Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/440

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384
MISCELLANEOUS.

they should cover the one half of the eye, disclosing a part of the view, is lascivious and unnecessary, and ought to be every where prohibited,” &c.

In 1636 our author published, in Madrid, a quarto work, on the question: whether chocolate breaks the ecclesiastical fast? This work is replete with erudition, and is couched in a natural style, free from the pompous affectation which in his time began to infect the Spanish writers, and by which the language was corrupted and altered for more than a century. He also composed several tracts and orations on sacred subjects, together with a poem on the Conception of the Blessed Virgin; insomuch that our illustrious Peruvian was not only a civilian of the most distinguished class, but likewise theologist, canonist, historian, orator, and poet. He has, notwithstanding, been denied a slight mention in the French Dictionary entitled, by misnomer, the Impartial.

As a reward for his eminent services, the king appointed him resident minister at Seville for the commerce of the Indies. As, however, his presence at the court could not be dispensed with, he was recalled shortly after to Madrid, where the post of principal chronologist of the Indies was bestowed on him, he being still allowed to retain the honours and emoluments of his ministerial appointment. The last production of the prolific pen of Don Antonio Pinelo, which remains to be recorded, is his History and Annals of Madrid, carried down to the year 1658: it was preserved, in MS. in the library of Count Villa-Umbrosa, the president of Castille.

Friar Francisco del Castillo, a lay brother of the Order of Mercy, was born in Lima, where he was cut off, a few years ago, in the meridian of his life. It is not certain whether he

came