Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/14

viii of ancient and modern learning, was a novelty as welcome as it was unexpected. Whether that society still exists in Lima, is uncertain; but it appears that the Peruvian Mercury, after having been progressively subjected to a variety of restraints, was discontinued somewhere about the year 1796. On the following year, its learned editor, Don Jacinto Calero y Moreira, passed from Lima to Buenos-Ayres.

From the above periodical work, as it was carried on during the first sixteen months, commencing with January 1791, and from various authentic sources, of which the Editor has gladly availed himself, the "Present State of Peru" has been compiled. Whatever can tend to interest or amuse the British reader, has been selected, and given in a more or less abridged form, according to the relative importance and curiosity of the objects of inquiry. A certain degree of arrangement has been followed in the introduction of the different subjects, which, the Editor flatters himself, collectively form a literary olla podrida, a true Spanish dish, the ingredients of which are so