Page:The Present State of Peru.djvu/411

Rh by that of the Mercurio Peruano Little need be said about this publication, of the merit or demerit of which, as it has furnished the chief materials for the present work, the reader will be enabled to form his own judgment. It will probably be grateful to him to know the degree of encouragement afforded to literary pursuits in Peru, where letters have within a few years been very assiduously cultivated by all ranks of society. Independently of the general sale, there were, in the first instance, two hundred and sixteen subscribers, in the number of whom were comprehended the viceroy, archbishop, members of the royal audience, and many other distinguished personages, to the Peruvian Mercury, which, in the course of a month after its promulgation, received an augmentation of a hundred and thirty-three subscribers, making in the whole three hundred and forty-nine. From several hints thrown out by the editor, as well as from the list of subscribers, of the reduced number of two hundred and forty-one, prefixed to the second volume, it appears to have met with considerable opposition in Lima, more especially from the church, on account of the freedom introduced into the discussion of a variety of subjects of polity, &c. The name of the patriotic viceroy, Don Francisco Gil y Lemos, still stands as the distinguished patron of the work; but that of the archbishop of Lima no longer appears. In proportion as it became known in the interior, the remote subscribers compensated in a great measure for the falling off of those in the capital, and swelled the list, at the commencement of the third volume, to the amount of three hundred and ten names. That the authors of the Peruvian Mercury were not actuated by selfish motives, but, on the other hand, by the love of their country, as they profess, in engaging in this undertaking, appears by the low price of the subscription, in a kingdom where money is so cheap and plentiful, and every article of life proportionally dear. Fourteen reals only, or 5 s. 3 d. English, were demanded of the subscribers per month, notwithstanding the numbers were in general accompanied by commercial and meteorological tables, lists of shipping, with their cargoes, &c. &c. which were not, any more than the occasional supplements, separately charged. (Peruvian Mercury), comprising history, literature, public notices, &c. &c. the first number of which appeared on the 2d of January, 1791. A quarto sheet of closely printed text was given twice a week, so as to form three volumes annually. Its learned editor, Don