1020 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



rived from nature, he expressed 

 himself in veiic at once fluent, na- 

 tural, bea'.itifMl, and copious. He 

 proposed to iiimself subjects, and 

 gave tlicin extemporaneously in har- 

 monious poetry. W'iflioiit slop or in- 

 terruption, hii v.irio(l (he kinds of 

 k metre at his own picasKro, oral (lie 

 request of those mIio -(vcre present. 

 The sublime tiieological, philosophi- 

 cal, ph.iloiogical, and histcr:r;il 

 points which lie l.nrjied in'conver. 

 falion, flowed from his moulli, with- 

 out quitting the company, in (he 

 richest vein of composition. Alone, 

 he framed a comedy, cither on a sub- 

 ject given to him, or on one he drew 

 from his fertile imaginauon : hesc- 

 lectcd the performers from among 

 those ■ who were assembled, and 

 liappily suggested to each of thcso^ 

 actors and actresses, what \vas best 

 adiiptcd to his extemporaneous 

 «iran)a. He engaged with men of 

 geniusand talents, in the composition 

 of verses answering to caci) other in 

 succession (carmina anioehtt"j.J and 

 constantly obtained the superiority 

 and triumph. Mythology supplied 

 him w ith ornaments, history oftered 

 to him a storeofsubjects, the sciences 

 endowed hira with mental illumina- 

 tion, and he profited by the whole 

 to display his inexhaustible facility. 

 Jfe played on various instruments: 

 his common mode of versifying was 

 to touch a guitar, and at the close 

 of the day, to recapitulate all that 

 he had done, said, treated, disputed, 

 and discussed, w ithout omitting any 

 of the circumstances, whicli he con- 

 stantly realized with grace and in- 

 genuity, and preserved, in the in- 

 tervening personages, their language 

 and character. On this account, 

 there* was not any fashionable as- 

 semblage, any festival, banquet, re. 



joicing, or meeting, to which I'ls 

 Avas not invited and earnestly soli- 

 cited." 



" In the town of San Sebastian de 

 Hiiaraz, the capital of the province 

 of Huaylas, died on the 12th of 

 December, 17U0. Don Juan Modesto 

 de Castro-Monte, at the remarkable 

 age of a hundred and thirty-tluee 

 years. Jle \> as a native of the above 

 pro\ince, in wiiicli he resided until 

 his death. He was twice married, 

 and left behind him eight children, a 

 multitude of grand-children, and a 

 .'ifiil greater number belonging to 

 the third and fourth degrees. A 

 daughter by his first marriage, had, 

 during his life-time, three great 

 grand-children already grown up. 

 His second wife died at the age of 

 ninety-six years, after having been 

 eighty years the partner of his bed. 

 He never on any occasion tasted 

 either wine or strong liquors; and 

 was never subject to the slightest 

 ailment, not even to a pain of the I 

 head. Until his latest years he pre- 

 served the use of his faculties free 

 and entire. On the day of his de- 

 cease thercwas not any visible change 

 in his health : having received the 

 sacrament from the hands of the 

 Franciscan friars residing in the 

 above place, he died without any 

 pang, beside that whick the laws of 

 human nature, when it has reached 

 its precise boundary, bring with 

 them. His equitable, compassionate, 

 and liberal character, procured him 

 the love and esteem of all the inhabi- 

 tants of the province, by whom his 

 loss was sensibly felt. A frugal 

 life, separated from the tumultuous 

 passions of the world, and devoted 

 to the innocent pleasures of agricul- 

 ture, secured to him the enjoyment 

 of that felicity, which in the ancient 



la*' 



