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PRINCE AND PRINCESSES.

quaintance, under the same accidents of dress and footing, would have made a finer looking prince imperial, while a sister would have borne the palm for beauty from the princess of her age..

The dresses of all three were elegant, but neat and simple. The boy wore a spencer of mazarine blue silk, with white under-clothing, and a cape of broad lace on the neck and shoulders; and the girls were in white muslin, embroidered with gold, without jewels or other ornament; and their hair, of light brown, smoothly combed and parted in the middle of the forehead. The early loss of their mother, the reputed licentiousness of the father, the errors of their religion and confessed corruptions of the court, made me look with feelings of sorrow upon them, in their present innocence and unconsciousness of the moral danger and degradation to which they are exposed. May their fate in this respect be more propitious than has heretofore too often attended an imperial birth!

LETTER IX.

PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF THE CITY.

Public Library. -Academy of Arts.-Schools and National Museum.-Fate of the Aborigines of South America.

Praya do Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro,

April 8th, 1829.

YESTERDAY, after a call at the British Embassa

dor's, Mr. Tudor and myself drove into the city for the purpose of visiting some of its public institu

PUBLIC LIBRARY.

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tions; and spent the morning at the Chamber of Deputies, the Public Library, the Academy of Arts, and the National Museum.

The deputies, composing the upper house of the imperial legislature, were in session in the vicinity of the palace. The Chamber is a spacious and lofty room of Grecian architecture, in a building appropriated to the purpose; furnished with a throne on the east end, and galleries for spectators under arched colonnades on either side. The seats of the members. are in two semicircular rows in front of the throne, the curtains of which were dropt in the absence of the emperor. The Archbishop of Bahia is the president of the Chamber, and was seated in a chair of state in front of the throne, in the purple robes of his ecclesiastical office. I had been introduced to him on Saturday, at the palace, as one of the most talented men of the empire, and of distinguished influence both in church and state. The galleries were crowded with well-dressed citizens, who were listening, as we entered, with great interest, to an animated speech from one of the deputies. The speaker closed his address almost immediately, however; and the Chamber adjourning, we were disappointed in an opportunity of judging of the parliamentary eloquence and talent of the assembly.

The Public Library is located in a suite of rooms in the palace. It was brought from Lisbon by John VI. of Portugal, on the flight of the royal family to Brazil in 1808, and contains upwards of seventy thousand volumes, many of them valuable and ancient

works. The books are arranged according to their subjects, in a convenient and handsome manner, in a succession of halls on two floors; one of which is furnished with a table, reading-desks, and seats for the accommodation of any person, citizen or stranger, who may wish to consult authors in the collection. A canon of the church has the superintendence of the institution, and very politely conducted us through the rooms.

A copy of the first printed edition of the Bible attracted our particular attention; it is on vellum, and in excellent order. On the title-page the then novelty of the execution is proclaimed, by a declaration in Latin, that this volume is not written with a pen, but impressed according to the marvellous invention of John Faustus. The most splendid work exhibited to us, was a folio edition of the travels of Prince Maximilian of Germany in Brazil. The whole typography is in the finest style of the arts. It is highly embellished with coloured engravings, possessing all the delicacy and high finish of painting, and presenting admirable illustrations of Brazilian scenery, character, and costume. To one who has never witnessed the splendid tints of sky and landscape as exhibited here and in some other parts of the world, the colouring would be thought too high-wrought and gorgeous, bordering on that which would be called gaudy and unnatural, but it is strictly true to nature.

We found Dr. Walsh in one of the apartments; and after a general survey of the collection, passed

ACADEMY OF ARTS.

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some time in agreeable and instructive conversation with him and the gentleman acting as our conductor.

The Academy of Arts is situated in a narrow street near the centre of the city. The exterior of the building is neat and classical; but on alighting we found the whole interior undergoing a thorough repair, and the exhibition of paintings and statuary for the present closed. In one room only, there were a few pupils receiving lessons from masters, and copying various studies.

A large painting was standing upside down against one of the walls, which, on a closer view, we perceived to represent the coronation of the emperor. Its chief merit, like David's coronation of Josephine, consists in the number of portraits from life which it contains. Every head on the canvass, it is said, possesses this interest. We could form no opinion of its pretensions as a painting, from its position and a serious injury it has recently sustained by a fall. By many this disaster is not attributed to accident. It was the intention of the emperor to have it placed in the imperial chapel; and it is believed that some republican spirit, opposed to the exhibition of the pageant to the public gaze, sought an opportunity of secretly cutting the cord by which it was suspended in the Academy.

As we were joining our carriage again, a large Lancasterian school in the vicinity, attracted my attention, and we entered it for a few moments. "Hope for Brazil," seemed in my eye to be inscribed on its walls and portal; and I fancied that a differ

ent expression was to be seen on the bright faces of the hundred boys composing it, from any I had before observed among the children. Several schools of the kind are established within the precincts of the city; and the monotonous tones of one, in the direction of Flamengo, had several times before fallen on my ear as I passed, with the charm of music, amidst the din of less grateful sounds and the monotonous and barbarous song with which the slaves cheer themselves, beneath the burdens they hurry, with the rapid lope of the Indian, along the streets.

The National Museum is in a large building facing the Praca d'Acclamacao. It contains many valuable specimens in natural history and the various departments of science, with some tolerable paintings, numerous articles of curiosity, &c. &c., arranged in an extensive suite of rooms. The whole establishment is creditable to the government; and I regretted to learn that many of the most valuable articles are about to be removed to the private cabinet of the emperor. Here too the building is undergoing repairs, and we were admitted only in courtesy to the American minister. The president and officers are all ecclesiastics: a young secretary, in a richly embroidered gown of black satin, with ruffles of lace at the wrist, received and politely attended us through the several rooms. A canon of the church, officially connected with the establishment, also joined us, and with much civility extended a general invitation to me to visit the institution at my pleasure as long as I should remain in Rio.

The mineralogical department is uncommonly