DISTRESS IK LIMA. 



115 



all running into weeds. The gay multitude, who 

 formerly gave animation to this spot, were now 

 drawn into the capital ; the only place where they 

 could feel secure ; and where they derived, or 

 sought to derive, a melancholy consolation from 

 companionship ; and soon forgot, in the pressure 

 of want, and the immediate apprehension of vio- 

 lence, those enjoyments once deemed absolute ne- 

 cessaries of life. 



From the highest to the lowest person in so- 

 ciety, every one felt the increasing evils that 

 crowded round the sinking state. Actual want 

 had already begun to pinch the poor ; the loss of 

 almost every comfort affected the next in rank ; 

 and luxuries of all kinds were discarded from the 

 tables of the highest class. Military contribu- 

 tions were heavily exacted from the monied men ; 

 the merchants lost their commerce; the shop- 

 keepers their wonted supplies. Even the Vice- 

 roy himself held his power by no enviable tenure ; 

 being surrounded by a suspicious and turbulent 

 population, and by an army, to whose criminal in- 

 subordination alone he owed his authority. To 

 wind up the evils of Lima, it was invaded by a 



