WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 161 



of Pernambuco was doomed to founder in the general 

 storm. To the long-lasting sorrow and disgrace of Por- 

 tugal, the philosophers blinded her king and flattered her 

 prime minister. Pombal was exactly the tool these sappers 

 of every public and private virtue wanted. He had the 

 naked sword of power in his own hand, and his heart was as 

 hard as flint. He struck a mortal blow, and the Society of 

 Jesus, throughout the Portuguese dominions, was no more. 



One morning all the fathers of the college in Pernam- 

 buco, some of them very old and feeble, were suddenly 

 ordered into the refectory. They had notice beforehand of 

 the fatal storm, in pity from the governor, but not one of 

 them abandoned his charge. They had done their duty, 

 and had nothing to fear. They bowed with resignation to 

 the will of Heaven. As soon as they had all reached the 

 refectory, they were there locked up, and never more did 

 they see their rooms, their friends, their scholars, or ac- 

 quaintance. In the dead of the following night, a strong 

 guard of soldiers literally drove them through the streets 

 to the water's edge. They were then conveyed in boats 

 aboard a ship, and steered for Bahia. Those who sur- 

 vived the barbarous treatment they experienced from 

 Pombal's creatures were at last ordered to Lisbon. The 

 college of Pernambuco was plundered, and some time after 

 an elephant was kept there. 



Thus the arbitrary hand of power, in one night, smote 

 and swept away the sciences ; to which succeeded the low 

 vulgar buffoonery of a showman. Virgil and Cicero made 

 way for a wild beast from Angola ! and now a guard is on 

 duty at the very gate where, in times long past, the poor 

 were daily fed ! ! ! 



Trust not, kind reader, to the envious remarks which 

 their enemies have scattered far and near ; believe not the 

 stories of those who have had a hand in the sad tragedy. 



M 



