LETTER FROM RIO DE JANEIRO. 81 



city, which were illuminated in the most splendid and elegant man- 

 ner, and returned at length to the grand square. Its advance was 

 was marked by the rocket-men, who always took the lead, and, by 

 continual showers of fire- works, not only cleared the way, but also 

 prepared the populace to receive the Host with all due reverence 

 and respect. Besides their use in processions, sky-rockets are indis- 

 pensable here in all religious concerns, and are copiously discharged 

 from the different places of worship, both in the mornings and in 

 the evenings, at matins and at vespers. 



The balconies were embellished with much taste and elegance, 

 covered with rich scarlet drapery, having golden fringes and tassels, 

 and lined, at the same time, with people in the first style of fashion, 

 whence the ladies strewed rose-leaves and perfumes of all kinds as 

 the procession passed along. The images of the tutelar and favourite 

 saints also, which are distributed in niches in different parts of the 

 streets, appeared to-night in the freshest lustre, illuminated with 

 many a taper bright and large. 



Through the kind attentions of a friend I had got a situation at a 

 window, where I remained for some time a silent spectator of the whole 

 pageant as it passed by. By the force of curiosity I at length rushed 

 into the street, and mixed with the adoring throng ; it must be con- 

 fessed, at some hazard, as not being disposed to imitate their genu- 

 flexions, nor well able to repeat their aves with the usual accompani- 

 ment of gesticulatory acts of devotion with which many a passing 

 saint or image was greeted. These images, although confined to a 

 somewhat narrower space at the muster in the grand square, were now 

 placed at respectable distances from each other, and were borne, for the 

 most part, on the shoulders of blacks, prolonging the beatific train to 

 a full mile in length. The interstices were filled up with priests, the 

 various orders of friars, and the angel-girls already mentioned, toge- 

 ther with other church-going characters. On the approach of the 

 Host, which was preceded by trumpet-blowers, all went on their 

 knees ; but similar devotion was paid to certain other images, par- 

 ticularly the fixtures in the streets already noticed. 



While this imposing spectacle was exhibiting to the eyes of the 

 enraptured multitude without, some certain members of the church 

 were not asleep within doors; I mean those who were left to per- 

 form annats, or annual masses, and pick up cash, as it were, even in 

 the sanctuaries of heaven. These masses went on in many places, 

 where many poor sinners were, no doubt, washed, cleansed, and 

 purged to their heart's content; for whoever entered were, as a 

 matter of course, obliged to launch out ; and purgation always fol- 

 lows the touch of the plata with our Lady of Rome. 



Upon the whole, after what I have seen, I cannot help concluding 

 but in the fullest admiration of the fertility of the Romish Church in 

 keeping up appearances. And, certainly, we need no longer wonder, 

 that to a mind brought up in the faith, and taught to contemplate such 

 a scene as not merely a picture of a heavenly host, but as possessing 

 much of the reality of one, should be carried so far beyond what is 

 due to earthly things, in its acts of devotion ; nor do I wonder that 

 the world should have been so long shackled and enslaved by this 

 superstition. This profusion of glare and show, let alone the arts of 



M.M. No. 97. M 



