A very odd affair

Rome, Jan. 7. There has happened a very odd affair in the great convent of capuchins at Ascoli, where the monks having punished their cook a little too severely, he mixed a quantity of opium in their sauce at supper, and when they were fast asleep, shaved their reverences beards, and made his escape before they were able to rise in the morning. The poor monks are confined to their convent, till their beards have acquired a decent size, to render it practicable for them to appear in public.