of happinefs in this world; and indeed whatever he poffelled beyond this habitual penury, according to the prefent flate and exertions of intellects, would quickly be taken from him, or rather he would will ingly part with it, being taught by his numberlefs ghoftly comforter, with which his country fwarms, to look forward for eafe and happine to another state of exiftence, to which they are themfelves the infallib guides and conductors.

To these remarks we shall fubjoin thofe of Mr. Murphy, a late tra veller in Portugal:-" The common people of Lisbon and its enviroca are a laborious and hardy race. It is painful to fee the trouble they are. obliged to take for want of proper implements to carry on their work. Their cars have the rude appearance of the earlieft ages; thefe vehicles are flowly drawn by two ftout oxen. The corn is fhelled by the treading of the fame animals. They have many other cuftoms which to u appear very fingular; for example, women fit with the left fide towards the horfe's head when they ride. A poftillion rides on the left horfe. A tailor fits at his work like a fhoemaker. A hair-dreffer appears on Sun. days with a fword, a cockade, and two watches, at least two watch. chains. A tavern is known by a vine-bush, a house to be let by a piece of blank paper, the door of an accoucheur by a white crofs, and a Jew by his extra-catholic devotion.-A Portuguese peafant will not walk with a fuperior, an aged perfon, or a ftranger, without giving him the right hand fide, as a mark of refpect. He never paffes by a human being without taking off his hat, and faluting him in these words, The Lord preferve you for many years! In fpeaking of an abfent friend he always fays I die with impatience to fee him.'-They all imagine their country is the bleffed Elyfium, and that Lifbon is the greatest city in the world."

RELIGION.] The established religion of Portugal is popery, in the ftricteft fenfe. The Portuguese have a patriarch; but formerly he de pended entirely upon the pope, unlefs when a quarrel fubfifted between the courts of Rome and Lifbon. The power of his holiness in Portugal has been of late fo much curtailed, that it is difficult to defcribe the religious ftate of that country: all we know is, that the royal revenues are greatly increafed at the expenfe of the religious inftitutions in the kingcom, The power of the inquifition is now taken out of the hands of the ecclefiaftics, and converted to a state-trap for the benefit of the

crown.

ARCHBISHOPRICS AND BISHOPRICS.] The archbishoprics are thofe of Braga, Evora, and Lifbon. The firft of thefe has ten fuffragan bifhops; the fecond, two; and the laft, ten, including thofe of the Portuguefe fettlements abroad. The patriarch of Lifbon is generally a cardinal, and a perfon of the highest birth.

LANGUAGE.] The Portuguefe language differs but little from that of Spain, and that provincially. Their Paternofter runs thus: Padre mala que eftas nos ceos, fan&tificado feio o tu nome; venha a nos tuo reyno, jera feita a tua votade, ajhi nos cers, como na terra. O pao nejo de codidia, dano lo oci neftro dia. E perdoa nos as offas devidas, affi como nos perdoamis a os noffes devedores. E nao nos dexes cabir om tentaças, mas libra nos do

mal.

Amen.

LEARNING AND LEARNED MEN.] Thefe are fo few, that they are mentioned with indignation, even by thofe of the Portuguese themfelves who have the finalleft tincture of literature. Some efforts, though very weak, have of late been made by a few, to draw their countrymen from this deplorable ftate of ignorance. It is univerfally allowed, that the

t is not owing to the want of genius, but of a proper education. ancestors of the prefent Portuguese were certainly poffeffed of more knowledge with regard to aftronomy, geography, and navigation, perhaps any other European nation, about the middle of the 16th tury, and for fome time after. Camoens, who himself was a great enturer and voyager, was poffeffed of a true, but neglected, poetical nius.

UNIVERSITIES.] Thefe are Coimbra, founded in 1291, by king Dens; and which had fifty profeffors; but it has lately been put under me new regulations; Evora, founded in 1559; and the college of he nobles at Lisbon, where the young nobility are educated in every ranch of polite learning and the fciences. All the books that did be ong to the banished Jefuits are kept here, which compofe a very large ibrary. The English language is likewife taught in this college. Here salfo a military and marine academy, where young gentlemen are eduated in the fcience of engineering and naval tactics.

CURIOSITIES.] The lakes and fountains which have been already mentioned, form the chief of thefe. The remains of fome caftles in the Moorish tafte are ftill ftanding. The Roman bridge and aqueduct at Coimbra are almost entire, and deservedly admired. The walls of Santareen are faid to be of Roman work likewife. The church and monaftery near Lifbon, where the kings of Portugal are buried, are inexpreffibly magnificent, and feveral monafteries in Portugal are dug out of the hard rock. The chapel of St. Roch is probably one of the finest and richest in the world; the paintings are mofaic work, fo curioufly wrought with ftones of all colours, as to atonifh the beholders. To thete cariofities we may add, that the king is poffeffed of the largeft, though not the moft valuable, diamond in the world. It was found in Brafil.

it

CHIEF CITIES.] Lisbon is the capital of Portugal. Of the population of this city (fays Mr. Murphy) no exact account has been recently pub lifhed, and the rapid increafe of its inhabitants of late years must render any calculation of that kind very uncertain. In the year 1774, the forty parishes into which Lifben is divided were found to contain 33,764 houfes; and in the year 1790, they amounted to 38,102. Hence appears to have increased 4,338 houfes in the course of these ten years. Now, if we estimate each houfe on an average at fix perfons, which, perhaps is within the truth, the population in the year 1790 was 228,612. To thefe are to be added the religious of both fexes, with their attendants, who dwell in convents and monafteries, the foldiery, the profeffors and ftudents of feminaries of education, and fuch of the Galician labourers as have no fixed dwelling; their aggregate amount, information be correct, is not very short of 12,000. According to this statement, therefore, the population of Lifbon exceeds 240,000. From the magnitude of the city, indeed, we should be induced to fuppofe that its population was confiderably more than above ftated; for it is computed to be four miles long, by one and a half broad; but many of the houfes have large gardens; and fuch as have not, are, in general, laid out upon a large fale, on account of the heat of the climate.

if

my

The fatal effects of the earthquake in 1755 are ftill visible in many parts of the city, and never fail to imprefs every fpectator with an awful remembrance of that difafter; according to the most accurate accounts, there were not lefs than 24,000 victims to it. The Portuguese have, however, availed themfelves of this misfortune, and, like the English

permanent good. All the new ftreets erected in Lisbon, in the place of the old, are capacious, regular, and well paved, with convenient foot. paths for paffengers, as in the streets of London. In point of cleanli. nefs, Lifbon is no longer fo much a fubject of animadverfion to strangers as formerly; but all is not yet done, as it ftill wants common fewers, pipe. water, and privies. Lifbon is defervedly accounted the greateft port is Europe, next to London and Amfterdam. The harbour is fpacious and fecure, and the city itfelf is guarded from any fudden attack towards the fea by forts, though they would make but a poor defence against fhips of war. The fecond city in this kingdom is Oporto, which is computed to contain 30,000 inhabitants. The chief article of commerce in this city is wine; and the inhabitants of half the fhops in the city are coopers. The merchants affemble daily in the chief ftreet, to tranfact bufinefs; and are protected from the fun by fail-cloths hung across from the oppofite houfes. About thirty English families refide here, who are chiefly concerned in the wine trade.

COMMERCE AND MANUFACTURES.] Thefe within these few years have taken a furprifing turn in Portugal. The miniftry have projected many new companies and regulations, which have been again and again complained of as unjuft and oppreffive, and inconfiftent with the privileges which the British merchants formerly enjoyed by the mot folemn treaties.

The Portuguese exchange their wine, falt, and fruit, and moft of their own materials, for foreign manufactures. They make a little linen, and fome coarfe filk and woollen, with a variety of ftraw-work; and are excellent in preferving and candying fruit. The commerce of Portugal, though feemingly extenfive, proves of little folid benefit to her, as the European nations trading with her engrofs all the produc tions of her colonies, as well as her own native commodities, as her gold, diamonds, pearls fugars, cocoa-nuts, fine red-wood, tobacco, hides, and the drugs of Brafil, her ivory, ebony, fpices, and drugs of Africa and Eaft India, in exchange for the almoft numberlefs manufactures and the vast quantity of corn and falt fish, fupplied by thofe European nations, and by the English North American colonies.

The Portuguefe foreign fettlements are, however, not only of im menfe value, but vaftly improvable. Thefe are Brafil, the Ifles of Cape Verd, Madeira, and the Azores. They bring gold from their planta. tions on the east and west coast of Africa, and likewife flaves for mangfacturing their fugars and tobacco in Brafil, and their South Americaa fettlements.

What the value of thefe latter may be, is unknown perhaps to themfelves; but they certainly abound in all the precious tones, and rich mines of gold and filver, and other commodities that are produced in the Spanish dominions there. It is computed that the king's fifth of gold fent from Brafil amounts annually to 300,000l. fterling, notwithstanding the vaft contraband trade. The little fhipping the Portuguese bave is chiefly employed in carrying on the flave-trade, and a correfpondence with Goa, their chief fettlement in the Eaft Indies, and their other pof feffions there, as Diu, Daman, Macao, &c.

CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT.] The crown of Portugal is ab folute; but the nation fill preferves an appearance of its ancient free conflitution, in the meeting of the cortes, or flates, confifting, like our parliaments of clergy, nobility, and commors. They pretend to a right of being confulted upon the impofition of new taxes; but the only real power they have, is, that their affent is neceflary in every new regu

Jation with regard to the fucceffion. In this they are indulged, to prevent all future difputes on that account.

This government may be fairly pronounced the moft defpotic in Europe. The established law is generally a dead letter, excepting where its decrees are carried into execution by the fupplementary mandates of the fovereign, which are generally employed in defeating the purposes of fafety and protection; which law is calculated to extend equally over all the fubjects,

The people here have no more fhare in the direction of government, in enacting of laws, and in the regulating of agriculture and commerce, than they have in the government of Ruffia, or China. The far greater part know nothing of what is done in that refpect. Every man has no other iternative but to yield a blind and ready obedience, in what. ever cor erns himself, to the decrees and laws of the defpot, as promulgated from time to time by his fecretaries of ftate. How would an Englishman, alive to all the feelings of civil liberty, tremble at reading the preamble of every new law publifhed here! and which runs thus: Į, the king, in virtue of my own certain knowledge, of my royal will and pleasure, and of my full, fupreme, and arbitrary power, which I hold only of God, and for which I am accountable to no man on earth, I do, in confe quence, order and command, &c. &c."

All great preferments, both fpiritual and temporal, are difpofed of in the council of ftate, which is compofed of an equal number of the clergy and nobility, with the fecretary of ftate. A council of war regulates all military affairs, as the treafury courts do the finances. The council of the palace is the highest tribunal that can receive appeals, but the Cafa da Supplicaço is a tribunal from which no appeal can be brought. The laws of Portugal are contained in three duodecimo volumes, and have the civil law for their foundation.

REVENUES AND TAXES.] The revenues of the crown amount to above 3,000,000 and a half fterling, annually. The customs and duties on goods exported and imported are exceffive, and farmed out; but if the Portuguese miniftry fhould fucceed in all their projects, and in establishing exclufive companies, to the prejudice of the British trade, the inhabitants will be able to bear thefe taxes without murmuring. Foreign merchandise pays twenty-three per cent. on importation, and fish from Newfoundland twenty-five per cent. Fifh taken in the neighbouring feas and rivers pays twenty-feven per cent. and the tax upon lands, and cattle that are fold, is ten per cent. The king derives a confiderable revenue from the feveral orders of knighthood, of which he is grandmafter. The pope, in confideration of the large fums he draws out of Portugal, gives the king the money arifing from indulgences, and li cences to eat flesh at times prohibited, &c. The king's revenue is now greatly increased by the fuppreffion of the Jefuits, and other religious orders and inftitutions.

MILITARY AND MARINE STRENGTH.] The Portuguese government ufed to depend chiefly for protection on England; and therefore, for many years, they greatly neglected their army and fleet; but the fame; friendly connection between Great Britain and Portugal does not at prefent fubfit. In the late reign, though they received the most effectual affiftance from England, when invaded by the French and Spaniards, his Moft Faithful Majefty judged it expedient to raise a confiderable body of troops who were chiefly difciplined by foreign officers; bu fince that period, the army has been again neglected, no proper enfouragement being given to foreign officers, and little attention paid to

the difcipline of the troops, fo that the military force of Portugal is now again inconfiderable, amounting, it is faid, to 25,000 men. The naval force of this kingdom is computed at thirteen fail of the line, and fifteen frigates.

ROYAL TITLES AND ARMS.] The king's titles are, King of Portugal and the Algarves, on this and on the other fide of the fea in Africa, Lord of Guinea, and of the conqueft, navigation, and commerce of Ethi opia, Arabia, Perfia, and Brazil. John V. was complimented, by the pope, with the title of his Moft Faithful Majefty. The title of the herr apparent is Prince of Brazil; and that of his eldeft fon Prince of Beira, The reft of the princes of the blood royal are called Infante.

The arms of Portugal are, argent, five efcutcheons, azure, placed crofs-wife, each charged with as many befants as the firft, placed falter. wife, and pointed, fable, for Portugal. The fhield bordered, gules, charged with feven towers, or, three in chief, and two in each flanch, -The fupporters are two winged dragons, and the creft a dragon, or, under the two flanches, and the bafe of the fhield appears at the end of it; two croffes, the first fleur de-lis, vert, which is for the order of Aviez, and the fecond patée, gules, for the order of Chrift; the motto is changeable, each king affuming a new one; but it is frequently thefe words, pro Rege et Grege," For the King and the People."

NOBILITY AND ORDERS.] The titles and diftinétions of their nobility are much the fame as thofe of Spain. Their orders of knighthood are three; 1. That of Avis or Aviez, firft inftituted by Alphonfus Henriquez, king of Portugal, in the year 1147, as a military and religiou order, on account of his taking Evora from the Moors. In 1213, it was fubject to the order of Calatrava, in Spain; but when Don John of Por. tugal feized the crown, he made it again independent. 2. The "Or. der of St. James," inftituted by Dennis I, king of Portugal, in the year 1310, fuppofing that under that faint's protection he became victorious over the Moors; and he endowed it with great privileges. The knights profefs chastity, hofpitality, and obedience, and none are admitted till they prove the gentility of their blood. Their enfign is a red sword, the habit white, and their principal convent is at Dalmela, 3. The "Or. der of Chrift" was inftituted in the year 1317, by Dennis 1. of Portu. gal, to engage the nobility to affift him more powerfully against the Moors. The knights obtained great poffeffions, and elected their grand. mafter, till 1522, when pope Adrian VI. conferred that office on Joba III. and his fucceffors to the crown of Portugal. Thefe orders have fmall commanderies and revenues annexed to them, but are in fmall efteem. The "Order of Malta" has likewife twenty-two commanderie in Portugal.

HISTORY OF PORTUGAL.] This kingdom comprehends the greate part of the ancient Lufitania, and fhared the fame fate with the other Spanish provinces, in the contefts between the Carthaginians and Romans, and in the decline and fall of the Roman empire, and was fucceffively in fubjection to the Suevi, Alans, Visigoths, and Moors. In the eleventh century, Alphonfus VI. king of Caftile and Leon, rewarded Henry, grandfon of Robert, king of France, for his bravery and affiftance againft the Moors, with his daughter, and that part of Portugal then in the hands of the Chriftians. Henry was fucceeded by his fon Alphonfus Henry, in the year 1095, who gained a decifive victory over fit Moorish kings, in July, 1139. This victory proved the origin of the monarchy of Portugal, for Alphonfus was then proclaimed king by his foldiers, He reigned forty-fix years, and was efteemed for his courags