PRIESTLY INTERFERENCE. 



181 



friendly, and patient assiduity, in acquiring their 

 language : a remark which may be extended to 

 the whole coast which we visited. 



The following anecdote was, at this time, cur- 

 rent in the city ; and from all we heard during 

 our short stay at Santiago, we were satisfied that 

 the influence of the priests had been gradually 

 on the decline ; and that a more liberal spirit, 

 especially in matters of education, had recently 

 been introduced and was fast spreading over the 

 '^country. 



A gentleman had thought fit to instruct his 

 daughter in French, — a circumstance which the 

 girl, unconscious of any crime, mentioned in the 

 course of her confession to the priest, who, after 

 expressing the greatest horror at what he heard, 

 denounced the vengeance of Heaven upon her 

 and her father, refused to give her absolution, 

 and sent the poor creature home in an agony of 

 fear. The father soon discovered the cause, and 

 after some correspondence with the confessor, 

 went to the head of the Government, who sent for 

 the priest, questioned him on the subject, and 

 charged him with having directly interfered with 



