Whose altar, earth, sea, skies,"
may pray and praise in the manner their inclination or fancy may direct them. If the curfew of England were tolled for the same purpose it would perhaps be more consonant to the use of bells placed in a building dedicated to God, than to the now obsolete order for extinguishing fires, of which not one in a hundred knows the origin.
Respecting the feasts of the church, that of Corpus Christi is very splendid. The procession leaves the cathedral attended by all the civil and military authorities holding large wax tapers, the different orders of friars, the dean and chapter, and the archbishop, under a splendid canopy, supported by twelve priests in their robes of ceremony, his grace bearing the host or consecrated wafer, which is deposited in a superbly rich hostiarium. The military force is drawn up in the square, or plasa mayor, and after kneeling and pointing their bayonets to the ground, the banners and flags being prostrated as the sacrament passes, they all join in the procession, falling in at its rear; and when the archbishop turns round at the principal porch and blesses the people, the artillery and musquetry fire a salute. The most particular feature in this procession is the assistance of all the clubs or cofradias of the Africans: each separate company has its appropriate national music and songs, some of them carrying wooden idols on their heads, and dancing about with them among those who belong to their confraternity.
Santa Rosa, being a native of Lima, and patroness of America, has a solemn feast and procession from the church of Santo Domingo to the cathedral on the last day of August. It is generally attended by a great number of ladies, wearing wreaths of red and white artificial roses round their waists and the bottom of their sayas. The Viceroy and the tribunals also attended in this procession.
There are many other processions which it would be useless and unentertaining to mention. Those of San Francisco and Santo Domingo present the peculiarity of having the two effigies carried from their respective churches, so as to meet in the plasa mayor, where they salute each other by bows, &c., and are then carried to the church where the feast is celebrated. The host gives his right side to the guest, and after the feast is concluded he accompanies him home to his own church. On the day of San Francisco the friars of the order regale all the prisoners in the different gaols with a good dinner; and those of Santo Domingo do the same on the day of their patriarch.
The publication of the bulls, once in two years, happened on the day of St. Thomas the Apostle. The commissary-general was received at the door of the cathedral under a pall or canopy: he carried a bull of the crusade hung round his neck, and proceeded to the high altar, where he delivered it to the notary-public of the crusade, who, although a civilian, ascended the pulpit, and read the address of the commissary-general to the congregation. After this high mass was celebrated, and an appropriate sermon preached, setting forth the virtue of the bulls, and the great benefit derived from their purchase. This discourse in the year 1804 was rather ridiculous, because the King had raised the price of the bull of the crusade, and the good priest had not only to exhort the faithful to continue the holy practice of purchasing the bull, but to reconcile them to the additional tax imposed. This, he said, was to supply his Catholic Majesty with money for the purpose of carrying on the war against the English and other heretics. Such is the belief in the efficacy of these bulls, and so great is the revenue derived from the sale of them, that the new governments of Chile, Buenos Ayres, and, I was told, of Mexico and Colombia, re-printed them, and for some time continued the hoax. A priest in Chile, of whom I inquired whether the new government had a right to profit by a papal dispensation granted to the King of Spain, their enemy, answered me very archly, that a bull of the patria was as good as a bull of the pope; and that if the Viceroy Pesuela had a right to take the money from the treasury of the crusade at Lima, for the purpose of paying the expedition sent against Chile, the government of Chile had only followed the Christian-like example of their forefathers, who came to America for the purpose of preaching the gospel, and thus saving from the power of satan the souls of millions of infidels; but, continued he, laughing most heartily, if they try it again, I dare say they will find themselves like the man who went for wool and returned shorn: que fue por lana, y volvio trasquilado.
I was at Lima when the Viceroy Abascal made his public entrance, and also when the Viceroy Pesuela entered, who was probably the last that ever will enter, (La Serna, the nominal Viceroy, being no better than a traitor to Spain, having assumed the authority after he deposed Pesuela) I shall therefore give a short description of this formal ceremony.
On the arrival of the new Viceroy at Mansanilla, about four miles from Lima, he sent an officer, with the title of Ambassador, to inform his predecessor, that it being the will and pleasure of his Majesty that he should take upon himself the government of the kingdom of Peru, he should enter the capital the day following; a circumstance of which he begged leave to apprize his Excellency, that he might be prepared to resign the command, because his authority would cease: such being the orders of the Sovereign. The Viceroy immediately sent a messenger to his successor, to compliment him on his safe arrival. The two persons chosen by the chiefs for this ceremony were rewarded by them respectively with minor governments in Peru, this being the general custom; so that the first and the last act of a Viceroy was to confer a favour on some protegée. On the following morning the Viceroy Marquis de Aviles had an interview with his successor Abascal, but he returned to dinner at the palace, while his successor partook of a splendid dinner at Mansanilla, to which the principal nobility were invited. In the afternoon the Viceroy Aviles went in state to meet Abascal; they met on the road, and each alighted from his carriage: Aviles here presented Abascal with a gold headed cane or bâton, the insignia of the government of the kingdom; they then stepped into each other's coach, and entered the city, which on this occasion was splendidly adorned, all the streets through which the cavalcade passed being hung with tapestry, silk curtains, and other gay hangings. The steeples of the churches were ornamented with flags, and every bell was ringing. When the Viceroy Marquis de la Palata entered Lima in 1682, the streets through which the procession passed were all paved with bars of silver. The new Viceroy proceeded to his palace, where one of the alcaldes, deputed for the purpose, waited his arrival, and received and acknowledged him on the part of the city. On the following day all the courts, civil and ecclesiastical, bodies corporate, and communities waited on him, and at ten o'clock accompanied him to the cathedral, where Te Deum was chaunted. On his return to the palace the archbishop called on the Viceroy, who immediately afterwards returned the compliment; this is the only visit which a Viceroy paid. At twelve o'clock the new Viceroy went in state to the chamber of the audience, and took the oath of administration. The Viceroy Abascal dispensed with many ceremonies which Pesuela did not; I shall therefore subjoin them.
A few days after the arrival of Pesuela in Lima, a day was fixed for his entrance in state; the streets and steeples were ornamented as on the public entrance, with the addition of several triumphal arches, one with a gate was placed close to the church of Montserrat, near to the city wall. The Viceroy left the city early in the morning for Callao, and visited the fortifications; at nine o'clock he returned, and having arrived at the gate, which was shut, the captain of the escort alighted and knocked; the captain of the guard at the gate opened the postern, and asked who was there? Being answered, the Viceroy and captain-general of the kingdom, he closed the postern. The principal alcalde now advanced and passed the postern, and the Viceroy alighted from his horse, and the gate was thrown open: the alcalde then presented a golden key to the Viceroy, who, and his retinue of chamberlain, groom, chaplain, physician and pages, mounted their gaily caparisoned horses, prepared by the city, and the procession began in the following order:—
The cavalry then in the city; four pieces of artillery and the necessary artillery-men; the city militia; the troops of the line; the colleges, the university, the professors being dressed in the habits of their respective professions; the chamber of accompts; all the members of the audience, with their togas and golas, mounted on horses covered with black velvet embroidered trappings; the magistracy in crimson velvet robes, lined with crimson brocade, and small black caps on their heads. Eight members of the corporation, regidores, walked supporting an elegant crimson and gold canopy over the head of the Viceroy on horseback, and the two alcaldes in their magisterial robes, acted as equerries to his Excellency, holding the reins of his horse. The whole cavalcade was closed by the body guard of halberdiers and that of cavalry. It passed through several of the principal streets, and halted in the plasa mayor, in front of the cathedral, where the archbishop and chapter received the Viceroy as Vice-patron, and one of the minor canons offered incense to him at the door. Being seated, Te Deum was chaunted, after which the Viceroy mounted his horse and proceeded to his palace, where a splendid dinner was provided for him by the city. On the evening of this and the two following days grand balls and routs were given at the palace to the nobility, and free admittance to the tapadas was granted to the galleries, corridors, and gardens. The tapadas are females who are either not invited, or their rank does not allow them to attend in public, but who come to the fête covered, so as to prevent their being known; a great deal of vivacity and spirited wit is often heard among them. This manner of being present at any public entertainment is general in South America, and it is almost impossible to prevent it.