Star.
London, England, 1824-04-27 00:00:00

We conclude our extracts from Captain Batil Hall's
interesting Work :
44 We sat down to -dinner, a very merry party,
the master of the house insisting upon my taking the
head of the table; a custom, he said, that could by no
means be dispensed with. The first dish which was
placed on the table was brearl soup, exceedingly good,
and cooked either with fish or meat, a- distinction so
immaterial, we thought, that our surprise was consider-
:vile when we observed a gentleman of the party start
tip, and with a look as if he had swallowed poison, ex-
claim, 4 0 LORD, there is fish in the soup ! ' and while
we were wondering at this exclamation, our friend ran
off to the kitchen to interrogate the cook. He returned
with a most woe-begone look, and finished his plate of
soup as if it had been the last he was ever to taste. A
feeling of delicacy prevented our asking questions, al-
though our curiosity was raised to the highest pitch,
by observing the gentleman touch nothing else, but li-
terally go without his dinner. It was Friday, and it
was in Lent, which might have accounted for his horror
at meat; but it was fish which had shocked him ; besides,
we saw the rest of the company eating both without
scruple, which purtled us exceedingly, and the more
so as the self-denying individual was a very sensible
man, and chewed no other symptoms of eccentricity.
We at list discovered that he had, for some reason or
other, come under a religious engagement not to cat
both fish and flesh, though the South Americans are
permitted to do so, by an express bull in their favour,
and it so happened, that he had set his fancy this day
most particularly on a meat dish close to him, never
dreaming of what had been put into the soup ; fish once
tasted, however, his feast was at end, and he kept his
vow in a manner worthy of an anchorite."
Another instance of this kind occurred at a Ball

64 I was surprised (says Captain Hall), and somewhat
disappointed, to see a young lady, one of the gayest and
best dancers in Chili, place herself at the instrument.
The gentlemen loudly appealed against this proceeding;
bUt she maintained her place resolutely, declaring she
would not dance a single step. I saw there was some
mystery in this, and took an opportunity of begging to
know what could have induced a person of so much
good sense and cheerfulness, and so fond of dancing, to
make so very preposterous a resolution. She laughed
on hearing the subject treated with such earnestness,
and confessed that nothing was farther from her own
wishes than her present forbearance, but that she was
bound by a promise not to dance for a whole year. I
begged an explanation of this singular engagement,
when she told me, that, during the recent confinement
of her sister, our host's wife, at a moment when her life
was despaired of, her mother had made a vow, that, if
she recovered, not one of the unmarried girls should
dance for twelve months. Her younger sister, however,
was dancing; and I found she had managed to evade
the obligation by an ingenious piece of casuistry, argu-
ing, that as the promise had been made in town, it could
never be intended to apply to the country. The good-
natured mother, who probably repented of her absurd
vow, allowed that a good case of conscience had been
made nit ; and the pretty ltosalita danced away with
a spirit which was taken up by the whole room, and a
more animated ball was never

" A gentleman had thought fit to commence in-
structing his daughter in French—. 4 circumstance which
the girl, unconscious of ant crime, mentioned in the,
course of her confession to the priest, who expressed
the greatest horror at what he heard, denounced the
vengeance of HEAVEN upon her and her father, refused
to give her absointion, and sent the poor creature home
in sn agony of fear. The father soon discovered the
cause, :nod alai some correspondence with the conies-
ser, went to tie: head of the government, Nvho sent for
the priest, questioned him on the subject, and charged,
him with having directly jai/tiered with the letter and
spirit of the Constitution, which gave enccuragement to
every species of learning. The priest affected to carry
matters with a high hand, and even ventured to censure
the Director for meddling with things beyond his au-
thority. This was soon settled : a council was imme-
diately called, and the next day it was known through-
out the city that the priest had been seen crossing the
frontiers, escorted by a militaty guard. An account
of the whole transaction, with the correspondence be-
tween the parent and the confessor, were also published
officially in the Gazette, and full authority given, in
future, to every person to teach any branch of know-
ledge not inconsistent with morals and religion."

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