ir respective orders. The
preservation of those two establishments was considered indispensable for
the preparation of materials for the government of those remote
possessions, where the Indians are accustomed to obey the priest, and
look upon him with more respect than that shown to the civil authority,
and where their influence is sufficient, according to general opinion, to
put down that revolutionary spirit which has despoiled Spain of her
splendid dominions in South America. All this, however plausible, may
arise out of a mistaken policy. New political ideas and legislation,
under constitutional rule, have respected the convents of the nuns. One
can scarcely conceive of this inconsistency on the part of governments
which, under the name of liberty, have ruled Spain in these latter times.
If the abolition of the convents of friars had for its chief ground the
uselessness of those who inhabited them, it must be admitted that
infinitely more useless is the life of a nun, consecrated to perpetual
idleness, and without further occupation than that of assisting in the
choir and in devotional practices, to which duties she could equally
resign herself in the bosom of her own family.

The religious communities of women have the same denominations as the
convents of friars, and they call themselves Augustines, Franciscans,
Benedictines, &c. The respective rules of their organization do not
exact from them, in any case, more duties than those of a contemplative
life; and, in reality, there are now but few of those convents of nuns
whose inmates dedicate themselves to the task of giving to persons of
their own sex even the imperfect and limited education which, after all,
forms no part of that useful knowledge required by modern civilization.

The Spanish nuns are, absolutely, some of the most insignificant of
beings. There is nothing recorded of them either good or bad, and for
many centuries we have no account of any Spanish nun distinguished for
her talents, her writings, or even for her eminent virtues. In their
conversation, they display a childish simplicity and an unwearied
curiosity, together with an extraordinary deficiency of knowledge as it
respects the fundamental truths of the Christian faith. The amusements
with which they while away their secluded lives are reduced to those of
making sweets (_dulces_), dressing images of saints, embroidering
scapularies, {71a} and other such-like frivolities. A celebra