Don Jacinto Calero y Moreira, in the prospectus by which, in his own name, and in that of the Academical Society of Lima, consisting of a certain number of literati calling themselves “the Lovers of the Country,” he announces this work, introduces the following observation explanatory of the motive by which its publication was influenced: “The deficiency of the information we possess, relative to the interior and remote regions of the country we inhabit, and the utter want of the vehicles necessary to disseminate our notions in the literary world, are the causes why a kingdom such as Peru, so favoured by Nature in the benignity of the climate, and in the richness of the soil, scarcely occupies a small space in the delineation of the universe, as it has been traced by historians. To remedy this defect is the primary object of the Mercury, in the publication of which I have engaged.”
The very flattering reception experienced by this work, induced father Antonio Olavarrieta, of the Seraphic order of monks, to publish another, at the commencement of June of the above year (1791), under the title of Semanario Critico (Weekly Critic). This production, of the size of a gazette, appeared every Sunday, and was sold at two reals, or nine-pence English. The criticisms embraced a variety of objects, consisting, in general, of education, whether physical, moral, or political, public customs, and other analogous subjects. The author attached himself more particularly to public diversions, lyric poetry, and the theatre; but without neglecting whatever appertains to natural history, and the sciences in general. The balls, assemblies, promenades, literary clubs, coffee-houses, &c. in the capital, were matters of a subordinate consideration.
