three chief altars of the church, and the large pannels of marble, perfectly black, which adorn the lower part of the side walls, justly challenge the admiration of travellers. The six organs in the chapel are extremely handsome, and their tones perfectly correspond with the richness of their exterior ornaments. This sumptuous building might be supposed to commemorate the triumph of folly, bigotry, and the inquisition. The Marquess Pombal converted it to some useful purposes during the reign of Joseph, and dismissed the monks; but on the death of that monarch, they were restored by an imbecile and superstitious queen to the full enjoyment of alltheir privileges of penance, fast, mass, and image-worship, within the palace. At present their number is greatly reduced, and their cloisters are given up for the reception of the British soldiers. The greater portion of the windows have no glass in them, and are closed with shutters painted red, which give the whole building a most shabby appearance.

"From the nature and magnitude of this edifice," says Mr. Murphy, "it may be considered as the Escurial of Portugal, which structure the royal founder intended to emulate, and the treasures which he lavished on it, if properly applied, would have raised a pile much superior to the Escurial in point of architecture; but unfortunately the designer of it had neither a mind to conceive, nor a hand to execute a design for a glebe-house, much less a basilisk and royal palace. The name of this mechanic was Frederick Ludovici, a native of Germany, and a goldsmith by profession. After amassing a considerable fortune in executing the gold and silver utensils of the patriarchal church at Lisbon, he was appointed, through favour, to design and execute this fabric."

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The plan of this edifice forms a quadrangle, measuring from east to west 760 feet, and from north to south 670 feet. In the centre of the west front is a sort of an Ionic hexastyle

portico which leads to the church; at each side is a pavilion, royal family, the other for At the rear of the building The library is 381 palmos

one for the accommodation of the the patriarch and mitred canons. is a monastery with 300 cells. long by 43 broad, and is supposed to contain between 40 and 50,000 volumes. In the dado of the high altar are two large tables of black marble so highly polished that John V. used them as looking-glasses before they were sent hither. Among the ornaments of the edifice are 58 statues of Carrara marble, some of which are very well executed. We may form some idea of the magnitude of the whole by the number of apartments it contains, which amount to 866; the doors and windows being about 5200. The entire of this vast pile is vaulted and covered over with flags, forming a platform whereby we may walk over the summit of the edifice. The gardens, which are at the rear, are very extensive, and, formerly, were well stored with exotics imported from Asia, Africa, and America, by the founder. Father John de Prado has published a particular description of the buildings of Mafra, 1751."

We cannot better perhaps conclude this account of Mafra, than by sending you a sketch of the discipline used by the Arrabidos monks, who have now resumed possession of their cells. It is made of the threads of the American aloe, "fio de pita," which are prepared only in Algarva, and particularly in the neighbourhood of Loule. The most perfect leaves being selected, their juices and pulp are pressed out, when only the nerves of the leaves remain, which are afterwards divided into very fine threads, and these are exposed to the beams of the sun for the purpose of being dried. They may be employed for almost any purposes, but their most useful application is decidedly in the form of a scourge to the shoulders of selfchastising monks. With respect to the rosary, a few words from Costigan, and this letter shall be dismissed :—" The complete rosary consists of fifteen paternosters, and one hun

dred and fifty ave-marias, ten of the last to each of the first; so that the whole rosary contains fifteen parts or mysteries concerning the Son and the Virgin Mary. The "terço" is a third part of the rosary. The mysteries are divided into terçoes; the first five are called the joyful mysteries; the second five, the dolorous; and the last, the glorious mysteries." The missal contains prayers and directions for religious worship in "a tongue not understanded of the people."

LETTER XVII.

A chiel's amang you takin' note,
And, faith, he'll prent it.

BURNS' EPITAPHS.

Lisbon, 1827.

THE Serra de Cintra, with the town and beautiful quintas at its base, embosomed in orange and lemon groves, form the grand feature in the landscape between Mafra and Lisbon. The towering points crowned by the Castello dos Mouros and the Penha Convent were seen to our right during the greater part of the day's journey; and, owing to the clearness of the atmosphere, it appeared as if we were continually approaching them, whilst in reality the distance between us remained as great as ever. Time did not permit us to revisit that charming scenery, and therefore we were obliged to satisfy ourselves with the distant prospect of the "glorious Eden," with its "variegated maze of mount and glen," as we passed along the road. The route, an excellent one, which was opened in the reign of John V., led us through the villages of Abrunheira and Pinheiro to Cabeça de Montachique, a place of some importance in the late memorable campaigns; thence by

Loures, celebrated for its orange groves, whose fruit is said to surpass all others in size and quality, to Carnide and Lumiar, leaving Luz, where there is a convent belonging to the knights of the order of Christ, to the right; and hence to CampoGrande, which on Sundays and days of festivity is the usual resort of the pleasure-seeking inhabitants of the metropolis. From the Campo Pequeno, a plain of some extent, where the troops forming the garrison of Lisbon are occasionally exercised, the whole line of road into the city is bordered on either side with the country residences and gardens of the wealthier class of Portuguese.

The high commanding grounds which rise behind Lisbon, are entirely covered with chapels, churches, and convents, which give the traveller at a distance an idea of grandeur which he will find far from being realized when he has once fairly entered the town; where, as Costigan remarks with great truth, he will find every prospect in the distance to be as beautiful as the spot immediately under his nose is nauseous and disgusting. The autumnal atmosphere of Lisbon is, if possible, more oppressive and offensive than even under the highest degree of summer heat; for the filth of the streets has become more completely volatilized, and the air seems to be absolutely charged with feculent particles and ammoniac salt.

Our arrival from the provinces has been greeted with a tremendous storm of thunder and lightning, the usual precursors of the rainy season in Portugal. The sudden explosion of an electrical cloud immediately over our hotel at Buenos Ayres, has afforded us a specimen of these Lusitanian storms, so awful and tremendous that we have no desire to witness a repetition of it. It so alarmed our native attendant, that he actually turned as pale as death, and threw himself on the sofa, covering his face with both his hands, and crying out for assistance to St. Anthony, the particular saint of Lisbon. Peradventure, however, the worthy Lar was at the time other