NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



65 



The Convent of St. Bento is the principal one in Rio. It stands on 

 a fine rocky elevation, and commands a noble view of the city, the bay, 

 its coast and islands. The ascent to it is steep, but the road takes a 

 curved direction, is broad, and leads up to an area paved with bricks, 

 and defended with a wall as high as the breast. At the back part of this 

 area is the front of the chapel, built above a hundred years ago, adorned 

 with two turrets, and furnished with a clock and bells. The interior is, 

 perhaps, the most splendid of any thing of the kind in Brazil. It 

 contains a great deal of carved work, some well executed altars, and 

 walls covered with gilding. The orchestra is a good one, yet the 

 worship is thinly attended. 



In the anti-room, at the entrance of the convent, is a curious 

 painting. It represents the tree of life, round and expansive, with firm 

 roots, a strong stem, and branches full of foliage. It is, at once, in 

 flower and fruit ; the former a sort of rose, not unlike the flower of the 

 tree which produces the celebrated Brazil-wood, and probably intended 

 to represent it ; the fruit is of a most unusual description, a Benedictine 

 Monk, in the full habit of the order, seated in the midst of the flower. 

 The countenances and figures seem to be drawn from the life, and are 

 well done. A man, who has no reverence for Monks, may smile at the 

 strange conceit ; yet the picture is so designed and executed that it is 

 almost impossible not to mix some feelings of admiration, at the sight of 

 it, with those of contempt. It brings to mind the History of the Order, 

 its wealth and ease, and its unrivalled influence over Brazilian affairs. 



Passing on to a sort of inner anti-chamber, we find the entrance to 



several rooms ; over the door of one, I think the library, is this motto, 



" Wisdom has builded herself a house." This is, without question, the 



most luxurious house which Wisdom, or more properly Cunning, has 



built in Rio. But when we reflect who are its inhabitants, and that it 



is exclusively theirs, though built at the expense of thousands, the 



sarcasm of the inscription appears too keen. Within the convent is an 



area surrounded by piazzas, whence passages lead to different suites of 



rooms. The refectory is commodious, and sometimes set out with great 



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