SANTIAGO. 219 
The actors have one good quality, — they speak very plainly ; but they 
are very tame, and rather seem to be repeating a lesson, than either 
speaking or declaiming: the piece may be to blame for this. It was 
“ King Ninus the Second ;” but I cannot recollect any king of that 
name who ever had a tragical story of the kind belonging to him: 
and I have no books here, and no literary ladies, or even gentlemen, 
so I must rest in ignorance; though, if I remember right, there is 
something like the history of Zenobia in the plot: however, there is 
a great deal of love and murder in it. 
The farce was the “ Madmen of Seville.” The graciosa of the piece 
a beggar, has by some accident got into the bedlam of the city, and 
the amusement consists in the different tricks played to him by the 
patients of the hospital, who each insist on taking him as a com- 
panion. I was half sorry not to be able to join in the excessive 
mirth apparently caused by the piece, but I was rather glad when it was 
over: we all enjoyed some ices very much, which were brought into 
the box ; and we were not the only persons who regaled themselves 
in the same manner, though I think sweetmeats and wine seemed to 
be the favourite refreshments. The gallery is appropriated to the 
soldiers, who enter gratis. 
Saturday, August 31st.— Having ascertained that there was no 
saint in the way to prevent us, Mr. De Roos and I set out once more 
this morning to see what we could of the city ; and meeting Mr. Pre- 
vost, we availed ourselves of his polite offer of showing us the mint. 
It is, indeed, a magnificent building, — I was going to say, too mag- 
ficent for Chile, till I recollected that it was erected by the Spanish 
government chiefly for the assay and stamping of the product of those 
rich mines, which the mother country long considered as the only 
objects to be attended to in her American dominions. The building 
is of a single range of fine Doric three-quarter columns and pilasters, 
which cover two stories ; i. e. the public works below, and the houses 
of the officers above. On entering a handsome gate, another interior 
building, like the cell of a temple, of the same order, presents itself ; 
and there the treasury, and mint, and assay office are situated. The 
FRF2 
