This tacitly constitutional instrument of clemency, although in the hands of women naturally inclined to mercy, may, when misguided, operate against the vital interests of the community; and by it the true ends of legislative enactments may, from time to time, be frustrated. This prerogative is put in practice especially by certain genteel-looking young women, who are neither married nor single, but who, in the language of the indulgent matrons of the country, are allowed to be, though not married, highly honourable and gifted,—“No es casada, pero muy honrada, muy prendada:” and a lady of this quality seldom loses favour, or a good place in society, so long as she has a _calesa_ or carriage in Lima, and a _rancho_ or bathing-lodge in Chorrillos. Let us now suppose that this lady, attired in her national, or rather Limenian, dress of saya and manto,[8] desires either to plead some advantage or indulgence for another, or a favour more particularly for herself,—and that for this purpose she employs the blandishments and flow of persuasive language at her command. The gentleman, thus softly assailed by so eloquent and attractive a being, unwisely listens until he is entirely at his magician’s bidding. This spell is what is vulgarly meant by the gigantic and overgrown prerogative termed in Peru empeño. But we must not forget to mention, that this ascendant power is very commonly promoted by a certain spiritual influence, in which both married and single partake,—namely, the sacred relation between god-fathers and god-mothers, the well-known “compadres y comadres” of that sunny land; and it will be at once perceived that an influence so remarkable in the ladies as this, which enables them, during their good pleasure, to deprive men of free-will, must have wide practical application, and be productive of great good or evil in that country, where it confessedly extends its sway to bench and altar, senate, palace, and camp. No old stager in Lima hears of a political or domestic altercation, or of any serious movement that causes a stir and sensation in the city, but he immediately inquires what woman can be at the bottom of this _bullanga_ or hubbub; and if the affair should happen to concern himself, his friends, or political party, he does not long sit at ease until he finds out who that woman is, or discovers where the spiritual alliance rests, where dwells the comadre that rules the order of the day.[9]