XOTES ON BRAZIL. 



249 



prolong their enjoyments. Here was gratified the desire of being seen 

 and admired ; here were cultivated the love of dress and show, and that 

 attention to neatness which is of infinitely higher value. Here the female 

 character was prepared to assume its proper station in society, its natural 

 and right influence over the hearts of men, those lords of the creation. 

 From so fertile a source of moral culture arose various new modes of 

 thinking, and of course a new set of manners. 



Among the minor circumstances influencing public manners, mav 

 be reckoned a song which obtained a large circulation, satirizing one of 

 the prevailing vices, and into the chorus of which was happily introduced 

 the name of an individual foremost in the ranks of the infamous. It was 

 set to a simple air, which was daily played through the streets, as the 

 military marched from the barracks to the palace. The music accorded 

 with the public taste, the negroes and boys were perpetually singing in 

 merry ridicule, and the song became familiar to all. In consequence the 

 man particularly pointed at, either left the city or hid himself in it, 

 or was hidden in the grave, for he was seen no more, and his abettors 

 were glad to pass unnoticed. In no other instance did I ever see ridicule 

 so well, so immediately and effectually applied. 



Notwithstanding the general lenient nature of the alterations intro- 

 duced into religious affairs, some severe measures were at this period 

 employed against persons who ridiculed the ceremonies of the Church. 

 Two or three Englishmen were imprisoned, not justly, I am inclined 

 to hope, for it was at a time when a rancorous spirit had been infused 

 into the military, who act as the inferior officers of Police, and were much 

 disposed to abuse their authority, and to molest our countrymen. 



It is not to be denied that while the practical, as well as the ceremo- 

 nious parts of Roman Catholicism, were in many instances greatly 

 improved, its very foundations were shaken. So deeply were these laid 

 in ignorance and absurdity, that to reform was, of necessity, to weaken 

 and endanger. The bigotted and the profligate, though characteristically 

 opposed to each other, united to hold in abhorrence the innovations which 

 had been made in old modes, and to cherish the bitterest resentment 



