SOUTH AMERICA. 



93 



This palace was once the Jesuits' college, and originally Second 



Journey. 



built by those charitable fathers. Ask the aged and 



respectable inhabitants of Pernambuco, and they will tell 

 thee that the destruction of the Society of Jesus was ^/the"so-" 

 a terrible disaster to the public, and its consequences jesus°^ 

 severely felt to the present day. 



When Pombal took the reins of power into his own 

 hands, virtue and learning beamed bright within the 

 college walls. Public catechism to the children, and 

 religious instruction to all, flowed daily from the mouths 

 of its venerable priests. 



They were loved, revered, and respected throughout 

 the whole town. The illuminating philosophers of the 

 day had sworn to exterminate christian knowledge, and 

 the college of Pernambuco was doomed to founder in the 

 general storm. To the long-lasting sorrow and disgrace 

 of Portugal, the philosophers blinded her king, and 

 flattered her prime minister. Pombal was exactly the 

 tool these sappers of every public and private virtue 

 wanted. He had the naked SAvord of power in his own 

 hand, and his heart was hard as flint. He struck a 

 mortal blow, and the Society of Jesus, throughout the 

 Portuguese dominions, was no more. 



One morning all the fathers of the college in Pernam- 

 buco, some of them very old and feeble, were suddenly 

 ordered into the refectory. They had notice beforehand 

 of the fatal storm, in pity from the governor, but not 



