which pomp and recreation proceed in concert with the comforts of the people. The celebrated fountains of the Luxembourg, the Thuilleries, and Versailles; and those of la Granja, and the other royal palaces of Madrid; the waters of which, in flowing, form a thousand figures highly agreeable to the sight, are irrefragable testimonies of this truth. The famous aqueduct constructed by order of queen Catharine of Medicis, to conduct the waters to Paris, exceeds in some respects those by which the Romans immortalized their luxury and magnificence. The admirable fountains fabricated by cardinal De Richelieu in the plains of Ruel, lead the spectator to contemplate with surprize the progress and rare contrivances of hydraulics. Thus the obstinacy and indefatigable application of man, to overcome the difficulties that prevent the execution of his enterprizes, are rewarded by those sublime inventions which demonstrate the full extent of the vast penetration and energy of his mind.
Another subject of an Indian festival is introduced in Plate VII. The male and female it represents are arrayed in burlesque costumes, such as are generally adopted by the Peruvian aborigines, with a very picturesque effect, on these occasions of hilarity and rejoicing.
PUBLIC DIVERSIONS.
The theatre constitutes the principal amusement. Its decorations are regular, and the performers not bad. There have been, and there are, indeed, at present, some among them who might figure conspicuously at Madrid and Naples.
