On the Affairs of the Poor. 17 When truth is not strictly attended us endeavour to draw our information to, it may be difficult to say how far from repeated inquiries, but more error and prejudice may lead the de- particularly from what passes under claimers against workhouses; for by our own eye. Let us upon every opthe foregoing quotations, there does portunity, examine into the habits not appear to be any limits where they and dispositions of the poor, when will stop. I am ready to acknow- they apply for relief; and let us furledge that there are some cottagers, ther learn, whether the poor are dewho by industry and bard labour, bring prived of their moral, social, and paup a family with credit to themselves, rental affections, by being sent to a and are very valuable members of so- workhouse; or whether they did not ciety; and when sickness, old age, enter it hardened, like the nether and infirmities overtake them, they mill-stone, to all such sensations. I ought to have every reasonable indul- have already mentioned in my former gence which can be prudently given: letters, the proportion between the and instances may happen, where vicious, the drunken, and the sober, a thoughtless overseer may send such and the industrious poor, who are a person to a workhouse; but I can- sent to what are called the parish prinot think this to be a general prac- sons; and if their past lives are tice; and if it be, it is not a suffi- strictly scrutinized, it will be found cient reason for abolishing work- that a very large number of them had houses; for in the present state of blunted the relish for those endearing things, it is impossible to go on with- scenes of rural happiness, so highly out them. They who contend so loudly to they were sent from them. have the poor all pensioned in their extolled by the pastoral poets, before own houses, have never studied the use of intoxicating liquors, he soon rehabits, nor are they acquainted with linquishes all relish for the comforts When a man gives up himself to the the leading feature in the general mass of his fire side. He grows indifferent of the poor, nor have they considered to the social conversation of his wife, the consequences which would imme- and the welfare of his children, and diately follow, if their system was uni- his only delight is in the noisy mirth versally adopted. Can they offer any of an alehouse. By the constant rereason why a poor man should work petition of this practice he enervates hard, and fare indifferently, to bring himself, and is in every respect, both up a family, if Mr. Whitbread's pro- in body and mind, prepared to live vision had been established by law, upon the fruits of others' labours. and he could lawfully demand it? He certainly would not, if he found no longer any dependance upon a paWhen children find, that there is the idle and the worthless relieved, rent for support, and see but little atand living upon the labour of the in- tention, and loss regard paid them, dustrious. Mr. Whitbread's pension clause gradually weakens the ties of filial and nothing but bad example, this could not fail of being productive of affection, till it sinks into indifference; evil, and of increasing our parochial and if they dread the violent passions burdens very rapidly. In petty juris- of a drunken parent, they will not dictions, and in many towns, it would long love or reverence him. immediately be made a trafficking system. They who could influence a old or the young, who are sent to a There are but few, either of the Visitor, a guardian, or an overseer, well regulated workhouse, who have would get their relations, their their principles more corrupted, or friends, and their dependants, upon their morals more depraved, than the pension list; and others would get when they first entered it; and there their friends on it, by bartering their are many who are dismissed with their votes at an election; and by this libe- vigour and their activity restored, rality with the public purse, there and capable of procuring a living, if would be many to receive the paro- they do not return to their former chial bounty, and but few to pay it. Before we hastily adopt the wild vicious practices. chimeras of prejudiced persons, let fice, and raise a new one in its place, UNIVERSAL MAG. VOL. IX. may knock down the old edi We C at a very considerable expence to the The transition is easy and natural; public, but if we leave all the evils and it is not used in a forced way. and abuses which time hath brought down to us, to increase as they hitherto have done, our trying new expedients will be like the invalid, who changes his situation, and takes his complaints with him. If we cannot at once do all we wish, we ought to endeavour to do all we can, by stopping every existing abuse in collecting and expending money raised for the relief of the poor, and at the same time to punish those who have the power, but not the inclination to work. We may see how much there remains to do, by what hath been done in the eleven parishes mentioned in -this letter, within the short space of five years; and if 15151. can be saved in eighteen months, out of an income of 28041, it is surely an object worth the serious attention of the legislature. On the words " FURROW” and “TRA SIR, 1Ο MONTANE." To the enquiry of your a 3 correspondent (See Nov. p. 392, allow me to answer, that the word furrow, in Gray's elegy, may be explained in a satisfactory manner by a veference to other terms in the same line, has broke." N. B. Cowper might say, "Sidney warbler of poetic prose," without wading through the whole of Sir P. Sidney's Arcadia. In haste, I remain, Sir, &c. T W. B. A FULL AND INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE BRAZILS. Collected from the most recent and authentic information relative to that Country. HE recent political events on the Continent have turned the eyes of all Europe towards this part of South America. The country to which a dethroned prince has fled for refuge, becomes an object of curiosity; the country which is expected to open a new source of commercial wealth to our merchants, becomes an object of interest; and besides these leading features, there may yet be added another, the little that has hitherto been known respecting these provinces. In every point of view, therefore, whether political, mercan tile, or literary, we are confident that we shall meet the general wish of all our readers, by presenting to them the following methodical and accurate description of the Brazils. According to the most approved mode of husbandry, the fallowing of strong soil, whereby a furrow is made between every two ridges throughout a field, and which, perhaps, is the most laborious part of husbandry, seems to be here alluded to. By this operation the strong ground, or, as the poet calls it, the stubborn glebe is fallowed or broken, whence, metaphorically speaking, the purrow is said to have done the work. Gray had too sound a judgment to adopt a local or provincial word in the passage before us I agree with your Cambridge correspondent of the same date, who discusses Cowper's misapplication (perhaps roisunderstanding of the signification of the Italiau word tramontane. Pot Cowper does not write nonsense when he applies this word to express trungressing the bounds of belief. POSITION AND LIMITS. The immense dominions possessed by the Portuguese in South America, and comprehended under the general name of THE BRAZILS, extends from the frontiers of French Guiana, lat. 1° 30, to Port St. Pedro, S. lat. 32°, being 33 degrees and a half, or 2000 geographical miles: and the breadth from Cape St. Roque, to the furthest Portuguese settlement on the river of Amazons, called Sapatinga, equals, if it does not exceed, that extent. This vast territory has been by some This admeasurement must be considered as including that portion called Portuguese Guiana: but most geographters now begin to consider Guiana, or that vast territory between the Maranon and Oroonoko, as a detached country, separated even from the Portuguese possessions in Brazil, by the prodigious flood of the Maranon. Hence the appellations of Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and French Gui supposed to equal Europe in size: from the north to the south, viz. but it should be remembered, that Para-Maranhao-Siara-St. Cathathis last is 3300 British miles in rina-Rio Grande-Iba or Paraiba― length, by 2350. A precise line of Tamaraca-Fernambuco-Sergippé demarcation between the Portuguese Bahia or Todos Santos-Ileos-Porto and Spanish possessions in South Seguro-Espiritu Santo-Rio Janeiro America, was established by the St. Vicente-Del Rey. - treaty of St. Ildefonso, in 1777. In addition to these, Da Cunha, These boundaries are formed by a in his "Political Essay on the Comline drawn from S. E. to N. W. by merce of Portugal," mentions the which the country to the N. E. of following provinces in the interior the said boundary belongs to Portu- country:-St. Paulo-Minas Geraes gal, and the territory on the S. W. to -Gojas Cugata-Mato Groso. AlSpain. most in every one of these governDISCOVERY, SUCCESSIVE MASTERS, ments, adds he, Portugal maistains a sufficient and well armed number of &c. &c. RIO JANEIRO. Brazil was discovered by mere ac- troops, who, as often as necessity recident by Cabral, a Portugese admi- quires, succour each other reciproral, in the year 1500. Its name is cally.* Of these internal provinces, derived from the wood so called, unfortunately, little is known. which is mentioned by Chaucer, and was celebrated for centuries before. Of the sixteen provinces, the most reCabral, standing further to the east markable is that of Rio Janeiro, which than usual, in order to avoid the cur- is one of the three governments into rents on the coast of Africa, was which Brazil is divided. Sugar is the astonished with the discovery of this chief product, though there are many large part of the New Continent, and mines of gold. The city of Rio Jaimmediately sent a ship to Lisbon neiro has some magnificent buildings, with the intelligence. At first the among which is the cathedral. The Portuguese only sent a few malefac- streets are broad, clean, and handtors to Brazil: and the lands being some; and the market abounds with difficult to clear, were little culti-, the pot-herbs and flowers of Portugal. vated. But when the rich mines It is almost surrounded with gardens; were discovered, more respectable and there are not less than a hundred settlers were allured; and the excel- sugar mills, though many have abanlence of the climate and the fertility doned the business to undertake gold of the soil were additional attractions. mines. The number of cattle and The necessity of perpetual defence sheep in the surrounding fields is proagainst the ferocious natives occa- digious, and they make a delicate sioned the division of the territory cheese, like that of Alentejo. This into Capitanias or Captaincies, which is now the most commercial city in Brazil, and every year a fleet richly still exist. In 1555, the French attempted an laden sails for Lisbon. There is also establishment on the coast of Brazil, a mint, in which the gold of the but it failed, from the same causes of mines is coined, the purity of which colonial imprudence as have always is universally esteemed. The haroperated against them. After Brazil, bour is excellent, and not ill dewith the kingdom of Portugal, had fended. become subject to the Spanish crown, 1580-1640, the Dutch accomplished ВАНІЛ. Next to Rio Janeiro is the city of a settlement, under the celebrated St. Salvador, or, as it is usually called, Prince Maurice. In 1661, they re- Bahia. This was once the most comsigned Brazil to the Portuguese, then mercial city, but the mines in the delivered from the Spanish yoke, for south have conferred new importance eight millions of florins. These wide possessions are divided into sixteen Captaincies, or provinces, proceeding ana, begin to be universally admitted in the best systems of Geography. *The Portuguese government is reputed to maintain, in Brazil, an army establishment of about 8000 regulars, and about 40,000 militia men. them. The troops of the city are infantry, and amount to about 5000; consisting of a regiment of artillery, three of the line, three of militia, and one of mulatto and free negroes, commanded by a field-marshall, under the orders of the governor. The pay and appointments are miserable, but the troops are well armed, Brazil being supplied by the mother country with British tower-proof musquets. The inhabitants of the city and its suburbs are estimated at upwards of a hundred thousand; of whom thirty thousand are whites, thirty thousand mulattoes, and the rest negroes. The government of Bahia, which is absolute, is vested in the governorgeneral, who has a temporary con troul over all the tribunals and departments. The marine is immediately under the care of an intendant, who is appointed at Lisbon. The senate consists of four members and a president, who transact the public concerns of the city, examine weights and measures, plan public improvements, &c. on Rio Janeiro. It may still, how of painting to enliven or preserve ever, be regarded as the capital city of Portuguese America. It is situated on the eastern side of the entrance of the grand bay of Todos Santos. The land at a small distance from the shore rises steeply to a high ridgy hill, on the summit of which the city is erected, with the exception of a single street that ranges parallel to the beach, The buildings are chiefly of the seventeenth century, ill constructed, and from the slightness of the materials rapidly decaying. The cathedral is large, but falling into ruin; but the college and archiepiscopal palace adjoining, are kept in thorough repair. The grand church of the ex-jesuits is by far the most elegant structure of the city. It is composed entirely of European marble,imported for the purpose, at an immense cost, while the internal ornaments are superfluously rich; the rails of the altar are of cast brass, the whole of the wood work is inlaid with tortoishell, and the grand chancel and several other communion recesses, with their respective altars, are loaded with gildings, paintings, images, &c. The streets are confined and narrow, wretchedly paved, never cleaned, and therefore disgustingly dirty. The backs of several of them are the receptacles of filth, which, exposed to so extreme a heat, would affect severely the health of the inhabitants, but for the salubrious air that prevails in consequence of the elevated situation of the place. Some, but not many, of the superior class of inhabitants have erected for themselves large and elegant mansions, particularly in the vicinity of the town, and have appropriately fitted them up. The habitations of other individuals who are opulent, are roomy and convenient, but shabbily furnished. Viewing them from the street, they have a dull and dirty appearance; and what they thus promise from without is completely realised within, In fact, there is scarcely any country where the inhabitants are so completely neglectful of cleanliness as in Brazil. The houses belonging to tradesmen and shopkeepers are still more disgusting; instead of glazed windows they have wooden drop lattices, which want even the addition Bahia was created a metropolitan see by Pope Innocent the eleventh, The archbishop has a college and court immediately appertaining to him; and by these he rules the whole body of canonical clergy, and even the monastic orders, which are in certain points subordinate. The revenues of the government are partly derived from the high du ties laid on every sort of merchandise, both at importation and exportation, The import duties amount to full thirty per cent.; and the export ones are heavy, particularly as to the article of tobacco, which is in reality a royal monopoly. But the principal source of the government income is the produce of the diamond and gold, mines, and Brazil wood, which pass solely through its hands, and are aston ishingly profitable: so carefully, however, is this subject excluded from enquiry, that it is impossible to calculate the extent of profit, or form a true estimate of the value of this rich colony to the crown. The city abounds with artificers; but manufactories are expressly forbidden, except leather and trifles. A cot near Bahia was sent to Europe, and his machinery destroyed. ton-spinner who lately attempted one meida dispatched Adorno for a more exact examination; who confirmed the report, with an assurance, that on the east of the crystal mountain there were emeralds, and on the west sapphires, but they seemed immature. At this conjuncture Portugal became subject to Spain, and the discoveries were lost. The passages are now held by ferocious tribes; and these mountains have not been explored. The province of Bahia comprises fifty leagues of coast, chiefly in the environs of the bay, and a small slip to the northward adjoining. Though one of the smallest divisions of Brazil, it is the most fertile, populous, and luxuriant, yielding invaluable riches. The chief town is Cachoeria, fourteen leagues from Bahia, most delightfully situated on the bank of a small river, and the mart for the northern gold mines, and the produce of the surrounding cultivated interior. In entering the port the view of the country is delightful. Near the water's edge is a range of fisherman's cottages, shaded with the waving cocoa in front, and each having its The country in general is cultivated adjoining orange ground. On the even to a considerable distance inland, back of these cots the native underand ĝis divided into very extensive wood intrudes, and, intersected into plantations, many having two or numberless paths, forms ever-green -three hundred slaves, with horses in groves, full of birds of rich plumage, proportion, to work the engenios, except in those situated where water is introduced to set in motion the sugar mills, in the machinery of which a considerable improvement has lately taken place, through the assistance of a French emigrant. PORTO SEGURO. and some of song. To the northward the land rises to a steep hill, which is ascended by a winding path; and on its summit stands the town. The streets here are sufficiently broad, straight, but irregularly disposed: the houses are generally of one story, low and ill built; of soft clay-bricks cemented with the same, and plastered over: but they all appear dirty and wretched. This may be considered as the next province of importance. It was the first land discovered by the Portuguese in 1500, and this name of the Our usual English vegetables are haven was given by Cabral. The re- in this country exotics; potatoes are port having been spread that it con- unknown; onions are procured from tained precious stones, Tourin- Bahia, and they are first brought ho proceeded by the river Dulce, from Lisbon, few being planted in Braand a branch of the Mandi, and after- zil. Cabbages are very uncommon. wards by land for several leagues, till It is stated by Mr. Lindley, in his he reached a large lake; whence ad- "Authentic Narrative, &c." that vancing seventy leagues further to "milk is totally unused by the inhawhere the river Dulce receives the bitants of this place;" and that "if Acesi, he proceeded along its banks a stranger enquire for it, they confine fifty leagues, when he found heaps of a cow during the night apart from its stones of various shades between calf, and then take its milk." Da blue and green. The Indians told Cunha, on the other hand, who was him, that in the heights they were bishop of Fernambuco, (one of the also found of a red colour, while others sixteen provinces enumerated above) contained specks of gold. At the bot- and who probably had good means of tom of a mountain covered with trees, being exacf, says expressly, that and more than a league in length, "milk is very abundant, for the cows were found a perfect emerald and a are so numerous, that for the most sapphire; and seventy leagues fur- part they are slaughtered only for the ther, many unknown green stones, sake of their skins." as was reported by the Indians: who The state of society is very wretchadded, that in another mountain, al- ed here. A general indolence permost wholly composed of rock crys- vades all ranks; and ignorance is altal, there were still larger stones of most universal. Employment of any the same kind. Upon the return of sort among the females is nearly unTourinho, the governor-general Al. known. Nor is the climate to be |