NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



63 



with halberts in their hands, and soldiers with fixed bayonets, stationed 

 in a place of religious worship. They are so in the chapel royal of Rio ; 

 but surely princes, who rule their people well, may render their homage 

 to heaven free from danger guarded by the grateful affection of those 

 who share the advantages of their sway. I am confident that the sovereign 

 of Brazil might do so, unmoved by any recollection of the fate of Thomas 

 a Becket, or Lorenzo de Medici. 



Close adjoining to the royal chapel is the Capella dos Terceiros, which 

 is about the same size as its neighbour, but much less splendid. It isi 

 however, respectable for its construction and ornament ; the front is of 

 brown stone, the doors remarkably handsome, and a sort of esplanade, 

 with wooden railing, divides it from the street. 



The Capella dos Terceiros do St. Antonio is near tlie convent named 

 after the same saint ; a good, substantia] building, but in a dirty part of 

 the town, and little frequented. 



In the suburbs stands the chapel of St. Diogo, or James, finely placed 

 on an eminence towards the West, and commanding a varied view of 

 wood and water, of mountains and marshes. 



Dedicated to St. Francisco is a very pretty chapel, near the Prainha. 

 It is placed on a lofty and precipitous rock, has a plain front, and com- 

 mands a noble prospect of the upper bay, and the surrounding country. 

 But its advantages are, in a great measure, lost from its situation in 

 an unfrequented part of the town, and from the difficulty of access 

 to it. 



Near to the Military Hospital, stands a chapel dedicated to Sf. 

 Lorenzo, which contains an old picture of the saint's sufferings ; some- 

 times considered as representing a very different subject, yet serving like 

 the statue of Jupiter Capitolinus at Rome, to inflame the devotion of good 

 and undiscerning catholics. 



The chapels of Livramento, Saiide, Conceigam, and St. Sebastian, 

 are, generally speaking, pleasantly situated, but they are small and 

 obscure. 



, In the midst of the city, and close to the Largo do St. Francisco do 



