poverty, obedience and monastic seclusion, in the hands of the Mother Abbess, the whole sisterhood being present. At a later hour the prelate and the officiating priests attend the church, and high mass is celebrated; the novice is now presented at the communion grating, where she receives the sacrament from the prelate; she then retires, and the rules of the order are again read to her, and if she still give her assent to them, she kisses the rules and the missal. A funeral pall is spread on the floor of the choir, on which the novice lies down, and is covered with another; the knell for the dead is tolled by the nunnery bells, the nuns holding funeral tapers in their hands, with their veils down, chaunting a mournful dirge, after which a solemn requiem is performed by the priests and the choir. The novice rises, assisted by the nuns, and the prelate, going to the communion table, takes a small veil in his hands, and chaunts the anthem, "Veni sponsa Christi." The novice approaches the table, the veil is laid on her head, and a lighted taper put into her hand, ornamented as a palm, after which she is crowned with flowers. The Mother Abbess next presents her to each nun, whom she salutes, and lastly the Abbess. She then bows to the prelate, priests, and her friends, and retires in solemn procession, the whole community chaunting the psalm, "Laudate Domini."
Much has been said and written respecting nuns and nunneries, and most unfeeling assertions have been made both with regard to the cause and effect of taking the veil; but, from what I have heard and seen, these assertions are generally as false as they are uncharitable; they are too often the effusions of bigots, who endeavour to load with the vilest epithets as well the cloistered nun, the devout catholic, and the pious protestant, as the immoral libertine. They apply to themselves the text, "he that is not for me, is against me," and every thing that militates against their own peculiar doctrines must be wrong. I never knew a nun who repented of her vows, and I have conversed with hundreds: many have said that they doubted not but that happiness was to be found without the walls, and discontent within, but that neither could be attributed exclusively to their being found in or out of a nunnery. Let those who would revile the conduct of their fellow creatures look to their own; let those who pity, search at home for objects: they who would amend others, should set the example. If we suppose that some of the inmates of cloisters are the victims of tyranny, we should recollect how many others are sacrificed at the shrine of avarice to the bond of matrimony! for the vows at the altar are alike indissoluble, and their effects are often far more distressing.
The vows of a friar are similar to those of the nuns; but owing perhaps to the door of the convent being as open as that of the choir, they are not so religiously fulfilled. The friars may indeed be considered as a nuisance, for they are generally formed of the dregs of society. When a father knows not what to do with a profligate son, he will send him to a convent, where having passed his year in the noviciate, he professes, and relying on his convent as a home, he becomes a drone to society, a burden to his order, and a disgrace to his own character. It was well said, by Jovellanos, that "friars enter their convent without knowing each other, live without loving one another, and die without bewailing one another." I have nevertheless known many virtuous and learned men among the hooded brethren, but rarely have I heard any one state, that he did not regret having taken the solemn oath that bound him to the cloister, and made him one of a fraternity which he could not avoid disliking. It generally happens, that the respectable individuals who assume a religious habit apply themselves to study, and by becoming lecturers, or getting a degree of D. D. in the University, they escape the drudgery of a hebdomadary, and take a seat in the chapter of the order.
The hospital of San Andres is appropriated to white people; it has several large neat wards, with clean beds; these are placed in small alcoves on each side the ward, and are so constructed, that in case of necessity, another row of beds can be formed along the top of the alcoves; it contains about six hundred beds, a number which can be doubled. The wards are well ventilated from the roof, and are kept wholesome. When a patient enters, he has a bed assigned him; his clothes are taken away, deposited in a general wardrobe, and not returned to him until orders are given by the physician or surgeon. The sick are not allowed to have any money in their possession, nor are visitors permitted to give them any thing, without the consent of one of the major domos, or overseers. A good garden, called a botanic garden, belongs to the hospital; also an amphitheatre, or dissecting room. The college of San Fernando, built by the Viceroy Abascal, for the study of medicine and surgery, adjoins this hospital, and here the students practise. It has also a department for drugs, where all the prescriptions are attended to by regular professors. The druggists, as well as the physicians and surgeons, are subject to examination in the university, and cannot practise without permission from the college of physicians, to whose annual visits they are liable, for the purpose of examining their drugs. No physician or surgeon is allowed to have drugs at his own house, or to make up his own prescriptions: even the barbers, who are phlebotomists, are examined by the board of surgeons.
The hospital of San Bartolome is for negroes and other people of colour; if they are free, they are received gratis, but if slaves, their owners pay half a dollar a day for the time they remain. St. Ana is for indians, and was founded by an indian lady, called Catalina Huanca. This casica was very rich, and besides this pious establishment she left large sums of money for other charitable uses; but her most extraordinary bequest was a sum for forming and paying the body guard of the Viceroy, both the halberdiers and the cavalry, consisting of a hundred men. The hospital del Espiritu Santo is for sailors, and a portion of the wages is deducted, called hospital money, from the pay of every sailor who enters the port of Callao. San Pedro is part of the convent bearing the same name, formerly belonging to the Jesuits, and now occupied by the congregation of San Felipe Neri. This hospital is for poor clergymen. San Pedro de Alcantara, and la Caridad, are both for females, and San Lazaro for lepers. Particular care is taken in the different hospitals, as well to the administration of medicine and surgical operations, as to the diet, cleanliness, ventilation, and comfort of the sick.
Besides these hospitals, there are the convalescencies of Belen and San Juan de Dios, under the management of the friars of the two orders. More particular attention is paid here to the sick than in the hospitals; any individual is received on paying half a dollar a day, or through the recommendation of one of the benefactors. I was twice in San Juan de Dios, and received every assistance and indulgence that I had a right to expect.
The college of Santo Toribio is a tridentine seminary, where young gentlemen are educated principally for the church; four collegians attend mass at the cathedral every morning, for the purpose of being initiated into the ceremonies of their future professions. Their habit is an almond coloured gown, very wide at the bottom, and buttoned round the neck; when spread open its form is completely circular, having a hole with a collar in the centre; this is called the opa. A piece of pale blue cloth, about eight inches broad, is passed over one shoulder, then folded on the breast, and the end thrown across the opposite shoulder, the two ends hanging down behind the bottom of the opa. On the left side of this cloth, called the beca, the royal arms are embroidered. A square clerical cap or bonnet of black cloth is worn on the head. This college bears the name of its founder, and is supported by rents appertaining to it; there is also a subsidy paid annually by each beneficed curate in the archbishopric, and a certain sum by each collegian.
The college of San Carlos is called the royal college; it was founded by the Jesuits, under the title of San Martin, but after the extinction of that order it was changed to San Carlos. The principal studies in this college are a course of arts and law; but theology is also taught. The dress is a full suit of black, a cocked hat, dress sword of gold or gilt, and formerly the royal arms suspended at a button-hole on the left side by a light blue ribbon. The college is capacious, having a chapel, refectory, garden, baths, different disputing rooms, and a good library, containing many prohibited French and other authors. San Carlos is supported by a yearly stipend from the treasury, assisted by what the collegians pay for their education. Lectures are delivered by pasantes, or the head collegians, to the lower classes; for which they receive a pecuniary reward, and wear as a distinguishing badge, a light blue ribbon or scarf, crossing from the left shoulder to the right side, to which the arms are suspended instead of the button-hole.
In the college del Principe, young noble indian caciques
