NOTES ON BRAZIL. 



347 



authority of his Lisbonian superiors, when it interfered with the welfare 

 of his charge. He published some admirable pastoral addresses, in which 

 he invited the people to religious observances, granted dispensations to 

 those whose circumstances rendered a compliance inconvenient, especially 

 to the clerks and domestics of Protestants, but enjoined them, at the 

 same time, not to mingle fish and flesh in their meals on days of sacred 

 obligation, nor to dispute with heretics on the points of Catholic faith. 

 The Priests of the Chapel Royal had been set on a footing, in point of 

 rank, with the Monsenhors of Lisbon, and the same dress was assigned 

 to them. The number of effective Clergy was increased, and their 

 miserable pittances augmented. The sacred edifices were attended to, 

 new ones built, the old cleansed and adorned, bells introduced, and 

 cemeteries allotted, out of the city, to British subjects and to negroes. 

 Convents were strictly inspected, the devotion of children to a monastic 

 life was discountenanced, the loose discipline of those already professed 

 was exposed and amended, and the intrusion of men of notoriously bad 

 character, into the most sacred offices, in a great measure prevented. 

 Priests, of all descriptions, were necessitated to maintain a regard to 

 propriety of conduct in public ; and the show of amendment no doubt 

 sometimes led to the reality. 



The articles, which may, without great impropriety, be called the 

 materials of religion, were supplied with a liberal hand. Churches and 

 altars were decorated, images were procured and banners embroidered. 

 In every department of religious service, both within doors and without, 

 gold, silver, precious stones, silk, and laurels appeared in abundance. 

 The ear as well as the eye and the sense of smelling were gratified ; 

 and Brazilians hardly knew which to admire most, the vestments of the 

 altar, the modulation of the orchestra, or the odours of the censer. 

 Divine service was performed more frequently, and the hours were ren- 

 dered more reasonable. Processions of the Host were less common, and 

 conducted in a much more respectable manner ; the images made their 

 occasional appearance in the streets with greater decorum, and excited 

 higher veneration. Brotherhoods, that most important branch of Catholic 



