Social state of the Limenians under the Spaniards
and Patriots.—Spanish colonists.—Style of
conversation.—Improvements in female education.—Zamba
attendants.—Omnipotence of the ladies at fifteen.—Esprit
de corps of the fair sex.—Forgiving temper of public
opinion.—Defective administration of justice.—Prerogative
called Empeño.—God-fathers and god-mothers.—Saint-day
parties.—Flowers and perfumes.—Limenian women excel in
attention to the sick.—General character of the white women
and dark races.—Boys of European race.—Few men of intellectual
habits.—Promenade of Amencaes, as illustrative of national
feeling and character.—Pillo and Pillo-fino.—Money a substitute
for morality.—Relaxation of morals general, but not universal.
Persons of sufficiently mature age in Lima never fail to acknowledge,
and often delight to tell us, that before the great revolution, and
during the tranquil period of their own early recollections, their
fellow-citizens and countrymen were in general fair and upright in
their ordinary dealings; and that good humour, happiness, and gaiety of
heart were inseparable from their frequent public meetings and social
recreations.
But this sound and amicable spirit, which indeed appears to have diffused
itself pretty generally in the time of the Spanish dynasty, we may trace
as emanating from the many estimable and courteous qualities of those
more enlightened Europeans, by whose superior capacity and direction
the then existing order of society was so long and quietly upheld in
this and in other sections of the New World. The past state of things
was nevertheless faulty in many respects. It involved an uncontrolled
indulgence in sensual gratification, though the memory of many a
disappointed patriot likes to dwell on it as on the flowery retrospect
of his happiest days. But Lima is no longer a garden of roses, or a
bower of delight. One day, in speaking of the change to the worse that
the revolution had brought about in the social system of his country, a
venerable old man remarked, “Formerly there was a heart to feel, and a
hand to give; but now they have left us neither friendship nor pity: you
find not whom to trust; and men, without regard to right or justice, keep
all to themselves with the close unyielding grasp of the ape when she
clasps her young to her bosom.”
An unbounded love of superficial display engages the minds of the people
so fully as to have superseded, to a great extent, active benevolence,
and sterling, honourable dealing between man and man; and we must confess
that the yet inexperienced creoles, left to themselves, show, in the
management of their own affairs, slender political discretion and no
shining public virtue.
But yet, as a whole, the Peruvians, for whose manifold faults very great
allowances should be made, have, in an eminent degree, the redeeming
qualities of soft, attractive manners, and a mild, prepossessing address.
These agreeable characteristics, not so frequently as could be wished
associated with a manly openness and frankness of mind, sometimes serve,
in the present evil times, as a ready cloak to exclude the ken of those
whom they are willing to deceive.
If these secluded people, too long accustomed to servitude and ease
during the luxurious dynasty of their European masters, were once
induced—which, under good moral management, they easily might be,—to make
honesty and industry more prevalent virtues than they are at present
among the bulk of the population, then they might realize, more largely
than they have yet done, the advantages of that unsettled freedom,
which, with feelings of pardonable exultation, they pride themselves
in possessing; and, with such an amendment on their moral features,
their richly varied country, with all its natural superiorities and
improvable resources, might soon be transformed into an earthly elysium.
But the germ of true political liberty must be better cultivated than it
has yet been among them, and protected by a steady, disinterested, and
patriotic government, before the soil can be made to throw out its latent
luxuriance, or generous and noble virtues freely unfold themselves in the
heads and hearts of a newly independent, uninstructed, and heterogeneous
population.
The common race of Spaniards from old Spain, who established themselves
and reared families in Peru, appear to have been, as we formerly
signified, men of strict commercial integrity, scarcely requiring written
obligations or acknowledgements in their pecuniary transactions one
with the other; they are reported to have been friendly and charitable,
always ready to assist a poor adventurer from the old country, or a needy
friend, whenever he presented himself.
The houses of the affluent teemed with idle domestics and laughing
loiterers, whose coarse merriment bespoke contentment and plenty; and the
beggar, who sat in the back-court and corridor (the walls of which are
still beautified with painted flowers and landscapes) to enjoy the cool
of the artificial fountain, or who rested himself on the benches of the
tesselated porchway, laughing with the merry fellows that were about him,
felt not the miseries of pauperism; for, wherever the Limenian mendicant
seated himself, there he was happy, and partook cheerfully of the
abundant surplus from the rich man’s table, which was liberally bestowed
on the poor.
But, generally speaking, delicacy of sentiment or refinement of
education did not belong to the Spanish colonists; and though they
acquired wealth by their moderate industry, reared costly edifices and
churches, endowed convents and monasteries, and paid for numberless
masses; though they befriended the poor, and filled their welcome guest’s
cup to overflowing in a land of milk and honey; yet, be it spoken with
candour, their _summum bonum_ seems to have been something like a good
Mussulman’s paradise.
The natives of the country still avow, that though the Spaniard, who used
to come to their shores as an adventurer soon to be incorporated into
their domestic circle, was seldom a polished or intellectual character,
nevertheless he was usually a man of integrity and some industry, or,
to use their own words, “brusco, pero recto y trabajador.” Besides, the
women, whom we in general allow to be good judges in every rank of life,
continue to bear witness that the Spaniard makes a good husband and
a kind father of a family,—“el Espanol es buen marido y buen padre de
familia.” But, to merit this encomium from the fair sex on the shores
of the Pacific, let it be borne in mind that austere virtue and severe
self-denial are not always expected or required in the husband.
Those educated foreigners who frequent the rounds and “tertulias” of
Limenian good company,—which we take as the best criterion of refinement
in that country,—have had occasion to regret, that women of the most
elegant manners, ladylike mien, and unimpeached character, are despoiled
of no small share of the outward illusion of their charms, and appear to
lose much of the moral loveliness of their sex, by an unconscious licence
of speech, that cannot fail to appear faulty in the opinion of those to
whom long habit has not yet rendered the style familiar.
We have pleasure in bearing our humble evidence in favour of the great
pains, and cost, to which mothers now put themselves in educating their
daughters; and it is incontrovertible, that the rising generation are
about to come on the stage of active life, with many advantages of
instruction which were not enjoyed by their parents. But, granting it
to be true, that these interesting young ladies may have considerable
advantages over their predecessors in the knowledge of French, geography,
music, a little drawing, and a chaster fashion of dancing, still, we are
apprehensive, that in more humble and useful domestic education not a
little is wanting: and this important defect, we conceive, is not to be
remedied by expensive teachers, or by the routine of boarding-schools;
but, if we mistake not, by good example at home. To improve the domestic
education in the female part of the community, it would be necessary to
detach young ladies as much as possible from the customary attendance
of old favourite “zambas;” who, there is much reason to believe, teach
them at an early age to pry into the private weaknesses of their seniors,
and excite in their quick, comprehensive minds a degree of attention
and curiosity which, when indiscreetly called forth, seldom fail to
bias their inclination to vices that may on some occasions be deemed
hereditary; and thus open a door to a series of indulgences which, in the
long-run, prove the bane of their own ill-sought happiness, as well as
the wreck of many a fond parent’s hopes, too blindly placed on a daughter
left to the daily tutorship of intriguing domestics.
The ladies when young, and long before they become marriageable, are
taught to anticipate their own omnipotence at fifteen, which little girls
of seven or eight years of age already reckon to be the approaching
era of their perfect felicity; for the Spaniards say “No hay fea de
quince,”—All are fair at fifteen. There is also among these gifted
women, whose superiority, as a body, over their own countrymen is
always admitted, a great “esprit de corps,” so that the greatest sinner
among them is never left without a gentle voice to plead her cause, and
palliate, when she cannot exculpate, a sister’s errors.
This forgiving system runs through every class and rank, from the highest
to the lowest; but it is in the lofty circles that its influence is most
worthy of particular notice. No one ventures to throw the first stone at
the unfortunate; and there insensibly arises a gradation of vices and
virtues, dove-tailing into each other so as to constitute a social whole,
wherein the different degrees of moral deviation are all shaded by an
overflowing charity. Pleasure and vice are nearly allied, and unhappily
he who assumes the clerical habit and tonsure is not, in his own person,
always a stranger to the voluptuous enjoyments of those around him;
and the example of the man who rules the conscience of the people,—who
grants them absolution, and allows them indulgences,[7]—will naturally be
imitated: hence the indulgence of public opinion as regards individual
and private character in Peru.
The slow and partial administration of justice is loudly complained
of by those whose affairs require them to frequent courts of law
in the Peruvian capital. The turbulent independence of the bad and
disorderly, uncontrolled by any active and faithful police, is every
day increasing, and already puts justice at defiance. The impudence,
ill-acquired pecuniary influence, and intrigue of the false-hearted and
boasting patriot, are daily seen to assume the embroidered insignia of
“un benemerito de la patria!”—an honour which only in equity belongs
to that rare character—the genuine patriot, who knows how to sacrifice
his private convenience to the public good. The judges are often left
without pecuniary means consistent with their honourable calling,
because their salaries are not duly paid by the government; and if,
under these circumstances, the balance of justice be disturbed in its
equilibrium, the blame must not be all laid to the charge of those
public functionaries who are the appointed ministers of the laws. The
truth is, that, for a considerable time back, the sums that entered the
national treasury were too scanty to support the pageantry of military
array, together with the accumulated expences of a destructive and
demoralizing warfare; and the pecuniary embarrassments arising from these
circumstances, involved in their consequences some drawbacks in the
civil administration of justice. But another popular cause, and that
to which we would desire to draw the attention of the reader, for the
unequal distribution of justice, is by common consent allowed to be, that
in the best, as even now in the worst of times, the fair sex in Lima have
enjoyed, from date immemorial, a more than regal prerogative, which the
convulsions that effected what is called their political freedom, have in
no essential particular obliterated or changed. It is called Empeño.
This tacitly constitutional instrument of clemency, although in the
hands of women naturally inclined to mercy, may, when misguided, operate
against the vital interests of the community; and by it the true ends
of legislative enactments may, from time to time, be frustrated. This
prerogative is put in practice especially by certain genteel-looking
young women, who are neither married nor single, but who, in the language
of the indulgent matrons of the country, are allowed to be, though not
married, highly honourable and gifted,—“No es casada, pero muy honrada,
muy prendada:” and a lady of this quality seldom loses favour, or a good
place in society, so long as she has a _calesa_ or carriage in Lima,
and a _rancho_ or bathing-lodge in Chorrillos. Let us now suppose that
this lady, attired in her national, or rather Limenian, dress of saya
and manto,[8] desires either to plead some advantage or indulgence for
another, or a favour more particularly for herself,—and that for this
purpose she employs the blandishments and flow of persuasive language
at her command. The gentleman, thus softly assailed by so eloquent
and attractive a being, unwisely listens until he is entirely at his
magician’s bidding. This spell is what is vulgarly meant by the gigantic
and overgrown prerogative termed in Peru empeño. But we must not forget
to mention, that this ascendant power is very commonly promoted
by a certain spiritual influence, in which both married and single
partake,—namely, the sacred relation between god-fathers and god-mothers,
the well-known “compadres y comadres” of that sunny land; and it will
be at once perceived that an influence so remarkable in the ladies as
this, which enables them, during their good pleasure, to deprive men of
free-will, must have wide practical application, and be productive of
great good or evil in that country, where it confessedly extends its
sway to bench and altar, senate, palace, and camp. No old stager in Lima
hears of a political or domestic altercation, or of any serious movement
that causes a stir and sensation in the city, but he immediately inquires
what woman can be at the bottom of this _bullanga_ or hubbub; and if the
affair should happen to concern himself, his friends, or political party,
he does not long sit at ease until he finds out who that woman is, or
discovers where the spiritual alliance rests, where dwells the comadre
that rules the order of the day.[9]
The Peruvian highland girls have an ingenious way of contriving for
themselves compadres, without the necessary interference of the priest,
merely by sending the gentleman, whom any one of them in particular
may desire to honour, a sweet cake made into the form of a doll,
which they call “guawa,” the Indian name for baby. This offspring of
a good-humoured regard which they desire should become mutual, they
nicely dress, and accommodate on a couch made from a selection of the
fresh flowers of the season, and forward it with their kindest wishes
(con muchisimas expresiones), under their now adopted name of comadre,
to the person on whom by this gracious act of partiality they confer
the confidential title, expecting by his acceptance a return of the
attentions and courtesy of the real compadre. On the coast, again, (in
the capital,) on the anniversary of a lady’s birth-day, or saint’s
day, celebrated in merry parties encouraged to assemble by the joint
allurements of music, dancing, cooling repasts, and all that can render
such meetings attractive, the drawing-room may be said to be converted
into a flower-garden by the attention of compadres, comadres, and
friends, who vie with each other in sending presents of fine flowers,
sweet preserves, and other gifts; and, at the annual return of these
joyful meetings, the friends of the family, and of the individual who is
the object of the compliments of the day, have the best opportunity of
expressing their friendship, by adding to the ornaments of a young lady’s
toilet, or presenting her with any delicate mark of personal regard.
These meetings, not overlooked in the humblest dwellings, are seen to
best advantage in the handsome “_quadra_,” or tertulia-room of the
wealthy, where the large chandeliers are well reflected by spacious
mirrors, in which are seen multiplied the groups of happy faces, to the
delight of the party, all pleased with one another. Here and there are
Guamanga baskets of filigree texture laden with spiced and perfumed
fruits, sometimes ornamented with delicate threads of gold and silver,
fancifully twined from peg to peg of the spice fixed in the fruit.
Among them, too, are usually golden apples,—viz. apples coated with
gold leaf,—many sweet fruits imbedded in aroma, and the sweetly-scented
cheremolla or cheremoya, and orange blossoms, which are peculiarly
welcome to the guests when distributed from the hands of the hostess, or
her engaging daughters.
We may here observe, in passing, that handing a flower to a forenoon
visitor, who, if a polished gentleman, accompanies his verbal salutation
by raising his hand softly to his heart, is only a customary mark of
polite attention, quite in character with the complacent manners and
natural taste of the Limenian ladies, in this respect favoured by their
balmy climate, in which odoriferous fruits and flowers are always within
reach: and on leaving their house they almost invariably besprinkle
their visitors with perfumes, and thus send them away _redolent_ of
hospitality. And while their corridors, in which they frequently swing in
their hammocks, or enjoy the _siesta_, are scented with flower-gardens,
and their “patios,” or courts, with roses and jessamine, sweet perfumes,
and fragrant herbs are frequently used in their principal bed-chamber,
when it is found convenient, for the sake of cheering the sick, to
receive friends into this apartment, which is usually very gorgeously
furnished, and communicates with the drawing-room or _quadra_. Our
professional avocations have afforded us an intimate opportunity to
know, and we feel a peculiar pleasure in proclaiming it, that it is by
the bedside of sickness (where men are exceedingly helpless without the
aid of the softer sex, at once more patient and serene, more dexterous
and endearing in their assistance,) that the Limeña, be her rank, birth,
or pretensions what they may, is seen to greatest advantage. Here the
humblest and most faulty of these comforters shows the native goodness
of her disposition, and is seen to rise superior to the drawbacks of her
education, manifesting the angelic power of her sex to soothe pain and
cheer the broken-hearted, by the exercise of that blessed charity which
covereth a multitude of sins.
It is curious to notice that among the white women of Lima there are
no menials, though they are subject to many of the privations and
humiliations of poverty; but, a poor girl of unmixed Spanish blood,
though of lowly birth, feels, however destitute in her circumstances,
the impulse of what she deems nobility within her; and at nothing do her
prejudices more strongly recoil, than at the idea of becoming the wife of
a man of African or slave descent.
Comely countenances,—above all, a bright and beautiful eye,—and pretty
figures, with an inimitably graceful walk, constitute the common
inheritance of the European race, who, in their own forms, partake of
the softness and fineness of the climate in which they were brought into
being. These are, in common with their tawny and darker countrywomen,
extremely attentive to the public and outward ordinances of their showy
religion, which must strike every one with a feeling of solemnity as,
at the stroke of a bell at twilight, every human being engages in
one common act of public devotion. They retain the common Catholic
spirit of pious display, fasting, and penance; the same faith in the
efficacy of saintly images and influences; the same reliance on priestly
absolution and indulgences; but they do not cherish the cruelty or stern
religion of their ancestors, whose ardent zeal planted the cross on
the now mouldering ruins of Pachacamac.[10] Though little versed in
book-information, they are usually gifted with natural acuteness and
intelligence; are seldom quite ignorant of the ways of the world, even
when educated in convents; are hardly ever so overcome by their tender
feelings, or so blind to their worldly interests, as to fall into the
folly of a genuine love-marriage; and they are never at a loss for a
sagacious observation or pertinent reply. They are indulgent to human
passion and weakness; are agreeable, sometimes fascinating companions;
and never fail to leave the _buen mozo_, (the good-looking young man,)
if not delighted with them, at least highly pleased with himself. Their
conversation is sprightly and unembarrassed; and though particularly
indulged and caressed from childhood, accustomed to flattery and fond
of admiration, they are as free from obtrusive levity and affectation of
manner, as from blushing timidity or cold reserve; their filial love is
the admiration of foreigners; and, when blessed with good husbands, they
are faithful and affectionate wives.
Nothing in Lima can strike the attention of a stranger, who understands
their language, more than the propriety and fluency with which
serving-people express their thoughts, and this they commonly do with
an agreeable seasoning of the ease and manner of the higher classes; a
fact, no doubt, attributable to much native ability on their own part,
and to their having been brought up on a footing of great familiarity
with their superiors. This recommendatory trait in the humblest ranks of
the community is, we regret, fast giving way to the intrusive manners of
the unrestrained and rising aristocracy of a mongrel brood,—a dusky and
bronzed brotherhood, whose very complexion indicates an incapacity to
blush as apparent, at first sight, as among the white race used to be the
long-honoured badge of the proud Spanish lineage,—the “sangre azul!” blue
blood!—so called, by the inferior races, in consideration of the hue of
the veins rising to view under the delicate tissue of a pure white skin.
Wit, not unknown among the white women, is a general attribute of the
mestizo and zambo septs, as well male as female. These people of colour
are too much addicted to sarcasm, and too fond of the ludicrous and
fantastical. When in a bilious or choleric mood, they are outrageously
passionate; but then, with _chicha-piña_ (fermented juice of the
pine-apple), and _nieve_ (ice or iced-water), they soon drown or freeze
their fury, and restore to themselves equanimity and mirth. Instances of
death from impetuous gusts of passion are, we believe, rare among them;
though we have had occasion to hear of some such, and we have witnessed
severe nervous ailments that arose from the turbulent emotion of their
savage anger. Such mixed castes are remarkable for a great deal of
what is by themselves called “_broma_,”—a facetious kind of bantering,
with noisy fun and sensual dalliance, which is most displayed at their
“_jarranas_,” or merry meetings: they like the theatre, and they are
passionately fond of bull-fights, cock-fights, religious processions,
and that sort of song and music which inflame the passions and deprave
the heart,—their feasts too often degenerate into debauchery, and their
merriment into obscenity.
Boys of pure Spanish parentage or descent, in Lima, are usually animated
and intelligent, like their sisters; but, as their bodily powers approach
to maturity, their attention is engrossed with frivolous pleasures,
which seem to enervate the mental faculties, and stint and vitiate their
future expansion. It is, therefore, not unusual for hopeful boys to
become childish and fickle, silly and fatuous men. The latter imbecility
of mind we observe with striking frequency in the families of the
suppressed nobility.
Those very few well-tempered spirits that have outgrown every obstacle to
their full mental developement, have that inborn thirst after knowledge
which even knowledge itself cannot quench; for, the more they learn, the
more they aspire to know; and these men, with little external incitement
to forward or nurture their literary tastes and pursuits, are like those
plants on arid land, which only require a few fleeting showers to quicken
their energies, develope their form, and unfold their beauty. Such choice
persons are the delight of their friends, and worthy of that better state
of society for which they daily sigh, as they see the best laws and
institutions of their country trampled upon by military despots, whose
nod they must obey, while they say in their hearts, “Vetitum est sceleri
nihil!”
On the 24th of June, (Dia de San Juan,) all Lima annually assemble along
the windings of the “Great Alamada,” and between orangeries now prettily
laden with fruit, to the romantic mountain recess of “Amencaes,” only
about one mile from town, and beautifully adapted for pleasure-grounds,
if only supplied with water, which it might have at some expense. This
spot commands a fine view of the capital, with its towering spires; of
wide fields, innumerable orchards, the Rimac, and the fine lagoon at its
mouth; the island of San Lorenzo, and the shipping at Callao; and it has,
in its back-ground, a set-off in the acclivities newly clothed with vivid
vegetation, among numerous crags and many a ridge and chasm. Here, on the
day of San Juan,—a day of festivity and joy,—men, women, and children,
of all ranks, all ages, and all colours and occupations, meet. Mirth is
the object of one and all. Their horses, their asses, and even their own
persons, are adorned in their best manner; and the rational as well as
the irrational members of the ever-moving crowd are bedecked with the
flower of Amencaes taken from the favourite clefts and nooks of these
hills. In this place there are tents and sheds, that supply seats and
refreshment for those who love the thoughtless and bawling mirth of the
“jarrana.” There is at this exhibition a dunning confusion of musical
discord kept up by drumming, piping, shouting, harping, and guitaring,
singing, laughing, and dancing; but no fighting. Here too we may see the
popular “paseo,” or promenade, of the “_chuchumecas_,” (women of immoral
character,) who mingle freely and good-humouredly with the crowd, to the
infinite amusement of the multitude. The national taste is on this, as
on other occasions of festivity, eminently displayed by the loud and
simultaneous laugh, or “_carcajada_,” of cheering voluptuaries when the
samaqueca—a favourite dance—is exhibited in a free and masterly style.
The periodical rides and picnics of the Limenians to Las Huacas, Surco,
and Lurin, are now dwindling away into neglect, as there is neither
money nor public tranquillity for such happy scenes of customary
gaiety. Carnival, with them, has lost its spirit; the _Noche Buena_, or
Christmas-eve, is deprived of much of its revelry; and all that in their
customs was most alluring and glittering is rapidly withering and dying
away.
We may now, not unfrequently, observe more disposition to indulge in the
gloomy and silent stillness of the “_duelo_,” or formal condolence for
the dead, than in the hilarity of the golden times of these merry-making
people, who were for generations most happy in the unconsciousness of
defects, and in the conviction that no people on earth were superior to
themselves in knowledge and civilization.
In all parts of the world there are criminally selfish and unprincipled
men; and in Peru there may be found a set of rogues, called “_Pillos_,”
rendered more numerous and troublesome from the circumstances of the
times. Of these the capital presents two kinds, which has led to the
distinction of “pillo” and “pillo-fino.” The first is a very common
and plausible sort of rogue; but the latter is, as the name implies, a
more refined cheat, not unfrequently enticed from distant parts by the
fame of the numerous attractions of Lima, the paralysis of the laws,
and consequent facility of escaping chastisement. The clink of hard
dollars and doubloons, shoveled into “_talegas_,” or money-bags, and
again thrown open at the gambling-table, are such sounds as are sure to
allure the pillo-fine to that promiscuous society of Limenian gamblers,
where the precious coin usually finds its way into the hands of the
crafty. Whatever be the land of this animal’s nativity, he is but a
vampire,—a human blood-sucker; but the simple pillo is a very different
character, always plausible and pliable, an every-day and common-place
member of society, who sponges on his neighbour, and whom all Englishmen
courted for their generosity are sure to encounter. The ultimatum of this
person’s milky adulation and very smiling policy is to procure a loan of
money; and when he asks “plata prestada,” or money on loan, of any one,
he assures that person, that applying to him is the greatest proof he can
offer of his own friendly confidence and regard for the individual; but,
while he is lavish of compliment, he takes care not to express his secret
purpose, namely, never to reimburse whatever in this way he may hope to
clutch.
It is a trite saying with the Spaniard,—“Es bueno conocer el amigo sin
perderlo,” that is, It is well to know a professed friend, but not to
lose him; and this will be found, like most Spanish adages, to convey
in actual life a lesson of practical wisdom. The common pillo, of whom
we take notice, never thinks the less of you for giving him a polite
refusal; and, by so doing, you act in the spirit of the above saying,
and preserve both your friend and your money; for, when civilly refused,
he in good nature leaves you, and proceeds forthwith in search of some
less wary dupe, and thinks to himself as he departs from you, “Ya este
sabe,”—This one is up to our tricks.
Though Peru be a land of gold and silver, yet nowhere are the precious
metals in greater requisition than in Lima, where the scarcity of
circulating capital is shown by the revolting dealings of the common
usurer, who extorts from the victims of his cupidity two or three per
cent. a month on the advances he makes; and the current and regular rate
of interest in that country is one per cent. a month, or twelve per cent.
a year.
The “plata,” or money, covers more delinquencies than charity itself;
hence we hear such expressions as these: “Nada es mala que gana la
plata,” viz. Nothing is bad that wins the money. “Bien, le costo su
plata!”—Very well, (what is it to us?) it cost him his money! “Porque no
tener su gusto cuando le cuesta la plata?”—Why not have his pleasure when
it costs him the money?—as if money, forsooth, could annihilate the moral
turpitude of sinful enjoyment.
We cannot give the reader a better idea of the popular ethics of Peru
in the present day, than in the words of a friend long resident in the
country, who said that Peru had the advantage over every other country
he had seen,—that in it “no one need ever be put out of countenance for
anything he can say or do.” By so broad a statement as that conveyed in
the expression now cited, we would only desire to represent the bad state
of moral feeling prevalent among the bulk of a people not long since let
loose to follow their own unrestrained wishes; without thereby meaning to
deny the fact, that, in Lima more particularly, we often find that good
natural dispositions and obliging manners do in no small degree supply,
in the ordinary intercourse of life, the place of higher principle. And
yet more: we would honourably except from this general description many
individual examples of eminent virtue to be met in Peruvian society;
striking instances of disinterested friendship and kindness (of which
the writer himself has more than once been the favoured object); and the
most generous, amiable, and praiseworthy bearing, which we have seen
displayed by them in their domestic and social relations.
If we consider all things in the circumstances of the Peruvians, their
story from first to last must awaken an interest in the mind of every
inquirer into their past and present state, rather than dispose him to
censure them indiscriminately for their errors. We may indeed wonder not
to find fewer good qualities among them; and, on the other hand, not
to see the fiercer passions that utterly brutalize human nature, and
agitate every corner of society, more called into action among a medley
of ignorant and discordant castes, passing without adequate preparation
from one extreme of government to another, and from one civil broil into
another of greater confusion and misrule.
But, as we have already had occasion to mention, there is among the
entire mass of the people a natural aptness to please by a happy address;
and no one can witness the external graces of the more enlightened
and better classes, who are daily engaged in their customary rounds of
social and courteous attentions, without desiring that these qualities,
at least, should survive the overthrow of whatever is pernicious to a
healthy state of society.