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 -PubUftwdiyJ. ScntM. C<rrnlUU.Scf>t*.i' f i-;$g .
 
 JOURNEY 
 
 FROM 
 
 LONDON To^GENOA, 
 
 THROUGH 
 
 ENGLAND, PORTUGAL, SPAIN, 
 and F R A N C E. 
 
 C~iu 'i /ire nvii 
 
 BY JOSEPH BARETTI, 
 
 Secretary for Foreign Correfpondence to the Royal 
 Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. 
 
 IN FOUR VOLUMES. 
 
 ' ! 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON, 
 
 Printed for T. D A v i E s, in Ruflel-Streer, Covent- 
 Garden ; and L. D A v i s, in Holborn. 
 
 MDCCLXX,
 
 T O T H E 
 
 PRESIDENJT 
 
 AND 
 
 MEMBERS 
 
 O F T HE 
 
 ROYAL ACADE MY 
 
 O F 
 
 PAINTING, SCULPTURE, 
 and ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 IN my various rambles through 
 various countries, I have nei- 
 ther feen nor heard of a fee of 
 artifts comparable to that which 
 your monarch aflembled when he 
 formed you into an academy. In- 
 ftead of attempting to exprefs my 
 A 2 grati-
 
 iv DEDICATION. 
 
 gratitude to that royal goodnefs, 
 which has deigned to connect me 
 with fo refpedtable a fociety, I will 
 revere and love it in filence, and 
 endeavour to fhow that I deferve 
 what it has beftowed, by a vigorous 
 exertion of my abilities whenever 
 occafion mall call them into your 
 fervice. In the mean while, gen- 
 tlemen, give me leave to dedicate 
 to you the firft work I have pre- 
 pared for publication lince I had the 
 honour of belonging to you. You 
 have a right to this fmall token of 
 an affection, which inclination as 
 well as duty has kindled in the 
 breafl of 
 
 Your moft humble 
 and moft 
 
 devoted fervant, 
 JOSEPH BARETTI.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THave not a better apology to offer for 
 my confidence in prefenting this enlight- 
 ened nation with thefe volumes, than that 
 the accounts of Spain hitherto publijhed in 
 the Englijh language, are in general ad- 
 judged to be very imperfeft. This obfervation, 
 which I had often heard repeated by many 
 Englijhmen of diftinguijhed knowledge, has 
 emboldened me to publifh my remarks upon 
 that country. 
 
 In the defcriptions that follow, I hope 
 it will appear that 1 have fpared no pains 
 to carry my reader in feme meafure along 
 with me-, to make him fee what I faw, 
 hear what I heard, feel what I felt, and 
 even think and fancy whatever I thought 
 
 and
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 and fancied myfelf. Should this method 
 prove agreeable, and procure the honour of 
 a favourable reception to my work, Iflwllowe 
 it in a great part to my moft revered friend 
 Dr. Samuel Jolmfon, whofuggefled it to me, 
 juft as I was fetting out on my ftrft journey 
 to Spain. It was he that exhorted me to 
 iijrite daily, and with all pqffible minutenefi: 
 it was he that pointed out the topics which 
 would moft inter eft and moft delight in a fu- 
 ture publication. To his injunctions I have 
 kept as clofe as I was able, and my only 
 fear upon this occafton, is, that fome want 
 of dexterity in the management of my nar- 
 ratives may juftly have fubjetted me to the 
 charge of egotifm, as I am convinced that 
 1 have paffed too frequently from my fub- 
 jeff to myfelf, and made myfelf as much too of- 
 ten the her oof my own ft or y.' Yet this fear is 
 'not fo predominant^ as to exclude the hope 
 that fuchan impropriety will be overlooked if 
 I have butfucceeded in the main point, and 
 effectually ajjifted the imagination of my 
 reader to form an idea tolerably juft of Spain*
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 ly exhibiting as well the face of the country^ 
 as the manners of the inhabitants. This it 
 will appear that I have laboured pretty 
 hard to attain -, and as this is the chief end 
 of a traveller s narrative, the real critick 
 will not be difpleafed that it has been, 
 principally purfued, that fubordlnate and 
 Incidental parts have be.en lefs diligently 
 conjidered, and that, where attention was 
 jnoft required, it has been moft liberally be- 
 Jloived.
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Notice given of the departure. 
 
 London, Aug. 13, 1760. 
 
 BROTHERS, 
 
 TO-morrow I (hall at laft quit this 
 metropolis, and fet out for Fal- 
 mouth on niy way home through Por- 
 tugal, Spain, and the fouthern part of 
 France. A long round-about way ! But 
 you know that all communication is 
 flopped between Dover and Calais be- 
 caufe of the war ; and fince I muft go a 
 long journey, I care not how long I 
 make it. I go through Portugal and 
 Spain rather than Holland, becaufe of 
 Holland I have heard and read enough, 
 whereas I know little of Portugal and 
 VbL. I. B
 
 lefs of Spain, as there are but very irii- 
 perfecl: accounts of either. Befides, that 
 going the Falmouth-way, I fhall like- 
 wife fee the weftern part of this king- 
 dom, which I have not vifited. 
 
 To-morrow then is the day, from which 
 I reckon that in about two months, or 
 three at moft, I fhall have the inexpref- 
 fible pleafure of feeing you again, after 
 an abfence of full ten years. My blood 
 runs warmer and my heartbeats quicker, 
 when I think that after fo long a fepa- 
 ration I am going to fit down again to a 
 domefKc meal with one of my brothers 
 fronting me, and one at each fide of 
 me! 
 
 Now therefore, England, farewell ! I 
 quit thee with lefs regret, becaufe I am 
 returning to my native country after a 
 very long abfence, corifidering the fhort- 
 nefs of life. Yet I cannot leave thee 
 without tears. May Heaven guard and 
 profper thee, thou illufirious mother of 
 polite men and virtuous women ! Thou 
 
 great
 
 t 3 ] 
 
 f 
 
 great mart of literature ! Thou nurfery 
 of invincible foldiers, of bold naviga- 
 tors, and ingenious artifts, farewell, fare" 
 well ! I have now forgotten all the crofles 
 and anxieties I have undergone in thy 
 regions for the fpace of ten years : but 
 never will I forget thofe many amongft 
 thy fons who have affifted me in my 
 wants, encouraged me in my difficulties, 
 comforted me in my adverfities, and im- 
 parted to me the light of their knowledge 
 in the dark and intricate mazes of life ! 
 Farewell, imperial England, farewell, 
 farewell ! 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 People in the Jl age- coach. Saliflury and 
 its cathedral. Militia. Rone-lace and 
 Ducking-Jiool at Honiton. Love isshense 
 arifmg. 
 
 Exeter, Aug. 16, 1760. 
 
 T) E H OLD! I am diftant from Lon- 
 *^ don a hundred and fixty miles, and 
 
 more ! 
 
 B 2 On
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
 On Friday I fet out in one of thofe 
 numberlefs coaches that are continually 
 going backwards and forwards from town 
 to town. The coach contained fix peo- 
 ple ; and all fix proved agreeable com- 
 pany to each other, though collected 
 by mere chance: three women on one 
 fide, and three men over againft them. 
 
 This begins to look like a novel ; and 
 yet it is no novel at all. In this coach 
 were an elderly aunt with her two nieces, 
 an Englifh gentleman, a Scotch officer, 
 and your eldeft brother. The fix horfes 
 went on at a great rate. I knew the 
 officer's country by his pronunciation, as 
 well as by his earneft talking with the 
 aunt about nobility. This was his fa- 
 vourite topick. But the Englishman and 
 I, employed our time to better purpofe, 
 chatting as faft as we could with the 
 nieces, both modeftly talkative and mo- 
 deftly pretty 1 * Yet the good aunt was 
 not fo deep funk into genealogy as her 
 partner would have her ; but turned to 
 
 us
 
 [. 5 1 
 
 VS from time to time, and encouraged 
 her girls to be chearful and fing fongs, 
 which they often did in fuch a manner, 
 as to pleafe even an Italian. 
 
 So agreeable a company 1 fhall proba- 
 bly not find in the remainder of my 
 journey, as it is but feldom that poor 
 travellers are fo lucky as to meet with 
 fuch good-natured aunts, and with girls 
 fo pretty, fo fprightly, and fo obliging. 
 The Scotchman, though fomewhat ftifF 
 and ridiculous with his accounts of the 
 great nobility in Argylefhire, yet was 
 not unwelcome, as he is a man of very 
 good fenfe in other refpects. The Eng- 
 lifh gentleman is learned beyond his age, 
 and rather over-civil, as he has but 
 lately quitted the college. 
 
 On the firft day I faw nothing, as one 
 may fay, becaufe we trotted along very 
 fad. I could only obferve that the inns, 
 where we alighted to change horfes and 
 refrefli ourfelves, are all neat and good, 
 as all inns are on all great roads in Eng- 
 B 3 land.
 
 r 6 3 
 
 land. We crofifed Salifbury in hafte or* 
 the fecond day : but as I had heard 
 much of its cathedral, I chofe to give a 
 look at it. So I alighted, and ran like a 
 fury through the town. Thus running 
 J took notice of the market, which is 
 fpacious and plentifully ftored with meat 
 and all forts of vegetables. Along the 
 large ftreet I crofTed, there is water run- 
 ning on both fides juft by the houfes ; 
 which muft be a great convenience to 
 the inhabitants. I entered the cathedral 
 for a minute. It is a ftately building, 
 and much more gothic than that of Mi- 
 Ian ; but not half fo large, as far as I 
 can remember. That of Milan I take to. 
 be the largeft edifice of the kind in the 
 whole world. 
 
 On a wide plain, not far from Salif- 
 bury, there is that thing (I know not 
 what name to give it) called Stone-henge. 
 I mould be forry if you had notpreferved 
 all my former defcriptions of feveral re- 
 markable things in this kingdom. Were 
 
 I never
 
 f 7 1 
 
 I never to come to England again, as may 
 eafily be the cafe, I mall be very glad to 
 have thofe defcriptions, in order to re- 
 vive a pleafing remembrance from time 
 to time. A poor pleafure, compared to 
 that I fhould feel in feeing this country 
 again ! But ftill, better little than, no- 
 thing. 
 
 Not far from Salifbury there is like- 
 wife a country-feat belonging to an Eng- 
 Jilh earl, where there is the ampleft coU 
 lection of ftatues, bufts, and other ancient 
 monuments in this kingdom together 
 with many fine paintings; almoft every 
 thing brought at an immenfe expence 
 from your fide of the Alps. I do not 
 know what pofleiTed me, that I never 
 went to fee that feat in the fpace of ten 
 years, efpecially as I was twice in its 
 neighbourhood. But men are naturally 
 procraftinators : they put it off till next 
 day, till next week ; and the next day 
 or the next week never comes. 
 
 B 4 On
 
 [ 8 ] 
 
 On the third day we dined at a little 
 town called Honiton, where they make 
 a good deal of that lace fo much admired 
 by Italian ladies, that goes with us by 
 the name of Merletti d'Inghilterra. I 
 wonder why it is not made every where, 
 as thofe who make it are neither philo- 
 fophers nor conjurers, but poor ignorant 
 women. I would have bought fome for 
 fome people at Turin: but forbore, to 
 avoid being plagued at the many cuftom- 
 houfes where I mall be fearched before 
 I reach home. 
 
 At Honiton, from the window of the 
 inn, I faw a battalion of militia newly 
 raifed. They went through their mili- 
 tary exercife - y and I own I did not 
 much admire their movements. How- 
 ever, they will drive the world before 
 them when they come to be better mo- 
 delled ; and the French will find it no 
 jeft, if ever they dare to come over in 
 their flat-bottom boats, and fet their feet 
 
 on
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
 on the Britim Ihore, as they have been 
 threatening this long while. 
 
 We dined haftily. Then the EngliOi- 
 man and I walked out of the town, juft 
 to flretch our legs a little. We went fo 
 far as a fmall rivulet, where I took no- 
 tice of an engine called aDucking-ftool. 
 What is it ? I will tell you if I can. It 
 is a ftool to fit on. A kind of armed 
 wooden chair, fixed on the extremity 
 of a pole about fifteen feet long. The 
 pole is horizontally placed on a pofl juft 
 by the water, and loofely pegg'd to that 
 poft ; fo that by raifing it at one end, 
 you lower the ftool down into the midft 
 of the rivulet. Do you comprehend 
 me ? That ftool ferves at prefent to duck 
 fcolds and termagants : but it is faid, 
 that the fuperflitious inhabitants of Ho- 
 niton ufed formerly to place on it thofc 
 old women whom they thought to be 
 witches, and duck'd them unmercifully 
 feveral times j fometimes to death. 
 
 While
 
 f ] 
 
 While the young gentleman ancj J 
 were gravely philofophiiing on the no- 
 tion of witches, which has been fo ge- 
 neral at all times and in all countries, , 
 the coach overtook us. But inftead of 
 getting into it, we wanted to pull the 
 young ladies out of it, and give them a 
 plunge or two, becaufe in our days the 
 opinion prevails, that all pretty girls, 
 are witches, and old women are fo no 
 more. Indeed Mifs Anne and Mifs Helen 
 had a fine efcape, and may thank the 
 coachman who was in hafte, or they had 
 paid for their bewitching looks. 
 
 Not far from Honiton they left us as 
 well as the Scotch officer, and the fepa- 
 ration feemed grievous to us all. We 
 kifTed and parted ; and not with eyes 
 perfectly dry. Did I fay luffed ? Yes, 
 upon my word. But you Italians make 
 fo much of a kifs, that there is no en- 
 during you. Here we make nothing of 
 it, efpecially on fuch occafions ; nor is 
 there any harm in it, whatever you may 
 
 think,
 
 [ " 3 
 
 think. What have you to fay, you peo- 
 ple on the other fide of that huge moun- 
 tain ? I am fure I fliall not abide your 
 filly fafhions, now I am ufed to thofe 
 of England. What a ridiculous thing 
 is kiffing men and men, or women and 
 women ! The Englifh have twenty times 
 more wit than you. When I am amongft 
 you again, I will pofitively follow the 
 Englifli fafhions : and fo, tell all the 
 damfels in your neighbourhood, that I 
 am coming to mend their manners. I 
 will fet up as a reformer now I am a 
 travell'd man, and will do as all travell'd 
 men do, when they get back home. 
 They look, and with good reafon, upon 
 themfelves as a good deal the wifer for 
 having feen the world. 
 
 However, I felt more pain than I will 
 tell you in the ad: of quitting thofe two 
 amiable maidens. Perhaps I have feen 
 them for the laft time, and that is al- 
 ways an ugly thought ! Nothing endears 
 people fo faft to each other as travelling 
 
 together
 
 ] 
 
 together in the fame vehicle ; and the 
 effect is natural. Our love for perfons 
 arifes from the pleafure we receive from 
 them. The more pleafure they can give 
 us, the greater our love. This is phi- 
 lofophy, or I am a blockhead. In that 
 coach none of us could receive any plea- 
 fure but what was got from one of the 
 other five ; and each endeavoured to give 
 fome, that he might receive fome. Thus 
 one fung a fong, one told a ftory, one 
 produced a pun, one did this, and ano- 
 ther did that. The whole world was 
 without the coach, and within there 
 was nothing but ourfelves. Therefore 
 having nothing elfe to love, we loved 
 each other very faft. It has been ob- 
 ferved, that the ftrongeft love is that 
 contracted in a jail ; and the coach was 
 for three days a perfect jail to us : fo we 
 were all become friends enough to grieve 
 at parting. But what fignifies talking? 
 We parted, and there is an end ; fuch 
 tranfitory joys and pains are the lot of 
 
 travellers.
 
 [ '3 ] 
 
 travellers. The coach goes no further 
 than this town, and I muft think to- 
 morrow of another vehicle. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Fine clreffing not blameable. Fifty broken 
 nojes. A promife to <writ-e trifles. 
 
 Eiceter ftill, Aug. 17, 176*. 
 
 IS morning early I walked all 
 over this town. It is none of the 
 fineft, very ill paved, and very dirty, tho' 
 it is fummer. In winter it mufl he 
 ten times worfe. The houfes are gene- 
 rally built in fuch a ftyle of architecture, 
 that Palladio would have hang'd himfelf 
 for vexation, if he had feen them. I 
 went to give a look to the cathedral. As 
 it is Sunday, it was full of people, and 
 the parfon was preaching again!! the va- 
 nity of dreffing. What he faid upon the 
 fubjectwas fenfible enough, and feelingly 
 delivered; but not much to the pur- 
 
 pofe,
 
 [ 14 ] 
 
 pofe, as I thought, becaufe the Exo- 
 nians do not pique themfelves (thofe 
 at leaft who formed his audience) on the 
 magnificence of their apparel. Many 
 looked clean ; but not one gaudy. Yet, 
 had they even been fine, I do not like 
 to hear dremng much condemned. 
 Dreffing is one of the many things that 
 encreafe the difference between the rea- 
 fonable animal and the unreafonable > 
 and any thing, be it ever fo fmall, that 
 increafes that difference, is never much 
 amifs. Extremes to be fure are ex- 
 tremes f and the vanity of dreffing may 
 be carried fo far as to be ridiculous ; yet 
 finful it can fcarcely ever be : therefore, 
 if I were a preacher, I would never bear 
 hard upon this point, becaufe I have ob- 
 ferved that people well dreffed, have in 
 general a kind of refpecl: for themfelves; 
 and whoever refpeds himfelf, does a very 
 good thing. As for my part, I love 
 dreffing fo well, that if I could afford 
 
 it,
 
 t -5 i 
 
 it, I would be half a beau all the year 
 round. 
 
 This cathedral is Gothic, like that of 
 Salifoury ; but much inferior to it in 
 many refpects. It is large enough for the 
 town, but has nothing very remarkable, 
 except the fifty figures (if I have counted 
 *hem right) which adorn its front. They 
 are alto-relievos, and all nofelefs. Time 
 has pick'd off their nofes, and made dufl 
 of them, as it does of all nofes,. whether 1 
 marble or not. From the top of the church, 
 where I afcended by a winding ft ai:- cafe, 
 the iieps of which are in. bad order, 
 I have taken a view of the country round. 
 It is very fine, full of ffnall hills covered 
 with trees, and watered by many ftreams. 
 
 Before the cathedral are fome trees 
 planted in rows, each tree faniaJdicalJy 
 cut in the form of a fan. About the 
 walls of a ruined cattle, which ftands 
 higher than the town, there is a fine 
 walk much frequented by women, as I 
 could fee towards the latter part of the 
 
 afternoon.
 
 t .6 ] 
 
 afternoon. I faw few men there. The 
 profpect facing the caftle on the fide of 
 the walk, is one of the moft pleafing. 
 
 To-morrow my trunk will be forward- 
 ed to Falmouth in a cart or waggon. 
 The Englifh gentleman and I go to Ply- 
 mouth, where I intend to make but a 
 fhort flay. I want to be at Falmouth 
 and embark for Lifbon. Having no more 
 pretty girls to travel with, I find that 
 I grow impatient, and long to fee my 
 journey's end, thinking more and more 
 deeply on the three thoufand miles I have 
 to go. It is the feventh or eighth part of the 
 globe's circumference ! From Plymouth, 
 and even from Falmouth, I will write 
 to you again, and fend my letters back 
 to London, that they may be forwarded 
 to you from thence. From Falmouth 
 onward I propofe to write to you every 
 night, even when I am at fea, and tell 
 you the flory of every day. But what- 
 ever I write, as I go on, mall not be 
 brought to you by any body but myfelf. 
 
 JBe
 
 [ '7 1 
 
 Be fure I will write a world of things 
 that I (hall fee or hear. Trifles indeed 
 they will commonly be, as I fhall have 
 no leifure any where to make deep re- 
 marks. Yet I will endeavour to be en-> 
 tertaining, at leaft to myfelf ; as I (hall 
 probably have no other means of be- 
 guiling the evenings but by my quilL 
 
 LETTER IV, 
 
 Manufactures of Serges andTapeftry. Father 
 Nor her t and his workmen from France. 
 
 Plymouth, Aug. 18, 1760* 
 
 Y Left Exeter this morning at eleven, 
 * after having vifited two manufacto- 
 ries, one of ferges, and the other of that 
 fort of tapeftry, which in French is called 
 Gobelins from the place where it is made 
 at t^aris. The ferges of Exeter are, as 
 I am told, chiefly exported into Catho- 
 lic countries for the ufe of monks and 
 nuns of various orders. In feveral {lore-* 
 houfes of that town there are fb many 
 VOL. L C bales
 
 [ i8 J 
 
 bales of it, as would fuffice to make an 
 intrenchment round the camp of the 
 Auftrians, who are faid to be fo nume- 
 rous in Saxony. I mean that at Exeter 
 they make a large quantity of thofe fer- 
 ges : but travellers mult exaggerate if 
 they will prove entertaining. Many fa- 
 natical fpeculators would fain fee all our 
 religious orders abolifhed : but, were it 
 not for thofe other fanaticks who com- 
 pofe thofe orders, Exeter would fare but 
 poorly. 
 
 As to the Gobelin-tapeftry, the art of 
 making it in perfection was introduced in 
 England by a famous' anti-jefuit, the re- 
 verend father Norbert, a French capu- 
 ehin-friar,. whom Benedict XIV (a kind 
 of anti-jefuit himfelf ) permitted to ga 
 and live in England, on condition he 
 fliould play the miffionary there, and 
 convert the good people to his church. 
 But, inftead of doing as he was bid, and 
 as he had promifed, the hone ft fellow 
 took the liberty of fecularifing himfelf, 
 
 aiTumed
 
 f i9 3 
 
 aflumed the name of Monfieur Parifot., 
 and turned dire&or of a manufactory of 
 that fort of tapeftry. In this undertak- 
 ing he found means of being aiTifted by a 
 voluntary fubfcription of the Englifh no- 
 bility and gentry, which amounted to 
 more than ten thoufand pounds, as I was 
 told at that time. That fubfcription the 
 Monfieur pocketted foon after his arrival 
 in London. I went feveral times from 
 London to Fulham to fee his looms, which 
 would have procured him a pretty live- 
 lihood if he had been a man of fome 
 economy. But he lived at. fuch a rate, 
 and was porTerTed of fo many virtues, ef- 
 pecially thofe two cardinal ones vulgarly 
 called luft and vanity, that he contracted 
 many debts in a little time, turned bank- 
 rupt, and ran away. 
 
 The looms and other manufacturing 
 
 implements which he could not carry off. 
 
 were fold by auction ; and one Mr. Paf- 
 
 favan bought them for little more than 
 
 C 2 nothing.
 
 nothing. With them he fet up a dimi- 
 nutive manufactory at Exeter, after hav- 
 ing taken into his fervice a few deferters 
 from the Gobelins of Paris, who were 
 inticed away by the friar's magnificent 
 promifes. Thefe workmen, in confe- 
 quence of thofe promifes, came over to 
 England, fairly venturing a halter, if 
 they had been caught in the aft of de- 
 ferting. But the friar was far from keep- 
 ing his word with them as foon as he 
 had a fufficient number of them in his 
 power. The falaries he then appointed 
 them (and they were forced to accept) 
 were but fcanty. On his running away 
 from England, the poor fellows found 
 themfelves in a very fad plight. They 
 knew no other trade but that of tapef- 
 try-making, were ignorant of the lan- 
 guage, and could not go back to France, 
 where they would have been hanged for 
 their defertion. Mr. PafTavan picked out 
 of the ftreets of London thofe few whom 
 hunger and wretchednefs had not time 
 
 to
 
 to kill, and got them to Exeter, where 
 he makes a penny out of their labour. 
 
 One part of this ilory I knew fome 
 years ago : the other I had from thofe 
 few Frenchmen at Exeter; and I fancy 
 you will not be difpleafed with this anec- 
 dote of a man fo much talked of in Italy 
 for his virulent writings againft the Je- 
 fuits ; whofe books were for a time in 
 every body's hands; and whofe charac- 
 ter proved at laft no better than thofe of 
 the word part amongft thofe whom he 
 cenfured. 
 
 I take now my leave of Exeter and of 
 the organ of its cathedral, which the 
 Exonians fcruple not to fay is the fined 
 in England. And now you muft fancy 
 that you fee me in a poft-chaife haftening 
 to Plymouth, quite enamoured with the 
 rural beauties of Devonshire, which are 
 not inferiour to the beft parts of Pied- 
 mont and Lombardy. At night I reached 
 this town with a whole neck. A lucky 
 thing enough, confidering how precipi- 
 C 3 ton fly
 
 C } 
 
 loully the poftillions drove, It was quite 
 dark when I alighted at the inn. I have 
 written thefe line's while fupper is mak- 
 ing ready. Can any body fay that I am 
 idle ? 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 A man of 'war and a dock vifited. 
 
 Plymouth ftill, Aug. 19, 1760. 
 
 THIS morning I rambled about this 
 fmall and irregular town, and vi- 
 fited its two churches, called St. Andrew 
 and St. Charles. The Englim care but 
 little for faints : yet they give their names 
 to churches. A little piece of incon- 
 gruity, as I take it. It proves how dif- 
 ficult it is to get rid of ancient cuftoms. 
 
 I walked a while on the key of the 
 harbour and along the fea-fhore, where 
 I faw nothing very remarkable, excepting 
 two bay-mules. One of them was lame. 
 And here, to keep up the character of a 
 fkilful, attentive, and judicious traveller,
 
 [ 23 ] 
 
 I muft tell you that mules in England are 
 far from being fo common as with us. 
 Thefe two are almoft all that I have 
 &en in ten years. 
 
 Having noted down the lame mule in 
 my memorandum-book with a pencil, I 
 went towards the arfenal, or dock, as 
 they call it here. It is about two miles 
 diftant from the town. In my way there, 
 andjufl by it, I fpy'd a man of war of 
 lixty or feventy guns, called the Not- 
 tingham. They were refitting it, being 
 juft come from a long voyage. As I had 
 never feen the infide of a man of war, I 
 chofe to vifit it thoroughly with the af- 
 fiftance of two failors, who explained 
 to me the ufe of every thing in it, an- 
 fwering my numerous and foolifh quef- 
 tions with a great deal of patience. What 
 is this, and what is that, and what is 
 the ufe of that other thing ? Indeed the 
 fellows were much in the' right if they 
 laughed at my ignorance of every thing. 
 I am fure they winked at each other, and 
 C 4 looked
 
 looked arch: yet I fay it again, they were 
 perfectly* right to make fport of fuch a 
 mere landman as I am. 
 
 This vifit lafted little lefs than three 
 hours. But, juft as it was over, and I 
 was taking my leave of my friendly in- 
 ftrudtors, a fun-burnt fort of a gentleman 
 came on board ; one of the under-of- 
 ficers, I think. He approached me with 
 a very particular kind of civility ; fome- 
 thing of opennefs mixed with roughnefs. 
 Indeed I know not what name to give to 
 that kind of civility. A medley of bold- 
 nefs, contempt, felf-fufficiency, and kind- 
 nefs. Extradt an idea out of thefe differ- 
 ent ideas, and enjoy it. Hearing I was 
 a flranger who had never been before un- 
 der the deck qf a war-mip, he took hold 
 at once of both my hands, and grafped 
 them fo tenacioufly, that I could not ef- 
 cape him. " Here, Sir, let's walk below, 
 <( andriljhow her to you. A damnd old 
 f ' 6 a gg a g e ft> e y an d we II all go to the bottom 
 *' in her next voyage-, but I dont care a
 
 t *5 ] 
 
 " rufo." It was with the utmoft diffi- 
 culty I faved myfelf from his \vell-meant 
 kindnefs. I entered an inn in the dock, 
 and dined. 
 
 After dinner I went in fearch of an 
 engineer for whom I had a letter, in, 
 which he was defired by a friend in Lon- 
 don to (how me the dock and any other 
 thing curious about Plymouth. He is 
 a moft gentleman-like man, and poflefTed 
 of touch polite learning hefides his fkill 
 in hisprofeflion. 
 
 He took me into the mofl hidden re- 
 cedes of the dock, and (howed me 
 every thing. There I faw great heaps of 
 cannon and mountains of cannon-balls, 
 impatiently waiting for an opportunity 
 to affift in the propagation of the human, 
 fpecies : there I faw numberlefs mafls of 
 various fizes, all modeflly lying down in a 
 vaft clofe : there I faw a prodigious long 
 room, in which many men, running with 
 their backs forwards and their bellies 
 
 backwards,
 
 [ 26 ] 
 
 backwards, (you comprehend me) were 
 making thofe ropes, which are afterwards 
 joined many together, and formed into 
 cables as big as my waiil. There I faw 
 the vail chauldronsfull of tar, where thofe 
 ropes are boiled : and there I faw a very 
 large wheel fo conftrudled, that it contains 
 about a dozen men in itfelf, who make 
 it turn with great velocity by their incef- 
 fant trampling upon fome wooden bars 
 that are laid acrofs its infide. You have 
 feen what we call a winding-cage put in 
 motion by the bird it contains ? That 
 wheel 13 made upon the principles of a 
 winding-cage, and thofe men in it may 
 be called the bird. They had no more 
 cloaths on than a frog, excepting their 
 trowfers. The men turn the wheel ; the 
 wheel moves a prefs ; the prefs fqueezes 
 the ropes that have been boiled in the 
 chauldrons; and the ropes thus fqueezed, 
 emit the tar with which they were there 
 impregnated. In fliort, I faw fo many 
 things in that dock, that Briareus, who 
 
 had
 
 [ 27 ] 
 
 had fifty writing-hands out of his hun- 
 dred, would not be able to fet them all 
 down in an age, were he charged with 
 making the inventory. Upon my credit, 
 as I came out of that place I was little 
 lefs than ftupified. My faculties were 
 nearly overpowered by the immenfe va- 
 riety of objects that had paft before my 
 eyes. It was dark when I got back to 
 the inn. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Forttficatio?2s. Mount Edgecombe. An ha* 
 bitation ft for Jean- Jacques. An anti- 
 quarian and his daughter. 
 
 Plymouth ftill, Aug. 20, 1760. 
 
 fT^HE courteous engineer called upon 
 * me this morning early, and took 
 me into a barge rowed by fix flout fel- 
 lows, befides the man at the rudder. We 
 crofTed with great fwiftnefs a part of the 
 harbour, and landed on a fmall rocky if- 
 Jet, called St. Nicholas, which has been 
 
 placed
 
 placed by nature in the very mouth of 
 Plymouth-harbour. In lefs than half an 
 hour we made the tour of the fortification 
 upon it. Then we went to fee the cita- 
 del, which is certainly very ftrong, and 
 fo well provided with batteries, that woe 
 to the French Argonaut who mould ever 
 dare to come in fearch of the golden 
 fleece on this more. Yet I was not afto- 
 nimed at its flrength. He who has feen 
 our fortrefles on the Alps, efpecially Fe- 
 nejirelles and La Brunette, needs not to 
 be furprifed at any thing of that kind. 
 
 Jt was Charles the Second who built 
 this citadel, in order to bridle the inha- 
 bitants of Plymouth, who had fided with 
 Cromwell in the famous civil war. For 
 thefe feveral years pafl they have been 
 adding new fortifications to the harbour 
 and the dock. So that, if the Plymouth- 
 people had once the mortification to fee 
 themfelves checked by them, they have 
 now the pleafure to fee themfelves fecured 
 againft all foreign invaders.. No foe 
 
 muft
 
 muft now think of landing there without 
 an immenfe force. I even queflion whe- 
 ther it would be poffible for any force to 
 take it (I mean any force the French can 
 mufter) confidering how the approach to 
 it is rendered difficult by St. Nicholas 
 and the citadel mutually fupporting each 
 other. Be it poffible or not, I mould 
 not be pleafed to be in the head-mip that 
 came on fo defperate an errand. 
 
 After dinner we got again into the 
 barge, and made towards a hill about as 
 high as that of the capuchins on the 
 right fide of your Po. They call it Mount- 
 Edgecombe ; and it is, properly fpeak- 
 ing, a promontory which juts out into 
 the lea on the right fide of Plymouth- 
 harbour. The proprietor of it is an 
 Engliflh lord, who has a houfe upon it. 
 In the whole world there is perhaps not 
 another fo well fituated. A bold expreffi- 
 on, you will fay. But were you to fee 
 it, you would be aftonifhed at the prof- 
 peft it commands. 
 
 From
 
 [ 3 1 
 
 From its windows, and indeed frorri 
 that whole fide of the hill, you fee flraight 
 afore you the vaft ocean extending itfelf 
 beyond the reach of eyes. The immenfe 
 liquid plain has its uniformity interrupted 
 only in one fmall place about ten miles 
 from the land. I mean, that about tert 
 miles off at fea there is a Light- houfe 
 erected on a rock, which ftands abfolutely 
 by itfelf, and is called The JLddy-ftone. 
 The Light-houfe is very vifible from 
 Mount-Edgecombe, though at fuch a dif- 
 tance. On your left hand you have the 
 harbour with the iflet of St. Nicholas^ 
 the citadel, the dock, and the town of 
 Plymouth. The harbour fwarms with 
 men of war and mips of feveral fizes, 
 fome at anchor and fome in motion, and 
 with numberlefs boats perpetually row- 
 ing or failing backwards and forwards j 
 the whole of this furrounded by a vaft 
 tradl: of fine country, diverfified by a great 
 many hills and ftreams of water. Add 
 to this, that under the windows and all 
 
 7 about
 
 about the park, there are cows, and deer, 
 and geefe, and turkeys, and other animals 
 peaceably feeding upon a verdant carpet 
 bounded all round by a circular walk. A 
 fine contraft co the bufy fcene tranfacted 
 below in the harbour. 
 
 What do you fay to it now ? They 
 fpeak of the Chartreufe at Naples, and 
 they fay it is the finefl fituation in the 
 world. I believe it But Mount-Edge- 
 combe is alfo the fineft -, and fo you have 
 two fined, one at Naples, and the other 
 in Devonshire. In Queen Elizabeth's 
 time the admiral of the Spanilh Armada, 
 making fure of conquering this kingdom, 
 begg'd Mount- Edgecombe of Philip II 
 by way of reward for his intended con- 
 queft. Philip promifed to give it ; but 
 the Englim admiral hindered him from 
 keeping his promife, by accomplishing 
 the deftruclion of die Armada with his 
 invention of fire-fhips. A horrible florin 
 had already begun tho,t definition. 
 
 or
 
 [ 3* ] - 
 
 Of the Light-houfe and rock on which 
 it ftands, I faw once the model in Lon- 
 don. There was formerly another light- 
 houfe on that rock, which was warned 
 away by the fea on a ftormy night, and 
 ftill another that was accidentally burnt. 
 I remember very well that I admired much 
 the model of this. The ingenuity of the 
 architect (one Mr. Smeaton) was great, 
 who found the means of creeling fuch an 
 edifice in fuch a place ; that is, upon a 
 floping rock perfectly naked, and almofl: 
 incefTantly beaten by millions of the mofl 
 tremendous waves. 
 
 To think of digging that rock, and 
 thus give the edifice a good foundation, 
 was utterly impoffible, as the rock is near 
 as hard as porphyry. The architect there- 
 fore had a multitude of holes bored into 
 it, and large iron bars driven into thofe 
 holes. To bore fuch holes required no 
 fmall labour, as you may imagine. Theri, 
 between bar and bar the foundation was 
 laid, by connecting large flat ftones in 
 
 fuch
 
 I 33 J 
 
 fach a manner, that each entered into a 
 part of the next. No fand was employed 
 there but what was fetched fo far as the 
 neighbourhood of Rome. You know the 
 nature of the Pozzolana, that hardens 
 under water every day more when mixed 
 withlime> and incorporates with theftones 
 in fuch a manner, as to make one folid 
 mafs with them in a little time. 
 
 This was certainly a noble undertak* 
 ing ; and thus the dangerous rock is made 
 vifible to nodturnal navigators, as lights 
 are mown every night on the top of that 
 ftrange edifice by two men, who live 
 conftantly there, and fometimes fee no 
 body for whole months, efpecially in win- 
 ter. Thofe men have'provifions fent them 
 from Plymouth when the weather will 
 permit. But let them be ever fo plenti- 
 fully fupplied, ftill they muft hufband 
 them with great care for fear of a long 
 tempeftuous winter, that leaves no room 
 for fending them any thing. What a 
 happy life fome mortals lead on the fur* 
 
 VOL. I. D face
 
 [ 34 I 
 
 face of this globe ! To be fhut up in 
 fmall apartment (a very fmall one) on the 
 top of a tower feventy foot high, and fee 
 nothing but water from its narrow win- 
 dows, and hear no other found but that 
 of the raging billows incefTantly beating 
 about them ! I am told that thofe billows 
 are often fuch, as to approach the very 
 top of the Light-houfe, and fprinkle its 
 narrow windows. The celebrated Rouf- 
 feau never heard of fuch a place, I fup~ 
 pofe .; or he would have begg'd the em- 
 ploy of lamp-lighter there, he who hates 
 fo much all converfe with mankind. It 
 is impoffible to imagine a properer man- 
 fion for a philofopher fo much out of hu- 
 mour with this wicked world. 
 
 After having walk'd a while iii the 
 circular walk of Mount-Edgecombe, and 
 well confidered all the parts of that fur- 
 prifing profpecl:, I took my leave of the 
 engineer, who was going another way, 
 and went back to the barge with another 
 gentleman who had dined with us. His 
 
 chcarful
 
 [ 35 ] 
 
 thearful countenance, the livelinefs of his 
 converfation, and the reverend hoarinefs 
 <?f his locks, made me readily fympathife 
 with him. He is a Naturalift and an 
 Antiquarian. As we crofTed the harbour 
 again, he pointed at a place on the left 
 hand, and made me take notice of fome 
 large holes which go deep under the 
 more. Near thofe holes, faid he, lived 
 in ancient days a mighty giant called 
 Og-magog - y and we are informed by an 
 old chronicle, that he fought once a mod 
 terrible battle with another giant called 
 Corineus, whom he killed and threw 
 head-long into the feajuft by thofe holes: 
 fo that they have retained the name of 
 the victor to this day, and are called 7/fe 
 holes ofOg-magcg, 
 
 On our landing at Plymouth the gen- 
 tleman infifted upon my going to eat a 
 bit of fupper with him; and while it was 
 making ready, he mowed me his collec- 
 tion of medals and natural curioiities. 
 But oh the wonderful difcretion of a Na- 
 D 2 turalift
 
 t 36 i 
 
 turalift and Antiquarian ! He only point-* 
 cd curforily to a few of the rareft pieces 
 in the collection, and did not teize me 
 with minute and tirefome details. Many 
 of his brethern have got the trick of 
 keeping you along time, defcanting upon 
 every rufty medal they have, upon every 
 broken idolet, every reptile, every plant, 
 every petrifaction, and every chryftallifa- 
 tion j nor are they aware, that he who 
 has not made fuch things the principal 
 object of his ftudies, confiders a good 
 many of them as mere baubles, and can- 
 not look upon them with fuch eager eyes 
 as they do themfelves, who having em- 
 ployed many of their thoughts about 
 them, and been at a great deal of trouble 
 in collecting, hold almoft every individual 
 piece as dear as a jewel. 
 
 Do not imagine however, that I con^ 
 demn the collectors of medals ; much lefs 
 thofe of natural curiofities. He who has 
 leifure and means, does very well to em- 
 ploy them this way, if he knows of na 
 
 better
 
 r 37 ] 
 
 better to render himfelf ufeful to the lite- 
 rary commonwealth. It is of confiderable 
 advantage in the profecution of our ftu- 
 dies to know fomething of ancient coins 
 and other remains of remote ages ; and 
 it is a moft rational fatisfadion to be ac- 
 quainted with every pebble that lies in 
 your way, with every weed you tread up- 
 on, and with every flower you pluck 
 up. And to be able to range almoft 
 every thing you fee in its proper clafs, 
 will certainly help on life in a manner 
 delightful as well as innocent. But to ho- 
 nour accidental infpectors with your pro- 
 lix details, proves intolerably fatiguing. 
 My gentleman is none of thefe over- 
 officious explainers, and did not put me 
 out of patience for a fingle moment. Nor 
 will I pafs over in filence his daughter, 
 who feemed to be very well verfed in the 
 maidenly fcience of mells and butterflies, 
 and not even ignorant of the manner in 
 which coral is formed and infects live 
 in its cavities, as I found by converfation 
 D 3 while
 
 [. 38 ] 
 
 \vhile at flipper. Her father has made 
 her the keeper of his cabinet, and flic 
 knows fo much of every thing" in it, as 
 to fupply pretty well his abfence when 
 there is occafion to mow it to ftrangers. 
 I wim we had in Italy many young ladies 
 as learned as Mifs Betfey, and able to pro- 
 cure themfelves fo harmlefs a paftime as 
 that of examining the various productions 
 of nature. I think it would be a very 
 advantageous addition to that of dancing 
 well, and fingering a harpfichord with a 
 mafterly hand. 
 
 But the pleafure of fcribbling has made 
 me encroach upon the hour of going to 
 bed. Therefore, good night. I fee the 
 dawn peeping out. It is near four by my 
 watch, and rather time to fet out than to 
 go to fleep. However, I will go to deep * 
 and fo good night again. 
 
 LET-
 
 [ 39 ] 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Petty tyranny fear cely avoidable. InceJJant 
 rain. 
 
 From an inn called Horfe-bridge, Aug. 21, 
 
 JTHHIS has proved a very rainy day, 
 -* which has made my fhort journey 
 very difagreeable. At the town where I 
 dined, having nobody to talk to, and yet 
 wanting to talk, I afked mine hoftefs how 
 {he went on in her bufinefs. Very poor- 
 ly, faid the old woman. I am forry, faid 
 I, to hear you fay fo. But how can this 
 be, as this town feems fo populous ? 
 
 She then informed me, that almoft the 
 whole territory of that town belongs to 
 a noble peer of this realm, who never 
 goes there, and leaves all his concerns to 
 the management of an agent. The agent 
 by thefe means, from a very infignificant 
 fellow that he originally was, is become 
 a moft confiderableperibnagein the town 
 and plays the bamaw over almoft every 
 D 4 body
 
 [ 4 1 
 
 body there. Do you fee (quoth the wo- 
 man) that girl there ? Well : (he is a 
 virtuous girl, and never would mind the 
 agent. I will fay no more : but he took 
 fomethrng amifs of us, and declared him- 
 felf our enemy. He is all-powerful here, 
 and does right and wrong, juft as he lifts : 
 nor can we get any redrefs, as the juftice 
 himfelf ftands in fear of him. Some of 
 the townfmen, who have been wronged 
 by the agent as well as we, are gone fe- 
 verally to London to complain of him to 
 the lord ; but never could get admittance, 
 becaufe he is too great a man to be fpoke 
 to by ordinary people ; beiides that fe- 
 veral of his grace's fervants are in the 
 bafliaw's intereft, and take care to flop 
 all information. Every body gives a good 
 word to the lord, and fays that he would 
 fet all things to rights (a) if he was but 
 apprifed of what is doing in this place. 
 
 (a) The complaints of the inhabitants (as I was cafualfy 
 apprifed fence my return to England) have reached the peer t 
 and the agent has been turned out of his place* 
 
 To
 
 [ 4' ] 
 
 To diftrefs me and my family, the agent 
 will have nothing further to do with any 
 inhabitant who comes to my inn ; and 
 he has it in his power to harrafs many, 
 and deny bread to many, having, as I faid, 
 the management of alrnoffc all the land 
 in the territory, and many of them being 
 the lord's tenants. Thus I am ruined, 
 continued the old woman, as I have no 
 means of fubfiftence but fuch chance-tra- 
 vellers as you are, and the road from. 
 Plymouth to Falmouth not much fre- 
 quented. Not a fingle glafs of cyder can 
 I fell to any body dependant on that man. 
 They all avoid me and my houfe as if the 
 plague was in it ! 
 
 Now, ye Englimmen, faid I to myfelf, 
 behold ! Here as well as elfewhere, the 
 whale fwallows up the fmall fifties, 
 whatever you may fay of your laws, which 
 you think fo very antidotal againft all fort 
 of tyranny. Your laws, you fay, are an 
 adamantine fhield that covers your whole 
 ifland. ' No oppreflion is here of any 
 7 kind ;
 
 [ 42 ] 
 
 kind ; no: not the leaft fliadow of it. 
 But go to mine hoftefs, gentlemen, and 
 you will hear another flory. You will 
 hear that it is in your country as in all 
 others ; I mean that no fuch laws can be 
 thought on by mortal legislators, as per- 
 fectly to fcreen the weak againft the 
 flrong, or the poor againft the rich ; 
 efpecially when the fubjecl of complaint 
 is not fo great as to draw the public at- 
 tention, which is generally the cafe in 
 thofe many oppreffions that the little en- 
 dure from the great, Innumerable are 
 the diftrefles that one part of mankind 
 would heap upon the other, were it not 
 for a law much higher than any you can 
 pafs. That law you mufl all endeavour 
 to inculcate to each other, that it may 
 fpread further and further. That alone 
 will prove powerful if you keep it : but 
 if you defpife or neglect it, none elfe will 
 be much conducive to the fuppremon and 
 extinction of petty tyranny. 
 
 Thus
 
 [ 43 1 
 
 Thus did I go on moralizing the whole 
 afternoon, clofely fhut up in my chaife 
 becaufeof the rain. This inn ofHorfe- 
 bridge is the laft place in Devonfhire. 
 To-morrow I mall be in Cornwall by 
 break of day. 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Chivalry-books. Variations of fpeech. Tin, 
 Gold, and Coal-mines in Italy. Whyfoould 
 we work hard ? 
 
 Falmoutb, Aug. 12, 1760. 
 
 WITHIN piftol-fliot of the houfe 
 where I wrote my laft, there is a 
 brook with a plank over it. At the eaft- 
 end of that plank Devonfliire ends, and 
 at the weft-end Cornwall begins. 
 
 Cornwall is a province frequently men- 
 tioned in our ancient books of chivalry. 
 It is reprefented as a country, where 
 knights-errant often met with ftrange ad- 
 ventures : With diftrefTed damfels riding 
 about on milk-white palfreys in fearch 
 
 of
 
 [ 44 ] 
 
 of affiftance againft fome giant who had 
 robbed them of their lovers, or againft 
 fome necromancer who had (hut up fome 
 beautiful queen in his enchanted tower. 
 
 Why Cornwal was oftener named in 
 thofe books than Devonfhire or fome 
 other of the adjacent parts, is not eafy 
 to fay. Perhaps fome fafhionable def- 
 cription of that country determined their 
 choice, or perhaps in the ages of chivalry 
 Cornwall was better known to the Itali- 
 ans than Devonmire and other adjacent 
 parts on account of the tin with which 
 it abounds. The Italians were then the 
 greateft (perhaps the only) navigators in 
 Europe, and knew one better than the 
 other upon that account. Give a better 
 guefs if you can as to the predilection our 
 romancers had for this province whenever 
 they laid the fcene in Great Britain. 
 
 As Falmouth is little lefs than three 
 hundred miles from London, I expected 
 to be much puzzled in many parts by va- 
 riation of fpeech. But I have found that 
 
 the
 
 t 4S ] 
 
 the fame language is very nearly fpoken, 
 all along the road. The very fpeech of 
 Falmouth is fo like that of London, as 
 not to give me the leaft trouble. This 
 would not have been the cafe in Italy, 
 where in a much fhorter fpace you meet 
 with dialects quite unintelligible to the 
 Tufcans or the Romans, and, what is 
 ftill more furpriiing, with other manners 
 and other tenours of living, which is not 
 perceptibly the cafe from London to Fal- 
 mouth. 
 
 However it is lucky that I happened 
 not to come this way about a century and 
 half ago ; for I am told that a dialect of 
 the Welch language was then fpoken 
 throughout this province, which had cer- 
 tainly been utterly unintelligible to me. 
 How the Cornifli came to be quite anni- 
 hilated in fo fhort a time is matter of afto- 
 nimment, confidering that the prefent 
 inhabitants are not colonifts, but lineal 
 defcendants from the inhabitants of that 
 
 As
 
 t 46 ] 
 
 As it has rained apace ever fince I 
 crofied the fmall brook above-mentioned, 
 I could fee almoft nothing thefe three 
 days but the road and the inns where I 
 alighted. I cannot therefore tell you any 
 very remarkable thing of the country 
 which I left behind. It was my intention 
 to Hop at Truro, and go to fee the tin- 
 mines in its neighbourhood ; but this 
 untimely rain, which ftill continues, has 
 defeated my fcheme, and put me quite 
 out of humour ; fo that I jogged along 
 to this place, and thus have deprived both 
 you and myfelf of fome entertainment 
 and information. 
 
 Truro is the chief town of Cornwall. 
 By what I could fee of it, I liked it bet- 
 ter than either Exeter or Plymouth* 
 Along one of the flreets lie fcattered a 
 great many fquare pieces of tin, each of 
 about three hundred pounds weight, as I 
 am told. They tell me likewife, that tin 
 is dug out of the mine along with a great 
 deal of earth ; and not in bits or lumps, 
 
 but
 
 [ 47 ] 
 
 but in grains as fmall as common fancL 
 The tin is feparated from the earth by 
 ieveral warnings, and, when thus feparat- 
 ed, is melted and cafl into thofe fquare 
 pieces. The pieces are marked with 
 the king's ftamp, and a finall duty is paid 
 for that mark. Then it is melted again, 
 and caft into ingots about as big as my 
 thumb, and little lefs than three fpans 
 long ; and in this form is tin tranfported 
 wherever it goes. I got one of thofe in- 
 gots, and could as eafily bend it as I can 
 a rope. In the bending it gives a fuccef- 
 five cracking found, and yet it is not a 
 found, properly fpeaking : it is rather a 
 noiie. Nor will an ingot break by bend- 
 ing, except you twift it hard, and con- 
 trary-wife. The fquare pieces look very 
 much like filver unpolimed, and emit a 
 pretty found or tinckling when ftruck 
 with a ftick or a ftone. 
 
 It is a good thing for the Cornim peo- 
 ple to have plenty of a commodity like 
 this, which is of general ufc, and almoft 
 
 peculiar
 
 t 48 ] 
 
 peculiar to their province. It makes them 
 ample amends for their foil, which in 
 many places feemed to me very barren. 
 I do not know whether we have any tin 
 in Italy : but I have once feen an Eng- 
 lifh book of travels (whofe title or au- 
 thor I cannot now recoiled:) in which it is 
 faid, that the hills about Spoleto and 
 Norcia contain much of it. If this is 
 true, our Italians muft be confidered as 
 lefs induftrious than the Englifh, for not 
 fearching into thofe hills. It is a re- 
 mark made by many foreigners, that if 
 nature does not place her treafures within 
 the reach of our countrymen, they fcarce- 
 ly deign to have recourfe to art in order 
 to get at them. I will not for the prefent 
 attempt to fettle the ballance of induftry 
 between ours and other nations. Such a 
 difcuffipn would be endlefs. This how- 
 ever I will fay, that we have coal-mines 
 in feveral parts of Italy, which were never 
 looked into, but by fome curious natura- 
 lifts i and that I have myfelf feen hun- 
 dreds
 
 [ 49 r 
 
 dreds of poor people fearching for gold 
 m fome of our rivers, particularly after 1 
 a heavy mower in a torrent called Orba, 
 which runs between the high Monferrat 
 and the Genoefe; and was told, that 
 many a one is often fo lucky, as to get in 
 a few hours as much of it as will fell for 
 a crown and more. Yet no body ever 
 made the leaft attempt towards difcover- 
 ing the place from which that gold is 
 warned down. 
 
 Thefe and feveral other neglects of 
 this nature, have often been cenfured by 
 grangers, and the character of the Itali- 
 ans for induftry is not fo great in foreign 
 countries as it ought perhaps to be. But 
 though we do not fearch for coals and 
 metals, yet I cannot find in my heart pee- 
 vifhnefs enough to join with thefe cen- 
 furers. It is true that to be rich is a mod 
 convenient thing; and you will eafily be- 
 lieve me when I tell you, that I mould not 
 at all be difpleafed at an income of ten 
 thoufand pounds, and even ten thoufand 
 
 VOL. I. E times
 
 [ 5 ] 
 
 times more. But when I confider that Italy 
 fares as well, taken all together, as any 
 other country that can be named ; that 
 there are as few real wants amongft us as 
 any where elfe j that very few amongft 
 our poor live in perfedt idlenefs ; and that 
 few, very few, are thofe who can ever be 
 enriched by hard and conftant labour ; 
 when I confider all this, I cannot indeed 
 wifh to fee labour much multiplied 
 amongft our poor. And pray, why mould 
 they 
 
 Ranfack the centre, and with impious hand 
 Rifle the bowels of their mother earth 
 For treafures better hid ? 
 
 and why mould they work harder and 
 harder, to no better purpofe than to make 
 the rich ftill richer ? 
 
 Italy has been fo favoured by provi- 
 dence, that it might mift by itfelf, bet- 
 ter perhaps than any other country, if it- 
 were put to it. We have a fertile ground 
 that yields with moderate labour not only 
 every neceflary of life, but even a great 
 
 many
 
 many articles of luxury j nay, we have 
 thofe articles in fuch plenty, that we can 
 well fparea large fhare for other nations, 
 and exchange them for what we fancy 
 will do us good. We want nothing realy, 
 but a fuccemon of good governors care- 
 ful to fee that people may have a fhare 
 fuitable to their feveral ranks of thofe 
 bleffings which the country yields with 
 great liberality; and let Englim, Dutch, 
 or other people, born in climates lefa 
 kind than ours, perpetually contrive new 
 fchemes to load their poor with work, 
 and think perpetually how to put them 
 all (if it were feafible) about unbofoming 
 mountains, or plowing the ocean in num- 
 berlefs directions, in order to encreafe 
 the number of the few who are to enjoy 
 without working. Too much muft be 
 endured by thofe, to whofe lot it falls to 
 go upon fuch errands ; and I like not to 
 fee our poor employed in occupations 
 that kill fome and harafs many. 
 
 E 2 I know
 
 I know that politicians and traders 
 have millions of things ready to offer 
 againft reafonings like this. The very 
 dulled amongft them, thinks himfelf 
 equal to the tafk of proving, that the 
 Italians, becaufe lefs induftrious, muft of 
 courfe be lefs happy than the Englifli or 
 the Dutch, who are the modern patterns 
 of induftry. But let us take notice, that 
 in the dictionary of traders and politici- 
 ans, riches and happinefs are made per- 
 fectly fynonimous, though they are not 
 ftri&ly fo in the lexicon of philofophers ; 
 and let us reflect above all, that it is im- 
 pomble ro enrich the hundredth part 
 of the inhabitants of any country, but 
 through the hard and inceflant labour of 
 the other ninety nine parts. 
 
 LET-
 
 [ 53 1 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Pilchards. Packet-boats, and loft farewell 
 to England. 
 
 Falmouth ftill, One o'clock in the afternoon, Aug. 23, 1760. 
 
 MY trunk has been carried this mi- 
 nute on board; I have already dined; 
 I have paid four guineas for the permif- 
 lion of embarking; and have no fur- 
 ther bufmefs here but to wait for the fig- 
 nal of departure. The weather is per- 
 fectly fair, and the wind as favourable as 
 one can wim, lince the ftreamer on the 
 maft-head points exactly to Liflbon. 
 
 It was a moft lucky thing that I 
 reached Falmouth laft night. Had I 
 tarried four and twenty hours longer on 
 the road, I fhould have been obliged to 
 pafs a week or a fortnight here, waiting 
 for another packet; which had proved 
 fomewhat vexatious, as this place affords 
 no other amufement to an unknown 
 E 3 ftranger,
 
 [ 54 ] 
 
 ftranger, but that of walking about, or 
 looking on the fea. 
 
 Laft night I fupped with Tome gen- 
 tlemen jufl arrived from the place where 
 I am going. They had a very bad paf- 
 fage. Calms and ftorms alternately; and 
 were full, four and forty days about it. If 
 this was to be my cafe, it would heartily 
 make me curfe my curiofity to fee Por- 
 tugal and Spain. However let us hope 
 for the beft. I have now advanced too 
 far to retreat, and will take my chance. 
 
 So by and by I mall be in England no 
 more ! This is no pleafing confideration. 
 By and by I mall be toft up and down the 
 waves. And this other confideration, do 
 you think it pleafing ? But, what is 
 really not pleafing, I mall have no other 
 company on board, except the people 
 that belong to the packet. What mall 
 J do to employ my time if the pafTage 
 proves long ? Scribble and read. But a 
 man cannot read and fcribble for ever. I 
 (hall want a little talk likewife ; and the 
 
 people
 
 r 55 i 
 
 people of the packet, I fuppofe, wiU 
 have other bufmefs to mind than my 
 converfe. Put all this together, and fay 
 whether my prefent fltuation can raife 
 your envy. But it is a folly to abandon 
 ourfelves to our imaginations when they 
 are of the gloomy kind. 
 
 I had not much reft laft night, as I 
 went to bed much vexed at the rain that 
 continued pouring without any fort of 
 difcretion. But rifing with the fun, I 
 was mightly pleafed to fee it mine in its 
 greateft glory, and not the leaft fpeck of 
 a cloud in the whole horizon. I walked 
 along the more, waiting for the captain 
 of the packet, with whom I was to go 
 for the paiTport. In my walk I met with 
 a gentleman, an early rifer, it feems, as 
 well as myfelf. I bowed ; he bowed. 
 Going for Lifbon, fir ? Yes, fir. I hope 
 you will have a good pafTage. I thank 
 you kindly. Words beget words. We 
 faid fomcthing of the war ; we made a 
 jeft of the French ; praifed the king of 
 E 4 Prufiia,
 
 t 56 3 
 
 Pruffia, prince Ferdinand, and fo forth. 
 Then we came to talk of Falmouth. He 
 told me that he traded much in pilch- 
 ards ; and that he fent every year feve- 
 ral fhip-loads to feveral parts of Europe, 
 and particularly to Italy. 
 
 Pilchards, as I could colledt from his 
 difcourfe, are the chief commodity that 
 the Falmouth people have for trade. The 
 fifli comes in this neighbourhood gene- 
 rally three times a year, and always in 
 large fhoals. That which is caught in 
 winter proves bed and fells beft. They 
 take immenfe quantities of it j fait it ; 
 flow it in large barrels ; and fell it for 
 the greater! part to the feveral catholic 
 nations* Should the Pope turn Protef- 
 tant, and abolifh lentandmeagre days, ojr 
 only tell us that it is no fin to eat a good 
 fowl on a Friday, the Falmouthians 
 would have no great temptation to laugh 
 at thejeft. Yet, befides this refource, 
 they have money neceflarily circulating 
 in the town, in confequence of the many 
 
 packets
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
 packets here ftationed for feveral parts of 
 the Weft-Indies, Spain, and Portugal. 
 Nor is this country barren and unplea- 
 fant, I like very well what I have feen 
 of it, and Falmouth feems to me one of 
 thofe innumerable places where a man 
 may live agreeably, provided he has 
 wherewithal to fupply all his wants. 
 But hark ! it is the fignal-gun that calls 
 me on board with its refounding voice. 
 So farewell England, farewell again and 
 again. 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Sea-Jicknefs. Monfieur or the Dog. Neither 
 Fight norjiorm. Englijhmen mending. 
 
 From on board the King-George-Packet, bout a hundred 
 and fifty miles off Falmouth. Aug. 24., 1760. 
 
 T^ESTERDAY about two o'clock 
 -* in the afternoon I came haftily on 
 board. The fails were fpread, and in lefs 
 than three hours, with the more always 
 in view, we found ourfelves off a place 
 
 called
 
 called Land's End, which (as the name 
 implies) is the weftern-moft point of 
 England. I fetch'd a deep figh when a 
 little after I faw it no more. 
 
 It was near eight when all I could fee 
 about us was nothing but water, water, 
 water. The iky was quite bright, the 
 wind blew very frefh, and the fea was 
 as flat as the table I am writing upon : 
 fo that, finding I was already thirty miles 
 from the more without the leaft fymp- 
 tom of the fea-ficknefs, I made fure I 
 fhould efcape it. It came into my head 
 that about five and twenty years ago, 
 croffing that little puddle pompoufly 
 called the Adriatic Sea by the Venetians, 
 I was taken ill within two or three miles 
 from the land ; and that the fame had 
 happened ten years ago when I went 
 from Boulogne to Dover. This was 
 good ground enough for hope, confider- 
 ing my prefent diftance from the more. 
 Yet that hope was blafted, and at fun- 
 
 fet
 
 [ 59 ] 
 
 fet my flomach wrought with fuch vio- 
 lence, that for near three hours I was 
 more ill than words can exprefs. I was 
 carried down little lefs than fenfelefs, 
 and put to bed. An end was foon put 
 to my torment hy my falling into a moft 
 profound fleep, in fpight of the inceflant 
 crackings of the (hip, and in fpight of 
 the walking, talking, linging, and jump- 
 ing of the failors. 
 
 It was near eight this morning when 
 I was awakened by fome of the fellows 
 crying out a fail, a fail. As I found my- 
 felf tolerably well, I got up inftantly, 
 and went upon deck, where about an, 
 hour after I faw through my fpying-glafs 
 a (hip that feemed to make towards us- 
 Now, thought I, I mail have fomething 
 to enliven my letter of to-day. Every 
 man on board was looking at the (hip, 
 feme through telefcopes, and fome with 
 their own eyes. None could as yet tell 
 ^vhether it was a friend or a foe. This 
 
 packet
 
 I 60 ] 
 
 packet is a moft fpecial failer; fo that 
 none of our people feared being overtaken 
 by any purfuer, and we went on as if 
 no body had been in fight. The captain 
 inquired with great kindnefs after my 
 health, hoped I would be fick no more, 
 and order'd tea, which was moft accept- 
 able, as my throat was very fore becaufe 
 of the efforts made Jaft night. I break- 
 fafted heartily ; then looked again at the 
 {hip that followed; then took up a book ; 
 then went down to dine ; then went up 
 to look at the fhip again ; then read a- 
 gain and again. Towards five this after- 
 noon the {hip was within two or three 
 miles of us, and feveral of our people 
 were pofitive that it was Marshal Bellifle, 
 a privateer of Morlaix that carries twelve 
 or fourteen guns. By what marks they 
 could know it, I cannot tell. As this 
 epinion prevailed, our tars wiihed the 
 Dog would come an inch nearer, juft to 
 give him a broadfide or two, by way pf 
 
 pay- 

 
 paying him for his fawcinefs in looking 
 at us. As we have a few guns more than 
 the Dog, (for dog is the word) we would 
 prefently cure him of his impertinence. 
 But packets are ftrictly forbidden to fight, 
 when fighting can be avoided by failing 
 away. They cannot even flop to attack 
 enemies of inferior force. Therefore 
 Monfieur, or the Dog, (the two words 
 are fynonimous) is perfectly fafe, and 
 may follow as long as he lifts. We have 
 now fpread a few additional fails, and the 
 captain tells me, that in about two hours 
 we fhall fee him no more if this wind 
 continues. My account of this voyage 
 therefore will not be graced with the nar- 
 ration of a naval combat, which would 
 make it much prettier ; and it will prove 
 quite infipid if we are alfo fo unlucky 
 as not to meet with a ftorm to excite a 
 little my powers of defcription. 
 
 But what mail I fay now the privateer 
 has difappeared ? I want a fubjecl: for 
 
 fcribbling
 
 icribbling half an hour longer, and here 
 I have none at hand. Let me Hep back 
 to the dear ifland I quitted yefterday. 
 
 The farther I went from London, the 
 more tractable feem'd the low people. 
 None did I meet that was fparing of bows 
 and civil behaviour ; and in the whole 
 journey I never was honoured once with 
 the pretty appellation of French dog t fo 
 liberally beftowed by the London rabble 
 upon thofe who have an outlandifh look ; 
 and you know how few are the ftrangers 
 that can look like natives any where. 
 
 This cuftom of abufing Grangers 
 without the leaft provocation, is by many 
 attributed to the freedom of the Englifh 
 government : But I am far from being of 
 this opinion, as the cuftom of abufing 
 flrangers is not peculiar to the Englifti. 
 There are other governments quite diffe- 
 rent from the Britifh, where the low 
 people make thus free with thofe who 
 are not their countrymen -, and call them 
 
 by
 
 t 63 ] 
 
 by injurious names as they go by. How- 
 ever, in the fpace of ten years, I have ob- 
 ierved that the Englifh populace have 
 considerably mended their manners in 
 this particular ; and am perfuaded that 
 in about twenty years more they will 
 become quite as civil to Grangers as the 
 French and the Italians. When I firft 
 went to London, I remember that a 
 ftranger could fcarcely walk about with 
 his hair in a bag without being affronted. 
 Every porter and every flreet-walker 
 would give a pull to his bag, merely to 
 rejoice themfelves and paflengers : but 
 now, both Grangers and natives wear bags 
 about London without moleftation ; nor 
 is I\IQ French- dog by far fo much in famion 
 as it was then, when they would even be- 
 ftow it upon a Turk, whole chin was 
 fhaded by a beard, and whofe head was 
 hidden in a turban. 
 
 The low people all over the kingdom 
 feem to think that there are but two na- 
 tions in the world, the Englifh and the 
 
 French ;
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
 French; and he muft be a Frenchman 
 who is not an Englishman. Then they 
 know fomething of a fea-faring people 
 called the Dutch, for whom they have 
 the greateft contempt. But talk to them 
 of other nations j of the Italians for in- 
 ftance : They have heard fomething of 
 the Italians -, but aVt the 'Talians French ? 
 What are they ? Have they any -bread to 
 cat, or any beer to drink, like the Eng- 
 lim ? Or do they feed upon foop-meagrc 
 and frogs like the French .? 
 
 Here you will be apt to wonder at the 
 ignorance of the Englim populace : but 
 while you wonder, be pleafed to recol- 
 lect that our Italian populace are full as 
 ignorant, and even more. What no- 
 tions have our populace of the Englim ? 
 They have heard that the Englim do not 
 'believe the Pope to be infallible : of 
 courfe they are not Chriftians. But what 
 are they ? No body knows for certain ; 
 but the Englim believe in tranfmigration, 
 and that they fhall be turned into forne 
 
 animal
 
 [ 65 J 
 
 Animal or ether after death ; mean while 
 they are all Lords, and not men and 
 women, but fomcthing elic, no body 
 knows what. 
 
 Such are the notions our low people 
 have of the Englim , and what encreafes 
 their abfurdity is, that they fee Englifli 
 travellers every day, who look as much 
 like men as the Pope himfelf. And as to 
 the Englim notions about eating and 
 drinking, did you ever hear of the honeft 
 Neapolitan who was going to Rome ? 
 He put bread and onions in his poft- 
 chaife, not knowing (faid he) whether 
 there was any thing to eat at fuch a 
 diftance from Naples. 
 
 Excufing therefore their rudenefs to 
 Grangers, and their contempt for all 
 other countries, [into which contempt 
 they are betray'd by many of their daily 
 fcribblers, who are incefTantly reviling 
 all other countries;] the populace of Eng- 
 land is far from being fo hateful as 
 ftrangers are apt to think a little after 
 
 VOL. I. F their
 
 [ 66 ] 
 
 their arrival in London. I have feen 
 them contribute as many Shillings as they 
 could fpare, towards the maintenance of 
 the French prifoners they have made in 
 the prefent war : I have feen them forry 
 when the news came that Damiens had 
 ftabb'd the King of France : and I have 
 heard an univerfal fhout of joy when their 
 parliament voted a hundred thoufand 
 pounds to the Portuguefe on hearing of 
 the tremendous earthquake. What do 
 you fay to this ? Is it poflible to hate 
 people of this make ? What fignifies their 
 ridiculous cufrom of calling names, by 
 which foreign blockheads are fo much 
 offended ? 
 
 But 'tis time to go to bed. If I am 
 in the humour to-morrow, I will re- 
 fume this topic, and tell you more of 
 the Englifh. Except a little fore-throat, 
 I now find myfelf better than ever I was 
 in my life ; and yet lad night my fick- 
 nefs was fo horrible, that I thought it 
 
 im-
 
 t 67 ] 
 
 impoffible to furvive it. It is really a 
 thing that feels fatal. 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 Acquaintance contracted at Sea. A Bag- 
 pipe. Juno's and Venus 's. 
 
 King George Packet, Aug. 25, 1760. 
 
 ^T^ H E Captain's name is Bawn, and 
 * the Lieutenant's Oak. They are 
 both very kind and very civil ; nor did I 
 ever fee any people mind their bufinefs 
 more clofely than they do theirs. I think 
 they live without fleep. They are always 
 upon deck, and attentive to the failors, 
 that each may flick to his refpective duty. 
 Scarcely dare I to exchange ten words 
 with either for fear of proving trouble- 
 fome. However, when we are alongfide 
 of a buttock of beef 9 as they phrafe it, 
 we talk faft enough, and drink to each 
 other merrily. But you do not know that 
 I have found a treafure in this fhip. Yes, 
 F 2 in-*
 
 [ 68 ] 
 
 indeed ; and this treafure is the Surgeon. 
 This morning, as we were both in the 
 great room (I mean a room which is 
 eight or nine feet wide) I faw this fur- 
 geon looking into a quarto book, which 
 I perceived to be an Italian dictionary. 
 Do you read Italian, Sir ? " I have been 
 " ftudying it a while, Sir, but I cannot 
 " fay that I know much of it." 
 
 Thefe were the firfl words I heard him 
 utter, for he looks very referv'd. Sir, faid 
 I, I know fomething of Italian myfelf ; 
 and if you chufe, we will read a page or 
 two together out of any book you have. 
 With all my heart, faid he ; and fetch'd 
 a volume of Redi's medical confultations. 
 I read a few periods, and as fluently as if 
 it had been my own language. He was afto- 
 nimed at my readinefs, as he had not yet 
 found by my pronounciation that I was 
 no Englishman. You read it, faid he, 
 much better than I. Were you ever in 
 Italy ? Ay, faid I, I was only born and 
 bred there, and was moreover the very 
 
 identical
 
 identical compiler of this dictionary. The 
 Scotchman (for he is a Scotchman) feem'd 
 extremely pleafed with this kind of ad r 
 venture, and we are already very intimate 
 friends. He fpeaks Spanifh and Portu- 
 guefe, befides fome other languages j has 
 been in all the four quarters of the world 
 playing the furgeon on board this and 
 that fhip, and feems well fkilled in his 
 profeffion. Was it poflible to form a 
 better acquaintance in the midft of the 
 Atlantic Ocean ? He plays, befides, on 
 the bag-pipe -, an odd inftrument I never 
 faw in Italy. Our mountaneers indeed 
 have the bag-pipe, but different from his. 
 They introduce the air into the bag by 
 blowing continually into a tube while 
 they are playing : but he fwells it by 
 means of a bellows, which he prefles with 
 his left elbow, while he is managing the 
 flute with his fingers. A very good con- 
 trivance to fpare one's lungs ! We are 
 refolved to read a good deal of Italian 
 and Portuguefe before we reach Liibon. 
 F 3 lafk
 
 [ 7 1 
 
 I afk him numberlefs queftions about 
 Malabar and Madagascar, and tell him, 
 by way of exchange, all that I know of 
 Milan and Venice. Be no longer con- 
 cerned at my fituation : I am very well 
 off; and this voyage mall be chearfully 
 performed. 
 
 I promifed yefterday to fpeak a little 
 more of the Englilh. Let us then begin 
 with the Ladies, the beft fubjecl: in the 
 whole world to write upon. 
 
 And are the Englim Ladies handfomer 
 ' than ours ? Upon my word I expected 
 this to be your firft queftion. But, firft 
 or laft, the anfwer requires fome confi- 
 deration : Nay, I will not anfwer it at 
 all. I will only tell you a bit of conver- 
 fation I had once with an able painter of 
 purs, who has lived many years in Eng- 
 land as well as myfelf. I afk'd him once 
 this fame queflion ', and his anfwer was, 
 that in Italy he has feen more Juno's 
 than in England j but that in England 
 there are more Venus's than in Italy. 
 
 How-
 
 [ 7' ] 
 
 However you mull not conclude from 
 this, continued he, that the Italian beau- 
 ties are all in the grand flile, and all the 
 Englifli in the lovely. There are many 
 pretty women in Italy too, and many very 
 majeftic in England. But, in general, 
 the Britim have more delicate com- 
 plexions than ours, and ours more deter- 
 minate features (fattezze rifolute was the 
 phrafe) than theirs. Look at the fluids 
 and fhapes at Ranelagh. Do you ever fee 
 any thing in Italy fo bright and fo tempt- 
 ing ? But then look at the nofes of our 
 Roman Ladies, look at the lips of the 
 Neapolitan, look at the whole form of 
 the Lombard and Venetian ! Is there any 
 thing properer for a Raphael to paint, or 
 a Michelangelo to carve ? In another 
 thing, befides, our Italians excel. No 
 eyes in the world like thofe of Italy for 
 Striking you dead at once. 
 
 Hang your eyes and eye-brows, faid I 
 
 peevimly. I care not a farthing for eyes 
 
 or fkins, for lips and chins, for nofes and 
 
 F 4 fhapes.
 
 (hapes, What's all this to me ? I am in* 
 tirely for fenfe, wit, and goodnefs, which 
 are the true fources of amiablenefs in the 
 fair. This is what we ought to mind, 
 and not your fooleries about Juno's and 
 Venus's. And will you fay, that in point 
 of wit, fenfe, and goodnefs, the Italian 
 Ladies can vie with the Englifh ? 
 
 The painter feeing me grow fo angry, 
 ran away, crying that he would not liften 
 any longer to a traytor to his country : 
 thus I loft a fine opportunity of mow- 
 ing my Ikill in debating a queftion. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Tedicitfnefs. Fain efforts to drive it away.. 
 
 King-George-Packet, Aug. 27, early in the morning. 
 
 IT was impoffible yefterday to make 
 ufe of my quill, becaufe of a flat calm 
 that made me fick. About fun*fet a 
 gale fprung up, and I could eat a bit of 
 bifcuit, drink a glafs, and go to bed 
 ^ithout being carried. 
 
 At
 
 [ 73 1 
 
 At five this morning I got up, not at 
 all chearful. You never faw me in fo 
 brown a humour. I went upon deck, 
 and fat there a full hour in perfect idle- 
 nefs. It is now paft fix, and I am ftill 
 torpid, and my mind feems unwilling to 
 be put in motion. Yet my mind is not 
 a bottle of claret, that muft be handled 
 gently : fo I will make it, and force it to 
 guide this quill until I am called to 
 breakfaft. 
 
 Vile dead weather that of yefterday ! 
 
 I know now what a calm is, and am fure 
 
 ftorms are better by half. The captain 
 
 fays the contrary, but I will not believe 
 
 a word about it. Did not the calm make 
 
 me fick ? Nor is it poffible to defcribe 
 
 the horror of that diforder called the fea- 
 
 ficknefs ! He muft be an orator that can. 
 
 You groan in fpight of yourfelf : you 
 
 growl like a wounded wolf, if wolves 
 
 growl when they are wounded, which is 
 
 a thing I am not fure of: you are ill, 
 
 vaftly ill, prodigioufly ill ! and yet, the 
 
 more
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
 more fick you are, the more thefe fea- 
 faring folks go on repeating, that 'tis 
 nothing, nothing indeed, nothing at all. 
 Now heartily I could thram them, if J 
 durft, for terming nothing fo dreadful a 
 torment ! and yet they muft be right, 
 for they muft know better than I. 
 
 Nor is that hateful ficknefs the only 
 plague one has on board a packet. There 
 is another to be encounter'd, named Te-r 
 dioufnefs, which is full as great, full as 
 deteftable. And how can I help myfelf 
 againfl it ? I may flay below in my room, 
 or I may flay upon deck. If I ftay below, 
 J cannot have any company, fave that of 
 my own felf, which js pretty tolerable 
 company as long as I can write. But can 
 J write, for ever ? I grow prefently tired 
 of it ; and tedioufnefs lays hold of me if 
 J do not run up-ftairs. Well. I run up- 
 flairs. But what can I do when I am 
 there ? I look at a very tall may-pole 
 here, and at another there. They both 
 fupport fome pieces of canvafs that hang 
 
 loofe
 
 t 75 3 
 
 loofe in a calm, or catch the wind as it 
 happens to ftir. Do I look at any thing 
 elfe ? Yes : at two rows of brafs-guns 
 that never will let me hear their voices, 
 on the frivolous pretence that no Mon- 
 fieur will come near enough to be fpoke 
 to. What elfe can I caft my eyes upon ? 
 A boundlefs plain that flruck me once 
 with its immenfe expanfion, rendered 
 infinitely awful for a moment or two by 
 an interminable uniformity, and irre- 
 fiftibly tremendous by its mafly folemn 
 undulation. The object is grand, pro- 
 digioufly grand ! But I have look'd at it 
 fo long, that familiarity has had its ufual 
 effect, and I cannot bear any longer that 
 invariable expanfion and invariable un- 
 dulation. I find that nothing can pleafe 
 me long but what can talk; and the 
 ocean cannot talk ! 
 
 Here you will fay, that a man ufed to 
 think, might beguile one hour after 
 another even in a dark dungeon, if he 
 would but exert his mental powers and 
 think away without intermiflion. How 
 
 pretty
 
 [ 76 ] 
 
 pretty this in fpeculation f But where is 
 the man who can always call forth 
 thoughts, and force them to dance in 
 his prefence as he pleafes ? Whatever you 
 may do where you are, I cannot in this 
 packet. I have often endeavoured to 
 create an object ; and, to tell you of one 
 in particular, it is but a minute ago that 
 I reached Turin, where you were impa- 
 tiently waiting for my arrival. You all 
 ran down flairs on hearing the rattle of 
 my wheels and the claps of the poflillion's 
 whip. Six arms were extended to help 
 me out of the chaife. One of you em- 
 braced me, one fqueezed my hand, one 
 was ready to cry for joy. Welcome, wel- 
 come, how do you do ? 
 
 Had the illufion lafted, tedioufnefs 
 had kept at a diftance. But my powers 
 proved too weak, and it vanimed away 
 as foon as form'd. A beam crack'd, or 
 a failor fwore, or a wave dafh'd againft 
 the flern, and farewell illuiion ! There 
 is no poilibility on board a packet to 
 
 build
 
 [ 77 ] 
 
 build a caflle in the air that is worth 
 erecting ! I put myfelf often in the po- 
 flure of Guide's famous Magdalen, my 
 left elbow on my left knee, the knuckles 
 of my left hand under my chin, and my 
 eyes half fhut. An excellent pofture for 
 the purpofe of building the amplefl caftle, 
 with good folid walls, lofty turrets, and 
 elevated battlements. But the funda- 
 mental brick is fcarcely laid, that it is 
 difplaced by fome unwelcome violence. 
 When I was a boy it was one of my chief 
 delights to ftand watching a pretty circle 
 which I had form'd on the fmooth fur- 
 face of a pond by throwing a fmall 
 pebble into it. But my fchool- fellows, 
 mifchief-making urchins, who prefently 
 fmoak'd me at my ufual diveriion, would 
 pick up any thing that lay before them 
 and fling it into the pond. My poor 
 harmlefs circle was thus incefiantly de- 
 ilroy'd by a thoufand others, broken, 
 confufed, and undiftinguifhable ! Here 
 is a fimile for you ! And have I not ftolen. 
 
 it
 
 [ 78 ] 
 
 it from ibme Englifli poet ? I think 
 J have; but cannot recolledt from 
 whom. 
 
 A fellow calls me to breakfaft. When 
 it is over I will beg a tune on the bag- 
 pipe of my good furgeon : then we will 
 read a while ; and then come down to 
 fcribble again. 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 A Bonito and the Flying-fjh. Sea-voyages. 
 Machinery in Epick Poems. 
 
 King-Gorge-Packet, Aug. 27, aforenoon. 
 
 ISaw a thing jufl now that I had never 
 feen before. A fi(h full five fpans 
 from head to tail. The failors hook'd it 
 in. They call it Bonito ; a Spanifh word 
 that means middling good. I am to have 
 my mare of it at dinner by way of en- 
 couragement to eat, for the Captain 
 fwears I eat nothing : but this is to be 
 underftood only when I am fea-lick, as, 
 
 when
 
 [ 79 ] 
 
 when I am well, I perform my duty as 
 bravely as any man in the packet. 
 
 The hook with which the Bonito was 
 caught, is near as big as my little finger, 
 and the bait was a bit of rag wrapp'd 
 round it, with the addition of two fea- 
 thers clapp'd upon it in fuch a manner 
 as aukwardly to refemble the Flying-fijh, 
 \vhich Bonitos confider as a tit- bit. No 
 creature but a filly filh could ever miflake 
 a bit of rag for a dainty morfel. 
 
 The Flying-fim is about the fize of a 
 herring. Its fins are much larger in pro- 
 portion than thofe of any other fifh, and 
 ftand in the ftead of wings. I have feen 
 thoufands of them to-day that darted 
 out of the water, and flew, or rather 
 flutter 'd along in a flraight line, the 
 diftance of two or three {hips' length, 
 then dropp'd down in their natural ele- 
 ment. 
 
 I have never before feen a Flying-fifh, 
 nor a Bonito. So here are two new ideas 
 fairly added to my flock. I am glad of 
 
 the
 
 [ 8o J 
 
 the addition though but fmall. Who 
 knows but one day or other they may 
 turn to good account ? To point a moral, 
 for inftance, in fpeaking of fome con* 
 queror or fome attorney ? To bring about 
 a new comparifon between a poor hoftefs 
 and fome agent in Devon (hire ? We have 
 never knowledge enough : we muft al- 
 ways endeavour to heap up as much of 
 it as we can. 1 Every thing has its ufe 
 upon occafion, and the poorer! trifle 
 will unexpectedly be of fervice in fpeech 
 or in writing, in profe or in poetry. 
 
 The Bonito will come upon table with- 
 in an hour : but I would rather it was an 
 anchiovy, and be with you to eat it. I 
 Should like it better than the biggeft in- 
 habitant of the ocean in this packet. An 
 irkfome thing it is to go by fea ! And yet 
 I ought to be aihamed to fay fo, confi- 
 iidering what a fhort voyage I am going. 
 Lifbon muft be looked upon as next door 
 to Falmouth when we think of the 
 voyages of fome Englifhmen, Dutchmen 9 
 
 French-
 
 [ 8i ] 
 
 Frenchmen, Spaniards, and other people. 
 But I am a traveller like UlyfTes, who 
 went a while up and down the Mediter- 
 ranean, and made as great a pother 
 about it as if he had gone from Ithaca to 
 Japan by Terra del Fuego, and back again, 
 another way. Fifty thoufand people, nay, 
 fifty hundred thoufand, who were neither 
 kings nor heroes, have gone twenty 
 times as far, and no Maeonian bard 
 dreamed of compofing epic poems upon 
 any of them. The only epic poem that 
 ever was written fince that of Homer to 
 celebrate a man who had gone a long 
 voyage, was the performance of a Spa- 
 niard. I muft tell you the {lory to 
 lengthen my letter. 
 
 This Spaniard (Er^illa was his name) 
 perfectly aware that no modern bard 
 would ever trouble his head about any 
 man who went a few thoufand miles by 
 water, having been fo far as Peru, (if I 
 miftake not) refolved to be himfelf his 
 wn Homer. 
 
 VOL. I. G In
 
 In confequence of this refolution, he 
 fat down to his defk ; and after having 
 invoked Apollo and the Mufes, rhymed 
 a long epic poem, of which his voyage 
 was the fubjecl:, and himfelf the principal 
 Hero. 
 
 After this example I have a mind to 
 write the Olifipofley, or an epic account 
 of my voyage from Falmouth to (a) Oli- 
 fipo, alias Lifbon. As for a hero, I am 
 not at all afraid of wanting one of the 
 very firft magnitude ; and as for fubaltern 
 characters my good furgeon is ready at 
 hand for an Achilles, Mr. Bawn for a 
 He&or, and Mr. Oak for a Diomedes, 
 an Ajax, a Neitor, or any thing. The 
 cabbin-boy himfelf might be made good 
 ufe of for a Patroclus, an Automedon, or 
 a Calchas. 
 
 But without machinery an epic poem 
 is not worth a farthing ; and how mall 
 
 I con- 
 
 (a] That L't/bon was once called OLISIPO appears from 
 en ancient infcription. It was alfo called ULYSJBONA, 
 ULYSIPONA, and FELICITAS JULIA.
 
 [ 83 ] 
 
 I contrive it ? In times of yore machinery 
 was always ready. Jupiter, Juno, Venus, 
 Minerva, Neptune, Mars, and other ce- 
 leftials were kind enough to fly to the 
 afiiftance of a diftrefled poet. Strange 
 beings befides, that were half girls and 
 half fifh, were to be met almoft on any 
 voyage, and they would ling airs and 
 duos by the fide of the (hip, and play a 
 thoufand gambols on the water. UlyfTes 
 himfelf met with fome of them in the 
 gulf of Naples, and an Archbimop, who 
 was a kind of Greek poet in French 
 profe, has informed us that Telemachus, 
 the eldefl fon of Ulyiles, met once a very 
 fine lady fitting in {rate on an enormous 
 fhell of an oyfter, and rambling at a great 
 diftance from the (hore round the ifland 
 of Cyprus or Crete (1 forget which) with 
 a whole orcheftra of fiddlers and pipers, 
 fome fwimming along by the help of 
 their tails, fome fitting upon dolphins 
 and marks, and fome riding upon crabs 
 and lobfters. 
 
 G 2 This
 
 [ 84 ] 
 
 This indeed was fine machinery. But, 
 alas, it is all foreftalled I and mould I 
 make ufe of it, there is no puny Critic 
 amongft the puny Reviewers of England, 
 but what would call me a plagiary ' 
 
 The good times for machinery are 
 over, and now inftead of Syrens and 
 Tritons we meet in our voyages with 
 nothing elfe but a Bonito and a Flying- 
 fim ; and furely neither the Flying-fifh 
 nor the Bonito can be made ufe of in 
 this critical age by way of machinery. 
 
 I muft therefore drop the fcheme of 
 the Oltfipoffey, as I have not invention 
 enough to overcome this difficulty : and 
 inftead of lamenting that neither Syren 
 nor Triton will come to fing Care luci, 
 or pipe upon their fhells about this packet, 
 I muft endeavour to be pleafed when my 
 honeft Scotchman prefTes the bellows of 
 his bag-pipe with his elbow. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Life led in a Packet, tfhe benefcial effefis 
 of a dinner. Several thoufand reis are 
 no riches. 
 
 King-George-Packet, Aug. 17. towards evening. 
 
 T Ought not to mention the Bonito a- 
 * gain. You muft have had enough of 
 it. Yet the conveniency of beginning a 
 new letter without taking the trouble of 
 thinking about a pretty exordium, makes 
 me tell you, that Bonito is a very im- 
 proper name for fuch a fifli ; becaufe, in- 
 flead of being but middling good, it is in 
 fadt exceedingly good. 
 
 But what mall I fay next ? I will ac- 
 quaint you with the tenour of life in 
 this packet. 
 
 You know already that in the morning 
 I get up, fometimes fooner fometimes 
 later. You know likewife that when I 
 am up, either I do fomething, or J do no- 
 thing ; read, or read not -, write, or write 
 not : and you can guefs that about eight 
 03 I break-
 
 [ 86 ] 
 
 I breakfaft Angllce upon tea and toaft, 
 or bread and butter : this cuftom however 
 I intend to break myfelf of; and as foon 
 as I am in Portugal I propofe to reaiTume 
 that of falling early upon grapes, figs, 
 and melons, in order to qualify myfelf 
 again for my native country, that I may 
 not be a- foreigner at home. 
 
 The time between breakfaft and din- 
 ner I fill up as well as J can. My book and 
 my quill, cela vafans dire. Sometimes I 
 walk ; and the deck is long enough for 
 it, as it is exactly thirty three of my fteps 
 and a fhoe over. Yet this exercife proves 
 often inconvenient, as I am not ufed to 
 move like a crab, leaning on one fide, in 
 order to adapt my body to the inclination 
 of the packet, which hangs often on the 
 larboard or the flarboard fide, accord- 
 ing as the wind blows. Therefore, when 
 I cannot walk, or am tired of it as well 
 as of reading and writing, I fit idle. 
 
 As for confabulation I have not much 
 of it. The furgeon is far from being 
 
 talkative.
 
 talkative. The Captain and Mr. Oak 
 mind the altitude and the latitude; fo 
 that, when we have got fome intelligence 
 about each other's health in the morn- 
 ing, praifed the weather at noon, and 
 heard how many knots we go towards 
 evening, there is almoft an end of our 
 converfe. 
 
 But dinner comes upon table. And 
 here let me tell you that I need none of 
 your pity, as our dinner is always fo 
 ample that it would fuffice a dozen friars 
 after the moft rigid faft. 
 
 This indeed is the very beft hour of 
 all the four and twenty, and the only 
 one that deferves to be painted with pretty 
 butter-fly wings like the handfomeft of 
 thofe three which have been introduced 
 by Raphael in his wedding of Cupid and 
 Pfyche, perhaps to give a hint that a 
 wedding-dinner ought to laft three hours. 
 
 But do you get new bread every day ? 
 
 Yes : here is a baker on board, Madam, 
 that makes it. 
 
 04 But
 
 [ 88 ] 
 
 But your meat is falted ? 
 
 Not at all, Madam, excepting the 
 beef. The mutton is frefh, becaufe we 
 have live fheep on board. We have alfo 
 a pretty grunting pig, and fo many cages 
 full of poultry, as would laft us two 
 months and more, if we were to be two 
 months at fea. 
 
 No child in England would want fuch 
 details; but our land-lock'd Ladies on 
 the other fide the Alps muft be told the 
 minuteft particulars -, and I will always 
 fubmit to any drudgery to give their cu- 
 riofity moil ample fatisfaclion. 
 
 By this account you fee how well we 
 employ the dining hour. With that hour 
 fome fpeculatifts have found great fault, 
 and bitterly bemoaned the neceffity men 
 are under of eating their dinners. If men, 
 faid one of them, were freed from that 
 neceffity, and of courfe not obliged to 
 contrive how to provide themfelves with 
 victuals, which takes up almoft all their 
 time, they would undeniably have more 
 
 Jeifure,
 
 leifure for the cultivation of their under- 
 {landings ; for attending to fciences and 
 arts, to manufactures and commerce. 
 
 But, gentlemen, if I may dare to fpeak 
 my mind amongfl you, let me fay that 
 juft the contrary would happen. If we 
 were not forced to think after the means 
 of filling our bellies, would we not one 
 and all fink into idlenefs ? Why do the 
 learned make books, lawyers defend pro- 
 perty, phyficians feel the pulfe, aftrono- 
 mers gaze at the zodiack, hufbandmen. 
 plow, mafons build, tailors few, and 
 foldiers fight, but for the fake of procur- 
 ing a dinner ? Strike off this neceffity, 
 and there is an end of every thing good, 
 defirable, and laudable. The more I think 
 on it, the more I fay with the Berga- 
 mafco (you remember that ballad-finger) 
 whofe fong always ended with the bur- 
 then : 
 
 Tuto tuto In quejlo mondo 
 Che fefa de bel e de bon, 
 ' e per un piato de Maccaron. 
 
 How-
 
 t 90 ] 
 
 However, be this as it will, our din- 
 ner here is feldom protra&ed beyond an 
 hour. The Captain, Mr. Oak, the Sur- 
 geon, and myfelf are fober men, and 
 commonly make an end of it as foon as 
 the fecond bottle is over. Then I walk, 
 or fit, or read, or write, or liilen to the 
 bag-pipe, until the fun goes down and 
 leaves me at liberty to look a while at the 
 greater or lefTer bear. Towards nine I 
 call for a bifket and a glafs of Madeira, 
 and then go to bed. 
 
 This is the ftory a peu pres of every 
 day ; nor can any of you, as I conceive, 
 find the lead fault with fuch a regular 
 and innocent manner of fpending time. 
 
 But you go to bed, you fay : and pray, 
 what fort of bed have you got ? 
 
 My bed is a thing placed in a dark 
 clofet, and clapp'd betwixt two planks, 
 as one may fay : fo that it looks fome- 
 thing like a trunk without a lid. Couch 
 might pofTibly be a fitter name for it 
 than Bed. 
 
 But
 
 [ 9' ] 
 
 But here I would not have you think 
 that I have my meat and drink with this 
 bed, merely becaufe I have a plain un- 
 meaning face. You would be miftaken 
 if you mould fuppofe it. Betides the 
 four guineas I paid the king at Falmouth 
 for the permiffion to embark in a packet 
 of his, on my arrival in Portlngal (as the 
 failors fay) I am to pay the Captain 
 twenty three thoufand reis. 
 
 What a frightful fum ! And how rich 
 muft he be who can pay off fo many 
 thoufand ' 
 
 Do not let imagination carry you too 
 far. Twenty three thoufand reis make 
 no more than five moidores : fo that, if 
 the voyage and my prefent appetite laft 
 long, Captain Bawn will be half undone. 
 Befides that to make fure of a fliort 
 voyage I would willingly fubmit to pay 
 him fome thoufand reis more. Be it mort 
 or long, it is quite plain that I muft be 
 a gainer by the bargain. 
 
 LET-
 
 L E T T E R XV. 
 
 Beauty of a Night at Sea. Three Ships 
 purfuing. 
 
 King-George Packet, Aug. 28, 1760. 
 
 LAST night the motion of the packet 
 was very violent and very difagree- 
 able. But fo much the better, becaufe 
 we alfo went at a greater rate than ufual. 
 
 Finding it impoffible to fleep in that 
 motion, I crawled off my couch a little 
 after midnight and went upon deck, 
 where I employ'd both my eyes in look- 
 ing at the packet, at the foaming bil- 
 lows, at both the bears, and at the other 
 heavenly lights over-head. 
 
 All thefe objects put together form a 
 fpe&acle by moon-light which is really 
 glorious. The packet itfelf (which is 
 certainly lefs than nothing when the eye 
 of the mind compares it with the ocean 
 and the heavens) the packet, I fay, in the 
 
 bodily
 
 [ 93 ] 
 
 bodily eye of fuch a poor narrow-minded 
 mortal as I am, makes a. magnificent 
 figure on the waves, adds much to that 
 glorious fpectacle, and challenges a very 
 confiderable {hare of admiration. 
 
 It was between two and three this 
 morning when a little roguifh fellow 
 who flood on the mafl-head, defcried 
 three fails which he took to be in full 
 chace of us. 
 
 As the uniform tenour of my prefent 
 life leaves me a conflant prey to tediouf- 
 nefs, I think I felt fome little tickling 
 pleafure on the fudden hearing of the 
 ufual cry a fail, a fall: and I am really 
 of opinion that in my irkfome fituation 
 it would not difpleafe me much to have 
 a dozen bullets interchanged with an, 
 enemy in what they call a running fight. 
 
 Mr. Oak was then upon deck, and the 
 Captain was foon call'd ; nor did the 
 Surgeon flay long before he came too. 
 It was not long before we all could di- 
 flinctly fee three clouds of canvafs that 
 
 were
 
 [ 94 1 
 
 were driven towards us. The Captain 
 foon concluded they were three men of 
 war, and fwore that they were Englifh. 
 However, not chufing to venture a par- 
 ley for fear of miftake, we crouded in- 
 flantly as much fail as the packet could 
 bear, and flipp'd away in fpight of all the 
 efforts we fuppofed they made to over- 
 take us. The chace lafted full four hours, 
 and when Mr. Oak faw them give up the 
 point, was quite pofitive they had known 
 us by the fwiftnefs of our failing, and 
 that they are a part of Commodore Edge- 
 combe's fquadron. 
 
 This little adventure, and fome diflant 
 poflibility of a pretty combat, raifed my 
 fpirits fo well, that I chofe to (lay upon 
 deck till dinner, which was not perform- 
 ed in filence, as we had all fomething 
 to fay about the three fails ; a fubject 
 that was not exhaufted till we could talk 
 of Cape Finifterre, of which about four 
 in the afternoon we had a confufed 
 
 fight. 
 
 I was
 
 t 95 1 
 
 I was much comforted to hear that if 
 the wind holds but two days longer, we 
 mail be at Lifbon on Sunday, as it is but 
 three hundred miles off. This is good 
 news, confidering how tired I am with 
 my voyage, though it has to this hour 
 been as profperous as we could wifh, ex- 
 cepting the calm on the fecond day. 
 
 LETTER XVL 
 
 A hole in the Cabbln why and what for. 
 
 King George-Packet, Aug. 29, 1760. 
 
 IN the midft of the great cabbin I took 
 notice to day of a fquare bit of a 
 plank, which is moveable. I afked the 
 Surgeon about it, and this is the fub- 
 ftance of the information that I got with 
 regard to a hole which is covered by that 
 moveable plank. 
 
 Almoft every week a packet fails from 
 
 Falmouth to Lifbon with only the mail 
 
 that is fent from London. Mails are not 
 
 heavy cargoes : but when a packet fails 
 
 2 back
 
 [ 96 ] 
 
 back to England, befides the returning 
 mail, it has that hole fill'd with fo many 
 bags of Portugal-coin, as often amount 
 from thirty to fifty, and even fixty thou- 
 fand pounds fterling. A round fum when 
 we look into the almanack, and find that 
 every year has two and fifty weeks. 
 
 Thofe bags are deliver'd to the Cap- 
 tains of the packets by the Englifh mer- 
 chants at Lifbon, and put by the Captain 
 into the hole in the great cabbin -, and it 
 has happen'd fome weeks, that the bags 
 proved fo numerous as partly to obftrucl: 
 the ufual celerity of their failing. And 
 this was the cafe once, that a packet 
 called the Prince Frederic was actually 
 taken by a Barbary Pirate with no lefs 
 than eighty thoufand pounds fterling in 
 the hole. 
 
 You may now guefs why we are not 
 afraid of purfuers. No veflel is turned 
 into a packet but what is a prime failer, 
 and all poffible care is alfo taken both at 
 Falmouth and Lifbon to clean them fo 
 
 well
 
 t 97 1 
 
 Well before they put to fea, that they 
 iwim along like dolphins* 
 
 I need not tell you that the Portuguese 
 (confidering King and people together) 
 are very rich in gold and jewels. Their 
 riches however are not the product of 
 Portugal, but of their ultramarine fettle- 
 jnents : and I have often heard it affirm'd 
 with confidence, that from Brafil alone 
 they draw yearly above two millions fter- 
 ling. As to Portugal itfelf, its produces 
 are but fcanty and its manufactures in- 
 confiderable. The only things that it 
 yields in very great plenty, are oranges, 
 lemons, and wine. Of thefe the Englifh 
 buy up large quantities ; but ftill the 
 balance of trade rifes high in thfeir fa- 
 vour, as the Portuguefe get from them 
 many articles both for home and for 
 their fettlements abroad. Therefore the 
 furplus due to England is paid by Portu- 
 gal in gold ; and this gold goes every 
 week into the holes in the cabin. 
 
 VOL. I. H Sec
 
 See how the things of this world are? 
 equipoifcd ! The Portuguefe want the 
 conveniencies which the Englifh have the 
 induftry to make, and the Englifli want 
 the gold which the Portuguefe draw from 
 the Braiils ; and thus both nations do 
 each other's bufmefs. 
 
 The French and the Dutch have long 
 fought to gain from the Englifh a com- 
 merce fo beneficial. But I have a notion 
 their fchemes will hardly ever take, for 
 two reafons. The one is, that the Eng- 
 lifh are much ftronger at fea than both 
 the French and Dutch together : and 
 there is fomething in fuperior ftrength, 
 that will carry any point amongft nations 
 as well as amongft individuals. The 
 other reafon is, that neither the Dutch 
 nor the French could buy from the Por- 
 tuguefe thofe large quantities of fruit 
 and wine which the Englifh take in part 
 of payment for what they furnifh. Sup- 
 pofe even the Portugefe mould be willing 
 to have the'greattft part of what they 
 
 want"
 
 [ 99 I 
 
 xvdnt either from the French or the Dutch 
 rather than from the Englifh, the Eng- 
 lift would prefently make them change 
 their mind, even without going to war 
 for it. They have but to provide them- 
 felves with wine and fruit from fome 
 other country, and the Portuguefe are 
 half undone. 
 
 It is therefore moft probable, that the 
 tommerce of Portugal will not he loft to 
 England as long as its inhabitants are 
 fond of the bowl and the bottle, even on 
 the fuppofition that the French naval 
 force fhould increafe and the Englifh 
 decreafe, which, as far as human fore- 
 fight can go, will not be the cafe to- 
 morrow. The Englifti are in a fair way 
 to come off quite victorious this war: 
 and if they do, what power for centuries 
 to come will dare to control their will 
 on the ocean, and what fhip fail to 
 Portugal or any where elfe but by their 
 permifTion ? 
 
 Ha'"' - LET-
 
 t ioo 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 Fain wijhes or caftle-building. Study hard. 
 Pronunciation hoiu attained. The Rock, 
 the Rock. 
 
 King -George-Packet, Aug. 30, J7 6 
 
 LISTEN with attention to every 
 thing you hear in the fhort fpace 
 of a day, and I am widely miftaken if 
 you do not find that there is no man 
 living but who wifhes every day of his 
 life for fomething quite impoflible for 
 him ever to obtain. 
 
 Every man living is thoroughly per- 
 fuaded that vain wifhes are no lefs ridi- 
 culous than abfurd j and yet do but 
 Itretch your hand, and you will certain- 
 ly touch a mortal who fecretly wifhes to 
 be pofTefs'd of fuch opulence as Crefus 
 never had, of fuch power as Kulikan 
 had been afhamed to claim, or of fuch 
 beauty as Circaflia could never produce, 
 
 I will
 
 t '0, 1 
 
 I will not fet about to enquire whether 
 this univerfal pronenefs to wifli for im- 
 poffibilities is a lamentable depravation of 
 our minds, or a quality defignedly given 
 us by nature for very good purpofes. Be 
 this as it will, I will take the liberty to 
 advife my friends never to fuffer long 
 fuch extravagant wanderings of their 
 imaginations : for, befides that the cha- 
 racter of an ethereal brick-layer is abfurd 
 and ridiculous, a man who does not get 
 the habit of checking his thoughts when 
 they run wild about, will infenfibly lofc 
 much of that activity which his circum- 
 ftances in life may pofiibly require. By 
 mere wifhing nothing is gotten : but by 
 a vigorous and unremitted ufe even of 
 indifferent abilities, it is very near cer- 
 tain that many things may be obtained 
 very well worth a man's wifhing. 
 
 I was led into this train of thinking 
 by overhearing one of the failors wifh 
 juft now, that he could fpeak the lan- 
 guage in which I was addrefllng my good 
 H 3 furgeon.
 
 f IO J 
 
 furgcon. This put me in mind pf Sir 
 Arthur and Sir Marmaduke, two worthy 
 knights of my acquaintance, one of whom, 
 wifti'd often in my hearing that he knew 
 Latin, and the other Greek. But dear 
 knights, faid I to them, inftead of re- 
 .peating your wifhes for thefe ten years 
 paft, as you have done, why did you not 
 Jay violent hands upon the Port-Royal- 
 Grammars, or any book that might have 
 been conducive to that end which you 
 feem to think would have made you both 
 prodigioufly happy ? 
 
 A language is not like the heart of a 
 maiden, of which the pofleflion fome- 
 tirnes depends on us, andfometimes not. 
 A man really defirous to know a lan- 
 guage, be it Latin or Greek, Arabic or 
 Ethiopic, will certainly make himfelf 
 mafter of it, if he will but fit down, 
 do what I am actually doing. 
 
 And what are you actually doing ? 
 
 I am ftudying Portuguefe like a dragon, 
 am about it three or four hours every- 
 day.
 
 f 
 
 day. A fortnight or three weeks before 
 I left London I did very near the fame ; 
 and all along the road from Plymouth 
 to Falmouth never did I ceafe in my 
 chaife to peep into a Portuguefe book : 
 fo that, if I do not underftand the very 
 pilot who mail fteer us up the Tagus to 
 Lifbon, I will think myfelf fuch a knight 
 as Sir Arthur or Sir Marmaduke. 
 
 But, brothers, I fee you laugh. What 
 do you laugh at ? 
 
 We laugh at your boaft, Sir. 
 
 Tout doucementi Mefdames, as people 
 will often fay in France. To learn a 
 language in a month I think impoffible 
 as well as you. But as to the enabling 
 myfelf to underftand the pilot in a month, 
 you will recoiled: that I have known the 
 Spanifh tongue thefe five and twenty 
 years, and that the Portuguefe is but a 
 dialec> of the Spanifh ; nor do I think 
 that it differs quite fo much from it as 
 the dialeft of Venice does from the lan- 
 guage of Tufcany. Then, 1 ii tend not 
 H 4 to
 
 [ 104 ] 
 
 to be a critic in the Lufitanic and matter 
 all its niceties and prettinefies. I want 
 no more of it than will decently help 
 me on while I ft ay in Portugal : and fo 
 you fee that my confidence as to the pi- 
 lot, is not quite fo ill-grounded as you 
 thought. 
 
 I will not let this opportunity flip of 
 telling you, that there is an infallible 
 way to give your little fon a facility of 
 pronouncing any language, if you intend 
 to make him learn more than one. Lend 
 me your ear, and I will tell you how this 
 may be done. 
 
 Our people of rank at Turin have got 
 a notion, that their children muft never 
 be fuffered to fpeak any Piedmontefe but 
 what is fpoken in the metropolis ; and 
 in confequence of this notion they keep 
 a ftrict watch upon the poor little things 
 for fear they mould catch the clownifli 
 accent on the oppofite lide of the Po. 
 
 This practice is wrong, and I wifli you 
 jpay never adopt it. Let the boy learn 
 
 the
 
 the polite fpeech of his town j but be 
 not afraid to let him learn likewife that 
 of the peafants : nay, encourage him to 
 mimick their talk. By making him learn 
 two fpeeches inftead of one, you will 
 enable him to articulate more founds 
 than by his learning only one. And if it 
 is in your power, I would even have you 
 fhift him from place to place while his 
 organs of fpeech are yet tender and pliant, 
 and bring him to mimick any uncouth 
 fpeech of Piedmont or Monferrat. Take 
 him likewife frequently to the play, and 
 make him mind the different Italian di- 
 alefts fpoken by the Dramatis Perfonae, 
 and repeat as much of their nonfenfe as 
 it is pomble. Nothing will ever fpoil his 
 polite Piedmontefe when he hears it con- 
 ftantly fpoke at home ; and yet number- 
 lefs are the founds that he will certainly 
 enable himfelf to form, if you will but 
 put him thus in the way. 
 
 Many Italians are to be found in Paris 
 and in London, who in a very little time 
 
 fpeak
 
 fpeak French and Englifh with fuch a 
 righl pronounciation as to be miftaken 
 for natives. The.reafon is, that Italy 
 abounds more with different dialects than 
 any other country of the fame dimenfion, 
 and that few are its inhabitants but what 
 know more than one, either by moving 
 from place to place, or by going to thofe 
 plays in which every interlocutor fpeaks 
 the dialect of his own town. 
 
 On the other hand you do not meet 
 with a French gentleman in a hundred 
 able to pronounce a foreign language 
 right, not even when he has fludied it a 
 great while, and when he can fpeak it 
 with purity of phrafeology and gram- 
 matical correctnefs. No other reafon can 
 be affigned for this, but that in his in- 
 fancy his Mamma was terrified when (he 
 caught him in the abominable act of ut- 
 tering any found that border'd on the 
 foiffard or the badaut, and reprimanded 
 him with fuch feverity as if he had com- 
 mitted a great crime. He was thus 
 
 brought
 
 [ ,o 7 ] 
 
 brought up with an untra&able tonguo 
 jhat never will utter any fpund but what 
 is genuine Gallic. 
 
 But, Sir, come upon deck, and you 
 will fee the Rock. The Rock I fufpecT: 
 to be fome part of the Portugal coaft $ 
 fo farewel in hafte. 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 Navigation ended. Batifle and Kelly. 
 Plunge or pay. Banks of the Tagus. 
 
 Lifbon, Aug. 30, 1760. about midnight. 
 
 LO O K at the date, and give me joy. 
 We landed this evening about eight 
 o'clock. I was very glad to be rid of my 
 floating habitation 5 yet forry to leave the 
 Captain, the Lieutenant, and my good 
 Surgeon. They have treated me with 
 kindnefs and civility, for which I mall 
 . remember them as long as I live. 
 
 Well ; I am landed : and there is an, 
 <end of navigation. But I thought it very 
 pdd that when firfl on more 1 could not 
 
 ftand
 
 r 168 ] 
 
 ftand upon my legs, but tottered to the 
 right and the left, as if my blood had 
 been in an undulating motion. This 
 difficulty of {landing and walking with a 
 fteady foot was not the effect of any gid- 
 dinefs. I cannot tell what it was, but it 
 feem'd as if the ground had moved like a 
 {hip : yet in the fhip I could ftand or 
 walk very well, and, as I thought, with- 
 out tottering. Thus unable when I 
 landed to make ufe of my legs, I was 
 obliged to hire a man who handed me 
 for about a mile to a coffee-houfe. The 
 odd motion of my blood fubfided by de- 
 grees as I went oji, and in lefs than two 
 hours I was again like myfelf. 
 
 From the coffee-houfe I fent my helper 
 to enquire after one Batifte, a faithful 
 French fervant I had formerly in Lon- 
 don. He was prefently found out ; and 
 hearing of my unexpected arrival, rofc 
 haflily from fupper and came to me quite 
 out of breath with running, his coun^ 
 tenan.ce full of joy and furprife. 
 
 This
 
 I0 9 
 
 This Batljie took me to one Kelly, an 
 old Irishman who keeps a kind of an inn 
 on the fummit of a hill called Buenos 
 idires. I was quite fatigued when we 
 reach'd it. Here I have taken up my 
 quarters for the time I mall flay in Lif- 
 bon ; and now let me come to the con- 
 clufion of my voyage. 
 
 It was about ten in the morning when 
 our people had a full view of the Rock of 
 Li/bon y that is, of a very high promon- 
 tory on the left hand as you enter the 
 Tagus, and at no great difiance from the 
 mouth of it. 
 
 That promontory looks perfectly bar- 
 ren, and has the appearance of a huge 
 heap of rugged ftones. Yet I am told 
 that up and down it, there are many fine 
 fpots ; that in the lower parts it is em- 
 bellimed with vineyards ; that in feveral 
 places it is covered with trees , and that 
 it has even fome flats where fheep and 
 cattle are grazing. 
 
 I am
 
 I am told further that on the titmofl 
 top of it, there is a convent cut into the 
 rock itfelf, called the Cork-convent by the 
 failors, becaufe the friars there have 
 inoft of their utenfils and furniture made 
 of cork, as the place is fo damp, that 
 they cannot have them of any other ma- 
 terial. In fhort fo many curious things 
 were told me about that rock and about 
 the fituation and form of that convent^ 
 that I have fome defire to go and fee it. 
 But we will think of this another time. 
 Let us for the prefent go on with the in- 
 terefting flory of this day. 
 
 When the Rock was full in view I 
 was called upon deck; There a failor 
 flood up to me> and informed me with 
 a civil faucy face, that it was the failors' 
 cuftom to duck in the fea any body wha 
 faw the Rock for the firft time : and as 
 that happened to be my cafe, he humbly 
 defired my compliance with that cuftom 
 by Gripping immediately; except I rather 
 
 chofe
 
 chofe to be duck'd with my cloaths on 
 my back. 
 
 This unexpected addrefs did not flartle 
 me much, as it occur'd directly, that 
 this was nothing more than a harmlefs 
 fcheme to get a little drink-money. 
 However, to encreafe the humour of it 
 I made myfelf as ferious as an old bear, 
 and fpeaking flow and loud that I might 
 be heard from deck to deck, (C Sir, faid 
 " I, you and your companions are wel- 
 i come to drown me, if you think it 
 "proper; you know, Sir, that I cannot? 
 " be fo ridiculous as to attempt the leaf! 
 " refiftance againft a body of men who 
 " would drown an army of Frenchmen, 
 " if juftly provoked. As to the ceremony, 
 " I certainly mould have no objection/ 
 " were the ocean an ocean of Dorchefter- 
 " beer or London-porter : yet, as it hap- 
 " pens that it is made of a liquor I always? 
 " had an unconquerable abhorrence of, 
 " I would rather compound the matter ; 
 " and if any body elfe, you yourfelf for 
 
 " inftance x
 
 t 11* J 
 
 c inftance, mould be fo generous as ttf 
 ( be duck'd or drown'd in my flead, I 
 se would endeavour' to convince you and 
 *' this honorable company that my pre- 
 " dominant vice is not ingratitude." 
 
 " Sir," replied Jack, " give me your 
 *' hand for that, you are a Gentleman > 
 " and, Sir, if I can be of fervice (and 
 " here he fwore a pretty oath) you are 
 ' welcome ; and I don't care (another 
 " oath) if I am ever fo well duck'd for 
 " the fake of a Gentleman." 
 
 To make hort, he flripp'd to the trow- 
 fers in an inftant. His companions put 
 him in a wooden frame that went round 
 his breaft under the arm -pits. The frame 
 Was tied to a pulley ; the pulley faftened 
 to the extremity of a beam which lay 
 acrofs the mail-head ; fome of them drew 
 him up, then let go the rope ; and plump 
 went the rafcal into the middle of a wave 
 from a height of at leafl five and twenty 
 feet. The plunge was repeated feveral 
 
 times
 
 t "3 J 
 
 times in fyight of his cries, to the no 
 fmail diverfion of the company. 
 
 The fellow being taken out of the 
 frame, Came up to me again, and Wet as 
 he was wanted to clafp me into his arms 
 as a brother-failor now that I had duely 
 feen the Rock ; but a piece of money 
 refcued me from his embraces. 
 
 As we approached the mouth of the 
 Tagus a fignal was made to a fifhermari 
 to come to us arid be our pilot : not that 
 we flood irt need of any, as our people 
 knew the river quite as well as any Por- 
 tuguefe. But the Captains of packets 
 mud comply with their inductions, by 
 which they are order'd not to enter the 
 Tagus without a Portuguefe pilot. The 
 fellow we got is a mulatto fo very like a 
 monkey, that his dirty hat and tatter'd 
 cloaths could hardly make me think him 
 a human being. He came to us directly 
 and leapt on board from his boat ; and 
 as we went over the bar, to ihow his 
 (kill in conducting (hips, he made a thou- 
 
 VOL. I. I fand
 
 [ "4 ] 
 
 land ftrange faces and contortions, bec- 
 koning (with his lips pouting inftead of 
 ufing words) to fome of our failors in his 
 boat, to row this way and that way, that 
 we might follow with fefety. 
 
 Going thus up the river I viewed the 
 fhore on the left hand of us. There are 
 feveral fortifications from place to place, 
 befides numberlefs buildings. We ftopp'd 
 a moment oppofite a tov/er built in the 
 river, to hear what a fellow there had to 
 fay to us through a fpeaking trumpet. 
 That tower is fortified, and looks hand- 
 fome at fome diflance. Having anfwer'd 
 with a loud voice fome few queftions 
 afk'd from thence, and told what the 
 (hip was, we continued our way up, and 
 prefently faw the royal village of Bellem, 
 where I am told that the Ring has re~> 
 fided ever fince the earthquake. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of a town lately 
 deftroy'd, I did not think I mould fee fucli 
 a vaft number of edifices as there are : 
 but the Surgeon told me that the earth 
 
 qtiak 
 
 11 
 
 i
 
 r MJ ] 
 
 quake vented itfelf chiefly upon Lifbort, 
 and caufed little damage from Bellem 
 down to the fea. It would have been a 
 vaft addition to the calamity Lifbon has 
 fufFer'd had fo many buildings been 
 deftroy'd, to the utter ruin of the many 
 thoufands who live along that fliore. 
 Thofe buildings, fome of which appear 
 to be of a noble conduction, are all 
 white on the outfide, with lattices and 
 window-mutters painted green, which 
 have a fine effect from the river. Many 
 of the houies have gardens and terrafTes 
 ornamented with vafes, ftatues, turrets, 
 and obelilks ; and withal fo many trees 
 round them, that the coup d' oeull is ren- 
 der'd one of the grander! and moft pictu- 
 refque. Nothing can equal it that ever 
 I faw, except Genoa with its fuburbs. 
 
 I imagine that all this proves much 
 lefs {hiking when view'd near and walk- 
 ing along-more, becaufe the fight cannot 
 embrace fo many objects at once, as it 
 does from a diftance, nor difcriminate 
 I 2 the
 
 t fi6 ] 
 
 the ugly parts : But the whole furveyed 
 from the middle of the river looks like 
 the work of fome benevolent Necro- 
 mancer. 
 
 The Tagus is about two miles broad 
 at the mouth ; but widens by degrees as 
 you go up, and overagainft the town is 
 nine or ten miles broad. Lifbon is about 
 fifteen miles diftant from the mouth 
 but as it was quite dark when I reach'd 
 it, I did not fee it. To-morrow 
 cxcurfions will begin, and, I hope, fur- 
 nim matter for feveral letters. 
 
 Let me now caft my eyes round my 
 new dwelling. I have four little room 
 in a line on the ground floor ; that is 
 almoft the whole houfe, which is one o 
 ihe many that have been built fmce the 
 earthquake. For himfelf, wife, and chil- 
 dren, my landlord Kelly has but two 
 fmall rooms and a kitchen left. From 
 one window he tells me that to-morrow 
 I /hall fee the river full of mips, and have 
 other fine profpecls from the other win- 
 dows. LET-
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 Pretty Polly s marriage. Bull-jight at 
 Campo Pequeno. Lufttanian Pick-poc- 
 kets. Dwarfijh men and women. 
 
 Lifbon, Aug. 31, 1760. 
 
 TO day was Sunday : and how do 
 you think I have fpent the after- 
 noon ? I will tell you by and by. Let 
 me firft fay fomething of the morning. 
 
 I got up about nine ; and while I was 
 bufying myfelf about fome lufcious 
 grapes, behold Batifte alighting from a 
 fine Spanifh horfe, and a moment after 
 his 'wife from a chaife drawn by two 
 mules, and led by as fine a blackamoor 
 as king Jarba in Metajlafios Dido. Ah ! 
 How do you do, my little Polly ? And 
 abruptly kifs'd her in the face of the fun, 
 perfectly forgetting that I was in Portu- 
 gal where women muft not be kifs'd in 
 the face of the fun. But one is fo glad to 
 fee old friends ! 
 
 I 3 It
 
 [ "8 ] 
 
 It was in London where I firft knew 
 this Polly, a ,pretty and modeil: girl. 
 Batifle left my fervice to follow her to 
 Portugal, where me went to live with an 
 old aunt who was to bequeath her all 
 fhe had, and that all was no inconfider- 
 able a fortune for a girl who had nothing 
 but a pretty face and no inclination to 
 hire it. The fellow was madly in love 
 with her, and me had no averfion to him ; 
 but the aunt was fomewhat crofs, and 
 would not have her marry juft turned of 
 fifteen. The earthquake render'd him 
 her hu{band fooner than he expected, and 
 in a manner fo peculiarly uncommon, 
 that I cannot forbear to relate it : nor do 
 you tell me that it looks odd for a matter 
 to be the Hiftorian of his fervant, becaufe 
 a good fervant in my opinion is a hero, 
 and full as valuable as any other human 
 being. 
 
 Batiftehad juft walked out of the town 
 on the morning when the earthquake 
 happened. Seeing the houfes tumble on 
 
 all
 
 all fides, inilead of flopping where he 
 was, as fome other Innamorato would 
 probably have done, he ran precipitoufly 
 back to the town and towards the houfe 
 where his miftrefs liv'd, and had the in- 
 credible good luck of fpying her on a 
 heap of ruins where me had fallen in a 
 fit while fhe was endeavoring her efcape. 
 Had he tarried but a few moments longer, 
 fhe would have perifhed in the flames 
 that broke out around her in a hundred 
 places. Without flaying to examine whe- 
 ther me were dead or alive, he threw her 
 over his moulders, and fortune befriend- 
 ed him fo compleatly that he carried his 
 burthen fafe out of the town, though 
 many buildings continued to fall about 
 his ears, and though fire furrounded him 
 on all fides. 
 
 The poor thing came to herfelf as they 
 came out of the danger. They both 
 look'd at the immenfe defolation that 
 was left behind, both icream'd, and wept, 
 and did not know what to tlo. The 
 I 4 houfes
 
 [ I" ] 
 
 hou&s ftill tumbled and the fire flill 
 broke out in evjery part, which made 
 them think that the poor aunt was buried 
 in the ruins. They grew impatient to be 
 far from fuch immenfe mifery, and im- 
 mediately refolv'd to go back to Eng-r 
 land. Both had fome little money about 
 them ; therefore, not well knowing what 
 they were doing, they took the road to 
 Spain. At Badajoz, Madrid, and other 
 places they met with fome charitable re- 
 lief; but no great matter, it feems, for 
 fifteen months after the earthquake they 
 reached London in a mofl miferable 
 plight. 
 
 When they came to me there, Polly 
 had a girl in her arms about three months 
 old j but they had married in France a 
 little before the birth of the child, as I 
 was convinced by their certificates. Polly, 
 Polly, (faid I, after having read them) 
 and fo you are married ? What could I 
 do ? (anfwer'd me, blufhing up to her 
 eyes). Sir, we were alone, and he fwore 
 
 fo
 
 [ 121 ] 
 
 fo much he would always be true I Here 
 /he cried and kifs'd her child ; and I 
 kifs'd her that fhe might not think me 
 too fevere a cenfurer. 
 
 I thought it a dream when they firft 
 made their appearance, as the old aunt 
 had long before written word from Lif- 
 bon to fome relation, that they had both 
 perimed in the earthquake. I told them 
 this, and they apprifed her by letter of 
 the contrary. The poor old woman was 
 tranfported with joy and thankfulnefs at 
 the unexpected news, and infifted upon 
 their going back to her, acquainting 
 them that fhe had been lucky enough to 
 fave fomething out of her former for- 
 tune, and they complied with her de- 
 fire. But me did not enjoy them long, 
 for (he died foon after their arrival, leav- 
 ing them about a hundred moidores, 
 which was all that me had. With this 
 little ftock Batifte turn'd out a Jack of 
 all trades and Polly took kindly to her 
 needle. Thus I fpund them every day 
 
 more
 
 122 
 
 more happy in each other and in their 
 little girl -, and as they are both induftri- 
 ous and laborious, I do not doubt but 
 their circumftances will grow better and 
 better. 
 
 Now, faid I, what is the meaning of 
 that chaife and that horfe ? 
 
 Sir, faid Batifte, they are for you. 
 You cannot go afoot about this town, 
 except you chufe to be melted by the 
 heat or kill'd by the fatigue of going up- 
 hill and down-hill. You muft have a 
 chaife during the time you ftay here, an$ 
 I am to attend you on horfeback. 
 
 Well, faid I : you muft know better 
 what I am to do in Lifbon 3 and fo we 
 will have the chaife and the horfe. 
 
 After dinner I got into the chaife at- 
 tended as above, and the Negro trotted 
 to a place called CampoPequeno, which is 
 about four miles (perhaps five or fix) 
 from the town, where I was to fee wha* 
 they call the bull-feaft or bull-hunting. 
 But before I attempt to defcribe it, I 
 
 muft
 
 muft premife that being juft come from 
 a country where the Lord's day is not 
 openly prophaned, I could not help being 
 fhock'd to fee fo many Chriftians, and 
 efpecially fo many Priefts and Friars, 
 prefent at fuch a diverflon, which to me 
 feem'd the moft inhuman that ever could 
 be invented by men, next the combats 
 of the gladiators in ancient Rome. 
 
 At Campo Pequeno a wooden edifice 
 has been erected for the only purpofe of 
 exhibiting thefe barbarous entertain- 
 ments. The edifice is an octagonal am- 
 phitheatre confifting of two rows of 
 boxes, one row over the other, and the 
 diameter of its area is, as I take it, about 
 two hundred common fleps. 
 
 None of the boxes has the leaft deco- 
 ration, except thofe of the royal family 
 which are hung with filken fluff. The 
 row above is for the better fort, and that 
 of the ground-floor for the populace, 
 who are likewife admitted into the area, 
 though their danger is not fmall of being 
 
 gored
 
 [ "4 ] 
 
 ored or trampled by the bulls, whofe 
 marches and evolutions J take to be quite 
 as rapid as thofe of the Pruffian troops. 
 
 In the box where I took my feat there 
 were but three people befides myfelf, 
 though the box could contain ten or 
 twelve. Two of the three had the ap- 
 pearance of gentlemen -, the other was a 
 Dominican Friar as lean as a lizzard. 
 
 Before the entertainment began I at- 
 tempted fome converfe with them -, but 
 even the humble Religiozo feem'd to look 
 upon me with difdain and contempt. 
 They all anfwer'd my fir ft words with fo 
 churlifh an air, that I gave over prefently, 
 and like them kept filent the whole time. 
 
 How I pame to difguft them thus at 
 once, I cannot guefs : but by their fre- 
 quent and affected glances upon my coat, 
 which J held up at laft to the Friar, not 
 without fome refentment, that he might 
 infpecl: it nearer, I fuipeded that they 
 conceived a very low opinion of me for 
 pot being drefs'd in filk like other gentle- 
 men,
 
 [ "5 ] 
 
 men. Yet it was not my fault, having 
 not yet had time to do what I muft do in 
 this hot weather. 
 
 The King, whofe box was not far 
 from that in which I fat, was drefs'd in 
 a plain fky-blue with fome diamonds 
 about him. He had with him his own 
 brother the Infant Don Pedro, who has 
 lately married the King's eldeft daughter 
 call'd the Princefs of Brafil. 
 
 The Queen was in another box with 
 that Princefs and her three other daugh- 
 ters all fparkling with jewels. 
 
 In the area and juft under the Queen's 
 box there was a man on horfeback ; a 
 kind of herald, I thought -, drefs'd fome- 
 what like one of our Neapolitan Coviellos 
 in our plays, who held a long rod in 
 his hand. 
 
 As the King came in, two triumphal 
 cars very meanly adorned entered the 
 area, each drawn by fix mules. Eight 
 black Africans were upon one, and eight 
 copper-coloured Indians upon the other. 
 
 They
 
 t i*S J 
 
 They made feveral caracols round; then 
 all leapt from the cars and bravely fought 
 an obftinate battle with wooden fwords 
 one band againft the other. The Indians 
 were foon flain by the Africans, and lay 
 extended a while on the ground, making 
 their legs in the air as if in the laft con- 
 vulfions, and rolling in the duft before 
 they were quite dead. Then, like Bays's 
 troops in the Rehearfal, both the dead 
 and the living went to mix with the 
 croud, while the cars drove away amidft 
 the acclamations of the multitude, and 
 made room for the two knights that were 
 to fight the bulls. 
 
 Thefe knights came in, both on horfe- 
 back, drefs'd after the ancient Spanifh 
 manner, made fine with many ribbonds 
 of various colours, with feathers on their 
 hats, each brandiming a long and thin 
 fpear. Their horfes were beautiful, 
 mettlefome, and gallantly accoutred. 
 One of the hero's was clad in crimfon^ 
 the other in yellow. Both look'd very 
 
 briik,
 
 [ "7 1 
 
 krifk, and both paid their obeifance to 
 the King, Queen, and people, making 
 their horfes kneel three times : then, 
 clapping fpurs, made them caper and 
 vault a while round the area with a fur- 
 prifing dexterity. 
 
 When all this was over, the yellow 
 champion placed himfelf over againft the 
 gate at which the bulls were to come 
 out, and the crimfori flood at fome di- 
 ftance from him in the fame direction. 
 A man from without open'd the gate, and 
 cover' d himfelf with it by getting behind* 
 The bull burfts out and makes to the 
 yellow knight who ftands ready to re- 
 ceive him with his fpear lifted high. The 
 bull's horns had wooden knobs on their 
 tips, that they might not gore the horfe 
 if they mould reach him. The courage- 
 ous yellow-knight pufh'd his fpear at the? 
 beaft, left half of it in his neck, and 
 made his horfe ftart afide in a moment. 
 The wounded bull ran bellowing after 
 him ; but the knight wheeling round 
 
 and
 
 t "8 ] 
 
 and round ftuck two or three more fpears 
 into his neck and moulders* The bull's 
 rage, as you may imagine, encreafed to 
 a degree that imprefled horrour: and 
 now the crimfon-knight had his turn $ 
 for the beaft made at him, but got no- 
 thing by changing his attack, except fome 
 more fpears into feveral parts of his bo- 
 dy, fo that his blood fpouted out in fe- 
 veral rills. 
 
 When the bull began to remit his fury 
 by lofs of blood, one of the champions 
 drew a heavy broad-fword, and gave him 
 fuch a cut on the back between the ribs, 
 as almoft cleft him to the middle. Down 
 the poor beaft fell with fuch roaring as 
 I think was heard at Lifbon. Then the 
 man in the CovieMo's drefs, feeing the 
 final blow, gallopped ftraight to the gate 
 at which the triumphal cars had entered> 
 and order'd in four mules which dragg'd 
 the dying beaft out of the amphitheatre> 
 together with fome of the populace who 
 had got aftride upon the bloody and 
 
 mangled
 
 [ "9 ] 
 
 mangled carcafe. The applaufe of the 
 fpectators was very clamorous. 
 
 But I muft not omit to fay, that 
 the two knights were not the only 
 enemies the poor bull had to encounter. 
 There were two other Cavat/etro's on 
 foot, holding faft the tails of the two 
 horfes, running as they ran, or flopping 
 as they ftopp'd, each making a red filken 
 cloak to frighten or rather exafperate the 
 bull, while fome others, on foot like- 
 wife, flily wounded him with daggers in 
 the fide and buttocks. 
 
 The agility of thefe foot-champions is 
 beyond all belief. When the furious 
 beaft made at any of them, they hopp'd 
 afide and were out of danger. One of 
 them feizing one of the bull's horns, fuf- 
 fer'dhimfelf to be dragg'd a while before 
 he would let go his hold ; gave him fe- 
 veral cuts with a knife while he was 
 thus dragg'd; then let himfelf fall, got 
 on his legs in an inftant, and efcaped. 
 But a little negro did flill a bolder thing. 
 
 VOL. I. K He
 
 He flood full in the bull's way while 
 running with the utmoft fury, and juft 
 as I thought he was going to be lifted on 
 his horns, took a fpring on the bull's 
 back and jump'd clean over him. 
 
 Eighteen were the bulls flaughter'd in 
 this feaft or hunting, and each with fome 
 variety of wanton cruelty. Spears were 
 ftuck into fome of them that carried 
 fquibs and crackers, whofe fire and noife 
 was more troublefome than the wound. 
 One of the mofl fierce leapt over the bar- 
 rier of a box juft under mine, and I ex- 
 pelted him to do fome mifchief -, but the 
 Portuguefe are well aware of fuch acci- 
 dents, and the people in that box were 
 quick to quit their feats, fome throwing 
 themfelves over the barrier into the area, 
 and fome over the partitions into, the 
 next boxes. The bull embarraiTed in the 
 benches was prefently difpatched by many 
 fwords. 
 
 The laft bull however was very near 
 revenging all the reft upon the crimfon- 
 
 knight
 
 [ 13' 3 
 
 knight and his horfe. He ran then! 
 both down with a terrible {hock; and 
 had it not been for the knobs cm his 
 horns, the horfe at leaft would have been 
 fadly gored. Both the horfe and the 
 knight were within a hair of being 
 trampled upon, when the other knight 
 gave the bull a great cut acrofs the neck, 
 while all the fighters on foot thrufl their' 
 daggers, fome into his mouth and fome 
 into his eyes. The horfe got up, ran 
 frighted through the croud* and threw 
 feveral of them down, while his unlucky 
 rider, who was no great gainer by ,his 
 tumble, flood curfing and fwearing at 
 the horfe* at the bull, and at himfelf, 
 
 Thus ended the mafiacre of thofe noble 
 animals : a mafTacre encouraged as long 
 as it lafted by a moft outrageous uproar, 
 and concluded with a moft thundering 
 clap of univerfal approbation* 
 
 What effect theie cruel fpe&acles (re- 
 peated almoft every Sunday, as I am 
 told) may have upon the morals and rc- 
 K, *2 ligion
 
 ["'3* 1 
 
 ligion of this people, better fpecul'atifts 
 than myfelf may determine. To me in- 
 deed they appear moft brutal and moft 
 unchriftian. However, they have the 
 fanftion of the law of the country ; and 
 the government that permits and coun- 
 tenances them, may have reafons for fo 
 doing quite out of the reach of my intel- 
 lects. Therefore, inftead of yielding to 
 the temptation of blaming what to me 
 appears very blamabk, let me go on 
 with matter of fa<5t, and relate an inci- 
 dent that fufpend^d for about half aa 
 hour this horrible entertainment. 
 
 The feventh or eighth bull had been 
 juft flain and dragg'd out, and the man f 
 at the bull's-gate was going to let in 
 another, when the people in the ground- 
 floor-boxes, oppofite to that where I 
 was, rofe at once one and all with the 
 moft hideous /hrieks, leapt precipitoufly 
 into the area, and ran about the place 
 like madmen. 
 
 Thk
 
 C '33 1 
 
 This fudden diforder terrified the af- 
 fembly, and few were thofe who had any 
 fang-froid left. All wanted to know 
 what was the matter, but the noife of a 
 cataract could not have been traced 
 through the cries of fuch a multitude. 
 The King and the Queen, the PrincefTes 
 and Don Pedro raifed their hands, fans, 
 and voices, as I could fee by the open- 
 ing of their mouths, but it was a confi- 
 derable while before a word could be 
 heard about the caufe of fo violent a 
 commotion. Yet at laft the impatience 
 of univerfal curiofity was fatisfied, and a 
 report went round that fome people, 
 where the uproar began, had cried out 
 Earthquake, Earfhquake ! 
 
 In a country where people have flill 
 frefli in their minds the effects of an earth- 
 quake, it is no wonder if fuch a cry, that 
 came at once from feveral quarters, prov- 
 ed terrifying ; and if thofe wllo heard it, 
 without giving themfelves an inflant to 
 reflect, fprung over the barriers into the 
 K 3 area
 
 [ '34 ] 
 
 area, to efcape being crufh'd by the fall of 
 the edifice. 
 
 However, the faft is that not the leaft 
 (hock of an earthquake had been felt by 
 any body. The cry had been raifed by 
 a gang of pick-pockets in order to throw 
 the people into confufion, and gain an 
 opportunity of itealing. The fcheme 
 took to a wonder. Many men loft their 
 handkerchiefs and many women their 
 caps, not tq fpeak of fwords and watches, 
 pecklaces and ear-rings. 
 
 To frame fuch a fcheme and to carry 
 it into execution fo undauntedly as it was 
 carried, appears to me as valiant an at- 
 chievement as any of Orlando's. I ufed 
 often in London to admire the boldnefs 
 and intrepidity of the Britim pick-poc- 
 kets, and thought them the very clevereft 
 in the whole creation. But, away with 
 them ! They mufl not pretend to attempt 
 competition with the heroical pick- 
 pockets of Lufitania. 
 
 it
 
 [ '35 ] 
 
 It is needlefs to tell, that on being ap- 
 prifad of the true caufe of that diforder, 
 the whole aflembly fat down again in 
 quiet; that the greateft part, who had 
 not been fufferers by it, laughed at the 
 thievifh ingenuity -, and that a new bull 
 was let loofe in the area. 
 
 And here is the account concluded of 
 the moft important tranfaclions of this 
 afternoon. What follows is merely fet 
 down by way of memorandum for my 
 private ufe, and not worth your reading. 
 
 I was told while at the amphitheatre, 
 that one of the King's chariot-horfes had 
 loft a fhoe; fo that his Majefty was 
 obliged to ftop in the fcorching-fun until 
 another horfe was got ready, that he 
 might proceed. I thought it very odd 
 that a King {hould have fervants fo care- 
 lefs, and afk'd if he was put in a pafiion 
 by it -, but was anfwered that he laugh'd 
 it out. A petty gentleman would have 
 florm'd. 
 
 K 4 This
 
 [ 136 ] 
 
 This country is one of the hotted in 
 Europe ; yet its inhabitants are not melted 
 into flendernefs. I never faw any where 
 fo many fat men in one place as I have 
 feen to day. 
 
 In Lifbon both men and women of the 
 better fort feem to love gaudinefs in drefs. 
 The Ladies, like thofe of Tufcany and 
 other parts of Italy, wear many artificial 
 flowers ftuck in their hair. It is a pretty 
 fafhion. I faw feveral beautiful faces to 
 day, and many a pair of brilliant eyes. 
 
 Here, as in France and Italy, they 
 have the abfurd cuftom of dreffing their 
 children too much. I hate to fee a little 
 girl with a tupee, and a little fword at the 
 fide of a little boy. The Englifli are not 
 guilty of fuch folly. In Engla'nd boys and 
 girls, even when they are fons and daugh- 
 ters of Earls and Dukes, are never made 
 to look like dwarfifh men and dwarfifh 
 \vomen : and this may be the reafon, 
 that England abounds lefs with fops and 
 cocjuets than either France or Italy. 
 
 LET-
 
 [ 137 1 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 f the Earthquake. A City not to 
 be rebuilt in hafte. 
 
 Liibon, Sept. . 1760. 
 
 I Have now vifited the ruins of Lifbon 
 at full leifure, and a dreadful inde- 
 lible image is now imprinted on my mind ! 
 But do not expedt from me fuch a de- 
 fcription of thefe ruins, as may even im- 
 perfe&ly convey that image to you. Such 
 a fcene of horrible defolation no words 
 are equal to : no words at leaft that I . 
 could poflibly put together ; and it is 
 pcular infpe&ion only, that can give an 
 adequate idea of the calamity which this 
 city has fuffer'd from the ever-memo~ 
 able earthquake. 
 
 As far as I can judge after having 
 walk'd the whole morning and the whole 
 afternoon about thefe ruins, fo much of 
 Lifbon has been deflroy'd as would make 
 a town more than twice as great as 
 
 Turin.
 
 [ '38 ] 
 
 , Turin (a). In fuch a fpace nothing is 
 to be feen but vafl heaps of rubbifh, 
 out of which arife in nnmberlefs places 
 the miferable remains of fhatter'd walls 
 and broken pillars. 
 
 Along a flreet which is full four 
 miles in length, fcarcely a building flood 
 the fhock : and I fee by the materials in 
 the rubbifh, that many of the houfes 
 along that flreet mufl have been large 
 and ftately, and intermixed with noble 
 churches and other public edifices -, nay, 
 by the quantities of marble fcatter'd on 
 every fide, -it plainly appears that one 
 fourth at leaflof. that ilreet was intirely 
 built of marble. 
 
 The rage of the earthquake (if I may 
 call it rage) feems to have turned chiefly 
 
 againfl 
 
 (a) Turin, a fortified town in Piedmont ', and the King 
 ef Sardinia's refuhnce, ts little more than a mile in length t 
 taken from the Po-gate to that of Sufa, and not quite ^ 
 much from the King's palace to the New-gate. Lijbonfr, 
 the Alcantara-gate to the Slave's bagnio is for was) obi 
 four miles, and a mile and a half broad almoji througi.
 
 [ 139 ] 
 
 againft that long itreet, as almoft every 
 edifice on either fide is in a manner le- 
 velled with the ground : whereas in other 
 parts of the town many houfes, churches, 
 and other buildings are left ft ending; 
 though all fo cruelly mattered, as not to 
 be repaired without great expence: Nor 
 is there throughout the whole town a 
 fingle building of any kind, but what 
 wears vifible marks of the horrible con- 
 cuflion. 
 
 I cannot be regular in fpeaking of the 
 various things that ftruck me to day, but 
 muft note them down as well as my 
 crouding thoughts will permit. My 
 whole frame was making as I afcended 
 this and that heap of rubbim. Who 
 knows, thought I, but I ftand now di- 
 rectly over fome mangled body that was 
 fuddenly buried under this heap! Some 
 worthy "man! Some beautiful woman! 
 Some helplefs infant! A whole family 
 perhaps! Then I came in fight of a 
 
 ruined
 
 [ 140 ] 
 
 ruined church. Confider its walls giving 
 way! The roof and cupola finking at 
 once, and crufhing hundreds and thou- 
 fands of all ages, of all ranks, of all con- 
 ditions ! This was a convent : this was a 
 nunnery : this was a college : this an 
 hofpital ! Reflect on whole communities 
 loft in an inftant! The dreadful idea 
 comes round and round with irrefiftible 
 intrufion. 
 
 As I was thus rambling over thofe ru- 
 ins, an aged woman feized me by the 
 hand with fome eagernefs, and .pointing 
 to a place juft by : Here, flranger (faid 
 fhe) do you fee this cellar? It was only 
 my cellar once; but now it is my habi- 
 tation, becaufe I have none elfe left ! My 
 houfe tumbled as I was in it, and in this 
 cellar was I (hut by the ruins for nine 
 whole days. I had perimed with hunger, 
 but for the grapes that I had hung* to the 
 cieling. At the end of nine days I heard 
 people over my head, -who were fearch- 
 
 ing
 
 ing the rubbifli. I cried as loud as I 
 could j they removed the rubbilh, and 
 took me out. 
 
 I afked her what were her thoughts in 
 that difmal fituationj what her hopes, 
 what, her fears. Fears I had none, faid 
 fhe. I implored the afiiftanee of St. An- 
 thony who was my protector ever fince I 
 Was born. I expected my deliverance 
 every moment, and was fare of it. But, 
 alas ! I did not know what I was pray- 
 ing for! It had been much better for me 
 to die at once ! I eame out unhurt : but 
 what fignifies living a fhort while longer 
 in forrow and in want, and not a friend 
 alive ! My whole family perilhed ! We 
 were thirteen in all : and now none 
 but myfelf ! 
 
 Hear of another deliverance no lefs un- 
 common. A gentleman was going in 
 his calafh along a kind of terrace, raifcd 
 on the brink of an eminence which com- 
 mands the whole town. The frighten'd 
 mules leap'd down that eminence at the 
 
 firft
 
 [ '42 ] 
 
 firft fliock. They and the rider were 
 killed on the fpot and the calam broken 
 to pieces, and yet the gentleman got off 
 unhurt. 
 
 But there would be no end of relating 
 the ftrange accidents that befel many 
 on that dreadful day. Every body you 
 meet has twenty to tell. 
 
 The King had two palaces in Lifbon 
 and they were both deftroyed. Yet none 
 of the royal family perifhed. They 
 were juft going from Lijbon to faj Bel- 
 lem, and juft in a part of the road where 
 there was no houfe nigh. Had they flay- 
 ed a quarter of an hour longer in town, 
 or reached Eellem a quarter of an hour 
 fooner, they had probably perifhed, as 
 the royal palace at Bellem was likewise 
 nearly deftroyed. King, Queen, Prin- 
 cefles, and all their attendants were! 
 obliged to encamp in a garden and in the 1 
 
 neigh- 
 
 (a] Bellem is a town or village about three miles from 
 Lifbon, where the King and royal family pafs the left part 
 of the year.
 
 [ H3 3 
 
 neighbouring fields : and I well remem- 
 ber that the Britifli Envoy who was there 
 at that time, wrote over to his court, 
 that five days after the earthquake he 
 went to Bel/em to pay his refpects to them, 
 but that the Queen had fent him word 
 (he could not receive him, as (he was 
 under a tent, and in no condition to be 
 feen. Imagine what the mifery of the 
 people muft have been when even the 
 royal family fuffered fo much. 
 
 Nor muft I forget to mention the uni- 
 verfal conflagration that followed the 
 earthquake. You know that this mis- 
 fortune fell out on All-Saints day, at 
 ten o'clock in the morning; that is, when 
 all the kitchen-fires were lighted againft 
 dinner time, and all the churches illumi- 
 nated in honour of the day. The fires in 
 the kitchens and the lights in the churches 
 rolled againft the combuftible matters 
 ihat could not fail to be in their way, 
 and the ruined town was prefently in a 
 flame. Lijbon is furniflied with water 
 
 by
 
 [ 14* ] 
 
 fcy means of aquedu&s - t but the aque- 
 dudts were broken by the concuffion: 
 fo that little or no water was at hand. 
 Yet had it been ever fo plentiful, ftill the 
 town would not have efcaped the confla* 
 gration, becaufe (a) every body ran 
 away to the fields and other open places: 
 and thus more lofs was caufed by the fire 
 than by the earthquake itfelf, as it con-*- 
 fumed all that people had in their houfes, 
 which might in a good meafure have 
 been dug out of the ruins if it had not 
 been confumed by that fire. What a 
 fpedtacle for three hundred thoufand peo- 
 ple to fee their homes burning all at 
 once! 
 
 But is it not furpriiing, after fuch aa 
 earthquake and fuch a conflagration, to 
 
 hear 
 
 (a) Mr. Clark fays, that on thefirjl flaking of the 
 ground the people " throng 1 'd into the churches." How 
 could he believe thofe who told him this? He fays alfo t that 
 only " one fourth par?' of Lifhon was dejlroyedby the earth- 
 quake. He would have feen that it was more than two 
 thirds^ if he had vijited thofe ruins. 1 hope he will excufe 
 my redr effing a few more of his miftaket when I come to/peak 
 tf Toledo and Madrid*
 
 [ '45 1 
 
 hear the Portuguefe conftantly repeat 
 (and they have repeated it every day 
 fince) that their city is foon to be built 
 over again, quite regular, quite fine, 
 finer than ever it was ? and all this to be 
 effected in a little time ? Indeed they 
 give me no very high notion of their 
 common fenfe when they abandon them- 
 fel-ves fo much to their fiery imaginar- 
 tions. 
 
 They fay themfelves that, upon a mo- 
 derate computation, Lifbon contained 
 four and twenty thoufand honfes. Of 
 thefe no lefs than two thirds have been 
 levelled to the ground, and the other 
 third was left in no very good condition. 
 However, waving the neceflary repairs 
 to that third, and coniidering only the 
 two that are demolimed, how is the rub- 
 bifh of fixteen thoufand houfes to be re- 
 moved, along with that of fome hundred 
 of large churches, two royal palaces, 
 and many convents, nunneries, hofpi- 
 tals, and other public edifices ? If half 
 VOL. I. L the
 
 the people that have efcaped the earth- 
 quake, were to be employed in nothing 
 elfe but in the removal of that immenfe 
 rubbifh, it is not very clear that they 
 would be able to remove it in ten years. 
 Then where are the materials for re- 
 building fixteen thoufand houfes and fome 
 hundred of other edifices ? Many of 
 thofe houfes were four, five, fix, and 
 even feven ftories high. 
 
 It is true, that the country round 
 abounds with marble enough to build 
 twenty Liibons. But ftill, that marble 
 muft be cut out of the quarry, muft be 
 fliaped, muft be carried to town. And 
 is all this to be done in a little time ? 
 and by people who have loft in the con- 
 flagration whatever tools they had ? 
 
 But they will rebuild the town with 
 bricks for the quicker difpatch. Yet 
 the making millions cf millions of bricks 
 (even fuppofing the proper clay quite at 
 hand) is not the work of a day. And 
 Jdlns muft be erected, and wood muft 
 
 be
 
 C i47 1 
 
 be got to burn them. But where is that 
 wood, in which I am told the country is 
 far from abounding? And where are the 
 thoufands of brick-makers to make thofe 
 numberlefs millions of bricks ? Yet give 
 them brick-makers, clay, and wood as 
 much as will fuffice, where is the lime, 
 the iron, and the other materials ? 
 
 But where do they actually dwell? 
 ibme hundred thoufands of people furely 
 cannot live in the open air? 
 
 This queftion is foon anfwered. Many 
 dwell in thofe houfes that were left 
 {landing, and rendered habitable again 
 by hafty repairs and by propping them 
 on every fide, and many more dwell in 
 numerous wooden huts and cottages 
 which they have haftily built round their 
 ruined town. Clutters of thofe cottages 
 and huts form various parts of the prof- 
 peels commanded by my windows. I 
 muft add, that many of the pooreft fort 
 have fhifted the rubbim here and there, 
 have cleared many ground-floor-rooms, 
 L 2 and
 
 [ 148 ] 
 
 and many under-ground-cellars ; and 
 there they live, if not with convenience, 
 at leaft under fhelter. It is needlefs to 
 fay that thoufands and thoufands have 
 migrated to other places. 
 
 However, the Portuguefe have not 
 been idle, and ever fince the fatal day 
 have been building apace. But what, 
 befides the mentioned huts and cottages ? 
 What, but an Arfenal : and that fo very 
 large (as I am told) that there will be no 
 edifice of that kind in the whole world 
 to be compared to it when it is finifhed 
 with the grand Portico adjoining to it, 
 where merchants are to aflemble at what 
 they call change- hour sin England. 
 
 This is almoft the only confiderable 
 building that has been carried on in 
 Lilbon ever fince the earthquake; and I 
 will not fay, that inftead of a magnificent 
 fabrick it would have been better to 
 build fome fcore of good houfes, nor 
 will I remark that mips might for a 
 while have been bought ready made, and 
 
 mer-r
 
 [ J 49 ] 
 
 mercantile bufmefs tranfacted at leaft lor 
 a few years in an humbler place than the 
 grand Portico; but I cannot help faying, 
 that, if I were allowed to wi(h in favour 
 of the poor inhabitants of Lifbon, I 
 would rather fee one of their old ftreets 
 rebuilt, than the grandeft Arfenal : ra- 
 ther fome few ftore-houfes to fecure mer- 
 chandizes, than a great Portico for their 
 owners to confabulate under. But the 
 people, for whom I could form fuch 
 wihes, feem to have another way of 
 thinking, and who knows but as foon as 
 that wonderful Arfenal is compleated they 
 fct about to rebuild their inquifition, 
 their cathedral, or fome ftupendous con- 
 vent ? 
 
 It feems the prevailing opinion amongft 
 the Portuguefe, that the numbers loft in 
 the ruins of this town, amounted to more 
 than ninety thoufand. But fuppofe they 
 exaggerate by two thirds, as the un- 
 happy are apt to do, ftill a number re- 
 L 3 mains
 
 mains that makes the blood run cold a 
 the thought! 
 
 Nor is Lifbon the only place in Portu- 
 gal that has undergone this woeful vifi- 
 tation. I am told that other towns have 
 fuffer'd ftill more in proportion. One in 
 particular called Setubal was fo perfectly 
 deflroyed that not one perfon efcaped ! 
 
 But I will quit this fubject. It fills 
 one with fadnefs to no manner of pur- 
 pofe. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 The laying of a fundamental ftone. A pa~ 
 trlarchal pomp . Pied-horfes. . 
 
 Lilbon, Sept. 3, 176^. 
 
 I Have feen the King of Portugal and 
 his whole court in great gala, this 
 being a memorable anniverfary, as his 
 Majefty this day three years narrowly 
 efcaped being treacheroufly murdered by 
 the Duke d'Areiro and his afTociates. 
 
 That
 
 t '5' ] 
 
 *That was a bloody tranfa&ion, and no 
 lefs incomprehenfible than bloody. It is 
 not eafily conceived that the Duke mould 
 be prompted and follicited to take away 
 his Sovereign's life by many relations and 
 friends, and by the whole body of the 
 Portuguefe jefuits : that fo execrable aeon- 
 fpiracy fhould require the concurrence of 
 many, when at laft it was to be executed 
 by a few : that the dreadful fecret mould 
 be entrufted with men and women, matters, 
 and fervants, eccleiiaftics and lay-men, 
 and not one out of fome hundred mould 
 be tempted by hope, impelled by terror, 
 or induced by a better motive to difcover 
 it in time: that fuch a fecret mould fo 
 faithfully be kept by the whole gang of 
 the confpirators as not even to be fuf- 
 pe&ed by fo wary and fufpicious a govern- 
 ment ! all this is quite incomprehenfible. 
 But let us come to the gala. 
 
 In that village called Beltem, already 
 
 named, a wooden edifice has been creeled 
 
 within thefe few days upon the very fpot 
 
 L 4 where
 
 [ is* 3 
 
 where his Majefty was fired at by the 
 murderers. 
 
 This edifice is eighty of my fteps iti 
 length and five and twenty broad. The 
 rnfide of it was hung with a kind of red 
 ferge ftriped and fringed with a tinfel- 
 lace. In the middle of it was placed an 
 altar glorioufly adorned. Facing the al- 
 tar there were two pews, one for the King 
 and the other for the Queen, befides a 
 fmaller for Don Eajlian Jofeph de Carval/io 
 fecretary of State. Under the Queen's 
 few there was a kind of throne for Car- 
 dinal Saldanha the patriarch. The re- 
 mainder of the place was occupied pell- 
 mell by the nobility of the kingdom, fo- 
 reign minifters, and all Grangers well 
 drefs'd. The patriarch's attendants how- 
 ever, as well as the muficians, had fome 
 benches to themfelves. 
 
 As the day proved inexpreffibly hot, 
 the doors and windows of the edifice 
 were kept open during the ceremony, f6 
 that the numberlefs fpectators from with- 
 out
 
 out enjoyed it near as well as thofe 
 within. 
 
 About nine o'clock Secretary Carvalho 
 made his appearance preceded by many 
 gentlemen, many fervants, a drummer, 
 and a trumpeter, all on horfeback. He 
 was alone in a coach drawn by fix grey 
 horfes, attended by two grooms on foot, 
 one on each fide of the coach, and by 
 five and twenty of the King's horfe- 
 guards. 
 
 He had fcarcely alighted and got to his 
 pew, when behold the Patriarch ! Ex- 
 cepting the Pope, there is no ecclefiaftic 
 in the world that is ever furrounded with 
 fo great a pomp as this Patriarch. But 
 his revenue, they fay, amounts to thirty 
 thoufand pounds fterling, and fo he may 
 well afford it. 
 
 Two coaches full of priefts began the 
 march. Then followed fifty of his Emi- 
 nence's fervants walking two and two in 
 blue liveries trimm'd with a crimfon filk- 
 lace, all uncover'd, all well powder'd, 
 
 and
 
 t '54 ] 
 
 and all wearing large cloaks that reached 
 the ground. A pried on horfeback went 
 before them, holding up a filver-crofs 
 x'd on the top of a flick filver'd over* 
 Then followed feven coaches. The two 
 firft were occupied by his Eminence's ec- 
 clefiaftical officers. In the third was the 
 Patriarch himfelf with his mafter of the 
 ceremonies who kept his back to the 
 horfes. Two priefts walk'd on foot, one 
 on this fide of the coach and the other on 
 the other. Each bore in his hand an urn- 
 brello of crimfon- velvet, fring'd round 
 with gold. They were both fo tall, that 
 they put me in mind of Don FracaJJa and 
 Don Tempefta in the poem of Ricciardetto. 
 The coach of the Patriarch both within 
 and without was lined with blue velvet, 
 gilt and painted very much and very well. 
 Then followed his ftate-coach empty, fo 
 rich and fo fine that Queen Semiramis 
 would not have thought it unworthy of 
 herfelf. Then three more coaches full 
 again of officers ; I mean eccleliaftics all, 
 
 even
 
 [ '55 1 
 
 tven fome of the fifty that walk'd in pra- 
 ceffion. Each of the four firft coaches 
 was drawn by fix pied-horfes ; that is* 
 horfes ftreak'd with black and white, 
 which, it feems, are not fo uncommon 
 in Portugal and Spain, as they are in 
 other countries. They all galop'd ; but 
 their galopping was fo clofe and fhort, 
 that the attendants on foot could keep 
 up with it, though they walked with 
 great flowncfs and folemnity. The three 
 next coaches, inftead of horfes, had fix 
 mules each, much finer than any I ever 
 faw in Italy. The Patriarch was drefs'd 
 in his great pontificals. And how did he 
 look ? In Petrarch's words 
 
 Sfavafi tutto umik in tanta gloria. 
 While this noble procefilon was advan- 
 cing towards the wooden edifice, more 
 than twenty other coaches, each drawn 
 by fix mules, appeared from feveral parts, 
 and in them were the dignitaries and ca- 
 nons of Lifbon-Cathedral. They all 
 alighted at the door of the edifice and 
 
 walk'd
 
 [ '56 ] 
 
 walk'd partly to the right and partly t6 
 the left of the Patriarch's throne. I had 
 quitted my chaife and borrowed Baffle's 
 horfe, that I might look at all the great 
 folks with better convenience. Was I 
 pleafed with fo magnificent a mow, or 
 was I difgufted by fo vain a parade ? I 
 was pleafed, becaufe I am no morofe phi- 
 lofopher. Such fights are naturally de- 
 lightful, and I never found my account 
 in counteracting nature. I overheard an 
 Englifhman damn the puppet-mow, and 
 thought him ill-natured or difcontented. 
 The King then came in a coach and 
 fix, the horfes black and white like the 
 Patriarch's, furrounded with four and 
 twenty of his horfe-guards. Don Pedro 
 was with him. The Queen followed im- 
 mediately with her four daughters and an 
 elderly lady, all in one coach, with four 
 more coaches, two before and two be- 
 hind, full of ladies, all coaches and fix. 
 Her Majefty was environed by a troop of 
 her own horfe-guards, who are much 
 
 better
 
 [ '57 ] 
 
 better drefs'd than the King's, and, as I 
 am told, all foreigners, chiefly Irim, 
 Scotch, and Germans. She and the Prin- 
 cefTes were moft magnificently drefs'd, 
 wearing moft ample hoops, their heads, 
 necks, breafts, arms, waifts, and feet 
 glittering with jewels. The Princefles 
 have very fine fhapes, fine completions, 
 and the fineft eyes that can be feen. One 
 of them (I think the third, but am not 
 fure) as far as my wretched eyes could 
 judge at the diftance of feven or eight 
 yards, is a ftriking beauty. I was pleafed 
 to fee them fo lively and hopping out of 
 the coach with fo much nimblenefs. 
 
 In the pew they all kneeled for a mo- 
 ment, except the Queen who fat down 
 and fell a-reading and kiffing the leaves 
 of her book. As (he did this more than 
 forty times in a few minutes I afk'd what 
 was the meaning of that kiffing, and was 
 anfwer'd that it was her Majefty's cuftom 
 to kifs the name of God, of our blefTed 
 Lady, and of all Saints and Angels in any 
 
 book
 
 [ '58 ] 
 
 book that me reads. This fingularity 
 brought to my mind an Englim Philo- 
 fopher (Mr. Boyle, if I do not miftake) 
 who ufed to bow whenever God's name 
 was mentioned. 
 
 The Queen lay'd down her book and 
 a great T<? Deum was fung with much 
 noife of mufic. The fa Deum was fol- 
 low'd by the litanies. 
 
 The King then got up, and attended 
 by Don Pedro, Secretary Carvalho, and 
 fome other gentlemen of his court, de- 
 fcended into a kind of hole about breaft- 
 high, where filver-fhovels, filver-ham- 
 mers, and other implements of mafonry 
 had been placed before hand with ftones, 
 brick, and mortar. His Majefty put 
 fome gold and iilver medals at the bottom 
 of that hole and cover'd them with a 
 quadrangular ftone; then both he and 
 his attendants took up their (hovels, and 
 fell a covering that ftone with bricks and 
 mortar, beating the bricks with the ham- 
 mers from time to time, as they were 
 
 direfte 
 
 =
 
 [ '59 ] 
 
 dire&ed by a gentleman, who, I fuppofe, 
 is the King's architect. And thus was 
 placed the fundamental ftone of a moft 
 noble church, which is to be forthwith 
 erected there by way of Ex-voto to our 
 bleffed Lady for the miraculous deliver- 
 ance the King obtained through her 
 means from the blunderbuffes of the 
 Duke d'Aveiro and the other aflaflins. 
 
 In a few minutes the bulinefs of lay- 
 ing the ftone was over, during which I 
 could not help wondering at fome vulgar 
 women who, looking through one of 
 the windows, laughed immoderately at 
 the mafons, probably becaufe they were 
 fomewhat aukward at their new trade, 
 and this difcompofed a little the gravity 
 of the by-ftanders. Yet no body took 
 any particular notice of their imperti- 
 nence. 
 
 The King and his company returned 
 to their places, and as foon as they were 
 feated, the Patriarch quitting his throne 
 flood up to the altar and celebrated a 
 
 high
 
 high mafs affifted by his dignitaries and 
 canons with the ceremonies obferved by 
 the Cardinals to the Pope, when his Ho- 
 linefs officiates in the mod folemn 
 functions. During the mafs the mufi- 
 cians play'd and fung moft glorioufly. 
 The King has a good many in his fer- 
 vice, and, what is remarkable, more than 
 forty Italians, partly fingers and partly 
 players upon feveral inftruments. 
 
 The mafs laftcd a full hour, and was 
 followed by the patriarchal benediction, 
 after which the company broke up and 
 every body went home tired and fatigued. 
 The heat without was great, as the fun 
 fhone very bright, but within was quite 
 intolerable. 
 
 At fome diftance from the edifice there 
 was all the while a foot battalion upon 
 guard, the common men ill-drefTed and 
 ill-comb'd. They were not allow'd to 
 fire as they do in Italy upon the like oc- 
 cafions -, and this I thought judicioufly 
 ordered, as they would have frighted the 
 
 horfes
 
 horfes and mules, and made them prance 
 over the multitude : and I was alfo 
 pleafed to fee feveral officers repeatedly 
 command the horfe-guards to keep clofe 
 and ride foftly, that no body might be 
 hurt. 
 
 The day before yefterday at the Am- 
 phitheatre I had feen a good number of 
 ladies. To-day I faw many more at the 
 wooden edifice, and had reafon to be 
 pleafed at the fight in both places. To- 
 day efpecially they were all richly drefs'd, 
 thick-fet with jewels, and many of them 
 very handfome. They are in general 
 much fairer than one would expect in fo 
 hot a latitude, which makes me fuppofe 
 that they take care not to go much in 
 the fun. Almoft all have open counte- 
 nances and fimpering locks. A good 
 contraft to their men, whofe fkins are 
 rather fwarthy, and whofe faces are ful- 
 len and grave, even when they attempt 
 to fmile, which they do often enough. 
 The falutation of men to ladies confifb 
 
 VOL. I. M in
 
 [ ,62 ] 
 
 in a mort and quick genuflexion, fuch 
 as we make in Italy to our beft Madonas 
 when we are in a hurry. But this com- 
 pliment the ladies fcarcely return with a 
 nod, efpecially to inferiors. The gentle- 
 men embrace each other with great re- 
 fpect when they meet, and kifs each 
 other's left moulder. 
 
 I am told that no body in Lifbon is 
 allowed to have horfes to his coach, 
 chaife, or other vehicle, except the Royal 
 Family, Minifters of State, Patriarch, 
 foreign Minifters, and a few others. The 
 reft make ufe of mules. Portugal, they 
 fay, does not abound in horfes, and the 
 Portuguefe are obliged to fmuggle many 
 out of Spain, whence the fale is forbid- 
 den under fevere penalties. 
 
 Female drefs is no where variated fo 
 much as amongft the low women in this 
 country. Some hide themfelves under 
 veils of different fturTs and colours, and 
 fome appear quite uncovered. Some have 
 their hair plaited up, fome let it flow 
 
 down
 
 t 163 ] 
 
 down their moulders, and fome confine 
 it in one or more hanging trefTes. Some 
 have coifures after the French manner, and 
 fome wear hats after the Englifh. Many 
 adorn their heads with ribbonds, and 
 many with natural or artificial flowers. 
 The earthquake has been the caufe of fo 
 great a variety on this particular. As it 
 has deprived the greateft part of them of 
 their wearing apparel, they drefs now as 
 well as they can, and have no prevalent 
 or national fafhion. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 Another fine Profpeft. Rhyme and blank- 
 verfe. Heavenly life at the Jeronimites. 
 Banks of the Tagus again. Sowing of 
 Salt. 
 
 Lifbon, Sept. 5, 1760. 
 
 AS I was looking yefterday into a 
 Portuguefe book, I took notice 
 that it was printed en Li/boa Occidental* 
 M 2 What
 
 I. 164 ] 
 
 What means, faid I, this Occidental Lif- 
 bon ? Is there any other befides this ? 
 
 No fuch thing, quoth the French 
 bookfeller. Some Lujitaman Literati af- 
 firm, that the ancient Olifipo flood on the 
 oppofite fide of the river, because- an an- 
 cient infcription was once found there in 
 which Olifipo is mentioned. Upon this 
 fcanty foundation and to make a parade 
 of erudition, fome of them beftow that 
 epithet of Occidental on this town, with- 
 out conftdering, that, were their conjec- 
 tures true, flill there would be no room 
 for that diftinction, as no- book was ever 
 printed en Lijboa Oriental. 
 
 How far the bookfeller is right of 
 wrong I cannot determine. However, 
 thought I, I will go and vilit the op- 
 pofite fide of the river, and fee if I can 
 find out any thing worth a paragraph in 
 a letter. A place fufpecled by the learned 
 to have been Lijbon, well deferves a vifit. 
 
 In confequence of this refolution this 
 morning early I got into a boat with Ba- 

 
 I ' 6 S ] 
 
 tifte, and failed away to the other fide of 
 the Tagus. 
 
 The bank of the river on that fide I 
 found a great deal higher than this. It 
 is a perfect mountain, But where I land- 
 ed there is no houfe nor room to build 
 any. I faw a path that leads up to the 
 top of the hill, and clamber'd up. The 
 path is craggy and difficult enough. On 
 the fummit there are two villages, one 
 called Caftillo 9 the other Almada. 
 
 Caftillo has nothing that is remarkable, 
 except the new ruins of an old-famion'd 
 caftle, perhaps moorim, which probably 
 gave name to the village. It is fituated 
 on a cliff made in the form of a fugar- 
 loaf, and I am told that it was decay 'd 
 and uninhabited even before the earth- 
 quake reduced it in its prefent condition. 
 
 At Almada, which is about a muiket- 
 fhot from Caftillo, I enter'd a fmall Do- 
 minican convent, whofe cloifter- walls 
 are incrufted with tiles painted blue, and 
 fo very neat and clean, that the very 
 M 3 look-
 
 [ '66 ] 
 
 looking on them is cooling in this hot 
 weather. The church which belong'd to 
 the convent was thrown down by the 
 firft {hock of the earthquake, and the 
 Shattered bodies of about twenty men and 
 fix times more women were dug out of 
 its ruins. The convent flood the con- 
 cuffion, fo that none of the friars pcrifh- 
 ed but that one who was faying mafs in 
 the church. 
 
 From the windows on the weft-fide 
 you have a profpect which excels even 
 that of Mount Edgecombe in Devonshire, 
 as from thence you have Lifbon full in 
 your eyes : then Bellem, Cafcdes, Sf. Ju- 
 lian, and all the villages, caflles, forti- 
 fications, and other buildings along the 
 river down to the fea, with an immenfe 
 landfcape furrounding all this, bounded 
 on one fide by the Rock of Li/Ion already 
 mentioned, and in other places by other 
 hills whofe names I know not. The 
 profpect from the eaft-windows is like- 
 wjfe yery fine, though not fo ftriking, as 
 
 it
 
 it confifts only of a long range of hills 
 covered with vineyards interfperfed with 
 numberlefs fruit-trees of every kind, 
 efpecially oranges and lemons, with 
 houfes and cottages from place to place. 
 Charming Almada ! though not embel- 
 limed by any better building than the 
 Dominican convent, certainly becaufe 
 there is no means of reaching fo high a 
 place but on foot or on a mule. Both 
 Almada and Cajlillo were little lefs than 
 levelled to the ground by the earthquake. 
 After having enjoy 'd the profpecls to 
 my fatisfa&ion, I rolled down the craggy 
 path again, got to the boat and went to 
 fee an Englim hofpital which ftands a 
 Jittle lower down on the fame fide of 
 the river, and at the foot of the hill, 
 where the ground juts out a little into 
 the water. But there I faw nothing worth 
 notice, except the Phyfician to the hof- 
 pital, an old and ill-bred gentleman ; 
 perhaps rendered ill- bred by jealoufy, as 
 he has had the weaknefs at feventy to 
 M 4 marry
 
 I 168 ] 
 
 marry a pretty Portuguefe girl of eighteen. 
 He look'd very crofs whenhefaw me enter 
 the garden of the hofpital, becaufe the 
 young lady was then in it gathering fome 
 fruit. As he had anfwer'd rather uncivil- 
 ly fome civil queftion I had put to him, 
 I was tempted to make him fret a little 
 by addreffing her and begging a grape 
 out of her bafket. However I refifted 
 the temptation, as I reflected that I may 
 myfelf poffibly be guilty of the fame folly 
 at his age, if ever I reach it. Therefore, 
 after having taken a tour of the garden, I 
 made him a bow, got again into the 
 boat, and failed up the river, ftill on the 
 fame fide, to the houfe of one O'Nea/, 
 an Irim wine-merchant, whofe ample 
 cellars are worth feeing. 
 
 I found Mr. O'Nea/ quite the reverfc 
 of the Phyfician. As he favv me in 
 a heat, he made me drink fome of his 
 beft wine, gave me a biiket, ofFer'd any 
 other refreshment I chofe, and was even 
 kind in the fame way to Batifte and my 
 
 boat-
 
 [ 169 ] 
 
 boatmen, nor would he (a) accept of any 
 pecuniary equivalent. 
 
 The houfe Mr. O'Neat has there, is 
 defended from the encroachments of the 
 river by a flrong mole of large flat ftones. 
 From that mole I enjoyed the fight of 
 two Negros fwimming and playing gam- 
 bols in the water. Had I never feen blacks 
 before, I had miftaken them for feme 
 particular fpecies of fim. They fprang 
 out of the water and wheel'd upon it, as 
 tumblers do upon firm ground. For a 
 few reis I made them fing feveral fongs 
 in their Mofambique language, of which 
 I comprehend nothing but that they 
 were in rhyme. I wifhed myfelf a mu* 
 fician, only to take down the tunes of 
 what they fung, though very fimple with 
 regard to harmony. 
 
 Several writers both of Italy and of 
 England have affirmed, that rhyme is 
 
 a 
 
 (a) J recommend him to tbofe of my Englljh reader* who 
 deal in Portugal-wine. I am pofithe he deferves cujlomers 
 for bit klndnefs to thirjly people, even icbtn they art ptr- 
 fefily unknown to him t at was my toft.
 
 a monkifh invention -, but I think them 
 widely miftaken. It is not to be fuppofed 
 that the Africans 'were taught rhyming 
 by Million aries, who have other bufmefs 
 when in thofe regions than that of teach- 
 ing rhyme or blank-verfe to the natives. 
 I heard once in Venice fome Arabian fongs 
 which were in rhyme, and there is a 
 French account of Arabia (wrote by a 
 traveller whofe name I cannot at prefent 
 recoiled!:) in which fome poetry of that 
 wandering nation is preferved, all in 
 rhyme. One Gages an Englishman (who 
 fuggefted to Cromwell the fcheme of tak- 
 ing 'Jamaica from the Spaniards) in a 
 printed account of America has given us 
 an old Mexican fong (words and mufick) 
 which is in rhyme, and compofed long 
 before Columbus was born. Thefe and a 
 multitude of -other fuch realbns have 
 convinced me, that rhyme is no monkiflt 
 invention, but one of the natural eflentials 
 of the poetry of all nations, ancient as well 
 as modern, Greek and Latin only except- 
 
 ed,
 
 [ '7' 3 
 
 ed, whofe verfes had feet inftead of 
 rhymes. It is therefore blank-verfe that 
 is to be confidered as not natural to 
 poetry, and to be deemed an invention, 
 as it really was, and not a very ancient 
 one. 
 
 But let me take my leave of the cour- 
 teous O'Neal, and crofs the Tagus again 
 as I go down the flream. I was fet on 
 more at Bellem, where I enter'd a mod 
 fcurvy inn for a bad dinner. Then I vi- 
 fited a famous convent of Jeronimites; 
 an order we have not in Piedmont, and 
 not very common in other parts of weft- 
 em Italy. 
 
 The church of that convent is actually 
 repairing, as its roof was thrown down 
 by the earthquake. The fcaffolding 
 erected for this purpofe did not permit 
 me to fee much of it. I only could fee 
 that it is one of the largeft I ever faw, 
 built with fine marble of various colours, 
 and adorned with the richeit altars. The 
 architecture of the whole edifice was 
 
 originally
 
 [ 1 7 Z ] 
 
 originally gothic, but fome parts of the 
 convent are fo no longer. The two gal- 
 leries or cloifters which run one over the 
 other, contain a number of flatues, fome 
 of the moft popular faints, and fome of 
 faints whofe names and character I am 
 not acquainted with, though the legend 
 was my favourite book when I was a boy. 
 
 There are a hundred and thirty mafs- 
 friars in this convent, and I don't Jcnow 
 how many lay-ones. Their cells are 
 very good rooms. Thofe who are lodged 
 on the water-fide, may from their win- 
 dows enjoy the fight of the mips incef- 
 fantly going up and down the river. The 
 back apartments command a fpacious 
 garden and a piece of uneven ground, 
 wall'd in and full of olive-trees. 
 
 Amongft thofe trees are feveral little 
 cells and chapels belonging to feveral 
 paultry tinners of low condition who have 
 repented, and are allowed to live there in 
 perfect idlenefs ; which way of confum- 
 ing time is by them termed Vida celefte, 
 
 ahea-
 
 [ '73 ) 
 
 A heavenly life-, nor is the appellation 
 much amifs in my opinion, if it be taken 
 in the poetical fenfe -, as the privilege of 
 living without working, is really the 
 chief bleffing of this life. They fubfift 
 upon mere accidental alms, of which they 
 have plenty by the interceffion of Sf. 
 Jerome, who like them lived in a cell or 
 cave in the midfi of a defart, and of 
 courfe makes it his particular bufmefs 
 that his followers be abundantly fupplied. 
 As this convent is of royal foundation,- 
 you may be fure that the friars in it have 
 a better chance for their dinners than ca- 
 fual charities. They live very comfort- 
 ably and have no other obligation but 
 that of praying fome hour every day for 
 their original benefactor and his fuccef- 
 fbrs. This duty they are forced to per- 
 form regularly, whether they are inclined 1 
 to it or not. But the pious founders of 
 religious houfes never thought that fre- 
 quent and regular praying mufl prove a- 
 hardmip, and always took it for granted^ 
 
 that
 
 r 174 ] 
 
 that a number of men well fed, warmly 
 drefs'd, and conveniently lodged, would 
 never repine to fblicit heaven for their 
 deliverance out of purgatorjr. They fup- 
 jpofed that when worldly cares were re- 
 moved, devotion would regularly take 
 pofleffion of the heart, and I wim that 
 they had never been miftaken. 
 
 The church there, was formerly (and 
 may be fo flill for what I know) the 
 burial-place of the Kings and Queens 
 of Portugal. 1 am told there are in it 
 feveral of their fepulchral monuments; 
 but I could not fee them becaufe of the 
 fcaffolding. 
 
 One ef the Padres who fhowed me the 
 place, encouraged me to eat of the fine 
 grapes of the garden, and I can tell you 
 that you have fcarce any fo good in Italy. 
 Their figs are alfo excellent. They have 
 many Brafilian plants in that garden, 
 particularly that called Banana. They 
 all grow in the open air, and with no 
 particular culture that I could fee. By 
 
 this
 
 this you may judge of the heat of this 
 climate. 
 
 As I failed up again to Lijbon, I enjoyed 
 again from the boat the line profped: I 
 had from the packet on my arrival. It is 
 really as enchanting as can poffibly be 
 conceived. By Bellem there is a noble 
 flrudlure called Pa$o de Vaca (the Palace 
 of the Cow, an odd name) where the 
 King's horfes are educated for the ma- 
 nage. It is embellimed with bufts and 
 ftatues, partly placed in niches and partly 
 on the ridge of its walls. Then the, pa- 
 lace called the Vice-queens of the Indies ; 
 that of Marquis Gingez ; that of the 
 French Ambajfador \ that of the late Pa- 
 triarch j that of the prefent Patriarch 5 
 that of the Secretary of State for the ma- 
 rine department ; the fortrefs called La 
 Jonqueira-, the palace that was occupied 
 by Cardinal Acciajoli the Popes Nuncio, 
 lately driven out of Portugal in a very 
 abrupt and rough manner : then that of 
 Count Ribeira; that of Don Emanuel* 
 
 uncle
 
 t 176 ] 
 
 uncle to his prefent majefty; that of &- 
 cretary Carvalho, and another which has 
 been degraded to a jail for ftate-crimi- 
 nals, not far from which flood heretofore 
 that of the Duke d'Aveiro, which is now 
 nearly demolished, purfuant to the fen- 
 tence that was paft on its mafter. 
 
 All thefe and other ftru&ures, whofe 
 names I have forgotten, would not mis- 
 become the nobleft of our Italian towns. 
 They adorn the intermediate fpace be- 
 tween EelUm and Lijbon, nor has the 
 earthquake damaged them much. Yet 
 they are not the only decoration of that 
 part of the more. There is befides a vafr 
 number of houfes, as I faid already, all 
 white, with their windows and window- 
 fhutters or lattices painted green. When 
 the ftories of the D'Aveiro palace are re- 
 moved (which, by the bye, is done eare- 
 fully that they may not be fpoilt, as they* 
 are worth preferving) and the fpot is 
 made level, fait is to be fowed upon it> 
 that it may never bear any grafs : which, 
 
 to
 
 t 177 ] 
 
 to me feems a very unjuftpunifhment in- 
 flicted upon a poor piece of ground that 
 certainly had no part in the crime of its 
 owner : and after the fowing of that fup- 
 pofed enemy to fertility, a high marble- 
 column is to be creeled in the centre of 
 that fpot with an infcription upon it, to 
 perpetuate the infamy of that bloody 
 traitor, whofe character (if I am notmif- 
 informed) was a hateful mixture of the 
 groffefl ignorance and the moil brutal 
 pride. Men will determine according to 
 their different difpofitions; and he had 
 a punctilious abhorrence to that fort of 
 honour which is at prefent generally dif- 
 regarded throughout Europe, and tho- 
 roughly exploded from France, where 
 even the greateft Lords are ambitious of 
 being a-kin to a certain fort of women. 
 
 As I was coming back towards even- 
 ing, I took the King-George-Packet in 
 my way, drank a bumper with my fea- 
 faring gentlemen, and had a touch at the 
 bag-pipe. They have promifed to come 
 V6L. I. N and
 
 and dine with me before they fet fail for 
 
 Falmouth. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 Afpecimen of poetical jlyle. An aquedutf* 
 
 Lilbon, Sept. 6, 1760. 
 
 UPON the report of others I have 
 in a former letter mentioned the 
 Arfenal they are actually building here. 
 But I have been this day an ocular ad- 
 mirer myfelf of its amplitude, and will 
 venture to fay that if the fmalleft clofet in 1 
 it was turned into a ball-room, we 
 might have a dance in it of all the giants 
 and gianteffes ever dream'd of by the 
 noble Don Quixote whenever the moon 
 was at the fulleft. Indeed when it is fi^ 
 nifhed (if ever it is) the poets of thrs 
 country will be juflly entitled to fay ire 
 their ufual emphatic {train, that in the 
 new-built metropolis of the LiU/itanian em- 
 pire (true and aflonifiing abridgment of 
 puiffant djfiria, dreaded Macedonia, fcien~ 
 tific Greece, and all-conquering Rome) I here- 
 
 is
 
 [ '79 ] 
 
 is Jo vaft, fo beautiful, andfo coftly an edi~ 
 fice, as may without exaggeration be com" 
 pared to the mountainous temple of the 
 chajle Ephejian Goddefs, to the unmeafur- 
 able maufoleum of the faithful and for row - 
 ful Artemifa, to the incomprehenfible Nau- 
 machian ftruSlures of the moft magnificent 
 though moft blood- thirfty Dioclejian, and 
 even to thofe t err or -ftr iking pyramids ereffi- 
 ed on tne extenfive foores of the ever-fertile 
 Ethiopian river , whofe ponderojity has made 
 the Egyptian provinces groan for centuries 
 and centuries, and whofe fharp-pointed 
 fummits pierce the far-Jpreading darknefs 
 that environs the adamantine throne of great 
 Jupiter's refylendent queen* and feem to 
 challenge to mortal and everlajling war 
 the moft diftant, moji numerous, and moft 
 unpropitious conjiellations. 
 
 I will not fay that this manner of wri- 
 ting is adopted by all the modern poets of 
 Portugal: but amongft that infinity of 
 fonnets jufl publifhed on the laying of the 
 fundamental ftone of the church, which 
 N 2 is
 
 is to be dedicated to the Noffa Senhora da 
 Libera^aom, good many ran very much 
 'in this ftyle: and I dare to fay, that if 
 this encomium on the new Arfenal was 
 to be turned into a Portuguefe ode, it 
 would not meet here with univerfal dif- 
 approbation. 
 
 To be ferious, this Arfenal is a huge fa- 
 brick, and, in the opinion of many, quite 
 difpropcrtionate to the ufe irftended. 
 However, there is never any great harm 
 in public edifices being too large, becaufe 
 thofe parts in them which are fuperfluous 
 one way, may eafily be made ferviceablc 
 another. Thus many rooms in this 
 may be turned upon occafion into grana- 
 ries, ftore-rooms, quarters for foldiers, 
 hofpitals, and other fuch receptacles, of 
 which there are never enough in great 
 capital cities. 
 
 This edifice I vifited this morning: 
 but I went to fee another of another kind 
 in the afternoon, which furpafies it by far 
 in point of bulk as well as magnificence.. 
 
 I mean
 
 I mean the Aqueduft in the valley of A!* 
 cantara, by which Lljbon is fupplied with 
 almoft all the water that is ufed by the 
 inhabitants. 
 
 That valley is funk between two rocky 
 and barren declivities. The Aqueduct 
 for about a quarter of a mile, which is 
 the breadth of the valley, runs tranf- 
 verfely over it, from the fummit of the 
 wefternMeclivity to the oppofite fummit 
 of the eaftern. A long range of fquare 
 pillars fupports it : and to give you an 
 idea of thefe pillars, it is enough to fay, 
 that one of their fides meafures near 
 twelve, and the other near thirteen times 
 the length of my fword, which was the 
 only inftrument I had to take fuch mea- 
 fures -, and . the fpace between the two 
 middle-moft pillars is fuch, both in 
 breadth and height, that a fifty-gun mip 
 with her fails fpread might pafs through 
 without obftrudtion. However, all the 
 pillars are not of equal dimenfions with 
 the two central. They grow lower and 
 N 3 lower,
 
 lower, and the fpaces betwixt them di- 
 minim gradually on either iide the valley, 
 as the ground gradually rifes on either 
 fide. 
 
 The pillars fupport an architrave whofc 
 middle is formed into a canal, through . 
 which the water runs : and there is room 
 enough left for three or four men to walk 
 abreaft along the architrave on each fide 
 the canal which is vaulted the whole 
 length, and adorned from fpace to fpace 
 with Lucarnes made in the form of little 
 temples, each of which has a door or 
 aperture large enough for a man to get 
 at the water and clean the bottom of the 
 capal in cafe of neceffity. 
 
 The whole of this immenfe fabrick is 
 of fine white marble dug out of a quarry 
 not a mufket-mot diftant : and I am told 
 that about a league further off there are 
 fome other parts of it which have their 
 fhare of grandeur* though by no means 
 comparable to what is feen in this valley. 
 The earthquake had fpoilt it in two or 
 
 three 
 
 '
 
 r 
 
 three places : but the damage proved in- 
 ccxnfiderable and was eafily remedied. 
 And indeed I wonder not if it withftood 
 the mocks. Aconcuffion violent enough 
 to effect its deftruction, would matter the 
 whole kingdom of Portugal. 
 
 When a man has once feen fucha ftruc- 
 ture as the Aqueduct of Alcantara, there 
 is no danger of his ever forgetting it, as it 
 is the nature of grand objects to force re- 
 membrance. As long as I live I (hall pre- 
 ferve the image of it, along with that of 
 the valley which is rendered fd confpicu- 
 ous by it. 
 
 However, if there was no fuch thing 
 as that glorious Aqueduct in that valley, 
 ilill I mould never forget the valley itfelf, 
 becaufe of an adventure I met in it of a 
 pretty fingular kind. But the vifit to the 
 two edifices, which was performed on 
 foot and in the heat of the day, has fati- 
 gued me fo much, that the account of it 
 muft be delay'd till to-morrow. 
 
 N4 LET-
 
 t 184 ] 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 Lap'idation performed in a valley. Good 
 Mothers, 
 
 Jjlbon, Sept. 7, 1760. 
 
 WHILE I am waiting for the 
 barber I may as well tell my ad- 
 venture of yefterday in the Valley of Al- 
 cantara. 
 
 After having fully fatisfied my curioii- 
 ty with regard to the noble Aqueduct, 
 we turnecf |>ack the way we went. But 
 as we afcended one fide of the valley we 
 met with five or fix men wrapp'd up to 
 their nofes in their ample cloaks, which 
 it is the cuftom here to wear both winter 
 and fummer. They pull'd off their hats, 
 and we pull'd off ours, becaufe this is 
 another cuftom of the people here, to 
 give each other this token of refpec"b 
 whenever they meet about the country. 
 But the cloak'd fellows had not gone 
 twenty yards from us, when, turning 
 
 fuddenly
 
 fuddenly back, they began to hurl ftones 
 at us with fuch precipitance and fury, 
 as could not be defcribed by the beft 
 B a/ear ick poet of Majorca. 
 
 What is the meaning of this ? cried I 
 to my landlord Mr. Kelly. 
 
 Run for your life was the anfwer: 
 and he took to his heels with fuch cele- 
 rity as if he had utterly forgot that he is 
 full feventy. 
 
 What could I do on feeing myfelf thus 
 abandoned by my auxiliary troops ? Spare 
 me the mortification of owning, that I 
 made my retreat with as much hafte as 
 I could, and thus baffled the cruel inten- 
 tion of the villains, and the fatal confe- 
 quence that might have enfued from that 
 unexpected lapidation. 
 
 And now tell me, dear brothers, the 
 motive that induced them to treat me 
 and my fellow-walker in fo barbarous a 
 manner ? 
 
 Sir, fays Kelly with an air of triumph, 
 will you (till laugh at me when I tell you 
 
 that
 
 [ 186 ] 
 
 that you tarry too late at the Engliih 
 Coffee-houfe ? Upon my foul, one night 
 or other you will fee what it is in this 
 country to come home at eleven and 
 alone ! 
 
 But here is the barber, and I mufl not 
 make him wait. 
 
 A POSTSCRIPT in the evening. My 
 Landlord has given you a hint that I am 
 fo imprudent as to fpend an hour or two 
 in the evening at a coffee-houfe, where 
 all manner of flrangers refort, efpecially 
 of the Englifh nation. Not one of thofe 
 flrangers have I as yet heard fpeak fa- 
 vourably of the Portuguefe. On the con- 
 trary they all join to paint them in the 
 blacked colours, and would fain per 
 fuade any new comer, that this is the 
 moft unpolifhed, mofl inhofpitable, and 
 mod hateful nation under the fun. But 
 notwithftanding their invectives I was 
 until yefterday-evening rather inclined to 
 a contrary opinion, as fuch aflertions 
 
 fquared
 
 fquared not with my firfl curfory obfer- 
 vations. I had taken notice that the 
 Portuguefe are very refpectful to each 
 other, and quick to bow to any body 
 they meet out of a croud : that they are 
 enthufiaftic admirers of women, and treat 
 them with a pleafing mixture of obfe- 
 quioufnefs and gallantry : that they have 
 a ftrong mufical turn, and are fond of 
 fpending the firft part of the night in 
 finging and playing about the ftreets; 
 nor had I feen any thing deferving cen- 
 fure in their general behaviour at church. 
 Thefe obvious characterises of the 
 Portuguefe I thought rather incompatible 
 with treachery and unprovoked inhuma- 
 nity j belides that I know enough of 
 mankind to be tolerably acquainted with 
 their vile antipathies and with their readi- 
 nefs feverally to abufe and depreciate 
 their neighbours upon the flighteft pro- 
 vocation, and often upon no provocation 
 at all. No nation upon record has yet 
 found grace before another, and each is 
 
 thought
 
 r 188 ] 
 
 thought deteftable by the reft. This 
 univerfal brutality in the grofs of man- 
 kind, made me unwilling to believe the 
 many bad things repeatedly told me of 
 the Portuguefe ; and I mould have per- 
 fifted un(haken in my incredulity, had it 
 not been for that iniquitous lapidation, 
 which, I think, has given me ground 
 enough to credit in a good meafure the 
 uniform accufations brought againft them 
 by all men of other nations that have re- 
 fided here. 
 
 You may poffibly upbraid me ftill for 
 my feeming facility in adopting this 
 harm opinion, and infift that my mo- 
 tive is ftill very flighfand equivocal. And 
 indeed I really wifh I could perfuade my- 
 felf that the low part of this nation is 
 not a mafs of villains, and that the fel- 
 lows in that Valley are by no means to 
 be confidered as the legal reprefentatives 
 of their peers, but only as a groupe of 
 rogues who met unluckily together by 
 mere chance. 
 
 But
 
 t '89 ] 
 
 But that I may put you in a condition 
 to judge adequately of this matter, I 
 muft alfo tell you, that yefterday like- 
 wife, as we were going to fee that Aque- 
 duct, a parcel of children followed us at 
 fome diftance in a moft clamorous man- 
 tier, and loaded us with fuch execrable 
 contumelies, as generally furpafs the 
 abilities of children in other countries. 
 
 The impotent infult of thofe growing 
 rafcals, I mould have forgot as foon as it 
 was over, but for an ugly circumftance 
 that attended it. The circumftance was, 
 that feveral women, on hearing that fud- 
 den vociferation, rum'd out from feveral 
 quarters, and joining with the perverfe 
 children, encouraged them to give us 
 more and more of their abuiive language> 
 and made them follow us much longer 
 than they would otherwife have. done if 
 they had been left to themfelves. Some 
 of thofe women were apparently mothers 
 to fome of thofe children ; and what 
 judgment can a man pafs upon a nation, 
 
 when
 
 [ I 9 ] 
 
 when he fees mothers abetting their boys 
 and girls in their averfion to Grangers, 
 and fortifying them in their barbarous 
 brutality ? 
 
 Thus far have I already pum'd my ob- 
 fervations on the low part of the people 
 within this town. I am willing to be- 
 lieve that the higher fort are quite the 
 reverfe, and that they know politenefs 
 and humanity full as well as the higher 
 fort of all other European nations, though 
 I have not forgot the ftupid haughtinefs 
 and forbidding look of the two gentle- 
 men and the friar in the box at the Am- 
 phitheatre. But whatever I may believe, 
 don't you begin to think that Portugal 
 is rather too much in the neighbourhood 
 of Africa ? 
 
 LET- 

 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 Good nuns. A fcheme for rendering girls 
 Jlill more amiable. Heroifm of a young 
 Lady. 
 
 Lifbon, Sept. 8. 1760. 
 
 THIS morning I made a vifit to 
 one of thofe many religious houfes 
 that are maintained in feveral parts of 
 this kingdom at the King's expence. It 
 is call'd the Englifo Nunnery, becaufe no 
 girl is admitted in it but what is born a 
 fubjecl: of England. Any fuch girl, either 
 left deftitute in this country by parents 
 nnfuccefsful in trade, or willing to come 
 from the Britim Ifles to devote herfelf in 
 this country to chaftity and confinement, 
 may make fure of a livelihood in that 
 Nunnery ? and the veil once taken, {he 
 needs not to fear the approaches of real 
 want as long as her foul and body will 
 keep each other company. 
 
 The
 
 [ I 9 2 . 
 
 
 
 The number of the nuns there amounts 
 to little more than twenty, and it is the 
 chief anxiety of this little community 
 to keep the number full, that the Go- 
 vernment may not, in' cafe of too many 
 vacancies, take upon itfelf to fill 
 them with Portuguefe maidens, which 
 the Englifh women apprehend would 
 ereate feparate interefls, and caufe fuch 
 feuds and parties amongft them, as they 
 have hitherto been Grangers to ever fince 
 the firft foundation. 
 
 Animated by this rare fpecies of ter- 
 rour, the poor things fet their brains 
 upon the utmoft ftretch whenever death 
 deprives their community of a member, 
 and all efforts are unanimoufly made to- 
 wards the raiting of a recruit. With 
 this diftant view, you cannot conceive 
 how prettily they flatter all their vifitors, 
 efpecially thofe of their own fex ! They 
 keep befides a large epiftolary correfpon- 
 dence with their friends and acquaintance 
 
 in
 
 [ '93 ] 
 
 In England and Ireland, by which means 
 they have not failed as yet to obtain the 
 defired fupply. 
 
 Whoever can fpeak Englifh, no matter 
 whether Catholic or Proteflant, has a 
 kind of right to vifit them at any time 
 of the day ; and all their vifitors are ufed 
 by them with fuch an endearing kind- 
 nefs, that their parlatory is in a manner 
 never empty from morning till night. 
 The poor things are liberal to every body 
 of chocolate, cakes, and fweet-meats, 
 and will take much pains with their 
 needles or otherwife to enlarge the num* 
 ber of thofe vifitors, and allure them to 
 frequent calls. 
 
 Nuns in all countries arc foft and 
 obliging fpeakers ; but thefe are certain- 
 ly the fofteft and moft obliging that ever 
 fell in my way. Never was I told in a 
 year fo many pretty and tender words as 
 this morning in half an hour. On my 
 appriling them of my country, they ex- 
 patiated on the immenfe goodnefs of Car- 
 VOL. I, O dinal
 
 [ '94 ] 
 
 .dinal Acciaiolt and the gentlemen of his 
 court, who did them the honour of fee- 
 ing them often. . No nation, in their 
 opinion, is fo good as the Italian, none 
 fo witty, and none fo wife. In mort, 
 not a fyllable iffued out at their lips but 
 what was dictated by modefty and meek- 
 nefs, humility and benevolence; and I 
 will pofitively fee them as often as I can 
 while I flay here, becaufe it is impofiible 
 not to be pleafed with their converfe, 
 though one is perfectly confcious that 
 .they make it a fludy to treat every body 
 .with this gentlenefs of language and 
 blandifhment of manners. They certain- 
 ly give you no reafon for harbouring the 
 leaft fufpicion.to their difadvantage, and 
 , their virtue is to all appearance without 
 the leaft alloy : but were they in reality 
 quite different from what, they appear 
 (which I am thoroughly perfuaded is nol 
 -the cafe), fUll the flrong appearance 
 their innocence and goodnefs is irrefiftibl] 
 attracting, and the holy fimplicity 
 
 4 thei
 
 t '95 ] 
 
 their behaviour can never fail of making 
 a friend of every man who is once intro- 
 duced to their acquaintance, though ever 
 To rhuch aware of their flattery. 
 
 The King, 4s I faid, allows them 
 fuch a fum as enables them to find them- 
 felves in victuals, linen, and raiment. 
 Thus they are freed from the anxiety of 
 procuring the chief necefTarics of life. 
 Yet life, even by reclufe women, canndt 
 bfe parted very comfortably with mere 
 iiecelTaries, and fome addition is wanting 
 to keep it from flagnating. Thofe mi- 
 nute fuperfluitie?, which the French call 
 douceurs, fo indifpenfibly required to reri- 
 der exiftence fupportable, are left intire- 
 ly to their induftry; and thefe they pro- 
 cure partly by work and partly by mak- 
 ing trifling prefehts, which are often re- 
 turn'd with liberality. Thefe are the two 
 means by which they furnim themfelves 
 with that chocolate fo plentifully diflri- 
 buted at their parlatory to their inceffant 
 viiitors, and with thofe other petty things 
 O 2 that
 
 t 196 1 
 
 that alleviate the natural hardnefs of 
 their condition. Some of them have 
 fmall penfions paid them by their rela- 
 tions and friends, and whatever is got by 
 one, is kindly fhared by the whole fifler- 
 hood, v- 
 
 As the reputation of this little com- 
 munity was never fullied in the leaft 
 ever fmce their eftablimment (and I am 
 told that this is not quite the cafe with 
 the Portuguese nunneries) is it not afto- 
 nilhing that no Portuguefe parent ever 
 thinks of fending his daughter amongft 
 them as a boarder and by way of giving 
 her a true maidenly education ? A daugh- 
 ter thus placed would amongfl other ad- 
 vantages have that of learning a foreign 
 language very well worth learning; and 
 nothing contributes fo much to enlarge 
 the fphere of our ideas, and to render a 
 young woman amiable, as the knowledge 
 of languages. Yet, few are the Portu- 
 guefe, as I am told, who care for fuch 
 an ornament in their daughters, or even 
 
 in
 
 [ '97 3 
 
 in themfelves, excepting thofe of the . 
 higheft quality; and they have befides a 
 particular antipathy to the language of 
 England, as the notion prevails amongft 
 them, that there is no book in that lan- 
 guage but what is againft religion ; nor 
 does their inquifition allow of the impor- 
 tation of any for fear of herefy : and it 
 was not without conteft and bribery that 
 I faved the few in my trunk from confif- 
 cation at the cuftom-houfe. 
 
 The viiiting of the Englijh Nunnery 
 has brought a fcheme into my mind 
 which I (hall cherifh long, and put in 
 execution as foon as I can. Let me but be 
 rich enough, and I will have four Nun- 
 neries in Turin, and endow them with a 
 revenue equal to the maintenance of 
 twenty nuns in each. One of them mall 
 be filled with Florentine women, one of 
 French, one of Spanifli, .and one of 
 Engliih. 
 
 I will take it for granted that when 
 
 my Nunneries are erected, endowed, and 
 
 O 3 filled
 
 [ i 9 3 ] 
 
 filed with proper inhabitants, my coun- 
 trymen will have fenfe enbugh to fend 
 their little g iris to them for education } 
 and by a refidence of about two years in 
 each Nunnery, all the girls in Piedmont 
 will be able to fpeak four languages, be- 
 fides their own ; which will certainly 
 render them upon the whole the moft 
 lovely fet of maidens in Europe. 
 
 But as I am npt for turning pretty girls 
 into nuns, I intend to make it the funda- 
 mental law of my Nunneries, that none 
 of the nuns fiiall be young and handfome. 
 It will probably not prove very difficult 
 to procure out of each refpeclive country 
 one {core of .elderly maids or widows to 
 fill them at firfr, and to keep fucceffively 
 the number quite complete ; nor do I in,- 
 tend to fubjecl; them to the auftere rule 
 pf keeping always within doors. They 
 fhall have a number of holidays to walk 
 or ride out with their pupils, and be al- 
 lowed all forts of diverlions becoming a 
 fet pf exemplary, matrons. 
 
 This
 
 [ 199 ] 
 
 This fcheme I am confident you will 
 think quite patriotick, and well worth 
 taking place any where. But fetting it 
 afide until a properer time, let me tell 
 you a ftory of Lady Hill (the prefent Ab- 
 befs of the Englijh Nunnery] which really 
 deferves to be faved from oblivion. 
 
 This Lady took the veil there, becaufe, 
 like the reft of her flfterhood, (as I fup- 
 pofe) her circumftances did not permit 
 a more agreeable choice : but foon after 
 having made profelTion, a good eftate In 
 Ireland was vacated by a relation that 
 died inteftate, and of courfe devolved 
 upon her by right of confanguinity. 
 
 To get the eftate without going to 
 Ireland herfelf, was thought difficult and 
 fubject to much delay. Her Abbefs 
 therefore reprefented her cafe to the Pa- 
 triarch, who alone could dif^enfe with 
 her vow of conftant confinement ; and 
 the Patriarch (not a rigid bigot it feems) 
 upon a iimple promife of return gave her 
 leave to fecularize her drefs and depart. 
 04 She
 
 [ 200 ] 
 
 She did fo ; arrived in Ireland^ produced 
 her title; took poffeffion; and found 
 herfelf at once in a condition to live in 
 cafe and even fplendour in her native 
 country. 
 
 The temptation of flaying where one 
 is, you will allow to be nearly irrefiftible 
 in fuch a cafe, efpecially when you are 
 additionally told, that fhe was not yet 
 three and twenty, and handfome enough. 
 However, if fhe was tempted, fhe was 
 tempted in vain, for fhe fold the eftate as 
 fpeedily as fhe could, and, faithful to her 
 vow and promife, haften'd back to the 
 Nunnery with the money, which fhe 
 laid out in fuch a manner as to contribute 
 much to the eafe and convenience of her 
 beloved community. 
 
 This was done by a woman ! This fu- 
 periority to worldly pleafure, and this 
 fidelity to an onerous engagement, was 
 found in a female bread ! Would any 
 friar in limilar circumftances have be- 
 haved fo nobly and have returned to his 
 
 lefs
 
 [ 201 ] 
 
 lefs heavy fetters after fo lucky an efcape ? 
 This queftion I will not anfwer for the 
 honour of my own fex. I will only con- 
 clude the ftory of Lady Hill, with telling 
 you that her companions, ftruck with 
 admiration as well as gratitude, chofe her 
 immediately for their fuperior, and never 
 after ceafed to pay her the veneration fa 
 undoubtedly due to her unmaken virtue. 
 i 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 Italian Capuchins. Oddjifoes. 
 
 Lifbon, Sept. 9, 1760. 
 
 I Need not tell you that the crown of 
 Portugal is pofTefs'd of feveral ultra- 
 marine countries, the inhabitants of 
 which are far from being all chriftians ; 
 and that all poflible endeavours have been 
 ufed for thefe two or three lafl centuries, 
 to bring them all within the pale of the 
 church, partly by mod deteftable a&s of 
 violence, as hiftorians tell us, and partly 
 
 by
 
 [ 202 ] 
 
 by the more lawful means of fending 
 friars amongft them to preach them out 
 of their ignorance and errors. 
 
 Amongft thofe friars, the capuchins 
 have long enjoy'd the reputation of being 
 the moft zealous and moft fuccefsful con- 
 verters. But as their order was never 
 eftablimed in this kingdom, thepredecef- 
 fors of his prefent Majefty thought fit to 
 procure a number of them from thofe 
 countries, where they are eftablimed, and 
 efpeeially from France and Italy, where, 
 indeed there are enough to fpare. 
 
 I fuppofe it was no very difficult matter 
 fpr the firft King of Portugal who thought 
 of this fcheme, to put it in execution, and 
 to obtain from the Pope and their General 
 the permiflion of importing as many ca- 
 puchins here as were wanting. The de- 
 fign once formed, numbers of them came 
 pver in an uninterrupted fucceffion ; and 
 as it was necefTary for them all to learn 
 this language before they were wafted 
 pyer to their refpeclive miffio.ns, they 
 
 were 

 
 [ 20 3 ] 
 
 were for a time, on their arrival 
 fcatter'd about the convents of the Fran? 
 cifcans, who are in reality little lefs than 
 capuchins themfelves, as the difference 
 in their refpective inflitutions chiefly con- 
 fifts in wearing a beard or no beard. 
 
 However, to lodge the Capuchins with 
 people who fhaved their chins, and fome- 
 what jealous of their fuperior reputation 
 -for fandtity, was found productive of fe- 
 yeral inconveniencies. Therefore the late 
 King came to the refolution of building 
 two new convents in this capital, one for 
 the French and the other for the Italian 
 Capuchins, that each of the two bodies 
 might live quite according to its own 
 peculiar rules, depend on its own imme- 
 diate fuperiors, and be by them directed 
 to the acquifition of thofe means that 
 would fit each friar for his fpeedy and 
 diftant peregrination. 
 
 On hearing of thefe two convents and 
 their inhabitants I was prefently kindled 
 by the defire of feeing a number of my 
 
 country-
 
 f 
 
 countrymen colle&ed together in one of 
 them; and to fatisfy that defire I fent 
 Batifte yefterday to the Father Guardian 
 of the Italians to beg of him, if it was 
 not inconfiftent with their practices, as I 
 fuppofed it was not, to give me a dinner 
 any day he pleafed at their common table, 
 together with the permiffion of fpending 
 a whole afternoon in the company of his 
 community. 
 
 My requeil was immediately granted, 
 and the good Guardian plitch'd upon to- 
 day, that I might be the fooner gratify'd. 
 Accordingly this morning at ten o'clock, 
 I went thither with the box ofmychaife 
 pretty well furnifhed with French bot- 
 tles, as by way of return to their civility 
 J thought of forcing them for once to 
 fome extraordinary jollity by means of 
 fuch liquors as I know they tafte but 
 feldom. 
 
 The Guardian I found ready to receive 
 me at the gate. He welcom'd me with 
 infinite goodnefs, and feem'd perfectly 
 
 .pleafcd 

 
 C 205 ] 
 
 pleafed with fo flattering a vifit, as he 
 termed it. In a moment I had the whole 
 brotherhood about me, which confifts of 
 about fifteen or fixtedn, all middle-aged, 
 all healthy, and all very chearful. I muft 
 own that I was quite delighted to make 
 fo many Italian hands, and to hear my 
 native language uttered at once by fo 
 many mouths. They took me directly to 
 the church where a Pater and Ave was 
 foon faidj then we vifited the convent 
 quite through, from the kitchen up to 
 the library. 
 
 The convent (lands upon an eminence 
 on that end of the town which is furtheft 
 from the fea, and commands a profpect 
 not much inferior to that of the Doini- 
 cans of Almada on the oppofite fide of 
 the river. 
 
 The habitations of the capuchins in 
 Italy are in general narrow, poor, and un- 
 adorned : but this is quite otherwife, as 
 the King who erected it, fpared no ex- 
 pence to render it acceptable to the ftran- 
 
 gers.
 
 [ 206 ] 
 
 gers he invited over. Their church is d 
 noble one, and richly ornamented, their 
 dormitories and refectory are fpacious arid 
 high-roofed, and their cells might as well 
 be called very gdcid rooms. The deling 
 of their library does not want fluccos, 
 nor their {helves carvings; and the moA: 
 precious Fr/j$/-wooas have been lavished 
 in it as well as all about the convent. 
 
 As to the books in that library, there 
 is not as yet the tenth part of what it 
 iftight contain -, and you may eafily ima- 
 gine that the greateft part of them are 
 fuch, as can never pretend to' the honour 
 of admittance arnoiigft thofe of the Witty 
 philofophers of the age. Some Latin Fa- 
 thers fimply bound make the firft figure 
 in the place: then many School-divines 
 and Cafuifts, with a confiderable number 
 of Afceticks, and feveral collections of 
 Italian and Portuguefe fermons. Amongft 
 which Segueri and Vieyra hold the firll 
 rank. A fmall melf is filled up with ma- 
 nufcripts, chiefly catechifms and prayers 
 
 m
 
 t 2 7 1 
 
 in feveral Indian and African languages, 
 with fome imperfect Grammars and Dic- 
 tionaries, or rather Nomenclators of thofe 
 fame languages, compiled by former 
 mimonaries and depofited there for their 
 fuccefTors to initiate themfelves in them 
 before they fet out for thofe remote 
 countries to which they are to go after a 
 refidence in Portugal of a few months. 
 
 Having fpent full two hours in that 
 libr^y, the bell called us to the refectory. 
 As we entered it, the friars placed them- 
 felves in two rows, one facing the other, 
 and recited a long Latin grace with a fo- 
 norous tone of voice, thofe of one row an- 
 fwering alternately to thofe of the other 
 with an edifying folemnity of devotion. 
 
 We now fat to a table that runs along 
 the upper part of the place, and is made 
 in the form of a greek II. They placed 
 me into the place of honour j that is, the 
 middle point, the Guardian on my right, 
 the Vicar on the left, and the reft on each 
 fide, except the youngeft of them all, 
 
 who
 
 f 
 
 who mounted afmall pulpit and began to 
 read a Latin compliment compofed that 
 very morning in commendation of fome 
 body prefent. That compliment I was 
 obliged to f wallow up to the laft fyllable, 
 in fpight of my feveral attempts to inter- 
 rupt the perufal, and repeated intreaties 
 that they would not make fo prodigious a 
 flranger of their own countryman. It 
 was that arrant rogue Batifte who fur- 
 nifhed the orator with his theme, as I 
 immediately guefs'd j and he was liften- 
 ing all the while at the door, heartily 
 laughing at the difcompofure and confu- 
 fion of his old mailer; for which I gave 
 him a good box on the ear while he was 
 felicitating himfelf with old Kelly for his 
 pretty contrivance on our return home. 
 
 Silence being difpenfed by the Guar- 
 dian out of favour to me, we all fell to 
 our victuals with a brifk appetite, and 
 though I had been very explicit in my 
 meflage of yeflerday about the treatment 
 I expected, yet Father Cook thought 
 
 proper
 
 proper for once to depart from his daily 
 method, and gave us as many Italian and 
 Portuguefe ragoos as he could poffibly ma- 
 nufacture. We were elevated to high 
 mirth during the whole dinner. Jokes 
 were crack'd by dozens, no matter whe- 
 ther witty or dull, and the bottles went 
 round and round with as much briiknefs 
 as if the Guardian and Vicar had been in 
 Afia. They forced even a fong out of 
 me in a language of which none of them 
 knew a fmgle word. The banquet lafted 
 an hour longer than it would have done if 
 I had ot been there, and ended with 
 another Latin grace. 
 
 This great bufmefs being over, they 
 took me to the garden, the circumference 
 of which is near half a mile, perfectly 
 well kept, and full of the choiceft fruits. 
 It lies on a Hoping ground, and on the 
 higheft fide of it there is a pretty large 
 pond inhabited by a fort of fifties not to 
 be found in any other place, as they be- 
 lieve. The creatures, as far as I could fee, 
 VOL. I. P are
 
 [ 210 ] 
 
 areabouttwo fpans long, and half as large, 
 with a prominent bunch upon their backs, 
 and not good to eat like other fifties. But 
 what will furprize you to hear, they are 
 of a nature fo gay, that they prove quite 
 aftoniming. Eijbes t jijbes t cried the Guar- 
 dian, come to your dinner, come t come. 
 The fifhes flarted up, fprang and tumbled 
 about the water, feized the many pieces 
 of bread that he threw to them, and then 
 retired out of fight. The pleafantnefs of 
 fuch a fcene is not to be conceived. I 
 begg'd that fome of the company would 
 preach them a fermon, hoping they would 
 come out again and behave quite as well 
 as thofe of the Adriatick upon a certain 
 occafion. The Fathers took the joke, 
 and fmiled, and wondered I had not for- 
 got my pretty Italian ftories in my long 
 abfence from my native country. 
 
 We then play'd at bowls under the 
 grape-bowers, and, above all, chatted 
 inceflantly. But what took my fancy 
 moft, was a tranflation of one of the 
 
 Cantos
 
 t fl 1 
 
 Cantos of the Jerufalem delivered in the 
 Genoefe dialed which one of the Fathers 
 read to the company. This, he faid, 
 was a juvenile compofition of his ; and I 
 thought it excellent in its kind. They are 
 all fubje&s of the republic of Genoa, 
 and have been fucceflively fo for many 
 years, as a medley of them, formed at 
 firft out of the feveral Italian flates, was 
 judged inconvenient foon after their in- 
 troduction in Portugal. 
 
 Towards evening I took my leave with 
 a million of thanks for their kindnefs and 
 good treatment} wenttothecoffee-houfe, 
 as ufual; then came home and fcribbled 
 thus far : and now I have nothing fur- 
 ther to tell, but that to-morrow I will 
 begin a journey to Mafra, Cintra> and 
 fome other places. 
 
 P 2 LET-
 
 LETTER XXVII. 
 
 A Jhort excurjion. Sad accommodations, 
 lhanks to Aurora. 
 
 Cintra, Sept. 11, 1760. 
 
 THOSE who have never gone 
 twenty miles from home, are apt 
 to fancy that travelling is a very pretty 
 thing. But let him who holds this opi- 
 nion, come to travel about Portugal, 
 end I will fubmit to eat thirties if he does 
 not ftagger in his notions about travel- 
 ling. 
 
 I have now been two days out of Lis- 
 bon, becaufe I fuffered myfelf to be fe- 
 duced by the defire of feeing Mafra and 
 Cintra. But I pay dear for my folly, as 
 I have undergone more mifery during 
 thefe two days than ever fell to the mare 
 of any man during two centuries. The 
 expreflion founds odd: but you know 
 that extreme pain makes people mad. 
 
 The
 
 [ "3 ] 
 
 The deplorable account of thefe two 
 days hardfhips and torments is now con- 
 veyed to you by means of this letter from 
 a room on the ground-floor of a houfe 
 half-ruined, that goes in this country un- 
 der the appellation of an inn, and would 
 be thought in any other a rendezvous for 
 witches. 
 
 The furniture of this room confifts of 
 three things. An ill-hewn bit of a fir- 
 plank, which by means of three crooked 
 flicks has obtained the name of ftool ; 
 a tottering old table as fmooth as a rafp ; 
 and a piece of coarfe and dirty canvafs 
 ftretch'd wide upon the dufty floor made 
 of broken bricks : and this is the beffc 
 bed that this inn could afford. Ye un- 
 fortunate bones that crack'd fo many 
 times laft night upon the ftony couch at 
 Mafra! how mall I fave you from 
 breaking by and by when extended upoij 
 thefe uneven bricks, where I mufl lay 
 myfelf for wearinefs ! 
 
 P 3 But
 
 But let me begin the fad chronicle 
 from yefterday morning and bring it or- 
 derly down to this woeful evening : and 
 while I take a pinch of fnuff to quicken 
 my narration, take yourfelves a cordial 
 that your hearts may not fail you while 
 you read it. 
 
 Yefterday morning therefore, a little 
 before feven, I got into my chaife, at- 
 tended by old Kelly on horfeback, and 
 fat out for Mafra: but my brown mules 
 went along with fofenatorial a pace, that 
 it was part twelve when we reached a vil- 
 lage called Cabeza, about twelve miles 
 diftant from Ltjbon. 
 
 At the inn of Cabeza we flopped 
 with a mind to get a dinner, if there 
 was any to he got. A fmiling little fel- 
 low mowed me to a room, which would 
 be a tolerable lodging for a Gypfey or 
 a Jew, was it not that it admits too 
 much light through the chinks of the 
 cieling or roof, and that the floor is 
 
 not
 
 [ "5 ] 
 
 not near fo well paved as the great 
 road. 
 
 It prefently occurr'd that the fmiling 
 little fellow had miftaken Kelly and me 
 for the mules, and the mules for us : 
 therefore I ftepp'd to fee how they were 
 accommodated; and indeed I found that 
 they had been received in an apartment 
 much larger and cleaner than ours : how- 
 ever I did not think proper to change 
 places, becaufe, if our room had a per- 
 forated roof, theirs had no roof at all. 
 
 We mould have had neither dinner 
 that could be eaten, nor wine that could 
 be drank, \iKelly had not defired his wife 
 at all events to put fomething better than 
 ftraw in the box of the chaife ; and the 
 good woman had dropp'd into it a pigeon- 
 pye, a roafted turkey, and a Barbary- 
 tongue, together with half a dozen bot- 
 tles of the beft wine. By means of fuch 
 provender we baffled the defign of the 
 Cabeza hoft, who wanted to poifon us 
 with {linking lard and with a fowl that 
 P 4 my
 
 my negro found quite as tender as the 
 tail of an old alligator. The fmiling 
 rogue ! Beware of fellows that fmile for 
 ever ! 
 
 At night we reached Mafra, about 
 eight miles diftant from Cabeza. The 
 whole country from Li/bon to Mafra 
 (very few fpots excepted) may very well 
 difpute the praife of fterility with any de- 
 fart in Nubia. 
 
 The fupper that was offered us there, 
 was not a bit inferior to the dinner at 
 Cabeza. But our turkey had yet loft no 
 more than a wing and a leg, and of the 
 pigeon-pye two good thirds were ftill in 
 ilore. 
 
 But when the hour came to go to bed, 
 what eloquence could ever exprefs the 
 mifery I was to undergo ! I was led into 
 a room, whofe cieling was open from 
 fpace to fpace. In that room there was a 
 bed which, though not quite fo wide as 
 America, had ftill feveral wild nations 
 
 feat-
 
 fcattered all about, all painted black, 
 and all as nimble as any Indians. 
 
 I will leave it for you to guefs whether 
 I could fhut my eyes a moment during 
 the whole night amidft fo many enemies ! 
 Lucid Aurora ! I humbly thank thee for 
 thy early coming to Call me out of that 
 bed. Whatever flem and blood I have 
 flill left, I will henceforwards acknow- 
 ledge as thy gift ; and thy gift likewife 
 was that appetite which permitted me 
 to eat half a melon for my breakfaft. 
 
 After breakfaft I paid my vifit to the 
 Royal Convent, the defcription of which 
 you mail have to-morrow, if ever I get 
 up alive from this piece of canvas, on 
 which I am going to lay myfelf through 
 mere impoffibility of keeping my body 
 in a fitting pofture. 
 
 LET-
 
 [ 218 ] 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 Promontorium Lunce. Holes > and Holes, 
 and Holes again. An odd evening 'walk. 
 A chearful dinner. Coins dropped to a 
 Mary Magdalen for a very good reafon. 
 
 Cintra, Sept. 12. 1760. 
 
 I Have had the good luck to fecure 
 fuch a bed for to-night, and pafled 
 the day befides with fo perfect a fatisfac- 
 tion, that the dirty canvas and uneven 
 bricks are already forgotten. And fo goje.s 
 this fickle world I A perpetual Shifting 
 from good to evil, and from evil to good. 
 And now the natural order of things 
 feems to require a defcription of the 
 Royal Convent : but what I have feen 
 to-day prefles a great deal more upon my 
 fancy, and my impatience of imparting 
 to you a fhare of the pleafure I have re- 
 ceived myfelf to-day, makes me invert 
 the laws of narration without any great 
 hefitation. 
 
 This 

 
 This morning early I quitted this place 
 along with my trufty Kelly. Leaving the 
 mules and the horfe at the inn, each of 
 us got aftride upon a jack-afs ; and fo 
 we went up a high and fteep mountain 
 to fee a convent of Jeronimites which is 
 on the fummit of it. 
 
 That convent could formerly contain 
 near a dozen of inhabitants ; yet at pre- 
 fent there are but four or five, becaufe a 
 part of it has been demolished by the 
 earthquake. What is left of it confifts 
 of five or fix rooms fupported by a por- 
 tico that enclofes a court-yard. This 
 yard is paved chequer-wife with white 
 and blue tiles of earthen ware, and fo 
 difpofed as to collect all the rain-water 
 into a ciftern under it. The walls of the 
 portico are likewife incrufted with fuch 
 parti-colour'd tiles. 
 
 From the windows an extenfive prof- 
 peft is commanded, as that fummit is 
 near a mile higher than the level of the 
 fea. The eye runs freely over an immenfe 
 
 traft
 
 [ 220 ] 
 
 traft of country, too much of it quite 
 barren. 
 
 The middle parts of the \hill feem 
 compofed of numberlefs broken rocks, 
 fome as big as houfes. Yet between rock 
 and rock the Fathers have cultivated fe- 
 veral fmall bits of ground* which fur- 
 nifh their little community with more 
 pulfe and herbage than they want. It 
 is pity that no fruit-tree will grow there, 
 becaufe of the fharp air and chilling 
 mifts : fo that whatever fruit they have, 
 is fetched every day from Cintra with 
 their other provifions, and carried up to 
 them upon alfes of their own. But be- 
 fides herbs and pulfe they cultivate 
 Turkey-corn, with which they make 
 favoury cakes for themfelves and vifitors, 
 and feed poultry with the overplus. 
 
 To the fummit of that mountain there 
 is no accefs but by the path we went. 
 Every other fide confifts of cliffs upon . 
 cliffs, inacceffible even to goats. 
 
 As
 
 As the church and the convent were 
 originally built in a moft folid manner, 
 the earthquake had not ftrength enough 
 to demolish them intirely, though it was 
 felt as violent there as in any other part 
 of Portugal : nor did any of the friars 
 perilh, though the whole mountain was 
 horribly maken. The church ftands on 
 the very fpot that was formerly occupied 
 by a Roman temple dedicated to the 
 Moon, which had given the name of 
 Promontorium Lunce to the hill. This 
 fcrap of erudition I got from one of the 
 friars. 
 
 Weftay'd thereabout two hours; then 
 came down afoot, our jack-afles driven 
 before us by the Negro. About mid- 
 mountain I hired a guide to fhow us the 
 way to another hill near two league* 
 from this. The fellow took us about and 
 about through a pathlefs country, partly 
 covered with loofe pieces of rocks, part- 
 ly heathy, and partly fandy. Yet from 
 fpace to fpacc we met with numbers of 
 
 fir
 
 [ M2.] 
 
 fir and cork-trees, with fome frnall oaks 
 and a few other plants, that contribute 
 to render feveral parts of it romantically 
 beautiful. 
 
 The place we were going to, ftands on 
 the fummit of another mountain no lefs 
 high than the fuppofed Promontorium 
 Lun<z, called by the Portuguefe Cabo de 
 Roca, and by the Englifh the Rock of 
 Lifbon. I hope you have not forgot that 
 Rock, and the pleafure it gave me when 
 I faw it for the firft time. It was the 
 Cork-Convent on its fummit I wanted to 
 vifit, and we reached it with fome dif- 
 ficulty, as we went to it by a crofs-road 
 extremely rugged and ileep, and over 
 .feveral precipices that demanded much 
 attention both from us and from our 
 afies. 
 
 The Cork-Convent is properly a her- 
 mitage ; and you have but one path to 
 it under a kind of arch irregularly cut 
 through a piece of rock by the hand of 
 nature. That arch is about two hundred 
 
 fteps
 
 [ 223 ] 
 
 fteps below the hermitage, and all other 
 parts near that fummit are perfe&ly 
 pathlefs and not to be clamber'd. 
 
 Near that arch we left our afles in the 
 cuftody of our guide, and afcended the 
 reft of the mountain a-foot. And here, 
 ye Mufes nine, I invoke your affiftance ! 
 Help me to an adequate defcription of 
 the oddeft, wildeft, moft romantic, and 
 moft pleafing place that ever I was in ! 
 
 The hermits had difcover'd us from, 
 a-far , therefore we found them ready to 
 receive us. We bow'd, fhook hands, and 
 feem'd as pleafed as if we had long been 
 moft intimate friends. The Father Su- 
 periour afk'd us whether we had dined, 
 and being anfwer'd in the negative, dif- 
 patched one of his Friars to make fome- 
 thing ready as faft as poffible. He then 
 took us to fee the place which begins 
 with a flat irregular area about forty 
 yards fquare. 
 
 The area is fronted by a huge rock va- 
 rioufly perforated ; and , its various per- 
 
 fora-
 
 forations, caverns, or holes form the 
 hermitage. The church of it is a hole; 
 the facrifty a hole -, the confeffion-room 
 a hole ; the kitchin a hole -, the dormi- 
 tory a hole ; the refectory a hole ; every 
 cell a hole -, and the doors and windows 
 of all thefe holes are ftill nothing elfe 
 but fo many other holes. But fo narrow 
 are thofe which form the doors of the 
 cells, that fhould^a man grow hydropic 
 while in one of them, he never would 
 be able to come out of it ; and the cells 
 themfelves are fo fmall, that no tall friar 
 \vhen in his bed has room enough to ex- 
 tend his legs. Yet in them they lie at 
 night upon ftraw-bags, after having taken 
 the precaution to {hut what they call their 
 doors and windows with fmall planks. 
 
 Not one hole in the whole place de- 
 ferves the epithet of fpacious. The larg- 
 eft is that which they term the Kitchen. 
 A French cook would be angry at the 
 proflitution of fo noble a word, but the 
 friars are not fo fcrupulous. The fmoke 
 
 of 

 
 t 
 
 fcf that kitchen is carried out by a cylin- 
 drical perforation over the fire-place. . 
 
 Danie Nature indeed was in a merry 
 mood when (he took it into her fancy to 
 form fo whimfical a place. You cannot 
 conceive what little help me received 
 From art to fit it for its prefent inhabi- 
 tants. The earthquake (hook it to and 
 fro, and, they fay, with inconceivable 
 Violence, Yet that violence proved vain* 
 and I do not wonder at it. The demo- 
 lition of the hermitage cannot be effected 
 but by the fall of the mountain. 
 
 What adds to the fihgulafity of this 
 natural edifice is, that every part in it is 
 covered with cork ; the walls* fioorSj and 
 all. And this is the reafon why the Eng- 
 lim failors call it the Cork^Convent. That 
 cork prevents the bad effects of the 
 dampnefs which would otherwife be very 
 inconvenient, as many parts of its walls 
 are cover'd with a thin mofs, and the 
 Water diftils through the pores of the 
 rock in very fmall drops. 
 VOL. I, From
 
 [ 226 ] 
 
 From the hermitage they defcend by 
 a range of irregular fleps to a piece of 
 water and to their feveral fpots of gar- 
 den. Not far from that water there is 
 another hole, in which one of their pre- 
 deceflbrs had the patience to live the laft 
 twenty years of his life, without ever 
 quitting it day or night. At leafl you 
 are told fo by an infcription over that 
 hole, abfurdly fupported by the teflimony 
 of the friars themfelves, who were all 
 born near two centuries after, according 
 to the infcription, which I wim- fairly 
 deftroy'd and the hole filled up for their 
 own fake, as the place has no need of a 
 lye to induce people to vifit it. No hu- 
 man being could ever live in that hole 
 for feveral reafons that I will forbear to 
 tell. 
 
 I faid that there is a piece of water on 
 that eminence, which fertilizes feveral. 
 fpots. The friars are all gardeners and 
 have vegetables of various forts in great t 
 abundance, but no fruit. The many 
 
 fteps
 
 [ 227 ] 
 
 fteps by which they defcend to that 
 water, they term humouroufly their 
 evening walk ; and, abating the inconve- 
 nience of the fteps, it is really a pleafant 
 walk, fhaded with many trees and bumes. 
 After having vifited the whole hermi- 
 tage we went to dinner. In the midil of 
 that hole that is called the Refectory, a 
 ftone ferves them for a table whenever 
 the rain forces them to eat their victuals 
 under fhelter. But to-day, as the weather 
 was very fine, we chofe to dine in the 
 area. Being a meagre day we had an 
 ample difh of falt-fifh moft favourily 
 drefs'd after the manner of the country 
 with garlick and pimenta, a large fallad, 
 and Dutch cheefe with pears, apples, 
 grapes, and figs, ten times more than we 
 could eat, good bread, and excellent wine. 
 During dinner the hermits kept us in 
 chat with the greateft good humour; 
 told us of the many Englifh gentlemen 
 and ladies that vifit them, and help'd us 
 to our glafles very brifkly. The wine 
 2 was
 
 J 
 
 was good, and we could not help 
 ing the Englilh Ladies. 
 
 Thefe hermits are of the Francifcan 
 order ; therefore will touch no money : 
 but there is a Mary Magdalen painted 
 over a kind of altar in the church - f and 
 j to Mary Magdalen you drop a coin flily. 
 It would not otherwife be in the power 
 of this little community to furnifh their 
 numerous vifitors with meat and drink, 
 and entertain befides a good number of 
 poor people who vifit the place, partly 
 out of devotion and partly to get a 
 meal. They admit ladies to vifit the her- 
 mitage when they are in company with 
 gentlemen ; otherwife not : and as to 
 women of low rank, they are not allowed 
 to afcend beyond the Arch mentioned 
 before, except on fome feflival days. 
 
 About an hour after dinner we took 
 t>ur leave and went back to our afTes who 
 had leifurely cropp'd the thirties about, 
 while our guide and the Negro feafted 
 merrily upon herrings, cheefe, and fruit, 
 
 con-
 
 I 229 J 
 
 convey'd to them with a fufficicnt quan- 
 tity of bread and wine by one of the fa- 
 thers. 
 
 And now I may truly fay that I have 
 feen the ftrangeft folitude that ever was 
 inhabited by men, amidfl the moft plea* 
 fing afiemblage of craggs, rocks, trees, 
 and bufhes that can poffibly be fancied ; 
 the whole commanding a mofl wide and 
 amazing profpect, as from thence you 
 difcover a vaft tract of the ocean with 
 .many of the caftles and habitations at the 
 mouth of the Tagus, the tops of the 
 Royal Convent of Mafra, feveral vil- 
 lages and hamlets, with many fingle 
 cottages fcatter'd over a long chain of 
 uneven mountains, fome of which are 
 perfectly rocky and barren ; fome (haded 
 with oaks, fir-trees, and cork-trees; and 
 fome cover'd with vines, olive-trees, and 
 lemon or orange-groves, betides num- 
 berlefs other plants of every kind and 
 generation. 
 
 LET-
 
 LETTER XXIX. 
 
 Vaft many teeth a-going in a great houfe. 
 Genealogical books. The excellence of the 
 circular figure. Gallantry of a devout 
 King. 
 
 Lifbon, Sept. 13, 1760. in the forenoon. 
 
 I Am here again ready to give you an, 
 account of Mafra and Cintra. 
 
 Mafra is fo inconfiderable a village, 
 that the name of it would not be found 
 in a map of Portugal, were it not for a 
 vafl pile which King John V., Father to 
 his prefent Majefty, caufed to be erected 
 within a mufket-fhot of it. 
 
 That pile, which is perfectly quadran- 
 gular, confifls of a church, two royal a- 
 partments, and a convent. The church 
 and apartments take up one half of it, 
 and the convent the other half. 
 
 The church is placed in the middle of 
 the chief front towards the village, and 
 Js fpacious enough to contain more than 
 
 I
 
 a thoufand people, exclufive of the choir : 
 but it is fo very dark, that you cannot 
 fee at one glance all the fine things in it; 
 which is to be regretted, as neither, gold, 
 nor filver, bronze, precious marbles, nor 
 even the deareft jewels, have been fpared 
 to render it an objecT: of aftonifhment. 
 
 There are feveral altars in it, each as 
 rich as art and money could make it. 
 The chief one has a flatue of mafly lilver, 
 with feveral large candlefticks, and 
 fo many other rich ornaments, that it 
 coft (they fay) half a million of crufa- 
 does (a), and I am inclined to credit the 
 alTertion. 
 
 There are likewife fix organs, three on 
 each fide, but none of them as yet finifh^ 
 ed. When they are, it will be curious to 
 hear them all play in concert. People 
 hope that the effect will prove extremely 
 pleafing, but I am not quite fure of it, 
 and am afraid of confufion. The church, 
 CL 4 as 
 
 (a] A Crufado isfomeibing more than an EngHJb half-
 
 as I apprehend, is not ample enough for % 
 collection of fo much found. However 
 I may be miftaken. 
 
 Of the two royal apartments, that oi> 
 the right fide of the church as you go in t 
 is called the Queens, and that on the left 
 the Kings. Both are large enough to afr 
 ford a commodious lodgement to their 
 Majeflies and their attendants. Each is 
 formed by a long range pf rooms, clofets, 
 and halls, and each communicates with 
 the other by means of a paflage over a 
 part of the church. I don't know how 
 they are furnifhed, becaufe the furniture 
 is always laid up whenever their Majefties 
 leave the place. The two principal ftair- 
 cafes which lead up to the apartments, 
 are well lighted/ fufficiently wide, and 
 perfectly eafy. 
 
 Each corner of that chief front fup- 
 ports a dome fomewhat in the form of a 
 pavillion. Thofe domes viewed at a pro- 
 per diftance have a fine effect, and con- 
 
 traft
 
 traft furprifingly well with the cupola, 
 and the four belfrys in the church. 
 
 The whole of that chief front is really 
 as noble as art could poffihly make it. 
 The gate in the middle of it has on each 
 fide an infulated column of a kind of 
 granite found fomewhere in this country 
 which is little inferior to the Egyptian. 
 Each column was cut out of a finglc 
 block, and each is about three fathoms 
 in circumference. 
 
 On each fide of that gate there is a 
 portico fupported by other fine columns, 
 and ornamented with feveral gigantic 
 flatues made at Rome by excellent matters. 
 However the porticos feemed to me ra- 
 ther too fmall for thofe flatues, or the 
 ftatues too big for the porticos. 
 
 But what ftruck me moft on that fide 
 of the edifice, is the afcent to the church. 
 That afcent takes up the beft part of the 
 fpace between the edifice and the village, 
 and the wide femicircular fteps of it make 
 
 it
 
 [ 234 ] 
 
 it appear fo very grand, that I queftlon 
 whether we have in Italy any thing of 
 the kind that can be compared to it. 
 
 The roof of the apartments and the 
 church, exclufive of the pavillion, the 
 cupola, and the belfrys, is laid out in a 
 kind of terrace that commands an exten- 
 five profped!:. The belfrys contain a hun- 
 dred and fixty bells of various fizes, and 
 upon them many curious chimes are rung 
 by means of fome engines which are con- 
 tained in two towers beneath. But it is 
 impoffible to give an idea of thofe engines 
 without a number of drawings. It is 
 enough to tell you, that they have cofl 
 Hear a million of crufadoes. They are in 
 fad: the greateft object of curio fity in the 
 whole place, and the art of clock-making 
 was, I think, quite exhaufted in thofe 
 two towers. So many wheels! So many 
 fprings, pivots, rods, fome of brafs and 
 fome of fleel! Who would attempt a de- 
 fcription? A vafl deal of thinking has 
 been lavi&'d there : yet both the money 
 2 and
 
 3 
 
 and the ingenuity has all been fquanderM 
 to produce nothing elfe but fome bell- 
 mufic, which muft prove difguftful if it 
 lafts more than three minutes. 
 
 There are, amongft many fine parts, 
 two court-yards there, that are furround- 
 ed by the fined porticos I ever faw; 
 finer than the Procuratie Nove at Venice. 
 The porticos fupport feveral apartments 
 for the officers of flate when the court is 
 there. Thofe apartments as well as thofe 
 of their Majefties, communicate with 
 that part of the building that has been 
 allowed to the friars. 
 
 That part confifts of three dormitories, 
 a refedory, an infirmary, a kitchen, a 
 library, and fome other places. 
 
 One of the three dormitories I take to 
 be about three hundred common fleps in 
 length, and wide enough for ten men to 
 walk a-breaft. They fay that the cells 
 on each fide of the three dormitories are 
 above fix hundred : nor are they narrow 
 and low as in all other Francifcan con- 
 vents,
 
 vents, but fpacious and high vaulted; fo 
 that each might as well be termed a room, 
 fit for any Roman prelate to live in. 
 However the mafs-friars there, are not fo 
 numerous as the cells, They are but three 
 hundred, and the layvfriars ahundred and 
 fifty. 
 
 The furniture of each cell (thofe of 
 the mafs-friars I mean) confifts of a nar- 
 row uncover'd bed, (not very foft) a table, 
 a few chairs, a fhelf for books, and very 
 Jittle elfe. The lay-friars have no fhelves, 
 as the beft part of them cannot read. 
 
 As to the refectory, it is a glorious 
 thing. The table that runs through it, 
 admits of more than a hundred and fifty 
 people on each fide. By this you may 
 judge of its lengtji : yet there is room 
 enough left at one end of it for another 
 table, at which the King will fometimes 
 dine with fome of h,is grandees. 
 
 As I entered the refectory a little before 
 the friars went to dinner, the cloth was 
 laidj and I could not help taking notice, 
 4 that '
 
 that for every two they have a mug which 
 contains about two bottles of wine. 
 Thofe mugs are all alike, of white ear- 
 then-ware, with the arms of the King on 
 each. Befides the mugs, there are tren- 
 chers of Bra/i!-wood t one for every two 
 friars, with fix figs upon it, two bunches 
 of grapes, and two lemons. The reft of 
 their dinner (I have not feen it) confifts 
 of three good dimes, fat or meagre as the 
 day happens to be. Each friar has a 
 wheaten loaf that weighs about a pound. 
 Should they want more, they afk for 
 more. 
 
 When the three hundred Padres are at 
 dinner, the hundred and fifty lay-friars 
 wait behind with the greateft refpedl. It 
 is the King that furnimes them with that 
 food which makes them all look fo florid 
 and jolly. Such faces I never faw in my 
 life, not even in the pictures of Paul Ve- 
 ronefe, who delighted in painting friars 
 handibme. 
 
 They
 
 They fay that the maintenance of. this 
 great family cods the King no lefs than 
 two hundred thoufand crufadoes a year : 
 nor do I think it an exaggeration, confi- 
 dering that at the rate of thirty two good 
 teeth for each mouth, there are above 
 fourteen thoufand teeth a-going twice a 
 day the whole year round. Then there is 
 the additional expence of their morning- 
 chocolate, their cloaths, their firing, 
 their great confumption of wax in the 
 church and in the cells ; the candles and 
 lamps in their dormitories and kitchen, 
 befides many other articles tedious to enu- 
 merate. What coils but little, is their 
 infirmary; but it muft be obferv'd that 
 when any of them begins to grow old or 
 turns fickly, he is fent to fome other con- 
 vent, and one young and healthy fubfti- 
 tuted in his room. Their infirmary I 
 have not feen, nor their kitchen. 
 
 Their library takes up a very large hall, 
 befides a pretty large room. The hall 
 
 contains
 
 3 
 
 contains little lefs than feventy thoufand 
 volumes, and the room about ten thou- 
 fand, as I was told. Amongfl thefe lafl 
 there are as many Portuguefe books as 
 could poffibly be collected. I looked 
 over the labels of a long quarto-fhelf on 
 the right hand as you go in, and faw that 
 they were all genealogical. If the au- 
 thors of thofe quartos have adhered to 
 truth, no nation under the fun is fo well 
 apprifed of their anceftors as this. There 
 is fcarce a family of any note throughout 
 the kingdom but what can boaft of an 
 hiflorian, and many have had more than 
 one. Hence (foreigners fay) that noble 
 elevation of mind which makes the Por- 
 tuguefe look with the greateft difdain 
 upon all other nations and defpife every 
 thing that is not Portuguefe : and hence 
 perhaps (I fay myfelf ) the fource of that 
 immenfe rage which invaded the whole 
 foul of the Duke D'Aveiro, and induced 
 him to commit one of thofe actions, 
 which never failed to bring ruin upoa 
 
 their
 
 t 240 1 
 
 their perpetrators* as the hiftories of all 
 times and nations will tell us. That 
 Duke could not bear with patience to 
 have a few pages of his genealogical book 
 blotted by any body* 
 
 Befides that vaft number of genealo- 
 gies in quarto and other lizes, there are 
 in that leiTer library many hiftories of the 
 Portuguefe conquefts in various parts of 
 the ultramarine world. Then follow the 
 theological and devotional books, which 
 are far from being few. This to me is a 
 proof that the Portuguefe are pious and 
 fkilful in divinity. But what abounds 
 there without meafure, are the lives of 
 Saints, male and female, foreign and 
 domeftic. They fay that St. Anthony 
 alone has above a hundred volumes a 
 thofe fhelves, each telling his atchieve* 
 ments in a different manner. No Alex- 
 ander, " no Auguflus, no King ofPruflia 
 ever was honoured with fo much bio- 
 graphy as good St. Anthony. 
 
 According
 
 f 
 
 According to the Father Librarian, 
 that letter library is much more valuable 
 than the greater. And in one refpect he 
 is certainly right. The books in the 
 greater may be procured for k>ve or mo- 
 ney : but not thofe in the leiTer, becaufe 
 Portuguefe books are become very fcarce 
 ever fince the earthquake. The fire that 
 follow'd it, has deftroyed many public 
 and private libraries in this metropolis, 
 and a Portuguefe book of any note is now 
 become as ckar as a ruby. 
 
 However the lofs of Portuguefe learn- 
 ing will fcarcely be felt out of Portugal, 
 as it never was in fafhion any where, and 
 will fcarcely ever be. Few are the wri- 
 ters of this country who ever had a name 
 abroad. OJJbrio the Latin hiftorian is cer- 
 tainly a name much considered in the 
 literary world, and that of Camoens, the 
 Portuguefe Epic, has travelled beyond 
 Client ejo and Ejlremadura. Yet the works 
 of thefe two are more commended that! 
 read. Our Italian friars extol one of 
 
 VOL. I. R their
 
 f 242 ] 
 
 their facred orators called Vieira, and put 
 him upon a par with our Segneri : But I 
 have not the greateft opinion of our friars' 
 tafle in point of oratory. I have opened 
 one of Vieira s volumes in that library, 
 and chance directed my ..eyes upon the 
 proem of a fermon, in which the perfec- 
 tions of the circular figure are pompoufly 
 enumerated ; after which the Lufitanian 
 Cicero (as his countrymen call him) pro- 
 ceeds to tell his audience, that if the 
 Supreme Being 'was to Jhow bimfelf under 
 any geometrical figure, that would certainly 
 be the circular in preference to the triangu- 
 lar, the fquare, the pentagonal, the duo- 
 decagonal, or any other known to the geo- 
 metricians. What could I do after having 
 read fuch a proem, but haftily replace th 
 book on the fhelf? However Vieird* 
 works muft have power, as they are much 
 efteemed by a great number of people, and 
 I wifh I had time to fpare, to fee in what 
 that power confifts. 
 
 Before 

 
 t *43 1 
 
 Before I went to Mafra I had heard 
 of a Portuguefe verfion of Metaftajios 
 Operas, and afked of the Father Librarian 
 to mow it me. But he had it not, nor had 
 as yet heard of it. And what do you 
 think that verfion is ? I am affured that 
 the tranflator has given the Metaftafian 
 heroes many livery-fervants, who take 
 pofTeffion of the fcene as fail as their re- 
 fpective matters go off, and have dialogues 
 of their own with the chambermaids and 
 nurfes of the heroines. You laugh ! But 
 what fault can you find in Achilles hav- 
 ing a running footman, Semiramis a dry- 
 riurfe, or Deidamia a little prating hufTey 
 of a cook-maid who bids the negro-boy 
 to carry the chocolate up to his miftrefs ? 
 If this is the dramatic tafte in Portugal, a 
 verfion of Goldoni's works would make 
 the Portuguefe full as happy, as the text 
 does the Venetian gondoliers. 
 
 The Portuguefe have a dictionary of 
 their own language which is much com- 
 mended both by themfelves and by fo- 
 R 2 reigners.
 
 [ 244 J 
 
 rcigners. But it was not the work of a 
 native. Father Bluteati, a French Jefuit, 
 compiled it. It is printed in eight or 
 nine large quarto volumes. I wanted to 
 buy it, but fo many volumes are too cum- 
 berfome for a traveller; belides that the 
 earthquake has put the price of it alrnoft 
 out of the reach of my purfe. 
 
 I Ikimm'd overfeveral other Portuguese 
 books in the fpace of four hours that I 
 pa!Ted in that library. In a medical one I 
 read of a remedy for fore eyes, which 
 feems no lefs excellent than fmgular* 
 The perfon thus afflitted, fays the Portu- 
 guefe phyfician, mujl neither read nor loak 
 on any white wall. The good-natured 
 Librarian was in raptures to fee me fo 
 inquifitive about the learning of his coun- 
 try ; but if I am allowed to draw infe- 
 rences from the little I pick'd up there, 
 the moll famed Portuguefe writers are at 
 bell but equal to our Achillinis and 
 Ciampoli's in verfe, and to our Giuglans 
 and Tefauro's in profe, whofe diftorted 
 
 way
 
 [ 245 ] 
 
 way of thinking and turgidnefs of expref- 
 fion have procured the appellation of Se- 
 colo cattfao to the laft century, whenever 
 we confider it in a literary light. Our 
 tumid Calloandros, Eromena's, Dianeas, 
 Coralbos, and other books of that kind, 
 feem tranilations from the Portuguefe. 
 However, I wi(h again I had leifure to 
 look for a few months into the learning 
 of this country. 
 
 The large library at Mafra, I had no 
 time to examine. Yet I have feen enough 
 of it to know that it is a very good one. 
 Befides the beft books in the learned lan- 
 guages, I am told that it contains fome 
 valuable manufcripts, particulary in He- 
 brew and in Arabic; and as I have feen 
 feveral of the friars ftudying there, it is 
 mod probable that fome of them are 
 learned. But a traveller had need to ftay 
 a confiderable time in fuch places, in order 
 to come away with juft ideas of the peo- 
 ple, and this unluckily was net in my 
 power at Mafra. 
 
 R 3 Let
 
 Let me now take my leave of the Father 
 Librarian and enter the garden of the 
 convent. It is pretty ample, confidering 
 that it has been in a manner cut out of 
 the folid rock, and much of the earth in it 
 tranfported from diftant places. It has a 
 large refervoir in the middle, befides fe- 
 veral fountains. From fome doors in 
 the walls of it, you may enter the royal 
 park, enclofed likewife by a wall, which, 
 they fay, is fourteen or fifteen miles 
 round. The little I faw of that park 
 from the windows of the cells, far from 
 being embellifhed by that verdure which 
 fmiles the whole year round in the parks 
 of England, has very much the appear- 
 ance of a parch'd and rocky defart thinly 
 fcattered with trees. 
 
 But it is the building that deferves all 
 one's attention. Few edifices in Europe 
 (perhaps not ten) ftand fo majeftick upon 
 the face of the globe. The original ar- 
 chitedl was a German who had been bred 
 at Rome ; and a very dilated genius he 
 
 mu(l
 
 [ =47 ] 
 
 muft have had to imagine fo vaft a fabrick 
 andadjuft all the parts of it in fo noble 
 and convenient a manner as he has done. 
 The firft ftone of it was laid in 1717, if 
 I am rightly informed -, and yet fome of 
 its internal parts are not quite finimed, 
 though more than fix thoufand workmen 
 were conftantly employed upon it during 
 the firft twenty years, befides numberlefs 
 
 artifts in Rome and other parts.- 
 
 It is but lately that the number of 
 thofe workmen has been confiderably 
 tliminimed. At prefent there are but two 
 hundred. 
 
 The occafion of the building of it, 
 was a vow made by the archdutchefs 
 who married King John V. On her ap- 
 proaching the coaft of Portugal the firfl 
 land fhe fpy'd was the hills of Mafra, 
 and the firfl favour me a/ked of her royal 
 fpoufe was, that he would erecl: a temple 
 there to the Virgin Mary and St. Anthony, 
 to whofe joint protection me owned her- 
 ielf indebted for her fafe landing in Por- 
 R 4 tugaK
 
 t 
 
 tugal, His Majefty, the moft friar-ridden 
 King that ever exifled, eafily granted her 
 requeft. He went even fo far beyond it, 
 as to add the palace, the convent, the 
 garden, and the park, that he might due- 
 ly honour the whole fpot that was blefs'4 
 by the firft glance of his auguft Bride. 
 An odd piece of gallantry ! As there are 
 immenfe quarries of beautiful marbles 
 and hard {tones all over the neighbour- 
 hood of Mafra, the good Queen had the 
 fatisfaclion before fhe died to fee the edi- 
 fice far advanced and decorated vvitl> 
 more than fifty gigantick ftatues. 
 
 LETTER XXX, 
 
 No learning in afecond life. Ignorance of 
 knowing men. Organs and clock-work. 
 Moorifh ornaments. 
 
 Lifbon, Sept. 13, 1760. in the Evening. , 
 
 AFTER having leifurely vifite4 
 the royal convent, I was taken 
 back to the church by the King's organ- 
 
 7 maker,
 
 t 249 ] 
 
 maker, who wanted to mow me the in- 
 ternal parts of one of the fix organs. 
 
 Thofe parts I have examined with the 
 greateft attention, and the ufe of each I 
 have heard moft minutely explained. But 
 my ignorance of the organ-making-art is 
 fuch, that I dare not venture upon the 
 leafl iketch of a defcription. How negli- 
 gent have I been not to have beftow'd 
 a fmgle thought in the fpace of forty 
 years upon tubes and bellows, that I 
 might eafily conceive how a vaft variety 
 of enchanting founds is drawn from 
 them ! But too many are the things that 
 a man ought to have ftudied to be pro- 
 perly qualified for a writer of travels. 
 
 Mod people, when they confider the 
 opportunities they have neglected of en- 
 larging knowledge which it was a thou- 
 fand times in their power to enlarge, 
 have got a conceit that, were they to be- 
 gin life a-new, they would apply with 
 the keeneft eagernefs and moft ftubborn 
 fefplution to all fciences, and fill up their 
 
 minds
 
 [ 2 5 ] 
 
 minds with whatever was known in this 
 world ever fmce the days of Pythagoras 
 and Artftotte. 
 
 But fuch fpeculatifts have no right 
 notions of things, in my opinion. Let 
 our lives be ever fo protracted, and our 
 application ever fo un remitted, I think 
 it is providential that we are not early 
 fenlible of the much that there is for us 
 to learn, and of the little that we can 
 learn. Was this not the cafe, we would 
 be feared away from the approaches of 
 knowledge, and, inflead of acquiring the 
 little which we do, it is my firm opinion 
 . that we would never, have courage to fet 
 about acquiring any. 
 
 Indeed it is lucky "that we begin our 
 voyage through the ocean of learning 
 quite unconfcious of its immenlity, 
 otherwife our poor hearts would fail us 
 at once, and we would do like the lazy 
 wench, who having the houfe to clean, 
 the beds to make, the dimes to warn, 
 and the dinner to drefs, grew fo defpe- 
 
 rate, j
 
 [ 25' ] 
 
 rate, that me ran up to the garret, threw 
 herfelf on her bed, and fell afleep. 
 
 Such is the train of ideas that my ig- 
 norance about organ-making has pro- 
 duced. What a contempt muft that artift 
 have conceived of me, on his finding 
 ine fo little inftructed in fo noble a 
 fcience ! Yet I have this comfort, that 
 his contempt would have reached many 
 a greater man, as many there are, who, 
 like myfelf, are quite ignorant of things 
 much below that of organ-making. How- 
 various are the fcholars in the various 
 univerfities of Europe who eat bread 
 twice or thrice a-day, and yet are utter 
 ftrangers to the art of baking ? How 
 many thofe, who are perpetually dipping 
 their quills in a ftandifh, and yet know 
 not how common ink is made ? How 
 many who are fhaved every morning, and 
 never thought to enquire about the in- 
 gredients that compofe foap .^ 
 
 I recollect a ftory to this purpofe whicli 
 feems to me worth relating. Three Eng- 
 
 lilh
 
 [ *5* J 
 
 lifh wits, Walfi, Wycherley, and Pope, 
 walking together along the fide of a field, 
 were once engaged in a difpute about a 
 blade of grafs which one of them chanced 
 to pick up. This is a moft beautiful blade 
 of wheat, faid one of them ; I never faw 
 a finer ! It is no wheat at all, faid the 
 other ; I take it to be rye. Fy upon you 
 both, interrupted the third, it is neither 
 rye nor wheat, but it is oats as fure as I 
 am alive. Miller the Botanift happen'd 
 to go by as they began to look crofs 
 upon each other. They afk'd him -, and 
 fo it happen'd that none of the three 
 was right. 
 
 The greatefl part of what we call men 
 of learning, are ignorant of the moft 
 common things, and philofophers might 
 learn from the very loweft of the people 
 more than fome of them imagine : I muft 
 therefore not fret becaufe an organ- maker 
 has taken me for a blockhead. He was 
 right fo faras he went. 
 
 The 

 
 t 
 
 The name of this man is Eugene A//- 
 cholas Egan, a native of Ireland, He is 
 fcarce four foot high ; but what body he 
 has is all alive. He has obtained his place 
 at Mafra neither by chance nor protec- 
 tion, but by dint of (kill. The King had 
 caufed eight famous organ-makers to 
 come to Portugal from Italy, Germany, 
 and other parts ; and he whofe organ 
 ftiould prove beft, was to have that place. 
 You may well imagine that each ftrove 
 to conquer his rivals. But the immortal 
 Caftrato Caffarello, together with the ce- 
 lebrated compofer David Perez, having 
 been deputed to judge of their feveral per- 
 formances, unanimoufly decided in fa- 
 vour of little Egan 's, and of courfe he 
 had the place. His falary proved after- 
 wards not fo ample as he expected : but 
 what is a falary to a genius ? He has de- 
 feated his enemies i he has feen them 
 <juit Portugal with Oiame. 
 
 After having (hewn me his organ, 
 play'd a good while upon it, and repeat- 
 edly
 
 t 
 
 edly touched a treble which is an inven- 
 tion of his own, he took me to fee the 
 beft friend he has' in Mafra t the man 
 who rings the bells of the royal convent. 
 You are not to laugh when I tell you 
 that I had the honour to pay a viiit to 
 His Majefly's bell-ringer, who is as great 
 a man as ever pulled the ropes of a bell* 
 and as eminent in his way as Plato was 
 in his own. Befides that he can make 
 thofe bells found in regular fubordina-* 
 tion, he can alfo ring fo many curious 
 chimes upon them, that he delights the 
 whole court. But what conftitutes him a 
 great man and a genius, are two inflru- 
 ments he has invented, one form'd of 
 many bits of wood, the other of many 
 bits of brick. Thofe bits he lays down 
 in a particular order upon a table : then 
 takes up two fmall wooden hammers, 
 and plays upon them. What fweetnefs 
 is contained in wood and bricks ! Upon 
 both he plays the very beft overtures of 
 Handel and the moft difficult lefTons of 
 8 Scar-
 
 t 255 -] 
 
 Scarlatti. Matter Egan, who has himfelf 
 added a new treble to the Organ, and of 
 courfe is a proper judge of thefe matters, 
 honours and loves this man, though but 
 a Bell-ringer, and is not jealous of his 
 abilities becaufe they do not interfere 
 with his own. 
 
 The fun was going down apace when 
 I took my leave of thofe two wonderful 
 men. I (hook hands with the bell-ringer 
 and could not kelp embracing the pretty 
 dwarf. 
 
 The road between Mafra and Cmtra is 
 ilill fuch as it was after the flood when 
 the waters fubfided, and I alighted twen- 
 ty times from my chaife for fear of being 
 overturned. I faw on both fides the road 
 in many places many {lone-blocks and 
 marble-columns, as the quarries are 
 there that have furniflied the materials 
 for the Royal Convent. It was dark- 
 when I reached Cintra, and my Negro 
 took me to the Englifo In?: ; fo called be- 
 caufe it is chiefly kept up by a fociety of 
 
 Englim
 
 t 256 ] 
 
 Bngli& merchants, who go thither 
 Li/bon, either upon pleafure or to buy 
 tip oranges and lemons. When thofe 
 merchants are there, they get the beft 
 rooms, and with a very good reafofi, as 
 they have fitted it themfelves for their 
 own reception. 
 
 It happen'd that the whole houfe was 
 full on my arrival, and as it was too 
 late to procure any lodging, I was oblig- 
 ed to fleep upon the mentioned piece of 
 canvas in a neighbouring houfe. But on 
 my return from the Cork-convent the 
 merchants were gone, and I had an ex- 
 cellent bed*. 
 
 It is now time to tell you, that, be-* 
 fore the earthquake, Cintra was very well 
 worth a vilit. A royal palace was there 
 which is now almoft deftroy'd. They 
 fay that it was many centuries ago one 
 of the country-feats of the Moorijh Kings 
 that wrefted Portugal and Spain from the 
 hands of the Vandah t who had themielves 
 wrefted both countries from thofe of the 
 
 Romans*
 
 [ 257 ] 
 
 Romans. Moorijh or not Moorijh, I fee by 
 its ruins, as well as by what remains 
 flanding, that it was once a great palace. 
 There are ftill three of its halls to be 
 feen. The ceiling of each is divided 
 into little fpaces that have animals paint- 
 ed in them. But each ceiling had but 
 one animal allotted towards its ornament; 
 and thus one contains nothing elfe but 
 ib many fwans, the other, nothing elfe 
 butjlags, and the third nothing elfe but 
 magpyes. An odd tafle of decoration, 
 efpecially as the fwans, the flags, and 
 magpyes are uniform, and the poflure of 
 each the fame as that of the next. Each 
 fwan has a golden chain round his neck; 
 each flag fupports a coat of arms on his 
 back j and each magpye has the words 
 per ben written by her fide ; which words, 
 preceded by that of Piga, form an allu- 
 HveMoortflj quibble I have already forgot. 
 The walls of the three halls are in- 
 cruflated with fquare pieces of marble of 
 two different colours difpofed chequer- 
 VOL. I, S wife,
 
 t 
 
 wife, and Ib are the floors. On the ground- 
 floor there is a fmall room where before 
 the earthquake water was made to fpout 
 from many little pipes concealed in the 
 walls on the touching of a fpring ; and 
 this is almoft all that is left of that 
 Moorijh palace. They are rebuilding it, 
 and the King will have it reftored to its 
 ancient form. A laudable thought, as 
 pofterity will ftill fee what was the 
 Moorijh tafte in architecture. 
 
 From the windows of the hall where 
 the flags are painted, there is a fine 
 profpect; but I am fick of profpefts, 
 and will give you no further defcription 
 of any. If you love profpefts, get upon 
 fteeples, 
 
 The royal convent at Mafra has not 
 fuffer'd much by the earthquake. The 
 friars made me obferve, that the little 
 round members over the plinths of the 
 two great columns on each fide the gate 
 of the church, were crack'd and partly 
 broken oif. But that was almoft all t] 
 
 d amaze
 
 t 259 ] 
 
 damage the building has undergone, 
 though the trepidation of the ground 
 was fo great, that fome of the friars Were 
 thrown upon their faces as they were 
 kneeling in the choir, and many people 
 in the church {tumbled againft each 
 other. Had the building inclined but an 
 inch or two more, it would probably 
 have gone down all at once and crufh'd 
 them all in an inftant. 
 
 I take now my leave of Cintfa, of the 
 beautiful fpot it itands upon, of the re- 
 maining halls of the Moorifo palace, and 
 of the high hills in that neighbourhood, 
 where many ISnglifh and many Portu-* 
 guefe have pretty couritry-houfes. I am 
 told that not far from thence there is a 
 fpot of ground about a league in lengtla 
 and a mils broad, all planted with oran- 
 ges and lemons r whofe flowers in due 
 feafon perfume a vaft tra& of country* 
 They call it the valley of Colhres, and 
 compare it to the garden of Eden. In all 
 probability, had I gone to fee it, I 
 S 2 fhould
 
 [ 2 6o ] 
 
 ihould have compared it to the territory 
 of San Remo on the Ligurian coaft. 
 
 As I came from Clntra towards Lif- 
 bon I faw fome other parts of that Aque- 
 duct that goes over the valley of Alcan- 
 tara. I faw likewife fome agreeable 
 ^uintas ; that is, Count ry-houfes belong- 
 ing to the Portuguefe nobility and gentry. 
 Yet in general the country which I have 
 feen during this ihort ramble, is rocky 
 and barren. 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 People forbidden to talk. Robbers and not 
 Murtherers. Concujfionfrom eaft to 'weft. 
 Barracas. Blacks and their progenies. 
 Jews and their perverfenefs. Creaking 
 of wheels. 
 
 Lifbon, Sept. 15. 1760. 
 
 MY enquiries here have not merely 
 been limited to cuftoms and man- 
 ners, to palaces and convents. I have 
 done my utmoft to collect genuine in- 
 formation
 
 formation about the feveral tranfa&ions 
 which have lately turned the eyes of all 
 Europe to this country, and you would 
 admire my induftry if I were to apprife 
 you of all my endeavours to find the true 
 motive of the Duke D'Aveiros crime, 
 the expulfion of the Jefuits, the banifh- 
 ment of the King's natural brothers, the 
 unprecedented harfh treatment to Cardi- 
 nal AccuijoUy and the exaltation of Don 
 Baftian Jofeph de Carualho to the very 
 fummit of power. 
 
 Thefe fubjects are certainly worth in- 
 quiry, efpecially as care has been taken 
 to throw a veil over them, which will 
 obftruct future hiftorians. But my dili- 
 gence of fearch has not been much re- 
 warded. This government has forbidden 
 every body to make thefe, and other cur- 
 rent matters, the topics of their conver- 
 fation : the prohibition fubjects the 
 tijanfgreflbrs to fuch fevere penalties, and 
 fo many have already been thrown into 
 jail upon this account, that the poor fouls 
 S 3 arc
 
 [ 26? ] 
 
 are quite frighted at the mere mention 
 of fome names : nor is it eafy to bring 
 any native to difclofe,his opinion about 
 any thing that looks political, though 
 forwardnefs to decide and love of talking 
 are two of the chief ingredients in the 
 character of the Portuguefe. As for the 
 few particularities which I have been* 
 able to glean from foreigners, they are fo 
 full of uncertainty, contradiction, and 
 evident partiality, that inftead of mak- 
 ing them any part of my letters, it will 
 be better to fave them for oral entertain- 
 ment. 
 
 But I cannot quit this country with- 
 out faying a few words more of the Je* 
 fuits. From a brother who writes from. 
 Portugal^ you have a kind of right to 
 expect his opinion of them, as well as 
 of the proceedings of this government 
 againft them. 
 
 As you are well acquainted with my 
 yray of thinking on feveral particulars* 
 you will poffibly imagine that I approve 
 
 of
 
 [ 263 ] 
 
 ofthofe proceedings, and that I confider 
 thefe pretended Sotppanwns ofjcfus as a 
 gang of traitors always ready to flab 
 Sovereigns and overthrow kingdoms, as 
 they are confidered by numberlefs people 
 throughout Europe. But, whatever be 
 the opinion of others, I never could do 
 them fo much honour as to think them 
 pofleflcd of that fteadinefs of foul which 
 is required to venture upon fuch great 
 and bold acts of wickednefs I have often 
 watched them as an Order, and have 
 likewife been intimately acquainted with 
 a. good number of their individuals; but 
 have always found them (as well as all 
 other Friars) fo poorly pufillanimous, as 
 to be thoroughly perfuaded that a man 
 of common courage might drive a dozen 
 of them to the end of the world with a 
 cudgel. Their conftant way of life, as 
 it keeps them at a great diftance from 
 all forts of danger, enervates their minds, 
 and, inflead of enterprife and intrepidity, 
 jiofufes into them a female fpirit of 
 S 4 meek-
 
 rneeknefs and obfequioufnefs, with a 
 plentiful mixture of diffimulation and 
 hypocrify. Not one of the many I have 
 known, but partook more or lefs of this, 
 character. 
 
 With fuch a notion of them, produ- 
 ced by many years of obfervation and 
 refledion, I have read a good many of 
 thofe books lately written againft therr^ 
 with a view to make them all be confi- 
 dered as Confpirators, Traitors, and Re- 
 gicides by principle and fyftem. But too 
 much of malicious difingenuity is con- 
 tained in thofe books. Far from having 
 been convinced by the reafons offered ia 
 them, I do not even believe that they 
 have had a hand in the attempt of 
 D'Aveiro* for which I can very well ac- 
 count in a iimple manner, and without 
 having recourfe to marvellous complicat- 
 ed plots. The very proceedings of this 
 Government againft them have rivetted 
 my incredulity as to their having par- 
 taken in that attempt ; nor is it porTible. 
 
 to
 
 [ 2 6 S ] 
 
 to conceive, that a large body of fuch 
 men as I know them to be, cunning, 
 cautious, and fearful, would enter into 
 a confpiracy headed by a haughty, im- 
 prudent, and defperate man fuch a$ 
 D'Awira, and compofed of men and wo- 
 men of different ages and conditions * 
 which confpiracy, had it even proved 
 fuccefsful, would ftill, and at the very 
 beft, have left them juft where they 
 were and as they were. 
 
 But let us grant for argument's fake 
 that fome few (or many, if you will) have 
 entered into that confpiracy. Where 
 was the difficulty to hang thofe few (or 
 many) after a trial not fecret, not myfte- 
 rious, but fair and open to the whole 
 nation? Not one Jefuit has as yet been, 
 put to death upon this account, but alj 
 have been exported out of the country 
 and banimed it for ever, without the lead 
 difcrimination between the innocent and 
 the guilty -> which levelling execution I 
 cannot at all reconcile with my ideas of 
 
 equity
 
 [ 266 ] 
 
 equity and juftice. It is true that old 
 Malagrida and two or three more (none 
 of them Portuguefe, but all Italians, 
 1 which is remarkable) have been detained 
 and thrown into jail. They have now 
 been above two years fa) in the inquifi- 
 tion. But what has the inquifition to do 
 with regicides, if this government is per- 
 fuaded that regicides they are ? Why have 
 they not been hanged with the Duke 
 D'Aveiro and the other confpirators ? 
 The power that could eafily banim thou- 
 fands, could as eafily hang a dozen or two, 
 or as many as you will. Why was this 
 not done? Who could hinder it? The 
 pope? The people? Some foreign power? 
 No. The whole world would have ap- 
 proved of the ptinimment inflicled upon 
 convi&ed regicides. And why is recourfe 
 had to the pens of mercenary writers, 
 
 (a) Long after the date of this letter poor Malagrida 
 has been burnt as an Heretic k, charged amongjl other things 
 of having written while in the prifons of the Inquifition^ 
 that the Virgin Ma*-y fpoke Latin when ftill in St. Anns 
 vyomb. I kaow not what is become of his brother regicides. 
 
 and
 
 and To much pains taken to blacken the 
 whole order, when its guilty individuals 
 were completely within the reach of 
 avenging juftice? Why are fuch efforts 
 made abroad to make the world believe 
 that they are a fet of villains, when at 
 home no body is allowed to fpeak either 
 good or ill of them? That each jefuit is 
 a downright villain, always ready at the 
 nod of his general, his provincial, his rec- 
 tor, or his prefect, to turn traitor, to turn 
 confpirator, to turn King-killer, is an 
 aflertion that may be credited by enthu- 
 fiafts, and by thofe who hate without 
 knowing why, whofe number is larger than 
 vulgar obfervers are aware of; but never 
 will be credited by men of fober think- 
 ing, by men acquainted with the varieties 
 of our tempers and inclinations, by men 
 who have remarked how perfectly im- 
 pomble it is to bring a vaft number of 
 individuals to think and act as one man. 
 
 My opinion of the Jefuits' fociety is 
 
 therefore this, that they are obnoxious to' 
 
 7 the
 
 I 268 ] 
 
 the great fociety of mankind, not becaufe 
 they are traitors and regicides by princi^ 
 pie an4 fyftem, but becaufe they are inde- 
 fatigable accumulators of riches which 
 they do not want. Their maintenance re- 
 quires but little, as they live in commu- 
 nity, feed poorly, drefs poorly, and lodge 
 poorly. What need have they to plunder 
 their neighbours with their trade and 
 banking, and hoard up treasures and trea- 
 fures, when they lead a mean life and 
 cannot by institution lead a better? Why 
 aje they for ever hunting after inherit- 
 ances, always (or almoft always) to the 
 prejudice of lawful heirs? What will they 
 do with thofe treafures ? Or if they have 
 any good reafon (which is- inconceivable) 
 for a&ing in this manner, why do they 
 not tell it aloud ? 
 
 Indeed if they are to be annihilated, 
 this avarice of theirs is more than a fuffi- 
 cient motive. But inftead of going this 
 way to work, and call them Robbers, 
 which may be done with juftice, as the 
 
 defire
 
 t 
 
 defire of robbing is the true and notorious 
 fpirit of their order, great trouble is taken 
 by means of the prefs at Lucca, Venice, 
 l^ugano, and other places, to cry them 
 down as Murtherers, which in the nature 
 of things cannot be the fpirit of a large 
 body. 
 
 Bendes the fpirit of robbing, there is 
 that of domineering, which might have 
 been an article of accufation againft them. 
 This is another of their true and notori- 
 ous characterifticks, that has long made 
 them odious to all men of fenfe and pro- 
 bity. What need have they of influence 
 and authority in the ftates where they are 
 cftablifhed, and even in the flates where 
 they have no eftablifhment at all; that is, 
 in thofe countries, which we, perhaps 
 with too much acrimony, call heretical? 
 How are influence and authority in any 
 ftate to be reconciled with that profeffion 
 which obliges them to eat, drefs, and 
 lodge poorly, as I faid, and to tread in 
 the footfteps of HIM whofe companions 
 8 they
 
 t 
 
 they call themfelves ? Why do they evef 
 fhun the houfes of the poor, where reli- 
 gious men ought always to be affifting 
 and comforting? And what bulinefs have 
 they in the palaces of the great, where 
 they are perpetually intruding? What are 
 they doing in the courts of princes, 
 where they are inceilantly endeavouring 
 to get a greater and greater footing ? Ma- 
 ny and many times has my indignation 
 been raifed to fee them there, fmiling, 
 bowing, whifpering, fawning, caballing, 
 and intriguing ten thoufand times more 
 than the meaner! courtiers. 
 
 But of thefe and other matters Ragione- 
 rem piu adagio infieme poi, as the Evange- 
 lift faid to dftolfo. Mean while, as the 
 hour of departure is approaching, I have 
 employed yeflerday and to-day in vifiting 
 over again and a-foot the ruins of this 
 metropolis, and thofe many clutters of 
 habitations, which have been built for 
 the reception of thofe unfortunate crea- 
 tures
 
 t *7' ] 
 
 tures-whom the earthquake has bereft of 
 their homes. 
 
 Of thofe ruins I have already tried to 
 give you feme idea: but I muft again re- 
 commend to you not to forget when you 
 read that defcription, that words cannot 
 come up to fo vaft a fcene of horrible de- 
 folation. 
 
 By comparing the topography of thefe 
 ruins (both in the town and country) with 
 a map of Portugal, it appears that the 
 main force of that memorable concuflion 
 was collected in a narrow line from Bail 
 to Weft ; and that the chief mifchief 
 caufed by it, fell upon thofe buildings 
 that happened to lie along that line : fo 
 that it was not the folidity of its walls 
 that faved the great edifice at Mafra 
 from deftrudlion, but its being at fome 
 diftance from the courfe of the motion. 
 Had this not been the cafe, that edifice 
 could never have efcaped the violence 
 which mattered the ftony fides of the 
 high hill near Cintra, and made fome of 
 
 its
 
 its cliffs roll down into the fubjacent 
 plain. 
 
 When the fury of the earthquake fub- 
 fidedj and the univerfal diftraftion was in 
 fome meafure appeafed, the inhabitants 
 of Lijbon haftened to raife all about the 
 neighbouring hills fuch temporary walls 
 and roofs, as could immediately fcreen 
 them from the fevere weather that fuc- 
 ceeded the immenfe calamity, and have 
 progreffively built feveral fmall villages 
 compofed of fmall houfes and cottages, 
 fome of wood and fome of brick, which 
 are very pretty to look at, as they are re- 
 gularly difpofed, and as it is the general 
 cnftom here to whitewash the outfide of 
 all their dwellings. 
 
 Thofe fmall houfes and cottages they 
 call Earracas : a very proper appellation, 
 as this word, which has got admiffion 
 in almoft all the languages of Europe, 
 means in them all A very fmall habitation 
 for may. 
 
 I*
 
 t 273 I 
 
 In 'croffing thofe parts of the towri 
 which have not been demolimed, it was 
 impoffible not to take notice of the naf- 
 tinefs of the ftreets. The abominable 
 ftink and the vaft heaps that caufe it, 
 render many of thofe ftreets impaffable. 
 I am told that there are rigid laws againft 
 the infamous practice of throwing any 
 filth down the windows: but what arc 
 laws when there is no power to enforce 
 their execution ? 
 
 One of the things that mort furprife a 
 ftranger as he rambles about this town, 
 is that great number of Negroes who 
 fwarm in every corner. 
 
 Many of thefe unhappy wretches are 
 natives of Africa, and many born of Afri- 
 can parents either in Portugal orjn its 
 ultramarine dominions. No fhip comes 
 from thofe regions without bringing fome 
 of either fex; and; when they are here, 
 they are allowed to marry not only among 
 themfelves, but alfo with thofe of a diffe- 
 rent colour. Thefe crofs-marriages have 
 
 VOL. I. T filled
 
 filled the country with different breeds of 
 human monfters. A black and a white 
 produce a mulatto* -Then a mulatto joins 
 with a black or a white, and two other 
 creatures are engendered, both called me- 
 Jlices. Then the meftices white join with 
 the meftices black, or with true blacks, 
 true white, or mulattos; and all branch 
 out into fo many and various kinds, that 
 ' it becomes very difficult, if not impoffible, 
 to diftinguifh them by peculiar names, 
 though they are all diicriminated by their 
 peculiar hues. 
 
 To fuch a degree the original breed is 
 here depraved, that to be a Blanco-, that 
 is, a perfect white, is become a title of 
 honour: fo that when a Portnguefe fays 
 that he is a Blanco, you are not to under- 
 hand that he is a whits man, which is the 
 real fignification of the word ; but that 
 he is an honeft man, a man of honour, a 
 man of family, a man of confequence and 
 importance. 
 
 To
 
 f 
 
 To all thefe mongrel mixtures you may 
 add the Jewim. Portugal abounds with 
 Jews who perfonate Chriftians, and often 
 intermarry both with the white and the 
 other generations. You will eafily com- 
 prehend that this eannot much contri^- 
 bute towards the farther improvement of 
 thofe genealogies which make fo good a 
 figure on the (helves of the library at 
 Mafra* 
 
 Thefe flraiige combinations have filled 
 this town with fuch a variety of odd fa- 
 ces, as to make the traveller doubt whe- 
 ther Lifton is in Europe; and it may be 
 forefeen, that in a few centuries not a drop 
 of pure Portuguefe blood will be left 
 here, but all will be corrupted between 
 Jews and Negroes, notwithftanding their 
 mofl holy tribunal of the facred inquifi- 
 tion. 
 
 To obviate one of the two evils (which 
 might both be removed by a fecular tri- 
 bunal) the inquiiition is always upon the 
 watch to difcover the Jews; and when 
 T 2 any
 
 3 
 
 any is found out, you know how he 1$ 
 treated. Tell an inquifitor that you are at 
 Jew becaufe it has pleafed God to make 
 you a Jew, ami that you do not think 
 yourfelf entitled to undo what God has 
 done, the good Father will throw you 
 into the fire as fure as if you were a chip. 
 
 But as one evil breeds another, the in- 
 ceiTant diligence of the inquifition to de- 
 feel: the Jews, makes them redouble their 
 arts of concealment, and (what completes 
 the bleffing) multiplies fuperftition and 
 encreafes hypocrify. Hence it happens 
 that numbers of both fexes> and of all 
 ages and conditions,, go about with long 
 rofaries between their thumb and fingers,, 
 muttering paters and aves, that they may 
 be deemed Chriftians if they are Jews, 
 or not be miftaken for Jews if they are' 
 Chriftians. 
 
 How the Jews can bear to live amid it 
 incefTant danger, is utterly inconceivable. 
 There is a flubborn perverfenefs in their 
 defying the law of Portugal that almonY 
 
 juftifies
 
 t 2 77 3 
 
 juftrfies the inquifitorial rage. Would you 
 not fly into a paflion and roll dovvn-ftairs 
 the impudent fellow who was refolved to 
 ftay in your own houfe in fpight of your 
 teeth ? 
 
 In my long walk of yeflerday and to- 
 day, I have entered a good number of 
 artifts' (hops, and found to my no fmall 
 furprife that they belong moftly to ftran- 
 gers. One would be apt to fufpect that 
 the induftry tof this nation is not great; 
 .and the fufpicion will increafe, when you 
 are told that linen, woollen-cloth, filk- 
 ftuffs, and almoft all other produdlions 
 of the loom, are by the Portuguefe im- 
 ported from abroad, though they have at 
 home many of the materials. This is 
 alfo the cafe with regard to all forts of 
 fleel, copper, and brafs-work, except 
 what is ufed in mean houfes ; that is, 
 what does not require muchperfe&ion of 
 \vorkmanmip. Would you believe that 
 even their moes they procure from Eng- 
 land and from France ? I am told that the 
 T3 few
 
 few who will have fhoes made on purpofc 
 for their own feet, mult apply to the few 
 foreign fhoemakers fcattered about this 
 town, and fubmit to pay exhorbitant 
 prices. Even taylors are foreigners for 
 the greateft part ; at leaft thofe who are 
 moft in vogue ; and as to French barbers 
 and hair-dreffers, they fwarm here as well 
 as in England. Statuaries, architects, 
 and engravers they never had of any note. 
 As to painters they can boaft but of one, 
 Alonzo Sanchez Coello, a difciple of our 
 great Raphael, and a favourite of Philip 
 II. who ufed to call him Titian the fe- 
 cond. He was employed by that King in 
 the Efcurza!, which he contributed to 
 adorn. His name is more known to the 
 Italians than to the Portuguefe. 
 
 I will not omit to fay that I wanted a 
 plan of this town to help myfelf in my 
 excurfions j but was aflured that fuch a 
 thing had never been thought on, though 
 conlidering its extent and the great refort 
 of ftrangers, one would think that many 
 
 by
 
 [ 279 ] 
 
 i 
 
 by the probability of profit might be 
 tempted to make it. 
 
 To range about fuch a wide fcene of 
 curioiity as this metropolis and its neigh- 
 bourhood, gives certainly much fatisfac- 
 tion to an inquifitive pair of eyes. But if 
 my eyes are pleafed, my ears pay for it 
 by a torment peculiar to the country, 
 which I have fufFered every day fmce my 
 arrival, holidays exempted. 
 
 This torment is caufed by the creak- 
 ing of the cart-wheels, I queftion whe- 
 ther the (link of the dirtieft ftreets is not 
 more fupportable to the noflrils than that 
 fhrillnefs to the ears. The cart-wheels 
 here are made out of two boards nailed 
 together, and clumfily cut in a circular 
 form. Yet the painful noife they make 
 might be obviated, would carmen but 
 greafe their axles : but they fay that the 
 devil would then do mifchief to their 
 oxen, and that noife frightens him away. 
 Did you ever hear a better reafon for fpar- 
 ing greafe? Saavedra in his Don %uixate t 
 T 4 takes
 
 [ 280 ] 
 
 takes notice of his countrymen's opinion 
 about the noife of cart-wheels, " de cuyo 
 " chirrio afpero y continuado fe dize che 
 " huyen los lobos y los. offbs" by whofe grat- 
 ing and incejjant jhrlllnefs they fay that 
 wolves and bears are put to flight. If this 
 Spanifh notion is not warranted by expe- 
 rience, probability will render it excufa- 
 ble : but the Portuguefe have (till higher 
 expectations from the noife of a cart- 
 wheel. 
 
 Thefe and many other obfervations 
 have as yet given me no great idea of the 
 common fenfe of this nation; and as I 
 have brought no recommendatory letters 
 to introduce me to the higher clafs, 
 where I might find fomething to make me 
 amends for the little pleafure I have in 
 obferving the lower, I have refolved tp 
 flay no longer here ; and I hope that not 
 more than one of my letters will be dated 
 from this metropolis. 
 
 J will conclude this with an exclama- 
 tion made by an Italian friend of mine 
 
 on
 
 pn his landing here after an ab fence Hkft 
 mine from his native country. Quanti 
 freti! Quantifrati! Quanti Muli! 
 
 LETTER XXXIL 
 
 An Important dialogue. Parade of Know- 
 ledge. Jefaits way of teaching. 
 
 Lifbon, Sept. 16. 1760. 
 
 I Quit Lifbon to-morrow. My pafT- 
 ports are difpatched, and I havejuft 
 figned the bargain with the Caleffeiros who 
 are to carry me to Madrid in fifteen days. 
 I take Batifte with me. My farewell 
 compliments to the Britifti AmbafTador, 
 the Englifh nuns, the Genoefe capuchins, 
 and fome other people, are all paid, 
 and my things are pack'd up : fo that 
 to-morrow-night I (hall fleep on the 
 other fide of the Tagus. Let me now 
 write my laft letter from Lijbon. 
 
 I have already given you to underftand, 
 that my opinon of the Porttiguefe litera- 
 {ure is very low; and a few additional 
 
 ob-
 
 [ 282 ] 
 
 observations, which I have had occafion 
 to make this morning on this fubjed:, 
 have not heigh ten'd that opinion. But 
 before I give you thofe obfervations, let 
 me translate a Dialogue put of a Portu- 
 guefe book. 
 
 QUESTION. Donjofeph thefirft y whofe 
 Jon is he f 
 
 ANSWER. Of King John F", and Queen 
 Maria Anna of Auftria. 
 
 Qu. In what year was he born 2 
 
 ANS. In 1714. 
 
 Qu. On what day f 
 
 ANS. Thejixth of June. 
 
 Qu. When and by whom was he bap- 
 tized? 
 
 ANS. Aug. 29, of the fame year by 
 Cardinal de Cugna. 
 
 Qu . Whom has he married - ? 
 
 ANS. Being Jlill Prince of Brajil, he 
 married the moft ferene Infanta of Spain 
 Dona Mariana Vifloria. 
 
 Qu. Who brought about this marriage - ? 
 
 ANS.
 
 ANS. Antony Guedes de Pereira whits 
 he ivas envoy at the court of Madrid. 
 
 Qu. Who went to fetch in due form the 
 moftferene lady Infanta ? 
 
 ANS. Dom Rodrigo Eanes de Sa Mar- 
 quls of Abr antes. 
 
 Qu. When did this Lady reach Portu- 
 gal? 
 
 ANS. On "January 19, 1729. 
 
 Qu. When did Jhe enter Lijbon ? 
 
 ANS. On Feb. 12, cf the fame year. 
 
 Qu. When did King Jofeph the Fir/} 
 begin to reign ? 
 
 ANS. On the laft of July 1750. 
 
 Qy. When was he proclaimed ? 
 
 ANS. On Sept. 7. of the fame year, 
 
 Qu. How many children has he ? 
 
 ANS. He has four daughters, 'who are 
 the Lady Princefs of Braftl Dona Maria 
 Frances Ifabel; the Lady Infanta Dona 
 Maria Anna Frances j the Lady Infanta 
 Dona Maria Frances Dorothy > and the 
 Lady Infanta Dona Maria Frances Bene- 
 Jftfa* 
 
 And
 
 And with this fine Dialogue ends a 
 Portuguefe book printed in 1750, inti- 
 tled Injlructio de Principiantes, &c. that 
 Is, " ~dn Inftrutfion to Beginners, and a 
 " new Method by which the Jirft Letters 
 (' are to be learned, for the Ufe ofScJwols," 
 &c. 
 
 This book was compofed by the pro- 
 feflbrs of the royal fchool which goes by 
 the name of As Ef colas de Nqffa Senhora 
 das Neceffidades ; that is, The Schools of our 
 Lady of the NeceJ/ities -, to which fchool s 
 (or fchool) the Portuguefe parents whp 
 intend to give a liberal education to their 
 children, muft fend them, as no other 
 fchool is here permitted either public or 
 private. 
 
 Soon after my arrival I inquire4 whe- 
 ther in Lijbon there was an univerfity ; 
 and was informed that thefe fchools were 
 here in the flead of an univerfity. Being 
 defirous to form fome acquaintance with 
 the profeflbrs there, I fent (directed for 
 
 the
 
 the heads of the fchools) a large meet 
 of ancient Greek characters, collected 
 and methodically difpofed by a very learn- 
 ed Englishman called Morton, and pub-* 
 liihed in London not long before my 
 departure* 
 
 The meet was accompanied with as 
 civil a letter as I could poffibly put toge- 
 ther ; and it proved an agreeable pre- 
 fent, if I am to believe two of thofe pro- 
 fefibrs who came to me three days after, 
 to return me thanks in their own and 
 their collegues* name. 
 
 You may well think that I received 
 them with very fubmiflive civility, and 
 my refpect prevailed upon them to ftay 
 dinner with me. During a good part of 
 the afternoon they prattled with a volu- 
 bility, which (as far as I have obferved) 
 is characteriftical to the Portuguefe. It 
 was pretty vifible that they both wanted 
 to impofe themfelves upon me for mighty 
 learned men, and to make me conceive 
 a great opinion of their fchools, of their 
 7 coun-
 
 [ 286 ] 
 
 country, and of themfelves. However; 
 their learning feem'd to me not great,- 
 and their manner of conveying it by 
 much too pompous. Their difcourfe 
 was plentifully larded with fuch Latin 
 fentences as are in every fchool-boy's 
 mouth, and the names of Tu//y and Vir- 
 gil graced too many of their period's. 
 They had fome diftant glimmering of 
 the French literature, and had heard the 
 names of Moliere and Boileaa ; but with 
 regard to that of Italy and of England, 
 neither of them knew more than my 
 negro. The meet of Greek alphabets, 
 which I had fent them, is hung up, 
 they faid, in one of their fchools ; but 
 they honeftly own'd that none of them: 
 meddled much with Greek. 
 
 My patience was nearly worn out when 
 they left me, fully perfuaded I fuppofe, 
 that they had amazed me with the va- 
 riety of their knowledge and the fluency 
 of their elocution. Hearing that theie 
 were two of the chief profeflbrs das Ne-- 
 
 cef-
 
 Ceffitadw, I found means to return thfc 
 vifit when I was fure of not finding them 
 at home, and thought no further about 
 them. However this morning they call- 
 ed on me again, on purpofe to thank me 
 again, as they faid, for my prefent, 
 which had been examined by their col- 
 legues, and found to be huma va/eroza 
 compofyao (a noble compofitionj , and as 
 they had taken notice of my follicitude 
 to inform myfelf of whatever was rela- 
 tive to their fchools, they defired my 
 acceptance of the book, out of which 
 I have extracted the above dialogue, af- 
 furing me that it was one of the moft 
 elegant and learned compojicaoms in their 
 language. 
 
 They were no fooner gone than I fell 
 to reading it. It is divided into two parts 
 nearly equal. The firft is a moft jejune 
 abridgment of their hiftory, from count 
 Dom Henrico of Burgundy (who liv'd in 
 the eleventh century) down to the pre- 
 fent reign inclufively. The fecond part 
 
 is
 
 [ 288 j 
 
 is n6 more than the fame abridgment 
 thrown into dialogues, of which I have 
 given you the laft. The ftyle of thefe is 
 plain, becaufe no art could make it other- 
 wife ; but as for that of the hiftory 
 (or abridgment) there are few things 
 more thickly fown'with over-ftrained 
 thoughts and puerile conceits. 
 
 By the title I had miftaken it for .a 
 new-year's -gift to a child ; yet I fee by 
 the preface, that they put it into the 
 hands of thofe young men who from 
 the fchool of humanity are advanced to 
 that of rhetorick. How it can contri- 
 bute to make young men rhetoricians, 
 is beyond my comprehenfion j and if 
 you review my faithful tranflation of the^ 
 dialogue, you will agree with me, that 
 fuch trifles ought to have been taught in 
 the nurfery, and not in a royal fchool ,of 
 rhetorick. Kelly's boys, who are pupils 
 to the younger of my vifitors, have told 
 me, that this and their other fchool- 
 books muft be Iearne4 by heart in each
 
 refpedtive fchool j for fuch is the me- 
 thod t and the fcholars who negledt to 
 commit their daily leflbns to memory, 
 are fure of punifhment. 
 
 What I have further to remark on this 
 fubjedl is, that as Efcofas das Necejfidades 
 is a Philippine convent, and of courfe 
 the profefTors are Philippine friars. The 
 Jefuits were formerly pofTefTed of the 
 exclufive privilege of teaching the youth 
 of Lijbon ; but foon after their expulfion 
 this honour was conferred by the go- 
 vernment upon the Philippines ; and I 
 am much miftaken if the poor lads are 
 not fallen from the frying-pan into the 
 fire. 
 
 It is a pofitive fact that in Italy the Je- 
 fuits have endeavoured to root out all 
 literature. Before the inftitution of their 
 order we had fuch a number of men emi- 
 nent in various branches of fcience, from 
 (a) Dante down to (b] Galileo, as few, 
 
 (a) Dante was Lorn in 1265. 
 
 (b) Galileo ditdin 1642. 
 
 VOL. I. U if
 
 [ 2 9 ] 
 
 if any, of the modern nations can (how. 
 But as foon as the Jefuits got pofleffion of 
 pur fchools under the -pretence of teach- 
 ing our youth gratis, there was almoffc 
 an end amongft us of hiftorians, politi- 
 cians, philofophers, and poets. The Je- 
 fuits began by difcrediting the Greek 
 tongue, and perfuaded us that it was un- 
 necefTary. Then by means of their vo- 
 luminous Latin grammars they rendered 
 the acquifition of the Latin next to im- 
 pofiible, as it is almoft impoflible to 
 learn a thing unknown by means of a 
 thing equally unknown. They corrupt- 
 ed even our language, and caufed fuch a 
 deluge of equivocal wit to be poured 
 over our writings of all kinds, that du- 
 ring their reign, that is, during the laft 
 century, we excited the ridicule of the 
 neighbouring nations, in whom long be- 
 fore we had raifed aftonifhment. 
 
 It was luckly for us that the Jefuits 
 could never obtain admiffion into the 
 univeriity of Pifa, and that they were 
 
 not
 
 3 
 
 not even allowed to teach in the inferior 
 fchools of Tufcany ; fo that it was at 
 laft in the power of the Tufcans and of 
 Galileos difciples and followers, to refcue 
 us from barbarity, and reftore the learn- 
 ing of Italy to purity and fplendour. 
 Rinaldini, Aggtuntl y the two Del Buono's, 
 Fiviani, Bellini, Torricelli, Redi, and fe- 
 veral other men, deliver'd us in a good 
 rneafure from our falfe inftructors ; falfe 
 with regard to us, though not to them- 
 felves, as they taught each other very 
 well, and were themfelves almoft the 
 only men of fcience throughout the coun- 
 try. 
 
 And here it may not be amifs to re- 
 cord, that amongft our Italian princes, 
 it was our glorious king Viffior Amadeus 
 who firft detected the deep-laid fchemes 
 of the Jefuits, and who firft had the cou- 
 rage to ftrip them throughout his domi- 
 nions of the exclufive privilege of teach- 
 ing us. And it is originally to him that 
 the greater part of the Italian rtates owe 
 U 2 ' the
 
 3 
 
 the great bleffing of having at prefcnt but 
 a very few Jefuits for teachers. 
 
 In this country, however, it was not 
 very judicious to fubftitute the Philip- 
 pines to the Jefuits, if the Philippines 
 are for ignorance like thofe of Italy, as I 
 am perfuaded they are. But it is to be 
 hoped that thefe reverend fathers have 
 been only temporarily entrufted with this 
 important charge, until the prefent dif- 
 turbances are fomewhat quieted. I am 
 told, that this government intends to 
 put the public fchools into better regu- 
 lations, and that a good number of truly 
 learned men are foon to be procured from 
 other countries : nay, I am pofitively af- 
 fured, that old Facciolati the philologift, 
 father Friji the mathematician, and fome 
 other eminent men from Padua, Milan, 
 and other parts of Italy, are expected to 
 be foon here; that a new univerfity is 
 to be inftituted in this town, into which 
 fome of the C<?/&^n7-profeiTbrs are to 
 be incorporated, and that ancient univer- 
 fity totally fupprefled. How
 
 [ 293 ] . 
 
 How much of truth there is in thefe 
 reports, I have not been able to afcer- 
 tain. Perhaps the day approaches, that 
 the Portuguefe will emerge from igno- 
 rance and fuperflition, and come up to a 
 level with fome other Catholic nations, 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 Pleas, rats, and other conveniences,. Love 
 in one place and liberty in another. De- 
 votion here and devotion there. 
 
 Aldeagallega, Sept. 17, 1760. 
 
 THE poor traveller has quitted 
 Liibon to-day in the afternoon, in 
 order to journey on to his native land. 
 
 The river Tagus, not three miles broad 
 at the mouth, is full nine miles where 
 I croiTed it to-day : but the wind proved 
 fo favourable, that in about three hours I 
 failed over it in an open boat. 
 
 And here I am in the befl inn (Ejld- 
 
 lage they call it here) of Aldeagallega. 
 
 My apartment is nothing more than a 
 
 U 3 large
 
 f 294 ] 
 
 large room hung all round with fine 
 . broad cobwebs, and fu mimed with a 
 narrow mat for its inhabitant to ftretch 
 his limbs upon, whenever he {hall wifti 
 to go to fleep. Glafs-windows this room * 
 has none - y but inftead of panes there are 
 fhutters fo full of chinks, that all the 
 children of Eolus may pafs them. As 
 for a bed, tables, chairs, pictures, and 
 other things in ufe amongfl Chriftians 
 and Mahometans, here are none ; and 
 through the various clefts of the boards 
 which form this floor, I expedl: that a 
 multitude of rats will come out to-night 
 to peep at me, and eat me perhaps, as 
 the Eflallageiro has no victuals either for 
 them or for any body elfe. 
 
 Such is the lodging I have got for to- 
 night. But although the danger from 
 the rats may be rather imaginary than 
 real, yet it is evident that I fhall not ef- 
 cape with a whole fkin from the fleas, 
 which run on all fides of this room in 
 numerous fquadrons, and fecm impa- 
 tiently
 
 [ 295 ] 
 
 tiently to wait for my putting out the 
 light that they may come and eat me. 
 However, upon this mat I mall not 
 fleep. Batifte, who has travell'd much 
 up and down this country, has bought 
 me a large bag, which is to ferve me in- 
 flead of a bed as long as my journey 
 through Portugal will laft ; and he is 
 this minute come to tell me, that he has 
 found dry ftraw fufficient to fill it ; fo 
 that he is fure I mall pafs a comfortable 
 night upon it, with the help of the meets 
 and coverlet that he has likewife pro- 
 vided. As to food, we have brought 
 with us fowls, hams, faufages, pies, 
 cakes, and cheefe ; therefore neither of 
 us mail meet with the difmal fate of 
 Jugurtha after he fell into the hands of 
 the mercilefs Romans. 
 
 And now, ye Queens of Parnaffus, as 
 a reward for my long paft fervices, for 
 which you never paid me, I befeech you 
 to obtain from your friend Apollo, that 
 to-morrow he be fo kind as to bring day 
 U 4 over
 
 over this region betimes, that I may 
 early fee the way which leads travellers 
 from the moft paltry inn of Aldeagallega. 
 
 A POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 Supper being over, and finding in my- 
 felf an invincible reluctance to fall down 
 upon the ftraw-bag, I went to take a 
 fhort walk. The air is quite foft and 
 calm, and the moon mines bright. As 
 I was moving on with weary fleps and 
 bufy imagination, I found myfelf by the 
 fide of the Tagus, which is within piflol- 
 fhot of the Eftallage. There I faw many 
 a ,happy couple, fome fitting on the 
 bank, fome walking backwards and for- 
 wards, all whifpering, all hugging, all 
 enjoying each other in the cool of the 
 evening. 
 
 Good folks ! faid I to myfelf. What 
 fort of fupper they have had I know not, 
 and probably their beds are no better 
 than that which Batifte has provided for 
 me ! And yet they are happy in each 
 
 other's,
 
 I 297 ] 
 
 other's kindnefs. Why do the Englifli 
 ilun foreigners with their liberty ? Is 
 it not liberty to wander by the river- fide 
 at dldeagallega, telling a gentle maid 
 whatever comes uppermoft, without a 
 thought of miniftry, politics, or fadtion ? 
 
 Happy Aide agalle gam ! go on in this 
 way for ever, and never think nor enquire 
 how the money of the nation is fpent! 
 
 I had already taken notice that the 
 Portuguefe are of a difpofition much more 
 amorous than the Englifh, and waited 
 for an opportunity to tell you fo. The 
 inhabitants of this village walking thus 
 lovingly chacun avec fa chacune have now 
 given me that opportunity. But this is 
 generally the cafe with all nations in 
 warm climates. The natives of a cold 
 region can fcarcely have right notions of 
 the effect of a warm temperature. In 
 northern latitudes a good deal of cloathing 
 and firing is required to pafs life away 
 with fome comfort; and. where cloath- 
 ing and firing are much wanting, much 
 
 thought
 
 [ 2 9 8 ] 
 
 thought and much time muft be fpent t& 
 procure them. The cafe is fomewhat 
 different in thofe countries where fewer 
 things are neceffary to life. This is the 
 reafon why in England there are multi- 
 tudes who have fcarcely been in love once 
 in their lives. Many a debauchee have I 
 feen in England during ten years, but 
 very feldom a true innamorato. In Portu- 
 gal all are in love from the day of their 
 nativity to that of their deceafe, and Ca- 
 moens knew what he was about when he 
 
 faid 
 
 Venus bella 
 
 j4ffey$oada a gente Lufitana. 
 
 " Fair Venus cherifhes the Portuguese" 
 
 Love is the predominant paffion on the 
 *Tagus, as Liberty on the Thames. 
 
 There are many more ftriking differ- 
 ences between the Portuguefc and the 
 Englimj but that amongft other which is 
 moft remarkable, is their different way of 
 being devout, when by devotion we mean 
 the outward {how of religion, indepen- 
 dent
 
 [ 299 ] 
 
 dent of its fpirit. See the Englifti at 
 church. They fit or ftand with a com- 
 pofed look; fing their pfalms and anthems 
 with an even tone of voice; and not one 
 in a hundred betrays the leaft enthufiafm, 
 except a few of thofe two fedts called 
 Methodifts and ^.takers , who might be 
 termed the Lufitanick part of the Britifh 
 nation. 
 
 The Portuguefe on the contrary when 
 at church, are devout to a fuperlative de- 
 gree. They are almofl all the time upon 
 their knees ; raife their eyes wiftfully up, 
 fix the fingers of one hand clofely be- 
 tween thofe of the other ; fing very loud, 
 or utter ejaculations with great earneft- 
 nefs, and often ftrike their breafts with 
 their hands. Leave their churches and 
 look at their houfes. You will fee many 
 crofTes painted on their outward walls, 
 or a Madona, or a St. Francis, or a St. 
 Anthony. Look at one of their friars 
 coming in. Men, women, and children 
 will haftily get up, run to him, and 
 
 humbly
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
 humbly kifs his hand, or his fleeve, or the 
 hem of his garment, or the beads that 
 hang from his waift. Every evening you 
 fee them in numbers kneeling round a 
 high crucifix planted in the middle of 
 a ftreet, finging litanies with their utmoft 
 powerof voice. Then none of them dares 
 to die without going through many pre- 
 paratory rites, which is not the cafe in 
 England : and when they are dead, they 
 are buried drefs'd up in a habit that mufl 
 be bought of a Francifcan or a Dominican 
 Friar, of whofe fanftity they had a good 
 opinion. I remember an impudent Por- 
 tuguefe Francifcan I met once in a boat 
 as I was going down our Po, who looked 
 upon all Italians as little lefs than here- 
 ticks. What led him into this opinion 
 was, that no body in Italy would give him 
 a farthing for his coat, which in Portu- 
 gal, he could fell at will for forty or fifty 
 crowns. 
 
 What words can exprefs the devotion 
 pf the Portuguefe to the Virgin Mary ? 
 
 The
 
 [ 3' 1 
 
 The fouthern Italians fcarcely rate her fb 
 high as the Portuguefe : but the Englim 
 never think of her. You may eafily ima- 
 giae that thofe who make nothing of the 
 Virgin, make lefs than nothing of the 
 Saints, which is not the cafe either in 
 Italy or in Portugal. Yet the Portuguefe 
 revere them a great deal more than we 
 do; and above all you cannot conceive 
 what fublime notions they have of 
 St. Anthony ! The twelve apoftles all to- 
 gether have not the hundredth part of the 
 prayers directed to them that are to him. 
 St. Anthony was a countryman of theirs; 
 and as fuch, they take it for granted that 
 he will mind them more than any of the 
 apofUes or any other. But what bufmefs 
 have they with St. Francis, who was our 
 countryman, and, I think, never vifited 
 Portugal in his life ? Yet they put him 
 upon a level with their own St. Francis, 
 and even a degree higher, if we may judge 
 by their Francifco's and Francifcas, who 
 are much more numerous throughout 
 
 their
 
 their country than the Antonio's and An- 
 tonias. You may have a fpecimen of the 
 Portuguefc fondnefs, firft for our Lady, 
 and then for St, Francis, if you will look 
 back again to the dialogue out of the 
 Philippine-book. There you will find 
 that each of the King's four daughters 
 was chriftened by the name of Mary 
 Frances. 
 
 But the great devotion of the Portu- 
 guefe does not interfere at all with their 
 love of the other fex, or their love of 
 dancing, which is another of their mighty 
 loves. As foon as they have done with 
 evening- finging of litanies before their 
 crucifixes in the ftreets, and at their win- 
 dows or balconies, if you take a ramble 
 about the ftreets, you fee in houfes and 
 (hops numbers of them dancing merrily 
 at the found of a guittar or two, while 
 fome of the company, or the guittarifts 
 themfelves, fing a fong to the tune. 
 None of your minuets and your aimables. 
 Their dances are not of fuch a cold, in- 
 
 fipid,
 
 [ 33 1 
 
 Cpid, and Frenchified kind. They chiefly 
 confift in jumps and jerks, in languid 
 poftures and languid falls, in a quick and 
 incelTant finking of their heels on the 
 ground, perfectly calculated to kindle the 
 mind with joy and the heart with defire. 
 Thus live the Portuguefe in an unin- 
 terrupted round of devotion and pleafure. 
 They are neither gluttons nor drunkards, 
 though their country wants neither food 
 nor drink. Their beef and veal indeed 
 are not fo generally good as in England, 
 or in the weftern and northern parts of 
 Italy; but their pork, mutton, and lamb 
 are excellent; and fo are their chickens, 
 fowls, ducks, turkeys, and game. As 
 for fifh, the Lifbon-market is perhaps the 
 moft plentifully and moft varioufly fup- 
 plied in Europe; and all their fruit and 
 garden-ftuff is fuperlatively good. The 
 low people feldom tafte flefh; but the 
 beft fort keep very good tables and have 
 French cooks. To keep a table, how- 
 ever, muft require a confiderable expence 
 i in
 
 [ 304 ] 
 
 in Liibon, if to live at home cofls pro- 
 portionately as much as to live at an inn. 
 My table at Kelly's, which was far froni 
 being a fumptuous one, coft me above a 
 guinea a day. But I know nothing as 
 to the manner of living of the great in 
 Lifbon, becaufe I have feen none. By 
 wftat I have feen of the inferior claries, 
 they feem to like a good houfe, if they 
 have one that is good : but if they have 
 it not, a Baracca will do quite as well. 
 As to houfhold furniture they have no 
 refined ideas. A hard matrafs in a cor- 
 ner, or a mat, or their own cloaths, 
 will ftand them in {lead of as good beds 
 as down can make ; for which reafon 
 they look generally dirty. Almoft any 
 thing with them will fupply the place of 
 victuals ; and water is excellent to quench 
 the thirft, efpecially fuch good water as 
 they have here. 
 
 Thus live the Portuguefe, without 
 thinking much of to-morrow ; that 
 plaguy fa-morrow, which, along with 
 
 liberty,
 
 J 
 
 liberty ', is always uppermoft in the head 
 of an Englishman. In general they are 
 healthy and full of fpirits, and live long, 
 if we may judge by the great number of 
 old people that one fees in their metropo- 
 lis. Whether the proportion of happi- 
 nefs is greater in Portugal than in Eng- 
 land, er the contrary, I have no means gf 
 Calculating; but the Portuguefe do not 
 look as if they were difturbed by defire of 
 change, or fear of want. 
 
 The ruin of their capital was a misfor- 
 tune eternally to be commiferated. Speak- 
 ing of it, the Portuguefe would fay: Quern 
 nao ha vifto Li/boa, nab ha vijlo cofa boa ; 
 " he who has not feen Lljbon^ has feen no- 
 thing that is good." Of fuch partial fayings 
 almoft every nation has one, if not more. 
 <$uien no ha iiljlo S evil la, no ha vrfto mara- 
 villa. " He who has not feen Seville has not 
 "feen a wonder." Qui n a point vu Ver- 
 fattle> n a vu rien qui vaill?. " He who has 
 <( not feen Verf allies has feen nothing worth 
 ^feeing" I could give you many more 
 
 VOL. I. X fayings
 
 fayings of this fort, if I had a mind. 
 That of the Neapolitans is the moft ener- 
 getick of them all, though not in rhyme. 
 Vedi Napoli c po morL " See Naples, and 
 " then die:' 
 
 It is now time to end my Poftcript. 
 I go to lie down on my ftraw-bag, and 
 fet the fleas and rats at defiance. 
 
 The END of the FIRST VOLUME
 
 \
 
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