36o 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



Don Jacinto Calero y Moreira, in the prospe6tus by which, 

 in his own name, and in that of the Academical Society of 

 Lima, consisting of a certain number of hterati calhng them- 

 selves " the Lovers of the Country," he announces this work, 

 introduces the following observation explanatory of the mo- 

 tive by which its publication was influenced : " The deficiency 

 of the information we possess, relative to the interior and re- 

 mote regions of the country we inhabit, and the utter want of 

 the vehicles necessary to disseminate our notions in the literary 

 world, are the causes why a kingdom such as Peru, so favoured 

 by Nature in the benignity of the climate, and in the richness 

 of the soil, scarcely occupies a small space in the delineation 

 of the universe, as it has been traced by historians. To re- 

 medy this defedl is the primary object of the Mercury, in the 

 publication of which I have engaged." 



The very flattering reception experienced by this work, in- 

 duced father Antonio Olavarrieta, of the Seraphic order of 

 monks, to publish another, at the commencement of June of 

 the above year (1791), under the title of Semanario Critico 

 (Weekly Critic). This produ6lion, of the size of a gazette, 

 appeared every Sunday, and was sold at two reals, or nine- 

 pence English. The criticisms embraced a variety of objects, 

 consisting, in general, of education, whether physical, moral, 

 or political, public customs, and other analogous subje6ls. 

 The author attached himself more particularly to public diver- 

 sions, lyric poetry, and the theatre ; but without neglecting 

 whatever appertains to natural history, and the sciences in ge- 

 neral. The balls, assemblies, promenades, literary clubs, 

 coffee-houses, &c. in the capital, were matters of a subordi- 

 nate consideration. 



Father 



