and whose sanguinary disposition, if excited by drink or excess, threatened to realize the worst anticipations of the dismayed citizens. In this very condition of infuriated exultation and inebriety, being in the act of plundering a house in open day, he was surprised, and in less than an hour afterwards shot in the plaza; where, only the day before, he had showed off very proudly under the balconies of the archbishop’s palace, mounted on a magnificent black steed, which he had taken by force from the prelate’s own stable. But now in his last moments his only intelligible prayer was said to be that he might receive forgiveness from the archbishop, whose sacred dignity he had so recently insulted; and, probably, of all the unhappy Peruvians who are brought to suffer death at the “banquillo,” there falls not one but shows some mysterious respect for the church; and the greatest criminal among them is never, perhaps, entirely forgetful of his tutelar saint. Whatever their career of life may have been, their faith, well or ill founded, yields them hope at the last hour; and it is allowed by those who witness their tragic end, that they generally die the death of the wicked with the composure of martyrs. On the day that General Vidal, with his orderly montonera, entered at the invitation of the municipality—“cabildo,”—for the protection of the terrified city, it was interesting to observe the contrast presented by the negro Cimarones, when arrayed in the cathedral square of the capital by the side of the freemen of Huamantanga, and the poor but independent Indians of Yuyos, who, of all their tribe and fellow aborigines, are the least passive under political oppression. In the laughing negroes, the perpetual motion of their long and dangling limbs, never at rest in the saddle, betokened an exuberance and locomotive waste of nervous energy; while, on the other hand, the contemplative-looking and compact little Indian, mounted on his hardy nag, just emerged from the solitary and rugged wilds of the mountains, though surrounded with the novelty and excitement of a great city in confusion, never for a moment lost the composure and serenity of his countenance and demeanour.[30] These highland bands, together with a few other brave but undisciplined volunteers, inspired the lower orders of the Limenians with that transient enthusiasm to which, on extraordinary occasions, they have more than once shown themselves capable of being raised; and simultaneously they rushed to arms as the bells from every spire tolling the solemn “llamada a fuego,” or the alarm of conflagration, summoned them to the defence of their beloved Lima, which was menaced and ultimately attacked by a formidable sortie from the castles of Callao. The assailants were led on by Solar the governor, and cousin to the spurious president, Salaverry, whose illegitimate cause, now on the eve of being lost for ever, his less energetic relative but faintly sustained. It is worthy