He was quite a
superior looking being to either of my first acquaintance, who cowered
and shrunk beneath his eagle look. They seemed humbly to lay their cases
before him; when, after looking contemptuously on both, he took me to
himself, caressed me, and giving me to an attendant, said--"This bird
belongs to neither, it is the property of mother church:" and the
property of mother church I remained for some years. Of my two friends
of the palm-tree, one, the preacher-monkey, turned out to be a poor
Irish lay brother, of the convent of which my new master (an Irishman
too) was the superior. My yellow parrot was a Scotch adventurer, who
came out to give lectures on _poleetical economy_ to the Brazilians:
and who, finding that they had no taste for moral science, had become
a servant of all-work to the brotherhood. My dwelling was a missionary
house of the Propaganda, established for the purpose of converting
(i.e. burning) the poor Indians. The Superior, Father Flynn, had
recently arrived from Lisbon with unlimited powers. He was clever,
eloquent, witty, and humorous; but panting for a bishopric in his native
country, he was principally employed in theological writings, which
might bring him into notice and hasten his recall to Europe.
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