160 WANDBEINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



nothing more to be said. Should they ever be convinced 

 that inconveniences exist, and that nuisances are too fre- 

 quent, the remedy is in their own hands. At present, cer- 

 tainly, they seem perfectly regardless of them ; and the Cap- 

 tain-General of Pemambuco walks through the streets with 

 as apparent content and composure as an English statesman 

 would proceed down Charing- cross. Custom reconciles 

 everything. In a week or two the stranger himself begins 

 to feel less the things which annoyed him so much upon 

 his first arrival, and after a few months' residence, he thinks 

 no more about them, while he is partaking of the hospi- 

 tality, and enjoying the elegance and splendour within 

 doors in this great city. 



Close by the river-side stands what is called the palace 

 of the Captain-General of Pemambuco. Its form and ap- 

 pearance altogether strike the traveller that it was never 

 intended for the use it is at present put to. 



Eeader, throw a veil over thy recollection for a little 

 while, and forget the cruel, unjust, and unmerited censures 

 thou hast heard against an unoffending order. This palace 

 was once the Jesuits' college, and originally built by those 

 charitable fathers. Ask the aged and respectable inhabit- 

 ants of Pemambuco, and they will tell thee that the de- 

 struction of the Society of Jesus was a terrible disaster 

 to the public, and its consequences severely felt to the 

 present day. 



When Pombal took the reins of power into his own 

 hands, virtue and learning beamed bright within the col- 

 lege walls. Public catechism to the children, and religious 

 instruction to all, flowed daily from the mouths of its 

 venerable priests. 



They were loved, revered, and respected throughout the 

 whole town. The illuminating philosophers of the day had 

 sworn to exterminate Christian knowledge, and the college 



