and Sorrow; two spectres, who, had they dared to mount on our shoulders, would have been driven off with a high hand by the Prior of St. Vincent's, than whom a more delightful companion never existed since the days of those polished and gifted canons and cardinals who formed such a galaxy of talent and facetiousness round Leo the Tenth.

We were absolutely roused from our repast, over which the Prior of St. Vincent's gay animated conversation was throwing its usual brilliance, by a racket and hubbub on the sea-shore that was perfectly distracting. The space between my villa and the sea was entirely blocked up, half the population of Belem having poured forth to witness our departure. The lubberly drivers of the baggage-carts were fighting and squabbling amongst themselves for precedence. One of the most lumbering of these illconstructed vehicles, laden with a large heavy marquee, had its hind wheels already well buffeted by the waves. At length it moved off; and then burst forth such vociferation and such deafening shouts of "Long live the Prince!" and "Long live the Marialvas, and all their friends into the bargain !"-the Englishman of course included as I expected, would have fixed a headach for life upon the unhappy Grand Prior.

Amongst other noises which gave him no small annoyance, might be reckoned the outrageous snortings and neighings of both his favourite high-pampered chaise-horses, out of compliment to one of my delicate English mares, who was trying to get through the crowd with a most engaging air of sentimental retiring modesty. Half laughing and half angry lest some unfortunate kick or plunge might deprive me of her agreeable services, I refrained not from crying out to the Grand Prior, " For pity's sake, let us dawdle and doodle no longer, but drive through this mob if it be possible. You see what a disturbance the glorious fuss which has been making about this journey has occasioned; you see the result of a surfeit of superfluities: really, if we had been setting forth to explore the kingdom of Prester John, or the identical spot where Don Sebastian left his bones, (if true it be that the shores of Africa, and not some pet dungeon of King Philip's, received them,) we could scarcely have gotten together a grander array of encumbrances. At this rate, we shall have occasion to put our tent

in requisition this very night, unless we defer our journey again, and sleep under my roof at San José.”

"No, no," said the Prior of St. Vincent's; "we shall sleep at my convent's pleasant quinta of Tojal. I shall set off with my people immediately to prepare for your reception."

The deed followed the word his attendant muleteers cracked their whips in the most imposing style—his ferradors pushed on— the crowd divided—a passage was cleared; the Grand Prior, ordering his dormeuse to follow, got into my enormous travelling chaise, and by the efforts of six stout mules we soon reached Bemfica.

Beyond this village, a shady lane overhung by elms brought us to Nossa Senhora de Luz; a large pile of buildings in the majestic style which prevailed during the Spanish domination in Portugal, but much shattered by the earthquake. From hence we passed on to Lumiares, through intricate paved roads bordered by aloes, sprouting up to the height of ten or twelve feet, in shape and colour not unlike gigantic asparagus.

Lumiares contains a quinta belonging to the Marquess of Anjeja, upon which immense sums have been lavished for the wise purpose of pebbling alleys in quaint Mosaic patterns, red, black, and blue; building colossal reservoirs for gold and silver fish, painting their smooth plastered sides with divers flaming colours, and cutting a steep hill into a succession of stiff terraces, under the sole pretext, one should think, of establishing flights of awkward narrow marble steps to communicate one with the other, for they did not appear to lead to any other part of the garden.

The road from Lumiares to Loures is conducted along a valley, between sloping acclivities variegated by fields of grain and wild shrubby pastures. The soft air of the evening was delightful; and the lowing of herds descending from the hills to slake their thirst after a sultry day, at springs and fountains, full of pastoral charm.

It grew dark when we passed the village of Tojal, and crossing a bridge over the river Trancaô, entered the woody domain of the Monks of St. Vincent. Lights glimmering at the extremity of an avenue of orange-trees directed us to the house, a low picturesque building, half villa, half hermitage. Our reception was so truly

exhilarating, so perfectly all in point of comfort and luxury that the heart of man or even churchman could desire, that we willingly promised to pass the whole of to-morrow in this cheerful residence, and defer our further progress till the day following.

SECOND DAY.

4th June.

THE sunbeams entering my windows summoned me to enjoy the fresh morning breeze blowing over the uninterrupted mass of foliage which fills up the whole valley belonging to the convent.

After breakfast we walked amongst well-cultivated vegetables, fields of Indian wheat as healthy and vigorous as any that ever flourished in the islands which float about like rafts on the Lake of Mexico, and the most extensive orchards of orange, apricots, and other fruit-trees, perhaps in Portugal. Every inch of ground within this inclosure is turned to the most advantageous account: the oranges alone produce from seven to eight thousand cruzados a year. A very active lay-brother has the management of this fortunate spot, and is continually extending its limits over the bare hills in the neighbourhood, many of which are comprised within the domain of the fathers.

The river Trancaô, which runs through the garden, is diminished to a brook at this season; but that brook is clear, and flows rapidly. Its rocky edges, worn into irregular shapes by winter torrents, bloom with the rose-coloured flowers of the oleander. Their appearance was strikingly beautiful; many of these shrubs had attained the height of fifteen or sixteen feet.

But one of the grandest objects of the vegetable world which ever met my sight is a bay-tree, situated in the thickest part of the orange orchards, above which it towers majestically, clothed with luxuriant boughs that glisten with health and vigour. It consists of about thirty stems, none less than two feet, and some thirty-eight inches in diameter, springing from one root, and rising to the height of sixty-four feet. I loitered away the sultry hours of midday most pleasantly under its deep, fragrant shade.

The Prior had ordered a fishing-party for our amusement ;—no great amusement, however, for one who detests the sight of wretched animals, inveigled from their cool aquatic homes, and cast on a dry bank, gasping for life and distending their jaws in torment. Full often have I fancied what woful grimaces we children of Adam would be compelled to make, should ever the colossal inhabitants of a superior planet be permitted on some dread day of retribution to drop down on the earth on an angling tour, and fish us out of our element for their dinner or recreation. No want of sport need be apprehended in this case-plenty would bite. Men have in general such wide-open appetites for the objects of their individual pursuit, that, only render the bait sufficiently tempting, and I promise they swallow it, hook and all. So few set any bounds to their voraciousness, that a shark might be chosen President of a Temperance Society with equal justice. Courtesy obliged both the Grand Prior and Doctor Ehrhart, as well as myself, to remain much longer than we wished on the banks of the river, witnessing the joy of the anglers, and the struggles of the expiring fish.

About two, we returned home, through shady alleys of curious citron-trees, collected from every part of the Portuguese dominions on this and on the other side of the ocean, divided by tall canes mantled with vines, which promise, like every plant in this happy inclosure, an abundant produce. The nightingales were singing in the recesses of woods impenetrable to the sun, and at the same time, I am sorry to add, frogs were croaking a deep thorough-bass to this enchanting melody.

We dined late for the sake of devouring the produce of our fishery, prepared by the fishermen themselves—a sort of matelotte, which my famous Simon, the most incomparable of cooks, declared, with a smile of ineffable contempt, was only fit to be placed before persons dying with hunger and cast away on some desolate island.

In the cool of the evening we drove through the village of Tojal to a palace of the Patriarch, containing nothing very remarkable, except a vestibule with a tribune looking into a church. The walls of this gallery are lined with the richest marbles of Spain and Portugal, disposed in panels, and ornamented with an overwhelming profusion of doubly and trebly gilt bronze ornaments, in that style of lavish expenditure carried to such triumphant

excess by that most magnificent of modern Solomons, King John the Fifth.

After seeing ourselves reflected on all sides in tablets innumerable, polished like mirrors, we repaired to an immense parterre-the flattest, the richest in red and yellow flowers, and the most like a Turkey carpet, of any I ever had the vexation of visiting either in Holland or Germany. I was glad to escape from this far-spread expanse of pomposity and dulness, and return to the simple orange thickets of my amiable friend, where I walked till almost midnight, listening to the nightingales, who at length had shamed the frogs to silence.

THIRD DAY.

5th June.

THE first sounds I heard upon awakening this superiorly fine and glowing morning, was not "the charm of early birds," but the obstreperous rattle of a violent altercation, or, in simple truth, a downright squabble which broke out, in the vestibule adjoining my room, between the Grand Prior's secretary and a confidential attendant of my good friend of St. Vincent's.

"You know," said the first-mentioned shrill-voiced consequential personage, 66 my master is too lazy to stir from his shady quarters whilst the sun shines out in so fierce a manner."

"You know,” answered the other, "that we have business of urgency at Alcobaça, and the Prince Regent's command to perform it with the less delay the better."

"You do not pretend," rejoined the secretary, "do you, to force on his excellency whether he will or not?"

"What, does he mean to loiter the whole day in our garden of Eden? Shall we not advance as far as Cadafaiz in the cool of the evening ?"

"Not we: his excellency has made up his mind to take his fill of repose, and I am not the man to contradict him."

"Then you are a rebellious fool for your pains, and have forgotten his Royal Highness's express orders.-Go on drinking the waters of Lethe if you dare."