PUBLIC DIVERSIONS. 



215 



continued, we shall labour for the information of the whole 

 world, and for posterity. It may happen that, either in this 

 or in the other hemisphere, the account we have given of the, 

 coffee-houses of Lima maybe one day more highly valued than 

 the relations, so often printed, and so often repeated, of its 

 wars, conquest, and foundation. Establishments of this na- 

 ture are intimately conne6led with the civil system of a country j 

 and these little monuments of the luxury and policy of our age, 

 may enable those who are to come after us, to estimate and 

 know the history of the conveniences of this capital, its man- 

 ner of thinking, and the gradations by which it has begun to 

 emulate, perhaps to excel Europe. 



The COCK MATCHES, a very favourite amusement of the 

 inhabitants of Lima, were formerly not subjedt to any particu- 

 lar regulations either of time or place. The consequence was, 

 that they not only occasioned many individuals to negle6l the 

 duties they owed to society, but excited continual quarrels 

 among those who were the most addicted to this species of en- 

 tertainment. To remedy this abuse, a particular building was 

 eredled in the year 176Z, in the little square of Santa Catalina, 

 the last in the city, and in a manner contiguous to its walls. 

 A fitter situation could not have been made choice of for this 

 purpose. The copious stream which flows in front of the edi- 

 fice, and the extensive gardens by which it is surrounded on 

 every side, not only render the prospe6l it possesses highly 

 agreeable, but likewise contribute to its embellishment and 

 cleanliness, preserving a pure and fresh air, without which it 

 is certain that many serious diseases originate in theatres and 

 other places of public resort. 



The building itself forms a beautiful amphitheatre of a cir- 

 cular 



