SEdOND JOURNEY. 



79 



When Pombal took the reins of power into his own 

 hands, virtue and learning beamed bright within the 

 college 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 of Pernambuco was doomed to founder in 

 the general storm. To the long-lasting sorrow and dis- 

 grace of Portugal, 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 Per- 

 nambuco, some of them very old and feeble, were sud- 

 denly 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 all locked 

 up, and never more did they see their rooms, their 

 friends, their scholars, or acquaintance. 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 survived the barbarous 

 treatment they experienced from Pombal's creatures, 

 were at last ordered to Lisbon. The college of Per- 



