1040 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



the blessing, and, mindful of the 

 Juture interests of ho'dx nations, 

 aciopted such measures only as were 

 most likely to produce not only 

 lasting but increasing benefits, alike 

 to their successors and thiir suh- 

 jpcts, how widely difterent Mould 

 have been the conduct of the merce- 

 nary invaders ! 



" It is the unliappy natives dra\vH 

 from tlie presidencies that have erect- 

 ed all the public buildings ; and like 

 the thousands whom Peter tlie Great 

 tore from their native villages, and 

 condemned to work and perish in 

 the bogs of St. Petersburgh, so these 

 have laboured, and become unpitied 

 victims, under the directions of the 

 Spaniards." 



After some inclTedlual attempts of 

 the good fathers to induce our tra- 

 veller to take the vows of their or- 

 der, he was allowed to resume his 

 lay habit, and mix in the gaieties of 

 thtf city. At the house of one of 

 the j)rincipal grandees he was parti- 

 cularly well entertained. lie thus 

 describes his host, and the festivity 

 of which he was a witness. — 



" He is an officer of con.sidcraulc 

 merit, and was one of those preserved 

 by British humanity, at the siege of 

 (jiibraltar ; where he was wounded in 

 the side by a splinter, which broke 

 three of his ribs and his ri2;ht arm just 

 above the elbow, and likewise very 

 considerably injured his face : but he 

 recovered, and, at the peace, was 

 sent hither to take the command of 

 & regiment, and make his fortune. 



" He lives in great splendour, and 

 twice invited me to his house within 

 these last ten days ; each time there 

 was a concert and a ball, for they 

 are as fond of dancing here as in any 

 part of Europe. Their treats arc 

 extravagantly sumptuous, and their 

 politeness to strangers exceeds any 



thing I ever met with. The ladies, 

 in particular, vie with each other in 

 obliging their guests. It is not at 

 Buenos Ayres as in old Spain, where 

 none are admitted to an assembly 

 but those of equal rank : here, 

 merchants and their families are in- 

 vited to the governor's public en- 

 terlainments ; and though the inha- 

 bitants are not so numerous as might 

 be expected in a town so situated as 

 Buenos A} res, which is, in faft, the 

 staple for all the produce of the dis- 

 tant provinces, yet there was at the 

 last ball given in honour of the go- 

 vernor's birth. day, a very numerous 

 and brilliant assembly. The dons 

 were dressed in the usual Spanish 

 taste, but with a greater variety of 

 colours, and the ladies' dresses dirtcr- 

 ed very widely from those in Old 

 Spain ; their petticoats were of taf- 

 feta, ornamented at the bottom with 

 gold lace, or fringe, richly tasseled. 

 The slippers of some were composed 

 entirely of gold embroidery, and 

 their stockings interwoven with the 

 same metal in so fanciful a manner 

 as to display the shape of the leg to 

 the most luxuriant advantage; and 

 those that had pretty ones, by the 

 shortness of their petticoats, seemed 

 bv no means disposed to conceal 

 their beauties from their admiring 

 partners. A kind of jacket madcof 

 velvet fitted' tight (o the shape, and 

 laced or buttoned in front, with long 

 points hanging down quite round the 

 petticoat, and trimmed at the endS' 

 witii peiirl tassels. On the shoulders 

 of (his jacket was fastened a cloak 

 made of gauze, or some such light 

 materia!, which hung as a loose train 

 on the ground, and^ was occasionally 

 fastened to the side by a clasp of 

 jewels. Thegeneral head-dress was 

 cither a handkerchief of gold gauze, 

 braided in with diamonds, or else 



chains; 



