Page:An account of a voyage to establish a colony at Port Philip in Bass's Strait.djvu/73

( 48 ) of the sun, whose ardent blaze is found to derange the nervous system, enervate the body, and render the mind a prey to listlessness and inanity.

There are eighteen parish-churches, four monasteries, and three convents in the town of St. Sebastian, besides several smaller religious buildings on the islands, and in the suburbs. Upon these edifices no expence is spared to attract the imagination of the weak and ignorant, by a profusion of gilding, and other tawdry decorations. The "Hopital de Mieseracordie" is also a religious institution, which receives patients of every denomination, and is principally supported by private benefactions. To these may be added a Penitentiary-House, where the incontinent fair are secluded