An amiable and well-informed Limeña, in whose house many of the _literati_ daily meet, has laughed heartily at the good old times, when she related that, when a young girl, (and she is not yet more than middle-aged,) neither she herself, nor her playmates, ventured to approach a certain English sailor-boy without holding up their hands and making the sign of the cross with the fore-finger and thumb. This lady’s mother took a great interest in the sailor-boy, seeing that he was fair and handsome; and greatly regretted his not being a Christian, an expression by which she meant, of course, a Roman Catholic. Some recollections of ancient feuds may still co-operate, in a greater or less degree, with religious prejudices to keep up no very warm feeling towards the English as a people; but it is gratifying to think that even on the distant shores of the Pacific, and among the glens of the Andes, there is a growing intelligence that tends rapidly to dissipate such unfriendly feelings. A nearer acquaintance with the English character, the insensible but gradual progress of knowledge, the general extension and assimilating tendency of commerce, the softening effects of time, and, in a word, the revolution itself, which opened up a channel for general improvement, are so many circumstances that conspire together to render the already widely extended connexion of Great Britain with Peru, every day more cordial in the minds of the natives of this important republic; and when the country becomes more settled under the direction of a wise government, such as its friends are now in expectation of enjoying under the protection of his excellency General Santa Cruz, it is to be hoped that, this international friendship may be rendered still more intimate, and mutually beneficial, than it is at present. Should the projected plan of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company[13] be happily carried into execution, from which a high moral influence may be reasonably expected, and our commercial dealings with Peru be further extended, then will the religious wants of British residents become proportionably more deserving of public attention. The individual labour and exertions of these enterprising Britons, in a distant part of the globe, contribute to encourage manufactures and industry in their native land; and, though separated from their kindred and country by a wide-spreading ocean, they are rarely so happy as when they think of that home to which it is their daily wish to return, and never cease to feel that once their hearts and warmest sympathies were English. But, unhappily, to keep the heart pure in the midst of the greatest national relaxation of morals,—the strongest allurements to vice,—with few incitements to virtue, and no effective encouragement to religion,—is an achievement far too great for the average of mankind.