CHARACTERS. 



787 



fibors, which are occupied as shops 

 or cellars ; they are dirfy, hot, and 

 inconvenient ; the stair-cases are 

 perpendicular, and without any 

 light; and in the arrangement of 

 the rooms no regard is paid, cither 

 to a free circiilalioa of air, or to the 

 beauty of prospect. The furniture 

 40f tlie houses, though costly, dis- 

 gusts the eye used to elegant plain- 

 ness, by its clumsiness and tawdry 

 decorations ; while the spider 

 weaves her "web, and pursues her 

 sanguinary trade in uninterrupted 

 security, upon the walls and ceil- 

 ing. In the houses of the rich the 

 windows are glazed, which only 

 serves to increase the reflc(5ted power 

 of the sun, and render them intole- 

 rably hot ; but the generality of 

 houses are furnished with shutters of 

 close lattice-work, behitid which the 

 women assemble in the evening ; 

 and, while their own persons are 

 concealed, enjoy the passing breeze, 

 which is not, however, always very 

 aromatic. In the English settle- 

 ments, within the tropics, art is ex- 

 hausted to correct or mitigate the 

 ardour of the climate, and (o render 

 a burning atmosphere not only sup- 

 portable, but pleasant, to a nortJi- 

 cm constitution. In the Brasils, 

 the defects of climate are increased 

 hy the slothful and dirty customs of 

 the inhabitants, the cause of this 

 dilTcrence is to be ascribed tit the cli- 

 mates of the mother countries : the 

 climate of l*ortugal apjiroaching to 

 that of Jirasil, the Europeans wiio 

 emigratfc liithcr, feei little inconve- 

 nience from the change. In our 

 tropical settlementf, the climate of 

 their old differing so much from 

 ILut of their new residence, the cmi- 

 granls leave no means unemployed 

 to mitigate the fervour of the sun, 

 whose ard«nt blaze is found to de- 



range the nervous system, enervate 

 the body, and render the miad a 

 prey to listlessness and inanity. 



There are eighteen parish churches, 

 four monasteries, and three convents, 

 in the town of St. Sebastian, besides 

 several smaller religious buildings oa 

 the islands, and in the suburbs. 

 Upon these edifices no expence is 

 spared to attradt the imagination of 

 the weak and ignorant, by a profu- 

 sion of gilding, and other tawdry 

 decorations. The Hospital de Mi- 

 serecordie is also a religious insti- 

 tution, which receives patients of 

 every denomination, and is princi- 

 , pally supported by private benefac- 

 tions. To these may be added a 

 penitentiary-house, where the in- 

 continent fair are secluded from the 

 world, to weep for and atone their 

 faults in solitude and silence; hi- 

 ther jealous husbands, or cross pa- 

 rents, send their too amorous wives 

 and daughters, and, doubtless, oftcit 

 upon no better foundation than 

 " trifles light as air." The admission 

 to the nunneries is expensive, and I 

 have heard a fond mother regret her 

 want of fortune, only because it 

 prevented her dedicating some of 

 her beloved daughters to God. The 

 clergy possess immense property in 

 land, houses, and specie. When it 

 was proposed to lay an impost of 

 10 per Cent, upon the income of 

 the church, the Benedictine monks 

 ofiered to commute their part of the 

 tax, by paying 40,000 crowns an- 

 nually. Their pious desire for the 

 conversion of heretics still glows 

 with all the ardour of bigotry, and 

 the recantation of one protcstant is 

 considered of more value than the 

 conversion of 100 pagans : as in hea- 

 ven there is more joy over one sin- 

 ner that repentoth, than over ninety 

 and nine just persons. An unfor- 

 3 K 2 tuuat«. 



