I never thought of its being such a great honor—

only that it pleases the dear Mothers, I would much rather
work at my translation or make baby clothes for the women
in the village. I can't help thinking too (though perhaps I
ought not to write it), that our Lord Himself would be quite
as well pleased to have my skill employed in clothing the
naked little ones baptized in His name, as to have it used to
add one more piece of finery to the twenty-five costly
copes, and other vestments in proportion, in which our
house takes so much pride. But these are matters too high
for me to judge, and I know He will approve of my obeying
and striving to please those whom He hath set in place of
parents to me.

It has, somehow, leaked out—I can't guess how, unless by

means of some eavesdropper—that I sent a book to my
cousin, when my father was here; and Sister Catherine has
taken me severely to task therefor. I told her that Richard
was my cousin, and that I had Mother Superior's leave.

"Pretty discipline—pretty discipline!" she muttered.

"Sending love tokens from a religious house. Well, well, we
shall see. As for you, Mistress Rosamond, you are high in
favor just now, and all you do is well, because, forsooth,
you have a cunning hand with the needle, and can skill to
read Latin; but have a care! Favorites are not long lived,
and pride may have a fall!"
I made her no answer, and so she left me.

Eve of St. John the Baptist, June 23rd.

We have been mighty busy all day preparing for the feast
to-morrow. We are to have high mass, and the celebrant is
none other than my Lord Bishop himself, who thus honors
our poor family. He has been here to-day, and has had long
conference with Mother Superior, Father Fabian and the
other elders. I fancy the two first wear a shade of care, and
even the Bishop does not look as easy and merry as when I
have seen him before.

CHAPTER VII.
 St. John Baptist's Day, June 24.

TO my great surprise, I myself was summoned to the

Bishop's presence last evening. He was sitting in a great
chair in the parlor, and received me graciously and kindly.

"Be not alarmed, my daughter," said he, seeing that I

trembled, for indeed I was frightened, not knowing what to
think or expect. "I only wish to ask you a few questions. I
dare say there is nothing wrong."

And then to my surprise, he began questioning me about

my father's visit, and the motives which had led me to the
convent. I told him all, not knowing any reasons for
concealment. Then he asked me whether I had seen my
cousin since I left home. Very much surprised, I answered,
"No, my Lord, I have had no chance to see him. He hath
been in London, with my Lord, his uncle, and I have not
stirred outside these walls since I came hither."

"And you have held no communication with him by letter or

otherwise?" asked the Bishop.

I told him how I had sent him a book of prayers by my

father, with Mother Superior's approbation.

"And did he send nothing to you—no lock of hair or other

love token?"

I was vexed enough, but I could not forbear a smile. "My

Lord," said I, "my father did assuredly bring me a lock of
hair, taken from the head of a very young gentleman, which
I will show you." And I took from my pocket my little Latin
Psalter and showed him the babe's little curl fastened to one
of the blank leaves. My Lord looked at it and smiled also.

"A very young gentleman indeed, I should say," he

remarked. "Surely, it is the hair of a young infant."

"Yes, my Lord, of my sister's first child, about six weeks old.

She sent it me by my father, and I thought no harm in
keeping it."

"And was there naught else?"

"Truly, my mother's rosary," I answered; and then seeing

his manner so kind, I ventured to ask him if there was
anything wrong in my keeping and using it. He told me
"none at all, but that I should strive to disengage my heart
from earthly affections, as became a good religious."

Then he questioned me about my vigil in the Chapel and my

motives therefor, to all of which I returned him clear and
plain answers, having naught to conceal. Finally he asked
me "whether I thought I had a true vocation?"

"Do not be fluttered," said he, kindly. "Take time, and tell
me what you think."

I told him I did not know how to answer, because I had

never fairly considered the subject. I had been brought up
to think of the convent as my home, and most of my life
had been passed within its walls. I had promised my mother
to become a nun, and I meant to keep my word, and to do
my duty as well as I could; but I could not pretend to say
that I felt or ever had felt any such strong drawing toward
the cloister as some of the other Sisters professed, and as I
had read of in the lives of the Saints.
"Well, well! That will perhaps come," said my Lord, kindly.
"Meantime, daughter, I am pleased with your frankness,
and the simplicity with which you have answered my
questions. Father Fabian and the Superior both speak well
of you, and I doubt not you will be a credit to this house
and to your order; specially if you use your knowledge as
you have begun. See, I am going to give you this reliquary
as a remembrance, and to increase your devotion. It
contains a small fragment of the true cross, and once
belonged to a very holy Abbess, who understood the Latin
tongue as well as yourself, or perhaps better. But, my child,
do not you let your gifts puff you up or lead you to look
down on others. Any one who uses knowledge in that way
had far better be without it. Remember that you have
nothing which you did not receive, and that any gifts you
have belong not to yourself to serve or exalt yourself withal,
but to your God and your order."

And with that, he gave me his blessing in the kindest

manner, and dismissed me, well pleased with the interview.
It is very odd that he should have asked me such questions,
however. As if I would send love tokens to any one, let
alone poor Dick, with whom I have played all my life.

As I came out from the parlor into the passage, and from
thence to the cloister door, I saw Sister Catherine and Sister
Mary Paula whispering together. They stopped talking when
I came out, and looked eagerly towards me.

"So you have been confessing to the Bishop?" says Sister

Mary Paula.

"Not exactly confessing!" said I. "My Lord did me the honor

to send for me, and asked me some questions. He has been
very kind, and has given me a precious relic."
And I showed them the reliquary. I may be mistaken, but it
seemed to me that Sister Catherine looked positively
disappointed.

"That's the way things go in this world!" said Sister Mary

Paula. "I have been in this house twelve years, and nobody
can say I ever missed a fast or a service, and yet nobody
gives me a relic or takes any notice of me, or puts me into
any office. Well, well, 'kissing goes by favor,' is an old
saying, as true here as anywhere else!"

"You ought to be thankful, Sister, that you have such

humiliations put upon you," answered Sister Catherine. "You
know nothing is so precious as humility. Come, let us go to
our duty, dear Sister, and be thankful that we dwell in the
dust and are trampled on by the foot of pride. 'Tis a far
safer and more blessed place, and we ought to rejoice to be
despised."

With that, before I could hinder, she knelt down and kissed
my feet, and walked away, looking, I am sure, anything but
humble. I don't see either why one should rejoice in being
despised, since 'tis a wicked thing to despise people.

I heard Sister Catherine summoned to the parlor, as were

several other Sisters, and Mother Gertrude as well.

This morning his Lordship called the whole family together,

and made them one of the very best discourses I ever
heard in all my life. I wish I could hear such an one every
day. I am sure I should be the better. He began by
commending highly the order and neatness of the house,
the garden, and specially the library and sacristy. Then he
said he had discovered some things which gave him pain,
and of which he must needs speak. Here I saw Sister
Catherine and Sister Mary Paula exchange glances. He went
on to remark that he had discovered a spirit of jealousy and
detraction, of fault-finding and tattling, which ought to exist
in no family, least of all in a religious house, and one
specially vowed to holy poverty, as we were. Then warming
up—

"One would think, my children, that you should rejoice in

each other's gifts and achievements. Instead thereof I find
murmurs and complaints one of another, as if one Sister
were injured because another is chosen to execute some
special office or piece of work to which she is judged
specially fitted. Sisters should be more ready to hide each
other's faults than to betray them; but here a perfectly
harmless and even religious act is reported to me as a
flagrant breach of discipline."

Here again I saw an exchange of glances, quite of another

kind.

"Ah, my daughters (the Bishop went on to say, as near as I

can remember), these things ought not to be. Believe me, it
is not the coarse habit, nor the sandals, nor the veils—no,
nor the seclusion, nor the enclosure, nor even the
watchings, and fastings, and many prayers, which make a
true religious. All these things are good and holy, when well
used; but they may all exist in company with many things
utterly hateful to God and our blessed Lady. Let me show
you in what true charity consisteth."

Then he repeated a description of charity so noble, so full,

that methinks all Christian perfection was contained therein
—as how a man might give all his goods in alms, and
perform miracles, and even become a martyr, and yet be
nothing better than a bit of sounding brass. Then showing
what made true charity—even kindness, and patience, and
gentleness, and humbleness, and thinking no evil, but
hoping and believing the best at all times.

['Twas the thirteenth chapter of St. Paul, his first Epistle to

the Corinthians which he recited, but I, who had never seen
a New Testament at that time, did not know it.]

Then with a deep shade of sadness on his kind old face,

such as I never saw before, he besought us to dwell in unity
and love, that our prayers be not hindered, but that we
might strive together for our house, our order, and the
whole Church. He said we had fallen on evil times, and
there was no telling what might happen; and he advised a
special devotion to our Lady and our blessed founder, for
the averting of judgments which even now threatened us;
and so at last dismissed us with his blessing. I am sure I
shall remember the discourse as long as I live, and I hope I
shall be the better for it. I know very well I am altogether
too prone to judge and to impute evil, or at the least foolish
motives to good actions, and specially to judge hardly of
those who in any way offend my taste.

[I know now, what I did not then, that our house was
threatened with total destruction. Not long before Cardinal
Wolsey had founded his college at Oxford, and he had
obtained a bull from the Pope for suppressing some thirty of
the small religious houses and to endow his said college
with their revenues; and now there was talk of another
suppression. We have in our West country a pithy proverb
about showing the cat the way to the cream, which his
Eminence might have remembered, if he ever chanced to
hear it.]

After mass and sermon, it being a great feast day, we had a

better dinner than ordinary, with abundance of sweetmeats
and cakes, and recreation all the afternoon till vespers, for
which I was very glad. I was cheered by the Bishop's
discourse, and yet humbled by it, and I wanted time to
think it over: so I slipped away from the rest, and with a
garment I was making for Mary Dean's babe, betook myself
to the garden chapel, where, having first said my prayers
before the shrine, I sat down on a low and roughly hewn
stone bench outside the door, and began to think and work
at the same time.

I know not how it is, but I can always meditate to better

purpose when I have something else to do. In our set hours
of meditation I am always possessed to think of any and
everything but the subject given us by Mother Superior. It is
just then that all my working patterns come into my head.
Well, I was sitting sewing a long seam, now working
diligently, now stopping to listen to the birds and watch
them feeding their young ones (now fully fledged and
clamorously following their patient parent from tree to
tree), when Amice came and sat down beside me.

"Methinks you spend your holiday soberly," said she, after a

little silence, "working away in recreation time."

"I have not done work enough to spoil my recreation," I

answered, gayly, "but you know my way of always liking
something in my hands. I did not see that any one wanted
me, so I came to this solitary place to think about the
Bishop's sermon. 'Twas a noble discourse, was it not?"

"Yes, I suppose so," said Amice, and she sighed deeply.

"I thought you would have liked it," I said.

"It just added to my troubles, like everything else.

Rosamond, I wish I had never been born, or else that I had
been born a milkmaid."
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