MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 3^7
« foon as they are manufadured and made ready for fale, other- wife they would wafte and dellroy them, and not be able to maintain themlelves. The Chiquitos, on the contrary, are diligent and frugal, fo that the curates have no other trouble with them than the aiTill- ing them in the difpofal of their goods, and procuring returns for them. For this purpofe, the fo- ciety keeps a fadlor or procurator at Santa Fie, and Buenos Ayre>, to whom the merchandife of the miiTions is fent to be difpofed of, and thefe fadlors return the value to the fathers, in fuch forts of European commodities as are want- ed. The goods of every town are kept feparate, and the royal taxes zre taken out of them with- out any other difcounts, or allow- ances, fave the iHpends of the cu- rates of the Guaranies, and the pen- iions of the caciques. The fathers choofe to manage the commerce of their fubjefts themfeives, left they (hould contract vices by their communication with other people. In this refpeft the fathers are fo careful that they will not fuifer any of the people of Peru, whether they be Spaniards, Meltizos, or Indians, to enter into the terri- tories of the miffions. They hy that the Indians are but jull reco- vered from a barbarous and dlf- folute way of life, and that their inanners are now pure and inno- cent ; but that if Itrangers are fuf- fered to come among them, the Indians would foon become ac- quainted with people of ioofe lives ; and as the Guaranies efpecially are very prone to vice and wick- ednef-, diforder and rebellion would foon be introduced, the fo- ciety would lofe all the fouls they have converted, and their Utile re-
public would be utterly fubverted. However there are fome who fuf- pett that thefe are all fpecious pretences, and that the fociety's real niotive for prohibitingall inter- courfe with ftrangers, is the fear of rivals in the beneficial commerce of Paraguay, wnich is now entirely^ in their hands.
From the Uaiver/al VFeekly Chronicle.
— In 'vitium lihertas excidit l£ vim Dignum lege regi. HoR.
S I R, AM engaged in a vifit at a
friend's houfe in the country,
where I promifed myfelf much fa- tisfaftion. I have however been greatly difappointed in my expec- tations ; for on my a rival here, I found a houfe full of children, who zjz humoured heyoviA n-:eafure, and, indeed, abfolutely fpoiled by the ridiculous indulgence of a fond mo- ther. This unlucky circumllance has fubjedled me to many inconve- niencies ; and as I am a man of a grave referred difpofition, has beea a perpetual fource of embarrafT- ment and perplexity. The fecond day of my vilit, in the midft of dinner, the eldeft boy, who is eight years old, whipped oif my p^rrriwio- with great dexterity, and received the applaufe of the table for his hu- mour and fpirit. This lad, when he'has reached his fourteenth vear, and is big enough to lie wichout the maid, is to be fent to a fchool in the neighbourhood, which has no other merit than that of beino- but feven miles ofF. Six cf the children are permitted to fit at table, who entirely monopolize the wings of fowls, and the molt deli- cate morfels of zszx^ dilu j becaufe
the
