[p.79]
Descendo do alto de Penha-verde deixamos á esquerda huma fonte antiga , e logo mais adiante a estrada fórma hum estreito por cujo motivo pozerão os Arabes ao sitio o nome de Gibraltar , e a poucos passos se biparte a estrada. Seguindo-se a da direita se vai dar á ribeira de Gallamares (de que fallaremos quando tratarmos de villa de Collares) em cuja proximidade está a quinta de S. Bento , e as ruinas de huma antiga casa acastellada , que ainda conserva duas torres , pertencente á casa dos Condes de Soure. Continuando a mesma estrada que tinhamos seguido , esta logo adiante se reparte em tres caminhos. A' direita fica o que conduz ás ruinas e quinta de Monserate; o centro he a estrada real de Collares , a qual por baixo de huma continuada sombra de arvoredo , tendo passado pela quinta da Bellavista, pertencente á casa de Cadaval, a da Agua Ferrea , e sitio da Ugaria, nos leva áquella aprazivel e viçosa villa : á esquerda, subindo para o centro da serra em direcção ao Oeste , vamos ter ao convento de Santa Cruz da Serra.
Logo adiante da quinta de Penha-verde fica o sitio de Monserate , assim chamado , de huma Ermida da invocação de Nossa Senhora de Monserate , que no anno de 1540 edificou hum Clerigo chamado Gaspar Preto mandando de Roma vir a imagem de alabastro, da Senhora.
Aqui em hum pequeno monte despegado , que se avança como atalaya do resto das ondulações da Serra , estão as ruinas de huma casa de campo , imitando hum castello antigo. Foi edificada esta casa por hum Inglez chamado Bekfort , inda ha poucos annos , de sorte que por vicio de construccão e não pela sua muita antiguidade está em ruinas. Qual flor requeimada por vento pestifero na viçosa idade da sua vegetação, ainda nestas estragadas ruinas sobresahe a formosura e brilho do seu tempo de gloria. [p.80] Huma bella lameda de arvores nos conduz á casa cercada de huma gradaria de ferro de tres pés de altura, cingindo-lhe as paredes cedros qne sombreando-a , lhe não roubão (pela boa disposição em que estão collocados) os lindos pontos de optica que disfructa , tanto para o lado da serra de que he dominada, como para a parte do mar e valle de Collares. A primeira torre era destinada para os quartos de cama, seguindo-se em baixo casa de jantar etc.; a outra torre consistia em huma bella salla de Musica deforma redonda , cornmunicando com outras , tudo no melhor gosto e distribuição. Tinha a casa duas entradas principaes , que se dirigiào a hum vestibulo em octagono, que partia para os differentes ramos do edificio.
Os aposentos para os creados , cocheira , e cavalharices , formão outro corpo de edificio ao lado do caminho que conduz á casa. Os apriscos , abegoaria , e casa de caseiro são feitas com igual esmero de gosto , buscando a arte meios de embellezamento na sua simples e rustica architectura. Consistia a quinta de hum bello bosque de antigos carvalhos que vinhão terminar junto á casa em hum pomar de larangeiras e tangerinas. Na encosta sobranceira ao valle onde está assentado este pomar se vê huma cascata de enormes calháos que para alli forão conduzidos expressamente , esforçando-se por este modo com tanto trabalho o artificio humano em imitar a simplicidade das bellezas da natureza, [p.81] sempre magestosa e bella nas obras da sua creação , toma esta repreza as aguas que no inverno, e principios da primavera descem do alto da serra, e formão uma cataracta que se despenha por um leito pedregoso, que forma a parte mais baixa do valle desta mata.
Tal he o sitio encantador de Monserrate! Se quereis embriagar a vossa alma de uma agradavel melancolia , vinde passar alguns momentos a estas ruinas, ou quando o sol rompendo por entre as nevoas que coroão os alcantilados montes faz chorar as arvores lagrimas crystalinas , saudosas dos mysterios da noite , ou quando mergulhando-se no Occeano traz essa hora do crepusculo doces meditações.
Evós , damas , acudi tambem ; não receeis genios malfazejos , nem vos assustem as suas torres e recortadas ameias, que esta estancia foi desde o seu principio destinada a prazeres. Lamentai com tudo que esta salla animada outra-ora pela suave melodia da musica , seja agora muda e silenciosa , que esse pavimento sobre o qual se deitão hoje essas ovelhas que vos não excedem em candura, não seja ao de leve roçado pelos vossos pés mimosos, que esse chão cuberto de pedras que desabão do arruinado tecto, não seja forrado de aveludado tapete. Pedi porém que alguma mão bemfeitora restitua esta casa á sua primeira instituição, isto he, a povôe de novos folgares, ou antes pedi que a mão do homem , mais destruidora que o tempo , não derrube [p. 82] esse resto de arvores que escaparão aos sacrilegos golpes do machado, não nivelle com a terra esses mesmos fragmentos do edificio que ainda hoje formão o encanto destes sitios.
Showing posts with label Cintra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cintra. Show all posts
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Prison at Cintra : 1881
James Wells Champney, (1843-1903)
Creator Name-CRT: The AMICA Library
Prison at Cintra : 1881
Library of Congress Prints
Sunday, 2 August 2009
Montserrat 1836
An abrupt and picturesque road led us, through the village, to the hotel of Madame Belem. As the sun was already fast declining, I set off immediately, on a burro, to visit Montserrat, the palace inhabited by Beckford during his residence in Portugal forty or fifty years since. The path was most romantic. Here, a sudden rise would afford a view on the one hand, over the groves
[27] beneath, of the vast expanse of fertile country to the north; or, on the other, of the savage summits of the impending mountains,—there, the path plunged down some dark hollow where the light of heaven was almost excluded by the canopying foliage,—now, it was shaded by majestic cork-trees, elms, or chesnuts,—now, bordered by orange and citron-groves in full blossom, whose perfume mingling with that of the various brilliant flowers overhanging the garden-walls, almost intoxicated the senses,—sometimes, a palace, a villa, or a rustic fountain, adorned the roadside,—and a stream occasionally crossed the path, and sunk murmuring to lose itself in the woods of willow and cane on the slope below.
A mile or two of such scenery, varied by wider views of the Atlantic, brought us to Montserrat, which lies a little below the road, on the brow of a hill, sinking gently to the plain. It is now, and has long been, in ruins—the roofless halls, the floors strewn with masses of rubbish, or overgrown with weeds, form a striking contrast to the appearance it must have presented when inhabited by the wealthy and luxurious " Vathek." The remains of its former magnificence are still visible in the painted walls and fallen fragments. I was surprised that this building should be suffered to continue in this condition, for it is most charmingly [28] situated at the foot of the mountains, having the ocean in the distance on one hand, and the romantic heights of Penha Verde, crowned with pines and cork-trees on the other.
Two miles beyond Montserrat, on the rocky slope, is the little village of Colares, famed for its wine, and its " truly elysian scenery", (to use the words of Beckford) where snow-white quintas gleam from the midst of luxuriant groves and orchards, watered by streams from the overhanging mountains. This village I reached only in time to see the sun sink into the golden waves of the broad Atlantic. I then retraced my steps towards Cintra, and long before I reached the inn, all was night. But what a night! what words can do justice to a summer night in such a climate, and amid such scenery ?
The moon was just rising over the mountain peaks, and shed a flood of light down the rugged slopes, tinging every prominent crag with her glow, and waking up the groves beneath. Such a moonlight I had never beheld. It was scarcely night, for the tints of even the distant landscape were in some degree distinguishable. It was a second day. Every object which caught the moonbeams seemed invested with the brilliancy of sunlight, and a brilliancy increased by the blackness and intensity of the shade, unlike the [29] faint shadow thrown by " day's garish eye." The palace, with its snowy towers, stood out like a glittering edifice of silver from the dark plain beyond—the breezes brought their tribute of orange perfume—the nightingales from the surrounding groves strove to charm the ear with their melody, mingling their notes with the music of falling waters — and innumerable fire-flies darted through the air, glittering one moment like sparks of fire, and the next, invisible. All Nature seemed to vie in overpowering the senses with pleasure. Such moments amid such scenes become the halting-places, where Memory in journeying over the fields of past existence, however drear and gloomy, will pause with delight to refresh herself with pure draughts from the well of Nature.
A summer in Andalucia
George Dennis
London, Richard Bently, 1839
[27] beneath, of the vast expanse of fertile country to the north; or, on the other, of the savage summits of the impending mountains,—there, the path plunged down some dark hollow where the light of heaven was almost excluded by the canopying foliage,—now, it was shaded by majestic cork-trees, elms, or chesnuts,—now, bordered by orange and citron-groves in full blossom, whose perfume mingling with that of the various brilliant flowers overhanging the garden-walls, almost intoxicated the senses,—sometimes, a palace, a villa, or a rustic fountain, adorned the roadside,—and a stream occasionally crossed the path, and sunk murmuring to lose itself in the woods of willow and cane on the slope below.
A mile or two of such scenery, varied by wider views of the Atlantic, brought us to Montserrat, which lies a little below the road, on the brow of a hill, sinking gently to the plain. It is now, and has long been, in ruins—the roofless halls, the floors strewn with masses of rubbish, or overgrown with weeds, form a striking contrast to the appearance it must have presented when inhabited by the wealthy and luxurious " Vathek." The remains of its former magnificence are still visible in the painted walls and fallen fragments. I was surprised that this building should be suffered to continue in this condition, for it is most charmingly [28] situated at the foot of the mountains, having the ocean in the distance on one hand, and the romantic heights of Penha Verde, crowned with pines and cork-trees on the other.
Two miles beyond Montserrat, on the rocky slope, is the little village of Colares, famed for its wine, and its " truly elysian scenery", (to use the words of Beckford) where snow-white quintas gleam from the midst of luxuriant groves and orchards, watered by streams from the overhanging mountains. This village I reached only in time to see the sun sink into the golden waves of the broad Atlantic. I then retraced my steps towards Cintra, and long before I reached the inn, all was night. But what a night! what words can do justice to a summer night in such a climate, and amid such scenery ?
The moon was just rising over the mountain peaks, and shed a flood of light down the rugged slopes, tinging every prominent crag with her glow, and waking up the groves beneath. Such a moonlight I had never beheld. It was scarcely night, for the tints of even the distant landscape were in some degree distinguishable. It was a second day. Every object which caught the moonbeams seemed invested with the brilliancy of sunlight, and a brilliancy increased by the blackness and intensity of the shade, unlike the [29] faint shadow thrown by " day's garish eye." The palace, with its snowy towers, stood out like a glittering edifice of silver from the dark plain beyond—the breezes brought their tribute of orange perfume—the nightingales from the surrounding groves strove to charm the ear with their melody, mingling their notes with the music of falling waters — and innumerable fire-flies darted through the air, glittering one moment like sparks of fire, and the next, invisible. All Nature seemed to vie in overpowering the senses with pleasure. Such moments amid such scenes become the halting-places, where Memory in journeying over the fields of past existence, however drear and gloomy, will pause with delight to refresh herself with pure draughts from the well of Nature.
A summer in Andalucia
George Dennis
London, Richard Bently, 1839
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Nouvelles annales des voyages, et des sciences géographiques
(Translated from Moyle Sherer “Recollections of the Peninsula” 1827)
CINTRA, PRÈS DE LISBONNE. [188]
En deux heures de marche assez lente, un cabriolet conduit de Lisbonne à Quéluz, petite ville auprès de laquelle la reine a un palais d'été. Le pays que l'on traverse n'offre rien de remarquable, excepté des champs entourés de haies d'agave qui sont d'une dimension prodigieuse et d'une beauté extraordinaire. Ces plantes sont entremêlées d'opuntia ou figuiers d'Inde, dont l'aspect n'a rien d'agréable.
Le palais de Quéluz n'est pas beau, la' décoration des appartemens n'étant ni élégante ni magnifique ; il y a quelques jolies glaces, mais l'ameublement est antique et en mauvais état. Le jardin correspond au caractère du palais; il est symétrique et d'un goût baroque; les arbres, les haies, les bordures sont taillés au ciseau dans toutes les formes possibles. Des statues massives, des bustes défigurés et des fontaines mal dessinées complètent le tableau.
En moins de trois heures nous arrivâmes à Cintra. A mesure que l'on approche de cette ville, le paysage est vraiment enchanteur. La variété et la belle végétation des bois qui tapissent le flanc de la montagne, dont la tête s'élève au-dessus de la ville, la teinte brune éclatante ou plutôt dorée des mousses qui couvrent, sa -surface près de sa crête, et les rochers nus, grisâtres et raboteux qui couronnent ses cimes les plus élevées, forment un tableau qui ne peut être dessiné avec fidélité que par le crayon d'un artiste ou la plume d'un poète. La ville, quoique:très-élevée, est beaucoup au-dessous du haut de la montagne, et à l'entour tout est beau, ombragé et tranquille. L'écorce blanche, sillonnée, et la forme fantastique du liège au feuillage pâle , la verdure foncée de l'olivier, le vert éclatant et les fruits dorés des orangers, les vignes en treillis, le géranium sauvage, toutes ces plantes se réunissent pour donner à l'aspect de la nature un agrément qui, pour l'œil d'un habitant du Nord , a un charme nouveau et irrésistible. Nous ne tardâmes pas à quitter notre auberge; et, montés sur des ânes, nous gagnâmes le couvent qui est situé près du sommet de la montagne de Cintra. On peut rêver dans la posture qui fait plaisir sur un bât couvert d'un drap vert ; car il est réellement surprenant de voir avec quelle agilité et quelle sûreté ces animaux mènent leurs cavaliers par des sentiers rocailleux , inégaux, escarpés et dangereux.
Un moine nous reçut à la porte du couvent et nous conduisit 'partout. C'est un édifice peu [190] remarquable ; mais sa position est incomparable pour sa singularité et sa hardiesse. Ce monastère est entièrement séparé du peste du monde; de là, l'œil peut tantôt se promener à perte de vue sur l'immensité de l'Océan atlantique , tantôt se reposer sur de jolies vallées, ou sûr des ravines «ombres qui sont beaucoup plus bas. L'oreille aussi peut saisir d'un côté le son rauque de la tempête qui commence, ou écouter d'un autre ces voix douces et agréables qui annoncent les occupations rustiques elle bonheur des champs.
Si un homme, à l'âge de cinquante ans, se trouvoit seul dans le monde, sans femme, sans parens, sans amis, il pourroit se retirer dans cette demeure pour y terminer ses jours. Quand la mort emporte les objets de nos affections, où chercher des consolations ? Ce n'est pas quand l'âge a commencé à nous faire éprouver ses atteintes que l'on peut espérer d'inspirer de la tendresse ou de serrer de nouveau les liens de l'amitié. Oui, je me dis qu'il est des positions dans la vie où le calme d'un monastère écarté apporteroit de la consolation à une âme blessée. Plût au ciel que les cloîtres ne fussent remplis que de semblables enfans de l'infortune !
A peu de distance de ce couvent, sur une autre éminence très-âpre, s'élève un ancien château bâti par les Maures, qui n'a rien de remarquable que d'avoir été habité par ce peuple. J'y restai un [191] quart d'heure ; mon imagination me le représentoit peuplé de ses défenseurs musulmans. Je regardois le magnifique spectacle qui m'entouroit, et je me disois qu'eux aussi avoient contemplé l'Océan, et que leurs yeux s'étoient reposés sur les prairies verdoyantes et sur les bosquets sombres qui, en ce moment, étoient étalés devant moi. Il y a du plaisir à associer ainsi des idées de choses différentes, et à pouvoir en quelque sorte faire revivre les objets et les images autour- de soi, plaisir que tous les hommes Oût senti ; et que j'essaierois en vain de définir, mais duquel découle en grande partie le charme' des voyages.
Dans une autre partie de ces montagnes, et dans une situation moins aérienne, il y a un couvent bâti au milieu de rochers sauvages et romantiques ; c'est une véritable curiosité : murs , portes, meubles, tout est en liège. De pauvres et humbles Franciscains l'habitent ; ils ont un jardin et une petite orangerie ; ils nous présentèrent des fruits avec beaucoup de politesse, et pâturent très-reconnoissans de la bagatelle que nous leur donnâmes.
Nos chevaux nous conduisirent de là, par un sentier très-agréable, à la Quinta de Coularès, si célèbre par ses vins délicieux. La vallée est superbe : dans une partie, il y a' une maison bâtie, vingt ans auparavant, par un Anglois, possesseur d'une grande fortune. Cette demeure,. entouré [192] de tout ce qui peut en faire un séjour digne d'envie, est dans un état complet de désolation et de ruine. Cet homme opulent l'avoit arrangée avec une magnificence digne d'un prince ; mais les richesses ne peuvent fermer l'accès au chagrin, au mécontentement, aux maladies, à la honte. Quelques-uns de ces hôtes incommodes le chassèrent de ce manoir voluptueux ; ensuite les vents et les pluies du ciel, comme pour se jouer des vains projets de bonheur formés par les hommes, ont presque détruit ce temple merveilleux du plaisir.
A notre retour a l'auberge de Cintra, nous trouvâmes un bon dîner préparé et servi à l'angloise. Du vin de Coularès , bien rafraîchi et ressemblant beaucoup au vin de Bordeaux, ne lais-soit rien à désirer aux gourmets. Fatigués, mais enchantés de notre journée, nous nous retirâmes dans des chambres bien meublées, et où les lits étoient excellens.
Le lendemain, je me levai de bonne heure et je visitai le palais : c'est un bâtiment très-ancien et fort curieux. On reconnoît, à des signes évidens, qu'il a été bâti sur cet emplacement avec les matériaux d'un édifice maure.
Tous les appartemens sont pavés en grands carreaux rouges, et ornés d'une sorte de figures blanches très-dégradées par le temps. Dans une pièce on montre aux étrangers un sentier tracé par les [193] pas précipités et inquiets d'un roi qui, il y a près de cent cinquante ans, fut enfermé pendant quinze ans dansée château. Durant ce temps, Alphonse VI continua de porter le vain titre de roi, tandis que Pierre, son frère cadet, beau, actif, entreprenant, portoit le sceptre du Portugal, après avoir épousé la femme qui avoit été mariée au prince détrôné. Les historiens s'accordent à représenter Alphonse comme un prince aussi foible de corps que d'esprit : j'espère, pour la cause de l'humanité , que ce rapport est vrai ; mais, dans les pays où la liberté civile et religieuse est refusée au sujet, la vérité est souvent torturée d'une manière étrange.
Je ne pouvois me décider à partir de Cintra sans visiter la belle maison de campagne du marquis de Marialva. J'en fus très-satisfait : c'est un magnifique séjour. Un appartement me frappa par son élégance ; il étoit tapissé en beau satin blanc, avec des bordures et des corniches en or; tout l'ameublement éloit également en blanc et en or; il y avoit aussi de grandes dalles de marbre d'une beauté extraordinaire.
CINTRA, PRÈS DE LISBONNE. [188]
En deux heures de marche assez lente, un cabriolet conduit de Lisbonne à Quéluz, petite ville auprès de laquelle la reine a un palais d'été. Le pays que l'on traverse n'offre rien de remarquable, excepté des champs entourés de haies d'agave qui sont d'une dimension prodigieuse et d'une beauté extraordinaire. Ces plantes sont entremêlées d'opuntia ou figuiers d'Inde, dont l'aspect n'a rien d'agréable.
Le palais de Quéluz n'est pas beau, la' décoration des appartemens n'étant ni élégante ni magnifique ; il y a quelques jolies glaces, mais l'ameublement est antique et en mauvais état. Le jardin correspond au caractère du palais; il est symétrique et d'un goût baroque; les arbres, les haies, les bordures sont taillés au ciseau dans toutes les formes possibles. Des statues massives, des bustes défigurés et des fontaines mal dessinées complètent le tableau.
En moins de trois heures nous arrivâmes à Cintra. A mesure que l'on approche de cette ville, le paysage est vraiment enchanteur. La variété et la belle végétation des bois qui tapissent le flanc de la montagne, dont la tête s'élève au-dessus de la ville, la teinte brune éclatante ou plutôt dorée des mousses qui couvrent, sa -surface près de sa crête, et les rochers nus, grisâtres et raboteux qui couronnent ses cimes les plus élevées, forment un tableau qui ne peut être dessiné avec fidélité que par le crayon d'un artiste ou la plume d'un poète. La ville, quoique:très-élevée, est beaucoup au-dessous du haut de la montagne, et à l'entour tout est beau, ombragé et tranquille. L'écorce blanche, sillonnée, et la forme fantastique du liège au feuillage pâle , la verdure foncée de l'olivier, le vert éclatant et les fruits dorés des orangers, les vignes en treillis, le géranium sauvage, toutes ces plantes se réunissent pour donner à l'aspect de la nature un agrément qui, pour l'œil d'un habitant du Nord , a un charme nouveau et irrésistible. Nous ne tardâmes pas à quitter notre auberge; et, montés sur des ânes, nous gagnâmes le couvent qui est situé près du sommet de la montagne de Cintra. On peut rêver dans la posture qui fait plaisir sur un bât couvert d'un drap vert ; car il est réellement surprenant de voir avec quelle agilité et quelle sûreté ces animaux mènent leurs cavaliers par des sentiers rocailleux , inégaux, escarpés et dangereux.
Un moine nous reçut à la porte du couvent et nous conduisit 'partout. C'est un édifice peu [190] remarquable ; mais sa position est incomparable pour sa singularité et sa hardiesse. Ce monastère est entièrement séparé du peste du monde; de là, l'œil peut tantôt se promener à perte de vue sur l'immensité de l'Océan atlantique , tantôt se reposer sur de jolies vallées, ou sûr des ravines «ombres qui sont beaucoup plus bas. L'oreille aussi peut saisir d'un côté le son rauque de la tempête qui commence, ou écouter d'un autre ces voix douces et agréables qui annoncent les occupations rustiques elle bonheur des champs.
Si un homme, à l'âge de cinquante ans, se trouvoit seul dans le monde, sans femme, sans parens, sans amis, il pourroit se retirer dans cette demeure pour y terminer ses jours. Quand la mort emporte les objets de nos affections, où chercher des consolations ? Ce n'est pas quand l'âge a commencé à nous faire éprouver ses atteintes que l'on peut espérer d'inspirer de la tendresse ou de serrer de nouveau les liens de l'amitié. Oui, je me dis qu'il est des positions dans la vie où le calme d'un monastère écarté apporteroit de la consolation à une âme blessée. Plût au ciel que les cloîtres ne fussent remplis que de semblables enfans de l'infortune !
A peu de distance de ce couvent, sur une autre éminence très-âpre, s'élève un ancien château bâti par les Maures, qui n'a rien de remarquable que d'avoir été habité par ce peuple. J'y restai un [191] quart d'heure ; mon imagination me le représentoit peuplé de ses défenseurs musulmans. Je regardois le magnifique spectacle qui m'entouroit, et je me disois qu'eux aussi avoient contemplé l'Océan, et que leurs yeux s'étoient reposés sur les prairies verdoyantes et sur les bosquets sombres qui, en ce moment, étoient étalés devant moi. Il y a du plaisir à associer ainsi des idées de choses différentes, et à pouvoir en quelque sorte faire revivre les objets et les images autour- de soi, plaisir que tous les hommes Oût senti ; et que j'essaierois en vain de définir, mais duquel découle en grande partie le charme' des voyages.
Dans une autre partie de ces montagnes, et dans une situation moins aérienne, il y a un couvent bâti au milieu de rochers sauvages et romantiques ; c'est une véritable curiosité : murs , portes, meubles, tout est en liège. De pauvres et humbles Franciscains l'habitent ; ils ont un jardin et une petite orangerie ; ils nous présentèrent des fruits avec beaucoup de politesse, et pâturent très-reconnoissans de la bagatelle que nous leur donnâmes.
Nos chevaux nous conduisirent de là, par un sentier très-agréable, à la Quinta de Coularès, si célèbre par ses vins délicieux. La vallée est superbe : dans une partie, il y a' une maison bâtie, vingt ans auparavant, par un Anglois, possesseur d'une grande fortune. Cette demeure,. entouré [192] de tout ce qui peut en faire un séjour digne d'envie, est dans un état complet de désolation et de ruine. Cet homme opulent l'avoit arrangée avec une magnificence digne d'un prince ; mais les richesses ne peuvent fermer l'accès au chagrin, au mécontentement, aux maladies, à la honte. Quelques-uns de ces hôtes incommodes le chassèrent de ce manoir voluptueux ; ensuite les vents et les pluies du ciel, comme pour se jouer des vains projets de bonheur formés par les hommes, ont presque détruit ce temple merveilleux du plaisir.
A notre retour a l'auberge de Cintra, nous trouvâmes un bon dîner préparé et servi à l'angloise. Du vin de Coularès , bien rafraîchi et ressemblant beaucoup au vin de Bordeaux, ne lais-soit rien à désirer aux gourmets. Fatigués, mais enchantés de notre journée, nous nous retirâmes dans des chambres bien meublées, et où les lits étoient excellens.
Le lendemain, je me levai de bonne heure et je visitai le palais : c'est un bâtiment très-ancien et fort curieux. On reconnoît, à des signes évidens, qu'il a été bâti sur cet emplacement avec les matériaux d'un édifice maure.
Tous les appartemens sont pavés en grands carreaux rouges, et ornés d'une sorte de figures blanches très-dégradées par le temps. Dans une pièce on montre aux étrangers un sentier tracé par les [193] pas précipités et inquiets d'un roi qui, il y a près de cent cinquante ans, fut enfermé pendant quinze ans dansée château. Durant ce temps, Alphonse VI continua de porter le vain titre de roi, tandis que Pierre, son frère cadet, beau, actif, entreprenant, portoit le sceptre du Portugal, après avoir épousé la femme qui avoit été mariée au prince détrôné. Les historiens s'accordent à représenter Alphonse comme un prince aussi foible de corps que d'esprit : j'espère, pour la cause de l'humanité , que ce rapport est vrai ; mais, dans les pays où la liberté civile et religieuse est refusée au sujet, la vérité est souvent torturée d'une manière étrange.
Je ne pouvois me décider à partir de Cintra sans visiter la belle maison de campagne du marquis de Marialva. J'en fus très-satisfait : c'est un magnifique séjour. Un appartement me frappa par son élégance ; il étoit tapissé en beau satin blanc, avec des bordures et des corniches en or; tout l'ameublement éloit également en blanc et en or; il y avoit aussi de grandes dalles de marbre d'une beauté extraordinaire.
Monday, 6 July 2009
Narrative of a Voyage to Madeira
Narrative of a Voyage to Madeira, Teneriffe and Along the Shores of the Meditteranean
W. R. Wilde
Dublin 1844
The immense suburbs through which we passed, showed Lisbon to be a city of much larger size than from the sea we should be inclined to suspect. The roads, paved with enormous blocks of limestone, are execrable; the carriages have no springs, and are worse appointed than the vilest London cab. Shade of M'Adam! had you been qualified for purgatory, you surely would have been sent to jolt out your period on the Cintra road. The seats of the nobility in the neighbourhood of Lisbon are little better than English farm-houses, with one exception, the delightful residence of the Baron Quintilla, a great friend of the queen, who has every thing about him fitted up in English style. The country along the road presents the greatest sameness; its brown aspect, without a single spot to relieve the eye, renders the drive of fifteen miles for the most part uninteresting and monotonous. Not a hedge-row is to be seen, and but a few vines and dingy olives, with the agave or American aloe, which grows in great luxuriance, bordering the roads and enclosures. The country appears to be but thinly populated, and the only objects in the landscape are the water-towers, and numerous small aqueducts, all running towards the valley of Alcantara. As we approached Cintra, the air became much cooler, and that noble mountain concentrated all our admiration, its rugged outline being exhibited in the sharpest relief against a back-ground of the most gorgeous purple, which marked the setting glories of the god of day.
While yet some miles from our journey's end, our sorry nags got blown, and the sable postillion regaled them with bread steeped in wine ; and then remounting, plied whip and spur with an energy that would have awakened the spirit of Dick Martin, had it been in the neighbourhood; but all in vain. He again dismounted, and, coolly unharnessing each poor brute separately, belaboured him on the road side with a huge club which he carried in the boot for the purpose. Again they were put to, and blacky practising every refinement upon the art of " touching upon the raw," and occasionally strengthening his meagre carcase with a pull at the wine flask, and his more meagre soul by an appeal to the saints, and a variety of crossings, he at length brought us late in the evening to Cintra. If possible, see this place by moonlight, as by day the barrenness of the surrounding country detracts greatly from the beauty of the scene. The bold mountain scenery—the lemon and orange groves—the waving rows of cane, with their nodding, plume-like tops—the beautiful and picturesque village itself—the old Moorish castle on the hills above, crowned by the Penha convent, and the lofty domes of the royal palace beneath—make this the most attractive spot in Portugal.
An additional charm is given to the scene by the ivy-clad walls, covered at top by amarylles and crimson geraninms, which flourish here in the greatest profusion and brilliancy, and by the huge evergreen oaks and cork-trees, (on which grows a beautiful parasitic fern,) intertwined with vines that spread their graceful festoons from branch to branch. There is a handsome prome-[46] nade, surrounded by rows of elms and tulip trees; at the lower end are the houses of two nobles, with their odious pink fronts and ugly busts. It was in one of those " the Convention" was signed. Our fare at the English hotel, and the Port and Col- lares, were very passable; I wish I could say as much for the beds, which were of flock, lumpy, uncomfortable, and tenanted by myriads of bugs.
The morning after our arrival we procured donkeys to ascend the heights. The road winds in a zigzag course up the steep, which, though most precipitous, our little animals climbed in safety. As we ascended, the scene beneath gradually disclosed itself. Cintra, its detached houses, the church and palace, rising out of the rich foliage of vines and elms, and, still further down the ravine, the numerous groves of orange and olive trees, watered by rills of the purest crystal, collected from the neighbouring heights—and the mountain itself, bold, rugged, and composed of blocks of granite boulders, with scarcely a blade of any thing green between—all added to the grandeur of our prospect. The outer wall of the ancient Moorish castle surrounds one of the secondary heights, and as it creeps from rock to rock, is guarded at short intervals by round or square towers, many of which are perched on enormous blocks of granite ; while the inner wall above, looks as if cast round the neck of the peak, like a collar, and the summit is crowned by the square black walls of the Morisco Fortalice, within which are the remains of an ancient bath and mosque. It must have been a place of great strength ; but there is nothing in the shape of inscription to declare the origin or the founder.
We continued our way to the Penha convent, which tops the highest pinnacle of the range; and in its eyrie-like position, looks like one of those small turrets that jut out from the walls of our ancient castles. With much difficulty we urged our donkeys up the steep ascent on which the convent stands ; the massive gate had fallen from its hinges—the grass had grown over the well-paved yard—the garden fence had been long since demolished, and the nettle and the hemlock had choked up its walls and parterres. No burly friar came to bid us welcome—no lay-brother ran to hold our donkeys—and although it was the Sabbath morning, silence and desolation reigned throughout.
The only disturbers of its solitude were a few jackdaws, that [47] cawed and fluttered round the chimney-tops, scared at our loud knocking, which reverberated through the building, and some straggling sheep, whose tinkling bells we heard as they leaped over the garden-wall at our approach. All else was silent, upon a day when these rocks and valleys so often rung with " the toll of the summoning bell," and the surrounding peasantry in their gay attire filled its courts, or knelt before its altar; for now, wretchedness, ruin, and decay have taken up their abode, where for so many years peculiar sanctity was believed to dwell. Our uproar for admission at last appeared to wake its only inmate, a wretched old woman, who admitted us, after a reconnoitring glance through one of the side windows. In the outer court stands the entrance to the church, the chief object of attraction here ; it is a square porch, supported on four pillars of singular twisted rope-work, with knobs between, from which springs a light and elegantly- groined roof; but on the top of this portico they have stuck a contemptible little spire, covered with the eternal Dutch tile, that quite spoils the architectural effect.
The chapel itself is small; the doorway is an old round arch, deeply groined, and of exquisite workmanship, and the altar, which reaches to the roof, is looked upon as a piece of most elaborate art. All is going fast to ruin, even the figures of saints and virgins that still stand upon the altar are losing their tinselled finery, which is now falling to rags, and the tabernacle or shrine was thrown into a corner, and is mouldering to decay. The monks themselves have been all driven hence, and the whole pile, amongst the cloisters and arcades of which many beautiful specimens of Moorish architecture are to be found, wears an aspect of loneliness that lends its saddening influence even to the casual visitor.
The view from the Penha is most extensive; beyond Cintra, and the wooded heights of Collares, all inland appears a brown, barren waste, as far as the eye can reach ; but seaward, the prospect is glorious. The Tagus, from above Lisbon, is traceable to the ocean; while, to the north, the tall towers of Mafra rise high above the horizon, and close the view.
In our ride over the mountains we passed the Cork convent, a most romantic spot, and so hidden among the rocks, that you see nothing of it till you get between two large blocks of stone that form the entrance. Inside, it is completely covered with the [48] rough bark of the cork tree ; the simple friars had decorated the altar, opposite the entrance, with pieces of china, broken plates, shells, and bits of coral from the coast, not inaptly resembling a baby-house ; but it too is abandoned to neglect and to the ruthless hand of time. Its community consisted of only two or three capuchins, the last remaining of whom, taking the strong hint afforded by the treatment of his brethren of De Penha, decamped with the plate and the little treasure belonging to his house. In the garden we found a full-sized figure of our Saviour lying on its face, imbedded in the soft earth, and the crown of thorns, that had bound its brow, in one of the adjoining walks! A few short years, nay, almost months ago, this figure was held to be one of the most sacred in Portugal, and none of the neighbouring peasantry went to their daily work without paying their devotions to it. What then shall we say for the religion of such a land ? Religion there is none ; infidelity has usurped the place of ignorance and blind devotion, and now stalks naked throughout the length and breadth of the Peninsula, but more particularly in Portugal. By the present constitution, no male religious houses are permitted; all priestly orders have been abolished—the monks and friars have been driven from their princely establishments to live upon the sum of one and sixpence a-day, and their estates and large revenues confiscated to the crown. What the French Revolution commenced, and Napoleon carried on, Don Pedro, and the glimmering of enlightenment now breaking on this land, have completed. It is in contemplation to do away with the different nunneries; but it is to be hoped that ample provision will be made for the helpless inmates, before such a measure is adopted; and I have no doubt but that it is one which will be hailed with the truest gratitude by every signorita in Portugal.
The parochial clergy, the only ones permitted here, have little influence over the people ; and it is a singular fact, that so far from assisting the monks, when driven from their homes, the peasantry refused them the necessaries of life, or even the shelter of a cottage roof; and this to men before whom they had so lately knelt, and who exercised over them a spiritual tyranny neither tolerated nor known in any other country. What, it may be asked, has become of such a large body of men, who had no trade, and are prohibited from following their profession ? It is not to be expected that persons like these, reared in luxury, and living on the [49] bucks of Mafra and the wines of Collares, could support themselves on two pistarines a day; and it cannot be said of them, as of the unjust steward, that by their liberality they made for themselves " friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." Most of them have left Portugal; many will be found under the banners of Don Carlos, having exchanged the church quiescent for the church militant; and not a few in Great Britain, perhaps within the walls of Stoneyhurst, or Clongowes.
We returned through Collares, a deserted village, its fountains dry, and Quint as uninhabited, the present state of politics making their noble owners exiles. We rested ourselves at a cool wineshop, and enjoyed a glass of the light claret which takes its name from this place. It is a thin, rough wine, agreeable in flavour, and weak enough to be drunk in tumblers—the vin ordinaire of this part of the country.
We took the lower road on our return, and enjoyed the magnificent view of the scenery along the wooded sides of the mountains through which we passed. With the exception of the lovely lemon and orange groves, the foliage of Portugal has not the green and refreshing tint of that of England, nor can it boast the glowing, mellow hues of our autumnal landscapes, as all the green has a rusty, brownish appearance, like that of the dingy olive. Quantities of those picturesque and noble trees, the stone pine, grow upon the heights, and their seed is much used as food by the poorer classes, whose children collect the cones, and beat them with mallets till the seed drops out; these are boiled soft, pounded in mortars, and used as beans are in other countries.
17th. We rose early in the morning and visited the far-famed palace of Cintra—an immense building in the Moorish style, presenting a confused jumble of courts and terraces, and although composed of innumerable apartments, possessing hardly one good room. All the pillars and window-frames are twisted and much covered with carving and fret-work—the latter completely spoiled, however, by their immense heavy green sashes. " The hall of swans," so called from having the likeness of that bird framed in every panel of the walls and ceiling, is of goodly size and proportion. To another may be given the name of " magpie-hall," in the domed roof of which each panel contains the representation of a magpie, holding in his claw a rose entwined in a ribbon, on which are the words "por ben," " for good." The story connected with [50] it is, that a certain king was discovered by his queen in this very room kissing one of the maids of honour, who held a magpie on her arm ; on seeing her majesty he exclaimed, " por ben," the Portuguese "honi soit." The queen withdrew; but on the king's leaving for Lisbon, a few days after, she had this room thus decorated against his return. A small chamber, tiled completely over, is shown as that in which Don Sebastian held his last council before his ill-fated African expedition. Our guide next conducted us to a small attic room, where, assuming a most rueful aspect, he informed us, that Don Alfonzo the VI. was imprisoned by his queen for upwards of nine years :—unfit to rule his kingdom or his wife. The whole of the flooring, except where his pallet stood, is worn by the footsteps of the poor captive. The only other object worth mentioning is what we may call " the hall of stags"—the panels in the walls and dome of this handsome apartment having each a stag painted in the centre, with a shield hung from its neck, on which are emblazoned the arms of some one of the nobility of Portugal, and bearing the crest between the horns. The devices of the princes of the blood-royal form the upper range ; and below, the wall represents a stag-hunt in blue tile. As the present poor queen is not now allowed to enjoy the sweets of this beautiful retreat, the whole has gone much out of repair, and the furniture is hardly fit for a plain English gentleman.
Most of the English residents have houses at Cintra. A pic-nic was got up to-day, to which we were kindly invited. The rendezvous was one of the Quintas a few miles distant, and thither we now bent our steps, accompanied by three " cheeping middies," that morning let loose from their wooden prisons in the Tagus. Our walk lay by Montserrat—formerly the princely mansion of Beckford; now mouldering in ruins. It was an exceedingly elegant and tasteful building, in the English style, but scarcely a vestige of its roof now remains ; and within its once highly decorated halls and costly chambers, the bramble, the thorn, and the thistle, flourish in undisturbed luxuriance. A few short years more, and a guide will have to lead the traveller to the spot where the eccentric author of Vathcc held his court. It is a most romantic spot, commanding in its prospect every beauty that Cintra and the surrounding country affords. The lofty, tree-clad mountains behind, the undulating cultivated plain before—in the dis- [51] tance, the illimitable sea—and around, long slopes of vineyards, with groves of the finest orange and lemon trees—force an exclamation of rapture, sadly qualified by regret at the utter destruction to which this most lovely of retreats is fast hastening. On the western turret still stands the flag-staff from which the silken banner of old England so often fluttered in the breeze ; it seemed conscious of the dignity it once possessed, and in defiance of the ruin going on around, was determined to " spin it out, and fight it to the last." One of the largest Tangerine orange trees in Portugal flourishes in the lawn, and clumps of magnificent arbutus, not to be surpassed by even those of our own dear Killarney, border the ravine that separates the demesne from the hills behind ; but scarcely a trace of the walks and pleasure-grounds now remains. Our picnic went off as well as meals of that comfortless description generally do ; dancing followed; and having seen the ladies safely mounted on their donkeys, we strolled quietly home by moonlight.
The principal society in this part of the country is English, as the present Portuguese aristocracy are either beggars or exiles; and the few who do not come under this description, decline society, from disgust at the unceremonious deprivation of the power and honours they had so long exclusively enjoyed. On this account strangers see little of Portuguese manners or society, and what they do see is generally at the houses of the English residents.
Next morning we bade adieu to Cintra, and turned our faces towards Mafra. The roads are so unfit for carriages that we were obliged to ride. We traversed a most barren and thinly populated country, still worse than any we had yet seen; it looks a perfect desert, except where an occasional lemon or orange grove creeps up the sides of a ravine, owing its existence to the fertilizing power of some neighbouring spring. The small village of Penado was the only collection of houses we met for the distance of twelve miles. The gorge in which this picturesque hamlet is situated, is spanned by an enormous bridge of blue limestone, taken from the neighbouring quarry—an inspection of the fossil shells of which will well repay the traveller's trouble. On the other side of the ravine the porphyritic limestone breaks out; but the principal rock in this part of the kingdom is the common grey marble, the strata of which appear above the surface in many places.
W. R. Wilde
Dublin 1844
The immense suburbs through which we passed, showed Lisbon to be a city of much larger size than from the sea we should be inclined to suspect. The roads, paved with enormous blocks of limestone, are execrable; the carriages have no springs, and are worse appointed than the vilest London cab. Shade of M'Adam! had you been qualified for purgatory, you surely would have been sent to jolt out your period on the Cintra road. The seats of the nobility in the neighbourhood of Lisbon are little better than English farm-houses, with one exception, the delightful residence of the Baron Quintilla, a great friend of the queen, who has every thing about him fitted up in English style. The country along the road presents the greatest sameness; its brown aspect, without a single spot to relieve the eye, renders the drive of fifteen miles for the most part uninteresting and monotonous. Not a hedge-row is to be seen, and but a few vines and dingy olives, with the agave or American aloe, which grows in great luxuriance, bordering the roads and enclosures. The country appears to be but thinly populated, and the only objects in the landscape are the water-towers, and numerous small aqueducts, all running towards the valley of Alcantara. As we approached Cintra, the air became much cooler, and that noble mountain concentrated all our admiration, its rugged outline being exhibited in the sharpest relief against a back-ground of the most gorgeous purple, which marked the setting glories of the god of day.
While yet some miles from our journey's end, our sorry nags got blown, and the sable postillion regaled them with bread steeped in wine ; and then remounting, plied whip and spur with an energy that would have awakened the spirit of Dick Martin, had it been in the neighbourhood; but all in vain. He again dismounted, and, coolly unharnessing each poor brute separately, belaboured him on the road side with a huge club which he carried in the boot for the purpose. Again they were put to, and blacky practising every refinement upon the art of " touching upon the raw," and occasionally strengthening his meagre carcase with a pull at the wine flask, and his more meagre soul by an appeal to the saints, and a variety of crossings, he at length brought us late in the evening to Cintra. If possible, see this place by moonlight, as by day the barrenness of the surrounding country detracts greatly from the beauty of the scene. The bold mountain scenery—the lemon and orange groves—the waving rows of cane, with their nodding, plume-like tops—the beautiful and picturesque village itself—the old Moorish castle on the hills above, crowned by the Penha convent, and the lofty domes of the royal palace beneath—make this the most attractive spot in Portugal.
An additional charm is given to the scene by the ivy-clad walls, covered at top by amarylles and crimson geraninms, which flourish here in the greatest profusion and brilliancy, and by the huge evergreen oaks and cork-trees, (on which grows a beautiful parasitic fern,) intertwined with vines that spread their graceful festoons from branch to branch. There is a handsome prome-[46] nade, surrounded by rows of elms and tulip trees; at the lower end are the houses of two nobles, with their odious pink fronts and ugly busts. It was in one of those " the Convention" was signed. Our fare at the English hotel, and the Port and Col- lares, were very passable; I wish I could say as much for the beds, which were of flock, lumpy, uncomfortable, and tenanted by myriads of bugs.
The morning after our arrival we procured donkeys to ascend the heights. The road winds in a zigzag course up the steep, which, though most precipitous, our little animals climbed in safety. As we ascended, the scene beneath gradually disclosed itself. Cintra, its detached houses, the church and palace, rising out of the rich foliage of vines and elms, and, still further down the ravine, the numerous groves of orange and olive trees, watered by rills of the purest crystal, collected from the neighbouring heights—and the mountain itself, bold, rugged, and composed of blocks of granite boulders, with scarcely a blade of any thing green between—all added to the grandeur of our prospect. The outer wall of the ancient Moorish castle surrounds one of the secondary heights, and as it creeps from rock to rock, is guarded at short intervals by round or square towers, many of which are perched on enormous blocks of granite ; while the inner wall above, looks as if cast round the neck of the peak, like a collar, and the summit is crowned by the square black walls of the Morisco Fortalice, within which are the remains of an ancient bath and mosque. It must have been a place of great strength ; but there is nothing in the shape of inscription to declare the origin or the founder.
We continued our way to the Penha convent, which tops the highest pinnacle of the range; and in its eyrie-like position, looks like one of those small turrets that jut out from the walls of our ancient castles. With much difficulty we urged our donkeys up the steep ascent on which the convent stands ; the massive gate had fallen from its hinges—the grass had grown over the well-paved yard—the garden fence had been long since demolished, and the nettle and the hemlock had choked up its walls and parterres. No burly friar came to bid us welcome—no lay-brother ran to hold our donkeys—and although it was the Sabbath morning, silence and desolation reigned throughout.
The only disturbers of its solitude were a few jackdaws, that [47] cawed and fluttered round the chimney-tops, scared at our loud knocking, which reverberated through the building, and some straggling sheep, whose tinkling bells we heard as they leaped over the garden-wall at our approach. All else was silent, upon a day when these rocks and valleys so often rung with " the toll of the summoning bell," and the surrounding peasantry in their gay attire filled its courts, or knelt before its altar; for now, wretchedness, ruin, and decay have taken up their abode, where for so many years peculiar sanctity was believed to dwell. Our uproar for admission at last appeared to wake its only inmate, a wretched old woman, who admitted us, after a reconnoitring glance through one of the side windows. In the outer court stands the entrance to the church, the chief object of attraction here ; it is a square porch, supported on four pillars of singular twisted rope-work, with knobs between, from which springs a light and elegantly- groined roof; but on the top of this portico they have stuck a contemptible little spire, covered with the eternal Dutch tile, that quite spoils the architectural effect.
The chapel itself is small; the doorway is an old round arch, deeply groined, and of exquisite workmanship, and the altar, which reaches to the roof, is looked upon as a piece of most elaborate art. All is going fast to ruin, even the figures of saints and virgins that still stand upon the altar are losing their tinselled finery, which is now falling to rags, and the tabernacle or shrine was thrown into a corner, and is mouldering to decay. The monks themselves have been all driven hence, and the whole pile, amongst the cloisters and arcades of which many beautiful specimens of Moorish architecture are to be found, wears an aspect of loneliness that lends its saddening influence even to the casual visitor.
The view from the Penha is most extensive; beyond Cintra, and the wooded heights of Collares, all inland appears a brown, barren waste, as far as the eye can reach ; but seaward, the prospect is glorious. The Tagus, from above Lisbon, is traceable to the ocean; while, to the north, the tall towers of Mafra rise high above the horizon, and close the view.
In our ride over the mountains we passed the Cork convent, a most romantic spot, and so hidden among the rocks, that you see nothing of it till you get between two large blocks of stone that form the entrance. Inside, it is completely covered with the [48] rough bark of the cork tree ; the simple friars had decorated the altar, opposite the entrance, with pieces of china, broken plates, shells, and bits of coral from the coast, not inaptly resembling a baby-house ; but it too is abandoned to neglect and to the ruthless hand of time. Its community consisted of only two or three capuchins, the last remaining of whom, taking the strong hint afforded by the treatment of his brethren of De Penha, decamped with the plate and the little treasure belonging to his house. In the garden we found a full-sized figure of our Saviour lying on its face, imbedded in the soft earth, and the crown of thorns, that had bound its brow, in one of the adjoining walks! A few short years, nay, almost months ago, this figure was held to be one of the most sacred in Portugal, and none of the neighbouring peasantry went to their daily work without paying their devotions to it. What then shall we say for the religion of such a land ? Religion there is none ; infidelity has usurped the place of ignorance and blind devotion, and now stalks naked throughout the length and breadth of the Peninsula, but more particularly in Portugal. By the present constitution, no male religious houses are permitted; all priestly orders have been abolished—the monks and friars have been driven from their princely establishments to live upon the sum of one and sixpence a-day, and their estates and large revenues confiscated to the crown. What the French Revolution commenced, and Napoleon carried on, Don Pedro, and the glimmering of enlightenment now breaking on this land, have completed. It is in contemplation to do away with the different nunneries; but it is to be hoped that ample provision will be made for the helpless inmates, before such a measure is adopted; and I have no doubt but that it is one which will be hailed with the truest gratitude by every signorita in Portugal.
The parochial clergy, the only ones permitted here, have little influence over the people ; and it is a singular fact, that so far from assisting the monks, when driven from their homes, the peasantry refused them the necessaries of life, or even the shelter of a cottage roof; and this to men before whom they had so lately knelt, and who exercised over them a spiritual tyranny neither tolerated nor known in any other country. What, it may be asked, has become of such a large body of men, who had no trade, and are prohibited from following their profession ? It is not to be expected that persons like these, reared in luxury, and living on the [49] bucks of Mafra and the wines of Collares, could support themselves on two pistarines a day; and it cannot be said of them, as of the unjust steward, that by their liberality they made for themselves " friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." Most of them have left Portugal; many will be found under the banners of Don Carlos, having exchanged the church quiescent for the church militant; and not a few in Great Britain, perhaps within the walls of Stoneyhurst, or Clongowes.
We returned through Collares, a deserted village, its fountains dry, and Quint as uninhabited, the present state of politics making their noble owners exiles. We rested ourselves at a cool wineshop, and enjoyed a glass of the light claret which takes its name from this place. It is a thin, rough wine, agreeable in flavour, and weak enough to be drunk in tumblers—the vin ordinaire of this part of the country.
We took the lower road on our return, and enjoyed the magnificent view of the scenery along the wooded sides of the mountains through which we passed. With the exception of the lovely lemon and orange groves, the foliage of Portugal has not the green and refreshing tint of that of England, nor can it boast the glowing, mellow hues of our autumnal landscapes, as all the green has a rusty, brownish appearance, like that of the dingy olive. Quantities of those picturesque and noble trees, the stone pine, grow upon the heights, and their seed is much used as food by the poorer classes, whose children collect the cones, and beat them with mallets till the seed drops out; these are boiled soft, pounded in mortars, and used as beans are in other countries.
17th. We rose early in the morning and visited the far-famed palace of Cintra—an immense building in the Moorish style, presenting a confused jumble of courts and terraces, and although composed of innumerable apartments, possessing hardly one good room. All the pillars and window-frames are twisted and much covered with carving and fret-work—the latter completely spoiled, however, by their immense heavy green sashes. " The hall of swans," so called from having the likeness of that bird framed in every panel of the walls and ceiling, is of goodly size and proportion. To another may be given the name of " magpie-hall," in the domed roof of which each panel contains the representation of a magpie, holding in his claw a rose entwined in a ribbon, on which are the words "por ben," " for good." The story connected with [50] it is, that a certain king was discovered by his queen in this very room kissing one of the maids of honour, who held a magpie on her arm ; on seeing her majesty he exclaimed, " por ben," the Portuguese "honi soit." The queen withdrew; but on the king's leaving for Lisbon, a few days after, she had this room thus decorated against his return. A small chamber, tiled completely over, is shown as that in which Don Sebastian held his last council before his ill-fated African expedition. Our guide next conducted us to a small attic room, where, assuming a most rueful aspect, he informed us, that Don Alfonzo the VI. was imprisoned by his queen for upwards of nine years :—unfit to rule his kingdom or his wife. The whole of the flooring, except where his pallet stood, is worn by the footsteps of the poor captive. The only other object worth mentioning is what we may call " the hall of stags"—the panels in the walls and dome of this handsome apartment having each a stag painted in the centre, with a shield hung from its neck, on which are emblazoned the arms of some one of the nobility of Portugal, and bearing the crest between the horns. The devices of the princes of the blood-royal form the upper range ; and below, the wall represents a stag-hunt in blue tile. As the present poor queen is not now allowed to enjoy the sweets of this beautiful retreat, the whole has gone much out of repair, and the furniture is hardly fit for a plain English gentleman.
Most of the English residents have houses at Cintra. A pic-nic was got up to-day, to which we were kindly invited. The rendezvous was one of the Quintas a few miles distant, and thither we now bent our steps, accompanied by three " cheeping middies," that morning let loose from their wooden prisons in the Tagus. Our walk lay by Montserrat—formerly the princely mansion of Beckford; now mouldering in ruins. It was an exceedingly elegant and tasteful building, in the English style, but scarcely a vestige of its roof now remains ; and within its once highly decorated halls and costly chambers, the bramble, the thorn, and the thistle, flourish in undisturbed luxuriance. A few short years more, and a guide will have to lead the traveller to the spot where the eccentric author of Vathcc held his court. It is a most romantic spot, commanding in its prospect every beauty that Cintra and the surrounding country affords. The lofty, tree-clad mountains behind, the undulating cultivated plain before—in the dis- [51] tance, the illimitable sea—and around, long slopes of vineyards, with groves of the finest orange and lemon trees—force an exclamation of rapture, sadly qualified by regret at the utter destruction to which this most lovely of retreats is fast hastening. On the western turret still stands the flag-staff from which the silken banner of old England so often fluttered in the breeze ; it seemed conscious of the dignity it once possessed, and in defiance of the ruin going on around, was determined to " spin it out, and fight it to the last." One of the largest Tangerine orange trees in Portugal flourishes in the lawn, and clumps of magnificent arbutus, not to be surpassed by even those of our own dear Killarney, border the ravine that separates the demesne from the hills behind ; but scarcely a trace of the walks and pleasure-grounds now remains. Our picnic went off as well as meals of that comfortless description generally do ; dancing followed; and having seen the ladies safely mounted on their donkeys, we strolled quietly home by moonlight.
The principal society in this part of the country is English, as the present Portuguese aristocracy are either beggars or exiles; and the few who do not come under this description, decline society, from disgust at the unceremonious deprivation of the power and honours they had so long exclusively enjoyed. On this account strangers see little of Portuguese manners or society, and what they do see is generally at the houses of the English residents.
Next morning we bade adieu to Cintra, and turned our faces towards Mafra. The roads are so unfit for carriages that we were obliged to ride. We traversed a most barren and thinly populated country, still worse than any we had yet seen; it looks a perfect desert, except where an occasional lemon or orange grove creeps up the sides of a ravine, owing its existence to the fertilizing power of some neighbouring spring. The small village of Penado was the only collection of houses we met for the distance of twelve miles. The gorge in which this picturesque hamlet is situated, is spanned by an enormous bridge of blue limestone, taken from the neighbouring quarry—an inspection of the fossil shells of which will well repay the traveller's trouble. On the other side of the ravine the porphyritic limestone breaks out; but the principal rock in this part of the kingdom is the common grey marble, the strata of which appear above the surface in many places.
Through Spain and Portugal
Ernest Clifford Peixotto
New York, Scribner’s 1922
The Serra de Cintra, that purple silhouette that [87]we had first beheld from the ocean, is an exceedingly beautiful succession of hills in whose dimples nestle glens of surpassing loveliness. In them you might fancy yourself in some tropic land — in Guatemala, for example — for tree-ferns spread their umbrella- like fronds over cascades and splashing waters; laurestinas and daturas grow in rich profusion, while roses and ferns cover the huge oak and cork trees, and under your feet the petals of azaleas, magenta, pink and gray, mingle with rich camellias and magnolias to form a carpet soft and rich in color as the weave of a Persian loom. Such a vale is lovely Monserrate, the princely quinta laid out by Beckford, of Fonthill, centuries ago and still owned by an Englishman, Sir Francis Cook, who draws hisPortuguese title of Visconde therefrom.
I think I prefer, however, mysterious Penha Verde, once the home of Dom Joao de Castro, an honest man who died with but a single vintem in his coffers, though there had passed through his hands the untold wealth of India, of which he was governor for many years. All the reward he asked for his successful siege of Diu was the hill with the six trees, upon which the chapel now stands — a knoll over- [38] looking the lovely valley of Collares, and a vast expanse of glen and hillsides of dense pine woods mounting to rocky summits that touch the fleecy sea clouds. Penha Verde is a sad dark park, if you will, but filled with romantic charm — with mossy statues aligning green-carpeted pathways and, at unexpected corners, capillas and quaint fountains adorned with rare Talavera tiles depicting homely scenes of rustic beauty.
But Cintra's chief enchantment is the wonderful drive up the mountain to the two highest points in the range, one crowned by the old Moorish castle walls, hung in mid-air as it were, the other by the Palace of the Pena.
While the road is undoubtedly beautiful upon a sunny morning, with the pungent odor of the pines in your nostrils and glimpses at each turn over plain and valley as you mount ever higher and higher, I shall never forget it on a certain forenoon when the sky was gray and leaden. During the night the sea fog had driven in and blotted the hills from sight. We thought it would lift later, however, so called a coachman and started up.
First, the vapory clouds were well above our heads [39] but, as we mounted, the air freshened and the pines began to bend and their needles to hum in the gathering wind. Then all but the nearest objects vanished; then the vapors would lift again and dim silhouettes appear like prints on Japanese kakemonos: writhing tree-forms and great granite boulders. Each twist of the road brought us more completely into a realm of dreams, of goblin-shapes and grotesque outlines, until we turned at last through a gate, a green-coated official saluted us, and we strained up to a massive portal — a fantastic creation in the dim light like the entrance to an enchanted castle.
Here I sketched for a while until patches of blue opened above my head and flecks of sunshine darted through the trees. The areas of clear sky grew larger, and then, as if by the wand of a magician, the sun dispersed the cohorts of the fogs and mists and the noonday burst serene.
I climbed to the aerial terraces of the castle and there below lay the great province of Estremadura spread out like a map in every direction. What a sense of space, of vision without limit ! What exhilaration to stand in this proud eagle's nest and survey the unbroken stretch of land and sea ! [40]
Vast plains dotted with pink-roofed farms and villages stretched to the northward and to the eastward — to the spires of Mafra's convent as large as the Escorial; to the lines of Torres Vedras, where Wellington finally stopped the all-conquering march of the Napoleonic armies; to the faint blue mountains, one behind the other, that culminate at last in the Estrella, the Mountains of the Stars.
But the eye quickly turns from these and focuses upon the mouth of the Tagus, the source of Lisbon's beauty and of its wealth — its raison d'etre. This, too, is the high light of the picture, though the city itself half hides behind its hills. All lines lead to it: the glittering white roads drawn like ribbons over the green fields; the dazzling sickle of the white sand-bars that skirt the sea to the south; even the vessels that creep in and out from the broad blue Atlantic stretching forever to the westward.
And again I thought of all the mariners that had set out upon this treacherous sea, so many of them never to return, and of their comrades, who, even if they did survive, bronzed and grizzled by their buffets, came back stricken with strange tropical fevers. Yet others persevered, with the indomitable [41] spirit of their forebears, bringing home the first black men from Cabo Branco to work the fields of the Algarves, the spices and ivory from Guinea, and,finally, when the goal was reached, the wealth of Malabar and Burma to the gates of Lisbon. And yet in a single century after this golden age of achievement, sapped by corruption and enervated by its new-found wealth, the little Portuguese nation,shorn of its colonies, had sunk from its position as the wealthiest and proudest in Europe to be a mere province of Spain. This is the lesson that its history teaches: that not upon its wealth and commercial prosperity does the greatness of a nation depend so much as upon the high ideals and endeavors and the stout hearts and rugged sinews of its people.
Many times during our stay in Cintra did I walk these castle terraces, now, since the departure of the royal family, freely open to all, and always did I find new beauty in the changing moods of the picture.
New York, Scribner’s 1922
The Serra de Cintra, that purple silhouette that [87]we had first beheld from the ocean, is an exceedingly beautiful succession of hills in whose dimples nestle glens of surpassing loveliness. In them you might fancy yourself in some tropic land — in Guatemala, for example — for tree-ferns spread their umbrella- like fronds over cascades and splashing waters; laurestinas and daturas grow in rich profusion, while roses and ferns cover the huge oak and cork trees, and under your feet the petals of azaleas, magenta, pink and gray, mingle with rich camellias and magnolias to form a carpet soft and rich in color as the weave of a Persian loom. Such a vale is lovely Monserrate, the princely quinta laid out by Beckford, of Fonthill, centuries ago and still owned by an Englishman, Sir Francis Cook, who draws hisPortuguese title of Visconde therefrom.
I think I prefer, however, mysterious Penha Verde, once the home of Dom Joao de Castro, an honest man who died with but a single vintem in his coffers, though there had passed through his hands the untold wealth of India, of which he was governor for many years. All the reward he asked for his successful siege of Diu was the hill with the six trees, upon which the chapel now stands — a knoll over- [38] looking the lovely valley of Collares, and a vast expanse of glen and hillsides of dense pine woods mounting to rocky summits that touch the fleecy sea clouds. Penha Verde is a sad dark park, if you will, but filled with romantic charm — with mossy statues aligning green-carpeted pathways and, at unexpected corners, capillas and quaint fountains adorned with rare Talavera tiles depicting homely scenes of rustic beauty.
But Cintra's chief enchantment is the wonderful drive up the mountain to the two highest points in the range, one crowned by the old Moorish castle walls, hung in mid-air as it were, the other by the Palace of the Pena.
While the road is undoubtedly beautiful upon a sunny morning, with the pungent odor of the pines in your nostrils and glimpses at each turn over plain and valley as you mount ever higher and higher, I shall never forget it on a certain forenoon when the sky was gray and leaden. During the night the sea fog had driven in and blotted the hills from sight. We thought it would lift later, however, so called a coachman and started up.
First, the vapory clouds were well above our heads [39] but, as we mounted, the air freshened and the pines began to bend and their needles to hum in the gathering wind. Then all but the nearest objects vanished; then the vapors would lift again and dim silhouettes appear like prints on Japanese kakemonos: writhing tree-forms and great granite boulders. Each twist of the road brought us more completely into a realm of dreams, of goblin-shapes and grotesque outlines, until we turned at last through a gate, a green-coated official saluted us, and we strained up to a massive portal — a fantastic creation in the dim light like the entrance to an enchanted castle.
Here I sketched for a while until patches of blue opened above my head and flecks of sunshine darted through the trees. The areas of clear sky grew larger, and then, as if by the wand of a magician, the sun dispersed the cohorts of the fogs and mists and the noonday burst serene.
I climbed to the aerial terraces of the castle and there below lay the great province of Estremadura spread out like a map in every direction. What a sense of space, of vision without limit ! What exhilaration to stand in this proud eagle's nest and survey the unbroken stretch of land and sea ! [40]
Vast plains dotted with pink-roofed farms and villages stretched to the northward and to the eastward — to the spires of Mafra's convent as large as the Escorial; to the lines of Torres Vedras, where Wellington finally stopped the all-conquering march of the Napoleonic armies; to the faint blue mountains, one behind the other, that culminate at last in the Estrella, the Mountains of the Stars.
But the eye quickly turns from these and focuses upon the mouth of the Tagus, the source of Lisbon's beauty and of its wealth — its raison d'etre. This, too, is the high light of the picture, though the city itself half hides behind its hills. All lines lead to it: the glittering white roads drawn like ribbons over the green fields; the dazzling sickle of the white sand-bars that skirt the sea to the south; even the vessels that creep in and out from the broad blue Atlantic stretching forever to the westward.
And again I thought of all the mariners that had set out upon this treacherous sea, so many of them never to return, and of their comrades, who, even if they did survive, bronzed and grizzled by their buffets, came back stricken with strange tropical fevers. Yet others persevered, with the indomitable [41] spirit of their forebears, bringing home the first black men from Cabo Branco to work the fields of the Algarves, the spices and ivory from Guinea, and,finally, when the goal was reached, the wealth of Malabar and Burma to the gates of Lisbon. And yet in a single century after this golden age of achievement, sapped by corruption and enervated by its new-found wealth, the little Portuguese nation,shorn of its colonies, had sunk from its position as the wealthiest and proudest in Europe to be a mere province of Spain. This is the lesson that its history teaches: that not upon its wealth and commercial prosperity does the greatness of a nation depend so much as upon the high ideals and endeavors and the stout hearts and rugged sinews of its people.
Many times during our stay in Cintra did I walk these castle terraces, now, since the departure of the royal family, freely open to all, and always did I find new beauty in the changing moods of the picture.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Distant view of Mafra & the Mountains of Cintra
,+1828.jpg)
Distant view of Mafra & the Mountains of Cintra
(with Peninsula War troops) published in Kelly's ... Geography, 1828.
Frontispiece to "Kelly's Geography"
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Meyer's Universum
Cintra bei Lissabon in Portugal, from steel engraving with fine detail and clear impression, nice hand coloring. Overall size is 18.4 x 27.8 cm, image size is 9.1 x 14.5 cm. Print was published in Germany in Meyer's Universum by Bibliographic Institute Hildburghausen.
CORK CONVENT from a Sketch by Capt. Elliot.
CORK CONVENT,
NEAR CINTRA.
Drawn by C. Stanfeld, Esq. A.R.A.,
from a Sketch by Capt. Elliot.
Here impious men have punished been ; and lo !
Deep in yon cave Honorius long did dwell,
In hope to merit heaven by making earth a hell.
Childe Harold, canto i. st. 20.
" This convent or hermitage is partly burrowed between the rocks which serve as vaults to the church, sacristy, and charter-house, &c. and partly built over the surface. The subterraneous apartments are lighted by holes cut obliquely in the rocks, and lined internally with cork to guard against the humidity. Hence it is called the Cork Convent. It is inhabited by about twenty hermits, of the most rigid order of St. Francis. They are governed by a prior, and live chiefly on fish, fruit, and bread; each has a separate cell, about the size of a grave, furnished with a mattrass; yet one of their community who lately died, named Honorius, thinking the meanest of these cells too luxurious a habitation, retired to a circular pit at the rear of the hermitage, not larger than Diogenes' tub—for it is but four feet diameter—and here, after a residence of sixteen years, he ended his peaceful days at a good old age. The floor of it is strewed with leaves, which served for his bed; and the rugged stone which he used alternately as a pillow and a seat is still to be seen there. These instances of self-denial shew us into what a narrow compass all human wants might be reduced, and evince the truth of the poet's assertion,
" ' Man wants but little here below,
Nor wants that little long.'—Goldsmith"
Murphy's Travels in Portugal.
The Convent of the Santa Cruce de Cintra, or the Convent of the Holy Cross of the Cintra Rock, which perhaps is better known to the generality of readers by the appellation of the Cork Convent, is thus alluded to by Lord Byron: " Below, at some distance, is the Cork Convent, where St. Honorius dug his den, over which is his epitaph." ~
The Convent of the Santa Cruce de Cintra, or the Convent of the Holy Cross of the Cintra Rock, which perhaps is better known to the generality of readers by the appellation of the Cork Convent, is thus alluded to by Lord Byron: " Below, at some distance, is the Cork Convent, where St. Honorius dug his den, over which is his epitaph." ~
" As we," says Kinsey, " rode up to the rude portico of the convent, which is composed simply of two rocks forming a pointed arch by their approximation, the guardian of the fraternity overtook us, and, according to his request, made at the moment that he saw me taking notes of the building, I add the name of the worthy brother, Fr. Francisco da Circumcizao, and with the more pleasure, as he politely restored me my cambric handkerchief which he had found in following our steps upon the road. The brethren, eighteen in number, are of the Franciscan order, and subsist chiefly by alms. On the first landing-place, leading to the entrance-door of the convent, and to the left, there is a pretty fountain of clear water, surmounted by a rudely carved image of Nossa Senhora da Roca, and placed between two large tables of stone, which are surrounded by seats for the weary pilgrim to repose upon. The umbrageous canopy of a wide-spreading cork-tree gives to this vestibule a dim religious light, as well as a most refreshing coolness, and we lingered there in conversation for some time before the monk could induce us to visit his flower-garden, his ponds containing golden fish, his rills of mountain-water, and the narrow paths climbed with difficulty from the masses of rock fantastically scattered about in the surrounding thicket. On either side of the vestibule there is a chapel, with a small confessional in it, at once a source of piety and reverence.
We descended into the subterranean chapel, which is the largest, from a smaller one upon the upper floor. We observed over the high altar a figure of our Saviour, with a glory and crown on his head, apparelled in a crimson robe of silk, and leaning upon a cross, which his long tresses of hair partially concealed.
The Passion is represented on the side walls in Dutch tiles, and the images of St. John and St. Francis appear to be regarding the holy subject with intense interest. On the outside of the altar railing, and to the left hand, is the tomb of St. Honorius; and contiguous to it, as the place of greatest distinction, the cenotaph of D. Alvaro de Castro, the founder of the convent in the year 1564, and under the papacy of Pius IV.
" After hearing Francisco chant the Asperges me, Domine, and expressing our admiration of his fine deep bass voice, as well as of the curious pulpit, let into the wall, of his own invention, and of which he appeared to be very proud, we inspected the narrow cells of the convent, which are nothing more than cavities in the rock, and are lined with cork, and closed with cork-doors, as a defence against cold and humidity. In winter, however, such is the dampness of the situation, that the very rocks which are seen projecting into the cells run down with water; the blankets become saturated with moisture, and every little article of furniture is soon reduced to a state of decay.
" The spirit of Honorius seems to have deserted the fraternity in these latter days, who appear to prefer any discipline to that of enduring the painful inconveniences of a residence, either in winter or summer, within the precincts of this retreat; and Francisco was the only monk who presented himself on the occasion of our visit. After sharing his loaf of coarse bread, served up to us in huge slices upon trenchers of cork—having tasted his Colares, and listened to his long recital of the inimitable excellences of Honorius—we looked into the den wherein the devotee had entitled himself to a high rank on the calendar of saints by thirty-five years of a debasing penance, and in which there is scarcely sufficient room for the reception of the human body; yet where the anchorite, by his self-inflicted torments, ' hoped to merit heaven by making earth a hell.'"
Finden's illustrations of the life and works of Lord Byron
William Brockedon,
Illustrated by William Finden, Edward Francis Finden
John Murray, 1833
vol. II
CINTRA from a Sketch by Col. Sir Samuel Hawker
CINTRA.
Drawn by C. Stanfield, Esq., A.R.A.,
Drawn by C. Stanfield, Esq., A.R.A.,
from a Sketch by Col. Sir Samuel Hawker.
" I must just observe, that the village of Cintra, in Estremadura, is the most beautiful perhaps in the world."
Byron's Letter to Mr. Hodgson.
" The climate of Cintra is decidedly damp, owing to its western aspect and its proximity to the sea; and, indeed, such is the humidity of the atmosphere early in the autumn, that families are often compelled to return to their residences in Lisbon, in order to avoid colds, fevers, and rheumatism, before the end of September. The houses of the town are prettily scattered about the breast of the hill, and their gardens abound with all those flowers, shrubs, and trees whose nature is congenial with warmth of climate. The principal street, if it deserve the appellation, is allowed to remain encumbered with filth, which, were the temperature of the atmosphere as high here as at Lisbon, would render Cintra equally insupportable in the summer. The shops are sufficiently numerous and good; and the manufacture of open-worked stockings and cheesecakes affords employment to a considerable portion of the inhabitants. The open grated windows of the prison, as in other Portuguese towns, even upon the ground- floor, allow free communication between the prisoners and their friends, and every passing stranger. The view down the valley, from the space in front of the church, is singularly beautiful, comprising all the quintas and gardens in the lower part of the town."
The various views of Cintra, and of the most interesting objects around it, given in these Illustrations, will convey an idea beyond language of the scenes which Byron so highly eulogised.
Finden's Landscape & Portrait Illustrations of the Life and Works of Lord Byron
CINTRA
Artist: Drawn by C. Stanfield from a sketch by Capt. Elliot
Engraver: E. Finden
STANFIELD, William Clarkson, 1793-1867
Original and selected information on the subjects of the engravings by William Brockendon
LONDON
John Murray
1833
Lo! Cintra's glorious Eden intervenes
In variegated maze of mount and glen.
Ah me ! what hand can pencil guide, or pen,
To follow half on which the eye dilates
Through views more dazzling unto mortal ken
Than those whereof such things the bard relates,
Who to the awe-struck world unlock'd Elysium's gates ?
The horrid crags by toppling convent crown'd,
The cork-trees hoar that clothe the shaggy steep,
The mountain moss by scorching skies imbrown'd,
The sunken glen whose sunless shrubs must weep,
The tender azure of the unruffled deep,
The orange tints that gild the greenest bough,
The torrents that from cliff to valley leap,
The vine on high, the willow-branch below,
Mix'd in one mighty scene, with varied beauty glow.
Childe Harold, canto i. St. 18, 19.
" The village of Cintra, about fifteen miles from the capital, is perhaps, in every respect, the most delightful in Europe : it contains beauties of every description, natural and artificial. Palaces and gardens rising in the midst of rocks, cataracts, and precipices; convents on stupendous heights; a distant view of the sea and the Tagus; and besides (though that is a secondary consideration) is remarkable as the scene of Sir Hew Dalrymple's convention. It unites in itself all the wildness of the Western Highlands with the verdure of the South of France."—Moore's Life of Lord Byron, vol. i. 12mo. p. 280.
The " Convention of Cintra" is the name given in history to an event by which the advantages gained by our gallant army at Vimeira were most disgracefully sacrificed in the impolitic convention of Sir Hew Dalrymple; but Colonel Napier states, in his " History of the Peninsular War," that " the armistice, the negotiations, the convention itself, and the execution of its provisions, were all commenced, conducted, and concluded, at the distance of thirty miles from Cintra, with which place they had not the slightest connexion, political, military, or local." Opposed to this we have Mathews, in his " Diary of an Invalid," one who is less likely to be acquainted with the facts, but who asserts, in closing some remarks upon the royal palace at Cintra, " Hard by is the palace of the Marquess Marialva, famous for the Cintra convention. The ink which was spilt on this memorable occasion is still visible upon the floor—scattered, as it is said, by Junot, in an ebullition of spleen, when he put his name to the instrument; but surely he had not the most cause for vexation."
Every traveller speaks of Cintra as a scene of striking and singular beauty: its pure air offers, like that of Richmond to the citizens of London, a temptation to the inhabitants of Lisbon to spend their Sundays where they can breathe its freshness. Cintra is fifteen miles from Lisbon. Dr. Southey, in his " Letters," says, " I know not how to describe to you the strange beauties of Cintra. It is perhaps more beautiful than sublime—more grotesque than beautiful; yet I never beheld scenery more calculated to fill the mind with admiration and delight. This immense rock, or mountain, is in part covered with scanty herbage; in parts it rises into conical hills, formed of such immense stones, and piled so strangely, that all the machinery of deluges and volcanoes must fail to satisfy the inquiry for their origin. Nearly at the base stands the town of Cintra, and its palace, an old irregular pile with two chimneys, each shaped like a glass-house. But the abundance of wood forms the most striking feature in this retreat from the Portuguese summer. The houses of the English are seen scattered on the ascent, half hid among cork-trees, elms, oaks, hazels, walnuts, the tall canes, and the rich green of the lemon-gardens. On one of the mountain-eminences stands the Penha convent, visible from the hills near Lisbon.
On another are the ruins of a Moorish castle, and a cistern within its boundaries, kept always full by a spring of the purest water that rises in it. From this elevation the eye stretches over a bare and melancholy country, to Lisbon on the one side, and, on the other, to the distant convent of Mafra; the Atlantic bounding the greater part of the prospect. I cannot, without a tedious minuteness, describe the ever-varying prospects that the many eminences of this wild rock present, or the little green lanes, over whose bordering lemon- gardens the evening wind blows so cool and rich."
Murphy, who published his " Travels in Portugal" in 1795, says, p. 244, that " about thirty years ago, a foreign gentleman discovered a mine of loadstone in this mountain. What suggested the idea of it were the herbs that grew immediately over it, which were of a pale colour, and more feeble than the adjacent plants of the same species. Having dug about six feet deep, he found a fine vein; but as the mountain is a mass of disjointed rocks and clay, he could not proceed further without propping as he excavated. Government therefore, apprehending the produce would not defray the expense, ordered it to be shut up." Is this fact capable of being illustrated by electrico-magnetic researches ?
All travellers seem to agree upon the strikingly beautiful effect of the first appearance of Cintra. Thus Kinsey describes it:
" We at length began to wind round the rock on which a little chapel is situated, to the left above the road, when Cintra was at once disclosed to our longing expectations, with its forest scenery of oak and corktrees, its royal palace, numerous quintas shining amid the orange and lemon-groves which adorn the declivity of the Moorish hill, and a lovely valley to the right, where nature is beheld in her richest and greenest garb, extending down to the sea, whose golden waves reflected at the moment the rays of the setting sun; and sunsets can in no part of the world be more astonishing and glorious than in Portugal. When Lisbon is entirely burnt up and fainting under oppressive heat, the inhabitants of this favoured spot are enjoying their mountain-rills and delightfully refreshing verdure, and an atmosphere more than ten degrees cooler, from its northern aspect, than at the capital."—Portugal Illustrated, p. 128.
But all these accounts are heightened in effect by being brought into immediate contrast, by authors who have just escaped the filth, and heat, and discomfort of Lisbon; and something of the same feeling is imparted to their readers, to whom the description of fountains, gardens, fresh breezes, and pure air, is made to follow the disgusting account of those offences which in Lisbon had passed " betwixt the wind and their nobility."
Tuesday, 17 February 2009
Giuseppe Marco Antonio Baretti
"The road between Mafra and Cintra is still such as it was after the flood when the waters subsided, and I alighted twenty times from my chaise for fear of being overturned. I saw on both sides the road in many places many stone-blocks and marble-columns, as the quarries are there that have furnished the materials for the Royal Convent. It was dark when I reached Cintra, and my Negro took me to the English Inn ; so called because it is chiefly kept up by a society of Englifh merchants, who go thither from Lisbon either upon pleasure or to buy up oranges and lemons. When those merchants are there, they get the best rooms, and with a very good reason, as they have fitted it themselves for their own reception.
It happen'd that the whole house was full on my arrival, and as it was too late to procure any lodging, I was obliged to sleep upon the mentioned piece of canvas in a neighbouring house. But on my return from the Cork-convent the merchants were gone, and I had an excellent bed.
It is now time to tell you, that, before the earthquake, Cintra was very well worth a visit. A royal palace was there which is now almoft destroyed. They say that it was many centuries ago one of the country-seats of the Moorish Kings that wrested Portugal and Spain from the hands of the Vandals, who had themselves wrested both countries from those of the Romans. Moorish or not Moorish, I see by its ruins, as well as by what remains standing, that it was once a great palace. There are still three of its halls to be feen. The ceiling of each is divided into little spaces that have animals painted in them. But each ceiling had but one animal allotted towards its ornament ; and thus one contains nothing else but so many swans, the other nothing else but stags, and the third nothing else but magpyes. An odd tafte of decoration, especially as the fwans, the stags, and magpyes are uniform, and the posture of each the same as that of the next. Each swan has a golden chain round his neck ; each stag supports a coat of arms on his back ; and each magpye has the words per ben written by her side ; which words preceded by that of Piga, form an allusive Moorish quibble I have already forgot.
The walls of the three halls are incrustated with square pieces of marble of two different colours disposed chequer-wise, and so are the floors. On the ground-floor there is a small room where before the earthquake water was made to spout from many little pipes concealed in the walls on the touching of a spring; and this is almost all that is left of that Moorish palace. They are rebuilding it, and the King will have it restored to its ancient form. A laudable thought, as posterity will still see what was the Moorish taste in architecture.
From the windows of the hall where the stags are painted, there is a fine prospect ; but I am sick of prospects, and will give you no further description of any. If you love prospects, get upon steeples.
The royal convent at Mafra has not suffer'd much by the earthquake. The friars made me observe, that the little round members over the plinths of the two great columns on each side the gate of the church, were crack'd and partly broken off. But that was almoft all the
damage damage the building has undergone, though the trepidation of the ground was so great, that some of the friars were thrown upon their faces as they were kneeling in the choir, and many people in the church stumbled against each other. Had the building inclined but an inch or two more, it would probably have gone down all at once and crush'd them all in that instant.
I take now my leave of Cintra, of that beautiful spot it stands upon, of the remaining halls of the Moorish palace, and of the high hills in that neighbourhood where many English and many Portuguese have pretty country-houses. I am told that not far from thence there is a spot of ground about a league in length and a mile broad, all planted with oranges and lemons, whose flowers in due season perfume a vast tract of country. They call it the valley of Collares, and compare it to the garden of Eden. In all probability, had I gone to see it, I Should have compared it to the territory of San Remo on the Ligurian coast.
As I came from Cintra towards Lisbon I saw some other parts of that Aqueduct that goes over the valley of Alcantara. I saw likewise some agreeable Quintas ; that is, belonging to the Portuguese nobility and gentry. Yet in general the country which I have seen during this short ramble, is rocky and barren.
LETTER XXX 255-260
The Gentleman's Magazine, Sept. 1789
" ... in Christmas holidays I was at Cintra, which is about twenty miles from Lisbon, where we found the air wonderfully mild and pleasant- We dined in the open air, and had some delightful walks about the rock. Cintra is deservedly famous for its temperature, being no less cool in summer than warm in winter. One may indeed almost pronounce they have neither summer nor winter there, but a delightful middle kind of season, that is free from the inconveniences of both, and is constantly both and neither. It is the most unaccountably place I ever saw or heard of, and hardly seems subject to the laws of Nature ; for, besides its unseasonable pleasantness at all times of the year, though it is the highest ground I ever trod, it is constantly overflowed with water, in which respect, though it may fall-in with the system of Mr. Halley, it seems to run counter to the common course of Nature. It is the most fertile and the most barren, the most frightful and the most lovely place I ever beheld. The exquisite sweetness of the lower part of the hills is strongly contrasted by the craggy appearance of the summits, where the rain has washed away the mould from between the rocks, and left them piled upon one another in a frightful manner.
The foxes and the wolves, that inhabited the numerous clefts and caverns in these eminences, are in one place dislodged by a sett of inhabitants, who, when religion is out of the question, have the advantage of the wild beasts in point of humanity ; I mean a sett of friars, who have consecrated the evacuated dens, and taken up their abode in them. We dined with them, and they treated us very hospitably, just without the gate of their unbuilt and invisible convent.
They tell me that Cintra is indefinitely more pleasant in the summer than in the winter ; but it is very difficult to conceive how that is possible. The grass affords a verdure in winter, which, I am apt to think, the summer heat must destroy. The hills abound with ever-greens, particularly cork-trees ; and the orange groves, when I saw them, were loaded with fruit, and made a fine appearance.
Letter written "soon after the earthquake" by Rev. Mr. W. Allen to Mr. Thickness, Master of St.Paul's School
789
Saturday, 7 February 2009
THROUGH SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, 1922
THROUGH SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
ERNEST PEIXOTTO
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS MCMXXII (1922)
CINTRA BUT if in search of far horizons, it is to Cintra that you must go. A short hour from Lisbon in the train and the engine puffs into the station tired with its con- stant climb. A drive through the rather dull town brings you to a little English hotel that for three generations has housed British visitors. Its little landlady, though she has spent some sixty years of her seventy-six under this roof in Portugal, is as English in her black bombazine and white bonnet as if she had but just landed from Southampton. When she leads you to your room and opens the casement you will fancy yourself in the terrestrial paradise. Deep below, a tangled glen shelters a cascade whose music rises to your ear; the perfume of rose and white locust and heliotrope and jasmine is wafted by the gentle breeze, while the eternal mildness, the sifted sunlight over the far-reaching plains stretching to the broad blue ocean that bounds the horizon, make an impression that lives forever in the memory. Tradition has it that in one of these rooms (the one in the corner where his bust stands upon a table and souvenirs of him hang framed upon the walls) Lord Byron wrote the opening cantos of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage": " Lo, Cintra's glorious Eden intervenes In variegated maze of mount and glen." His rhapsodies in this and other poems, and those of Southey, who called it "the most blessed spot in the habitable globe," have done much for its fame, but, except by the English, it is still but little visited.
[...]
The Serra de Cintra, that purple silhouette that we had first beheld from the ocean, is an exceedingly beautiful succession of hills in whose dimples nestle glens of surpassing loveliness. In them you might fancy yourself in some tropic land — in Guatemala, for example — for tree-ferns spread their umbrella- like fronds over cascades and splashing waters; laurestinas and daturas grow in rich profusion, while roses and ferns cover the huge oak and cork trees, and under your feet the petals of azaleas, magenta, pink and gray, mingle with rich camellias and magnolias to form a carpet soft and rich in color as the weave of a Persian loom. Such a vale is lovely Monserrate, the princely quinta laid out by Beck- ford, of Fonthill, centuries ago and still owned by an Englishman, Sir Francis Cook, who draws his Portuguese title of Visconde therefrom. I think I prefer, however, mysterious Penha Verde, once the home of Dom Joao de Castro, an honest man who died with but a single vintem in his coffers, though there had passed through his hands the un- told wealth of India, of which he was governor for many years. All the reward he asked for his suc- cessful siege of Diu was the hill with the six trees, upon which the chapel now stands — a knoll overlooking the lovely valley of Collares, and a vast ex- panse of glen and hillsides of dense pine woods mounting to rocky summits that touch the fleecy sea clouds. Penha Verde is a sad dark park, if you will, but filled with romantic charm — with mossy statues aligning green-carpeted pathways and, at unexpected corners, capillas and quaint fountains adorned with rare Talavera tiles depicting homely scenes of rustic beauty.
But Cintra's chief enchantment is the wonderful drive up the mountain to the two highest points in the range, one crowned by the old Moorish castle walls, hung in mid-air as it were, the other by the Palace of the Pena. While the road is undoubtedly beautiful upon a sunny morning, with the pungent odor of the pines in your nostrils and glimpses at each turn over plain and valley as you mount ever higher and higher, I shall never forget it on a certain forenoon when the sky was gray and leaden. During the night the sea fog had driven in and blotted the hills from sight. We thought it would lift later, however, so called a coachman and started up. First, the vapory clouds were well above our heads but, as we mounted, the air freshened and the pines began to bend and their needles to hum in the gather- ing wind. Then all but the nearest objects vanished; then the vapors would lift again and dim silhouettes appear like prints on Japanese kakemonos: writhing tree-forms and great granite boulders. Each twist of the road brought us more completely into a realm of dreams, of goblin-shapes and grotesque outlines, until we turned at last through a gate, a green-coated official saluted us, and we strained up to a massive portal — a fantastic creation in the dim light like the entrance to an enchanted castle. Here I sketched for a while until patches of blue opened above my head and flecks of sunshine darted through the trees. The areas of clear sky grew larger, and then, as if by the wand of a magician, the sun dispersed the cohorts of the fogs and mists and the noonday burst serene. I climbed to the aerial terraces of the castle and there below lay the great province of Estremadura spread out like a map in every direction. What a sense of space, of vision without limit ! What exhil- aration to stand in this proud eagle's nest and survey the unbroken stretch of land and sea !
ERNEST PEIXOTTO
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS MCMXXII (1922)
CINTRA BUT if in search of far horizons, it is to Cintra that you must go. A short hour from Lisbon in the train and the engine puffs into the station tired with its con- stant climb. A drive through the rather dull town brings you to a little English hotel that for three generations has housed British visitors. Its little landlady, though she has spent some sixty years of her seventy-six under this roof in Portugal, is as English in her black bombazine and white bonnet as if she had but just landed from Southampton. When she leads you to your room and opens the casement you will fancy yourself in the terrestrial paradise. Deep below, a tangled glen shelters a cascade whose music rises to your ear; the perfume of rose and white locust and heliotrope and jasmine is wafted by the gentle breeze, while the eternal mildness, the sifted sunlight over the far-reaching plains stretching to the broad blue ocean that bounds the horizon, make an impression that lives forever in the memory. Tradition has it that in one of these rooms (the one in the corner where his bust stands upon a table and souvenirs of him hang framed upon the walls) Lord Byron wrote the opening cantos of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage": " Lo, Cintra's glorious Eden intervenes In variegated maze of mount and glen." His rhapsodies in this and other poems, and those of Southey, who called it "the most blessed spot in the habitable globe," have done much for its fame, but, except by the English, it is still but little visited.
[...]
The Serra de Cintra, that purple silhouette that we had first beheld from the ocean, is an exceedingly beautiful succession of hills in whose dimples nestle glens of surpassing loveliness. In them you might fancy yourself in some tropic land — in Guatemala, for example — for tree-ferns spread their umbrella- like fronds over cascades and splashing waters; laurestinas and daturas grow in rich profusion, while roses and ferns cover the huge oak and cork trees, and under your feet the petals of azaleas, magenta, pink and gray, mingle with rich camellias and magnolias to form a carpet soft and rich in color as the weave of a Persian loom. Such a vale is lovely Monserrate, the princely quinta laid out by Beck- ford, of Fonthill, centuries ago and still owned by an Englishman, Sir Francis Cook, who draws his Portuguese title of Visconde therefrom. I think I prefer, however, mysterious Penha Verde, once the home of Dom Joao de Castro, an honest man who died with but a single vintem in his coffers, though there had passed through his hands the un- told wealth of India, of which he was governor for many years. All the reward he asked for his suc- cessful siege of Diu was the hill with the six trees, upon which the chapel now stands — a knoll overlooking the lovely valley of Collares, and a vast ex- panse of glen and hillsides of dense pine woods mounting to rocky summits that touch the fleecy sea clouds. Penha Verde is a sad dark park, if you will, but filled with romantic charm — with mossy statues aligning green-carpeted pathways and, at unexpected corners, capillas and quaint fountains adorned with rare Talavera tiles depicting homely scenes of rustic beauty.
But Cintra's chief enchantment is the wonderful drive up the mountain to the two highest points in the range, one crowned by the old Moorish castle walls, hung in mid-air as it were, the other by the Palace of the Pena. While the road is undoubtedly beautiful upon a sunny morning, with the pungent odor of the pines in your nostrils and glimpses at each turn over plain and valley as you mount ever higher and higher, I shall never forget it on a certain forenoon when the sky was gray and leaden. During the night the sea fog had driven in and blotted the hills from sight. We thought it would lift later, however, so called a coachman and started up. First, the vapory clouds were well above our heads but, as we mounted, the air freshened and the pines began to bend and their needles to hum in the gather- ing wind. Then all but the nearest objects vanished; then the vapors would lift again and dim silhouettes appear like prints on Japanese kakemonos: writhing tree-forms and great granite boulders. Each twist of the road brought us more completely into a realm of dreams, of goblin-shapes and grotesque outlines, until we turned at last through a gate, a green-coated official saluted us, and we strained up to a massive portal — a fantastic creation in the dim light like the entrance to an enchanted castle. Here I sketched for a while until patches of blue opened above my head and flecks of sunshine darted through the trees. The areas of clear sky grew larger, and then, as if by the wand of a magician, the sun dispersed the cohorts of the fogs and mists and the noonday burst serene. I climbed to the aerial terraces of the castle and there below lay the great province of Estremadura spread out like a map in every direction. What a sense of space, of vision without limit ! What exhil- aration to stand in this proud eagle's nest and survey the unbroken stretch of land and sea !
LOVELL BADCOCK, 1832, 1833 & 1834
ROUGH LEAVES FROM A JOURNAL SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, THE YEARS 1832, 1833, & 1834. BY LIEUT.-COL. LOVELL BADCOCK.
8th March. Lord W. Russell presented his letters of recall, and went with his family to Cintra for a few days. It was notified to me that I was to remain with the new embassy ; but I went to Cintra to spend a short time with Lord and Lady William Russell previous to their departure. I passed there three pleasant days, inspecting what was worth seeing. 9th March. I visited the Moorish castle, and rode to Montserrat. There was a procession of the host at Cintra. 10th March. Went in the morning to the Moorish palace, where I saw the room adorned with swans ; the bar-bem (magpie- room) ; the chamber of the arms of the nobility ; the shower- bath room, where the water spouts in a light vapoury discharge from all parts ; and the cham- ber with Moorish tiling, in which King Alphonso was confined for a number of years. In the afternoon I visited the palace of Ramalhada, one of the most pleasantly situated in the king- dom. It commands a beautiful view of the sea and of the entrance to the Tagus. There is a fine terrace; the grounds are tastefully laid out, and a number of excellent paintings are in the house, which is likewise well furnished. It contains an exquisite dining-room for hot wea- ther, which is an octagon in shape, and on each water flows from fountains into basins. In the centre of the table is a plateau, on which is a fountain playing into a basin that surrounds it filled with gold fish. On the dinner being served, the guests sit round outside the plateau, whilst an aviary of canary birds, and the choic- est flowers surround the windows. It is the most delightful residence in Portugal, and does credit to the taste of the late Queen-dowager. Three days' repose in a place like Cintra does every one good : such is the salubrity of the air, the pureness of the water, and the quietness of the situation.
8th March. Lord W. Russell presented his letters of recall, and went with his family to Cintra for a few days. It was notified to me that I was to remain with the new embassy ; but I went to Cintra to spend a short time with Lord and Lady William Russell previous to their departure. I passed there three pleasant days, inspecting what was worth seeing. 9th March. I visited the Moorish castle, and rode to Montserrat. There was a procession of the host at Cintra. 10th March. Went in the morning to the Moorish palace, where I saw the room adorned with swans ; the bar-bem (magpie- room) ; the chamber of the arms of the nobility ; the shower- bath room, where the water spouts in a light vapoury discharge from all parts ; and the cham- ber with Moorish tiling, in which King Alphonso was confined for a number of years. In the afternoon I visited the palace of Ramalhada, one of the most pleasantly situated in the king- dom. It commands a beautiful view of the sea and of the entrance to the Tagus. There is a fine terrace; the grounds are tastefully laid out, and a number of excellent paintings are in the house, which is likewise well furnished. It contains an exquisite dining-room for hot wea- ther, which is an octagon in shape, and on each water flows from fountains into basins. In the centre of the table is a plateau, on which is a fountain playing into a basin that surrounds it filled with gold fish. On the dinner being served, the guests sit round outside the plateau, whilst an aviary of canary birds, and the choic- est flowers surround the windows. It is the most delightful residence in Portugal, and does credit to the taste of the late Queen-dowager. Three days' repose in a place like Cintra does every one good : such is the salubrity of the air, the pureness of the water, and the quietness of the situation.
Poems of Places
CINTRA
NOONDAY languors of summer-tide
Voluptuous hang on Cintra's side,
Luxuries of languor, deep
And rich as a dream 'twixt wake and sleep ;
Over all a delicious drowse,
As — seen in an opium-eater's vision, —
Goddesses, with slumberous brows
Beautiful, droop in bowers elysian;
All about the mountain's side
A lazy sunshine mantling wide, —
And the golden quiet gentliest falls
Round Montserrat's deserted halls.
Lo ! the ruin, — the site romantic!
Wanderer o'er the broad Atlantic,
Sick at heart of the restless ocean —
That rolled thee hither, thou deemest lull
To be a whirlpool of driving motion,
Motion incessant and forced and frantic,
As Vathek did ; and thou as well
Wouldst choose in so sweet a place to dwell ;
A haven for the stormy-stressed,
Where all that blooms, that breathes, seems blest
With the fulness of a heavenly rest.
Yet a shadow haunts the ruin lone,
And voices are echoing mournfully ;
This the burden of their moan :
Vanity ! All is vanity !
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Poems of Places, 1877
NOONDAY languors of summer-tide
Voluptuous hang on Cintra's side,
Luxuries of languor, deep
And rich as a dream 'twixt wake and sleep ;
Over all a delicious drowse,
As — seen in an opium-eater's vision, —
Goddesses, with slumberous brows
Beautiful, droop in bowers elysian;
All about the mountain's side
A lazy sunshine mantling wide, —
And the golden quiet gentliest falls
Round Montserrat's deserted halls.
Lo ! the ruin, — the site romantic!
Wanderer o'er the broad Atlantic,
Sick at heart of the restless ocean —
That rolled thee hither, thou deemest lull
To be a whirlpool of driving motion,
Motion incessant and forced and frantic,
As Vathek did ; and thou as well
Wouldst choose in so sweet a place to dwell ;
A haven for the stormy-stressed,
Where all that blooms, that breathes, seems blest
With the fulness of a heavenly rest.
Yet a shadow haunts the ruin lone,
And voices are echoing mournfully ;
This the burden of their moan :
Vanity ! All is vanity !
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Poems of Places, 1877
Narrative of a spring tour in Portugal
REV. ALFRED CHARLES SMITH, M.A.
I must not omit to mention the English church as I speak of Lisbon, for this, with its cypress-planted cemetery, is no unimportant spot on the Estrella, and, overhanging the very beautiful Estrella gardens, is a conspicuous point in a general view of the city. Moreover, it is no small matter to have secured so spacious a church and so large a burial-ground in any southern capital for our much abused, though in reality most catholic. Church of England. As regards the building, indeed, I cannot congratulate my countrymen on its ecclesiastical aspect ; for anything more mean externally, or more ill adapted for our services within, it would be difficult to conceive. Without vestige of chancel, meanly furnished with altar, and with square, well be-curtained boxes on either hand for his Excellency the English Minister at this court; with towering desk, and still more towering pulpit, the great, ugly room which does duty for our church, but is in reality the counterpart of some of our meeting-houses at home, offers to the inhabitants of Portugal but a sorry spectacle of our ecclesiastical arrangements. It is de- plorable, indeed, that such should be the case, and that, with perhaps a natural desire to exhibit to our country- men the contrast between our simple services and the more elaborate ceremonious services of the Ivomish faith, those who built our English fabric at Lisbon have run into the disastrous extreme of erecting, as a sample of Anglican church architecture, the very barest, baldest, coldest, I will even say most hideous building, which gives no oppor- tunity for the exercise of our ordinary ritual, and in no wa}^ resembles our ecclesiastical buildings at home. What wonder that in this, as in so many instances throughout Europe, the members of another Communion, more pro- fuse than ourselves in artistic accessories to public worship, turn away from our services in derision as well as disgust, despising the bare white walls and the cold, unadorned structure which, from east to west, shows no token of Christianity, no single sign or emblem that it does not belong to the Socinian or the Jew. It is true that perfect freedom of design with regard to the exterior of English churches is not always permitted by Grovernments devoted to the Eomish faith ; but many instances might be adduced where this difficulty has been overcome with great success, even as regards the exterior ; while, whatever the outward aspect, the interior could of course be satisfactorily ar- ranged in accordance with the services as appointed in our Prayer Book, and generally celebrated by the church at home. During one of the Sundays which we spent at Lisbon, a confirmation was held in the English church by the ex-Bishop of Labuan (Dr. MacDougall) ; but the miserable arrangement of the altar and its rails, and the general seating of the church, rendered the holy rite any- thing but impressive — indeed, prevented a large propor- tion of the congregation from witnessing it at all ; and I felt quite vexed to think hovv^ poor an impression of that solemn service must have been carried away by the Portuguese spectators, many of whom were on that oc- casion attracted within the walls of our church. Great indeed was the contrast to emerge from the bare white walls of that forbidding building into the brilliant sunshine ; to wander beneath the deep shade of the dark cypresses in the cemetery ; to stroll through the beautiful gardens of the Estrella, gay wdth a hundred flowers ; or even to saunter through the streets, where the good taste of the colour-loving south has covered the faces of many of the houses with glazed tiles of porcelain, sometimes of a red or brown hue, but far more frequently of a blue colour, and always in a pretty pattern. This is known as azulejo, and imparts a remarkably bright finish to the houses ; and when (as is often the case) several adjoining buildings are thus decorated, the appearance is extremely pleasing.
CHAPTER V. CINTRA. In the last chapter I was at issue with Lord Byron in regard to the general character of the Portuguese : not less do I dissent from what appears to me his most exaggerated praise of Cintra. To be sure, a poet is allowed a great deal of licence, and perhaps it is unfair to take his description au pied de lettre; still, as I believe that half the English world has received its impression of Portugal in general, and Cintra in particular, from ' Childe Harold,' and has therefore the very highest idea of its superlative beauty, I desire to state what I consider the unvarnished truth, as it strikes a matter-of-fact, prosaic traveller. In the first place, however, all due allowance must be made for the disappointment which is certain to ensue, when expectation has been strung up too highly ; and doubtless we, in common with the rest of our countrymen, drove over from Lisbon to Cintra with anticipations in regard to the scenery of the latter place which were not likely to be realised. The carriage which conveyed us was a narrow chariot, not unlike an old-fashioned English post-chaise, and our horses were a pair of rough, sturdy cart-horses; the driver a good-humoured, jovial fellow, who was twisting up cigarettes and smoking them through the whole journey. Twice we stopped to bait our horses, which was a very marvellous proceeding; they were not taken from the carriage, but the bits were removed from their mouths, and then slices of coarse black bread, dipped in red wine, were given to each animal in due order. So far the bait was intelligible enough ; but now our coachman proceeded to pour a Clip of red wine over the backs and loins of the horses, which, he assured us, gave them great refreshment and courage ; and when we still appeared sceptical on the point, he reiterated his assertions with redoubled violence and at the top of his voice, in all of which he was well seconded by an old lady who did duty as the ostler. It is a journey of about five leagues, or sixteen miles, from Lisbon to Cintra : the first league through the interminable suburbs of the capital ; then we reach the large hamlet of Bemfica, which, however, is now connected with Lisbon by an unbroken succession of houses ; and now, for another league, villas with their gardens and quintas, and high stone walls shutting in the retreats of the more wealthy Lisbonites, line the road on either hand ; for the third and fourth league the road traverses the open corn fields, brown, scorched, and treeless, ugly and uninviting enough; though, as our first introduction to rural scenes in Portugal, we found ample objects of interest, and an occasional glimpse of the aqueduct spanning a valley or creeping along a hill-side diversified the general monotony of the scene. And then, as we drew near to Cintra, the rocky mountains and forest-clad hills seemed to bar all approach, and it was pleasant to exchange the dazzling sunshine and the glaring road for welcome shade, as we drove under huge oak and plane and cork trees which met overhead. And now, as we crawled up the steepest inclines, and descended terrific hills at a furious pace, with villas and palaces and their respective gardens on either hand, we were fairly in the long straggling town of Cintra ; but we traversed it from end to end, till after a more than ordinarily steep declivity, galloped down at a greater speed than before, our merry driver pulled up his horses with a jerk, and we were deposited at the hotel of our compatriot, good Mrs, Lawrence. We spent a week at Cintra, and during that time I wandered, gun in hand, through forests and valleys, climbed up all the higher mountains, and very thoroughly explored the whole district, so that I flatter myself I am somewhat better qualified to pronounce an opinion on its merits than the great majority of my countrymen in Portugal, whose habit generally appears to be, to drive over in the morning from Lisbon, dine at Cintra, and back to the capital in the evening ; or, if they should be very enthusiastic sight-seers, they will devote two days to the excursion ; spending one night in rural retirement, and returning the following day, I need scarcely say, that such a hurried glimpse conveys no real notion of the place, for Cintra nestles amidst a collection of hills, and extends over a considerable area. Indeed, its great charm is, that it affords a cool retreat in summer from the oppressive heat of Lisbon ; and its grateful shades, deep forests, pleasant groves and gardens, as well as pure air and abundant springs, must seem delightful after the perpetual glare and dust of the capital in the dog-days. And so the villas and private houses and country seats of the wealthy occupy every inviting nook for a league or more on every side of the little town, each embowered in its quinta, hidden amidst the dense foliage which is so highly appreciated, and striving with all its might to escape from the vertical rays of the sun. For certainly no sun-worshippers are the Portuguese at Cintra : the one aim and object of these veritable giaours seems to be to shut out their fierce enemy; and with this end in view, they build their houses in some odd corner, where an over-hanging rock casts perpetual shade, and their gardens and pleasure-grounds resemble intricate groves and well-kept shrubberies, where the one requirement is shelter from the sun. Amongst the innumerable villas which occupy every available position, but always with this chief essential of shade prominently in view, there is one which more especially deserves notice, not only as the renowned creation of the luxurious author of ' Vathec ;' but still more as re-built by its present proprietor, and the gardens and grounds laid out anew with consummate taste, it bears away the palm as, in all respects, the most lovely of its compeers. This is the famous Montserrat, and it is indeed a little paradise : perched amid swelling knolls on the hill-side, surrounded by gardens and shrubberies, where oriental palms and Mexican palms vie with one another, where araucarias of many species, Brazilian shrubs of great rarity, and whole groves of tree camellias flourish side by side, and scent the air with the perfume of a thousand flowers. Then it is flanked by groves of orange, lemon, and fig trees, and backed by deep woods of gigantic cork, and olive, and chestnut, and dark fir trees, beneath whose branches reigned so impenetrable a gloom as to defy even the mid-day sun ; while, high up overhead, rose the bare and broken crests of the rocky mountains which formed the shelter on the south; and far away to the west we could see the broad expanse of the Atlantic, never at rest even in the calmest weather, but always breaking on the shore with a surf which whitened the coast-line with a broad fringe, discernible for many a league. Montserrat is in truth exceedingly lovely, and if it might do duty as a sample of all Cintra, then I should think no praise could be too great for its deserts ; but I am bound to add that it stands quite alone, and that no other quinta comes near the perfection of this favoured spot. Moreover, not only is the English proprietor, Mr. Cook, evidently a man of refined taste, but his excellent head gardener, Mr. Burt, knows how to make the most of the position ; and with sun and shade, and springs of water to any extent at his command, he has so mingled the wild and the cultivated, so arranged the shrubs and plants of both hemispheres, that as you lie on the soft turf, under the shade of a gigantic magnolia, you seem in enchanted ground, so surrounded are you with the most flourishing specimens of a hundred tropical plants and shrubs, never seen before. No wonder that, having obtained permission to wander at pleasure with my gun through its extensive walks and woods and quintas, I spent a considerable part of several days within its precincts; and I always came back to it with fresh appreciation of its beauties, and renewed convictions that it formed the jewel of Cintra. But my rambles extended amongst many other properties, and many a pretty glen and many a charming nook did I stumble on ; and most kind and obliging were the inhabitants, who freely invited me to enter their grounds, and walk where I pleased ; though there was one great drawback to such trespassing, in the lofty stone walls with which each quinta was surrounded ; so that, once within the ring fence, it was generally imperative on the intruder to return to the gate by which he entered. Now these villas and quintas, surrounded each by its own wall, and backed by its own woods, succeed one another all along the slopes of the hills on which Cintra stands ; far below them lies the red, scorched, glowing plain, far above them stand the bare jagged rocks, which seem so strangely distorted, and look so uneven and rough, and whose summits reach two thousand feet above the sea. To me these heights were a great attraction, and almost every day I climbed to one and another peak, now wandering out westwards to the point which overhangs the mouth of the Tagus, now ascending to the point crowned by the Penha palace, now choosing some intermediate height fur my mountain scramble. From all, the view was in most respects the same : the rocks themselves the strangest collection of boulders, thrown together in huge masses, like an immense stone heap on a gigantic scale. Immediately below lay the town of Cintra, with its long suburbs of villas and gardens, and woods stretching along the hills on both hands ; to the north the flat, interminable, treeless plain, glowing in the sun, and abounding in cornfields and vine- yards, with Mafra four leagues away, showing its vast pile of buildings like a second Escorial, colossal in size, even from here ; to the south the hills of Alemtejo, stretching far away into the clear distance, and, perhaps, as some report, in the extreme horizon, even the mountains of the little southern province of Algarve; to the west the broad Atlantic, of whose waters I had never seen at one glance half such an expanse before; to the east the Tagus, winding up towards the capital, and extending into a broad bay above it, though Lisbon itself was hidden from view by the lower hills which intervene. There was always a fresh breeze blowing on the top of these elevated ridges, and there was always an un- clouded sky and the very brightest of suns, and it was diffi- cult to decide which of the many peaks was the highest, for each in turn, as seen from some fresh point of view, seemed to claim the right of precedence. However, leaving others to settle that knotty point, we may affirm of all of them, that they boasted the same glorious prospect, that they were all equally rugged and barren, and that here silence and solitude reigned supreme, broken only by the occasional tinkle of a sheep-bell, or the shrill reed-pipe of a goat- herd, for in these upland rocks the Arcadian herdsmen thus beguiled the monotony of their lives. Nor was animal life much more abundant than the vegetation: for of the mammalia I saw not a single specimen ; of birds, a colony of choughs and an occasional raven monopolised the upper rocks, while larks and pipits contented themselves with a lower elevation. But the reptile world was better repre- sented; for brown and green lizards basked on the glowing rocks, and darted in and out amidst the huge boulders, and on one occasion I succeeded in shooting a fine specimen of the beautiful ' eyed ' or ' great spotted ' green lizard (Zacevta ocellata), which measured nearly two feet in length, and was of the most vivid green hue, speckled and spotted with deep black or bright blue. Subsequently, I saw several of this gigantic species, but on no occasion, not even in the museum at Lisbon, did I meet with so large a specimen as in the rocks above Cintra. If, however, I might credit the assertion of an unscientific witness, who certainly had no wish to exaggerate, but related what he believed to be true, my large lizard would appear to be but a mere pigmy ; for I was repeatedly told of a gigantic green lizard which haunted some rock terraces at Montserrat, which measured about four feet in length ! but this, I take leave to say, was an unintentional over-estimate. Pre-eminently conspicuous on one of the highest summits stands the Penha or Pena Convent, once (as its name implies) a monastery, but now the palace of the enlightened Dom Fernando, father to the present king. Now, if it be the case, as the ancient Persians thought, that ' a palace ought to have a lofty site, and look down on the habitations of meaner men,' then, undoubtedly, the Penha Palace is most admirably situated, for by many hundred feet it out-tops all other buildings in the place. Otherwise, notwithstanding the excellent carriage road which winds up to the castle gate, methought it was somewhat inconvenient to have one's dwelling so high in these peaceable times, when strength and security from attack are not the first considerations in choosing a dwelling-place. Moreover, perched on the extreme summit, this semi-regal palace is exposed to every wind which blows, and though it is well to feel a gentle breeze stirring, when the heat below is almost tropical, it is another thing to be exposed to such frequent hurricanes and rude blasts, as coming in direct from the wide Atlantic, seem to haunt these heights with a pertinacity which reminds one they have had nothing to worry for many a thousand miles, on their course across the ocean. With this trifling exception of situation (which however has its advantages in a sultry clime), the Penha Castle is a pleasant residence : it is built after the Moorish style, with horse-shoe arches, and the walls glitter with bright blue glazed tiles or azulejo ; and it is castellated, turreted, and balconied at every possible point. It is also provided with ramparts, drawbridges, porcullis, and mock defences, and cannon pointing in all directions, to frighten away Moors or other would-be in- vaders, in case they should think it worth while to climb so high. From the Penha turrets conspicuous on one side is a colossal statue of the great discoverer Vasco de Grama, armed with lance and shield, who stands on the very summit of an elevated peak ; and on the other side the ruins of two Moorish towers, which crown other heights, and which must have been impregnable fortresses in troublous times when such elevated positions were of real advantage. Below the Castle are gardens and shrubberies, admirably laid out and beautifully kept ; and here we strolled without hindrance, for all here is liberally thrown open to the public ; indeed, Dom Fernando is in all respects a liberal, generous man, and much beloved by people of all ranks. There are other lions to be visited at Cintra, which are all duly chronicled in the Handbook, and on which I need not enlarge. There is the royal palace, which attracts the eye before you enter the town, and is always a prominent feature in the view, remarkable for its tall, sugar-loaf chimneys, which remind one of glass works, or other facto- ries, rather than of a king's summer residence. There is a large, rambling villa, of no external beauty, but interesting as the spot where the famous Convention of Cintra was signed. There is an unpretending quinta, once the humble possession of the famous Joao de Castro. There is the Cork Convent, so called from the lining of cork wherewith the walls are cased in this semi-subterranean monastery. And here I am reminded that I must not take leave of Cintra without special mention of the cork trees, which grow here in greater profusion and to a larger size than I have ever seen elsewhere. Moreover, all parts of the tree — trunk, limbs, and branches — are fringed with the elegant maiden-hair fern, which seems to get a footing in the rough bark and cling and grow in the most surprising manner. The general aspect of the cork tree is very much that of the oak — the same fantastic twist of the branches, the same rugged bark, the same expansive spread, over- shadowing a large space of ground; and with the luxuriant undergrowth which prevails here, it is one of the most picturesque, as well as one of the most umbrageous trees of the forest. Next to the cork, the olive is the most conspicuous tree at Cintra, and it is preserved and tended with considerable care ; and, under the favourable conditions of sufficient heat and an ample supply of water to the roots, it attains a size as well as a vigour which cannot be sur- passed. English travellers are apt to decry the olive as of a dull, dusty colour, and with no pretensions to beauty; but I have long learned to see infinite attractions in this singular tree ; and those who have lived in sultry weather near an olive-yard know what a grateful shade from a glar- ing sun these distorted trees offer, and how pleasantly their silvery leaves shimmer in the lightest breeze, and rustle and murmur with a soothing, gentle whisper, very conducive to repose. Both the cork and olive, as well as the chestnut, abound throughout the length and breadth of Portugal, but nowhere do they reach a greater degree of perfection than at Cintra, which is essentially the home of these southern trees, and where soil and climate combine to supply the conditions required. For the same reason, the gardens and shrubberies here are so flourishing, for the scorching rays of the sun are tempered by the cool breezes, and copious springs burst from the mountain side, and trickle down the hills in every gully ; and so camellias and many other kindred shrubs, which cannot exist in the scorching climate of Lisbon, thrive here with a luxuriance that astonishes the Northern traveller. And herein, indeed, consists the real charm of Cintra, the profusion and magnificence of its vegetation, which produces plenty of cool shade and a delightful retreat, which can only be duly ap- preciated by those who have been parched, and fried, and powdered by the intolerable summer heat, and glare, and dust of Lisbon. During the latter end of April, which we spent in these mountains, the sun was by no means overpowering ; indeed, though the days were hot enough, the nights were almost chilly ; and as I came out to Portugal for the express pur- pose of gaining a good store of caloric, I was not sorry to find myself on the 1st of May on my way back to Lisbon, on the top of an omnibus or diligence, when we had a most amusing journey, and on as splendid a morning as one could desire. For, to our great satisfaction, a large fair was held midway between Cintra and Lisbon ; and the consequence was, that the road was thronged by country people, all in holiday attire. It is true, there was no Jack-in-the-green, such as one may see on Mayday in England ; but the costumes of many of these good folks were strange and picturesque enough. Their variety, too, was charming ; and the airs and graces adopted by those most elaborately dressed added much to the quaintness of the scene. Everybody was on horseback, if that term may be applied generically to those who bestrode mules and donkeys as well, for by far the larger number was mounted on these inferior animals; and though droves of cattle, cows and calves and bullocks, horses, mules, and donkeys, blocked up the road at frequent intervals, these were almost universally consigned to the care of the drudges, the women and the boys ; while their lords and masters flourished on in front on elaborately worked saddles, the trappings and cloths and bridles of their animals as gorgeous and gay as their own many-coloured garments. But when we stopped at the half-way station, to bait our horses, after precisely the same form as that adopted by our driver before, including the liberal libation of wine over the back and loins of each horse, in order to give them courage and strength, it was grand to see one and another of these fair-going dandies gallop up to the door of the inn, tie his richly-caparisoned mule to an iron ring, after the genuine fashion of a Spanish bait, and then strut in and out of the door of the hostelry, and swagger and com- port himself with the most ridiculous pretensions ; and all ))ecause his velvet hat was peaked and adorned with a feather, his bright blue jacket was frogged and braided and garnished with silver buttons, his boots were adorned with tassels, his saddle-cloth was scarlet, and his large, flat, wooden stirrups studded with silver nails. It was amidst crowds of such gaily-dressed farmers and dealers, and amidst a string of carts and carriages of marvellous shape and colour; and, above all, amidst a general holiday look, and real joyity and merriment conspicuous in the faces of all, as if they were out for a day's pleasure, and meant to enjoy it, that we drove back to the capital, which we found in a glowing heat, with the thermometer at 86° in the shade, notwithstanding a gentle breeze, which blew almost daily up the river from the sea.
I must not omit to mention the English church as I speak of Lisbon, for this, with its cypress-planted cemetery, is no unimportant spot on the Estrella, and, overhanging the very beautiful Estrella gardens, is a conspicuous point in a general view of the city. Moreover, it is no small matter to have secured so spacious a church and so large a burial-ground in any southern capital for our much abused, though in reality most catholic. Church of England. As regards the building, indeed, I cannot congratulate my countrymen on its ecclesiastical aspect ; for anything more mean externally, or more ill adapted for our services within, it would be difficult to conceive. Without vestige of chancel, meanly furnished with altar, and with square, well be-curtained boxes on either hand for his Excellency the English Minister at this court; with towering desk, and still more towering pulpit, the great, ugly room which does duty for our church, but is in reality the counterpart of some of our meeting-houses at home, offers to the inhabitants of Portugal but a sorry spectacle of our ecclesiastical arrangements. It is de- plorable, indeed, that such should be the case, and that, with perhaps a natural desire to exhibit to our country- men the contrast between our simple services and the more elaborate ceremonious services of the Ivomish faith, those who built our English fabric at Lisbon have run into the disastrous extreme of erecting, as a sample of Anglican church architecture, the very barest, baldest, coldest, I will even say most hideous building, which gives no oppor- tunity for the exercise of our ordinary ritual, and in no wa}^ resembles our ecclesiastical buildings at home. What wonder that in this, as in so many instances throughout Europe, the members of another Communion, more pro- fuse than ourselves in artistic accessories to public worship, turn away from our services in derision as well as disgust, despising the bare white walls and the cold, unadorned structure which, from east to west, shows no token of Christianity, no single sign or emblem that it does not belong to the Socinian or the Jew. It is true that perfect freedom of design with regard to the exterior of English churches is not always permitted by Grovernments devoted to the Eomish faith ; but many instances might be adduced where this difficulty has been overcome with great success, even as regards the exterior ; while, whatever the outward aspect, the interior could of course be satisfactorily ar- ranged in accordance with the services as appointed in our Prayer Book, and generally celebrated by the church at home. During one of the Sundays which we spent at Lisbon, a confirmation was held in the English church by the ex-Bishop of Labuan (Dr. MacDougall) ; but the miserable arrangement of the altar and its rails, and the general seating of the church, rendered the holy rite any- thing but impressive — indeed, prevented a large propor- tion of the congregation from witnessing it at all ; and I felt quite vexed to think hovv^ poor an impression of that solemn service must have been carried away by the Portuguese spectators, many of whom were on that oc- casion attracted within the walls of our church. Great indeed was the contrast to emerge from the bare white walls of that forbidding building into the brilliant sunshine ; to wander beneath the deep shade of the dark cypresses in the cemetery ; to stroll through the beautiful gardens of the Estrella, gay wdth a hundred flowers ; or even to saunter through the streets, where the good taste of the colour-loving south has covered the faces of many of the houses with glazed tiles of porcelain, sometimes of a red or brown hue, but far more frequently of a blue colour, and always in a pretty pattern. This is known as azulejo, and imparts a remarkably bright finish to the houses ; and when (as is often the case) several adjoining buildings are thus decorated, the appearance is extremely pleasing.
CHAPTER V. CINTRA. In the last chapter I was at issue with Lord Byron in regard to the general character of the Portuguese : not less do I dissent from what appears to me his most exaggerated praise of Cintra. To be sure, a poet is allowed a great deal of licence, and perhaps it is unfair to take his description au pied de lettre; still, as I believe that half the English world has received its impression of Portugal in general, and Cintra in particular, from ' Childe Harold,' and has therefore the very highest idea of its superlative beauty, I desire to state what I consider the unvarnished truth, as it strikes a matter-of-fact, prosaic traveller. In the first place, however, all due allowance must be made for the disappointment which is certain to ensue, when expectation has been strung up too highly ; and doubtless we, in common with the rest of our countrymen, drove over from Lisbon to Cintra with anticipations in regard to the scenery of the latter place which were not likely to be realised. The carriage which conveyed us was a narrow chariot, not unlike an old-fashioned English post-chaise, and our horses were a pair of rough, sturdy cart-horses; the driver a good-humoured, jovial fellow, who was twisting up cigarettes and smoking them through the whole journey. Twice we stopped to bait our horses, which was a very marvellous proceeding; they were not taken from the carriage, but the bits were removed from their mouths, and then slices of coarse black bread, dipped in red wine, were given to each animal in due order. So far the bait was intelligible enough ; but now our coachman proceeded to pour a Clip of red wine over the backs and loins of the horses, which, he assured us, gave them great refreshment and courage ; and when we still appeared sceptical on the point, he reiterated his assertions with redoubled violence and at the top of his voice, in all of which he was well seconded by an old lady who did duty as the ostler. It is a journey of about five leagues, or sixteen miles, from Lisbon to Cintra : the first league through the interminable suburbs of the capital ; then we reach the large hamlet of Bemfica, which, however, is now connected with Lisbon by an unbroken succession of houses ; and now, for another league, villas with their gardens and quintas, and high stone walls shutting in the retreats of the more wealthy Lisbonites, line the road on either hand ; for the third and fourth league the road traverses the open corn fields, brown, scorched, and treeless, ugly and uninviting enough; though, as our first introduction to rural scenes in Portugal, we found ample objects of interest, and an occasional glimpse of the aqueduct spanning a valley or creeping along a hill-side diversified the general monotony of the scene. And then, as we drew near to Cintra, the rocky mountains and forest-clad hills seemed to bar all approach, and it was pleasant to exchange the dazzling sunshine and the glaring road for welcome shade, as we drove under huge oak and plane and cork trees which met overhead. And now, as we crawled up the steepest inclines, and descended terrific hills at a furious pace, with villas and palaces and their respective gardens on either hand, we were fairly in the long straggling town of Cintra ; but we traversed it from end to end, till after a more than ordinarily steep declivity, galloped down at a greater speed than before, our merry driver pulled up his horses with a jerk, and we were deposited at the hotel of our compatriot, good Mrs, Lawrence. We spent a week at Cintra, and during that time I wandered, gun in hand, through forests and valleys, climbed up all the higher mountains, and very thoroughly explored the whole district, so that I flatter myself I am somewhat better qualified to pronounce an opinion on its merits than the great majority of my countrymen in Portugal, whose habit generally appears to be, to drive over in the morning from Lisbon, dine at Cintra, and back to the capital in the evening ; or, if they should be very enthusiastic sight-seers, they will devote two days to the excursion ; spending one night in rural retirement, and returning the following day, I need scarcely say, that such a hurried glimpse conveys no real notion of the place, for Cintra nestles amidst a collection of hills, and extends over a considerable area. Indeed, its great charm is, that it affords a cool retreat in summer from the oppressive heat of Lisbon ; and its grateful shades, deep forests, pleasant groves and gardens, as well as pure air and abundant springs, must seem delightful after the perpetual glare and dust of the capital in the dog-days. And so the villas and private houses and country seats of the wealthy occupy every inviting nook for a league or more on every side of the little town, each embowered in its quinta, hidden amidst the dense foliage which is so highly appreciated, and striving with all its might to escape from the vertical rays of the sun. For certainly no sun-worshippers are the Portuguese at Cintra : the one aim and object of these veritable giaours seems to be to shut out their fierce enemy; and with this end in view, they build their houses in some odd corner, where an over-hanging rock casts perpetual shade, and their gardens and pleasure-grounds resemble intricate groves and well-kept shrubberies, where the one requirement is shelter from the sun. Amongst the innumerable villas which occupy every available position, but always with this chief essential of shade prominently in view, there is one which more especially deserves notice, not only as the renowned creation of the luxurious author of ' Vathec ;' but still more as re-built by its present proprietor, and the gardens and grounds laid out anew with consummate taste, it bears away the palm as, in all respects, the most lovely of its compeers. This is the famous Montserrat, and it is indeed a little paradise : perched amid swelling knolls on the hill-side, surrounded by gardens and shrubberies, where oriental palms and Mexican palms vie with one another, where araucarias of many species, Brazilian shrubs of great rarity, and whole groves of tree camellias flourish side by side, and scent the air with the perfume of a thousand flowers. Then it is flanked by groves of orange, lemon, and fig trees, and backed by deep woods of gigantic cork, and olive, and chestnut, and dark fir trees, beneath whose branches reigned so impenetrable a gloom as to defy even the mid-day sun ; while, high up overhead, rose the bare and broken crests of the rocky mountains which formed the shelter on the south; and far away to the west we could see the broad expanse of the Atlantic, never at rest even in the calmest weather, but always breaking on the shore with a surf which whitened the coast-line with a broad fringe, discernible for many a league. Montserrat is in truth exceedingly lovely, and if it might do duty as a sample of all Cintra, then I should think no praise could be too great for its deserts ; but I am bound to add that it stands quite alone, and that no other quinta comes near the perfection of this favoured spot. Moreover, not only is the English proprietor, Mr. Cook, evidently a man of refined taste, but his excellent head gardener, Mr. Burt, knows how to make the most of the position ; and with sun and shade, and springs of water to any extent at his command, he has so mingled the wild and the cultivated, so arranged the shrubs and plants of both hemispheres, that as you lie on the soft turf, under the shade of a gigantic magnolia, you seem in enchanted ground, so surrounded are you with the most flourishing specimens of a hundred tropical plants and shrubs, never seen before. No wonder that, having obtained permission to wander at pleasure with my gun through its extensive walks and woods and quintas, I spent a considerable part of several days within its precincts; and I always came back to it with fresh appreciation of its beauties, and renewed convictions that it formed the jewel of Cintra. But my rambles extended amongst many other properties, and many a pretty glen and many a charming nook did I stumble on ; and most kind and obliging were the inhabitants, who freely invited me to enter their grounds, and walk where I pleased ; though there was one great drawback to such trespassing, in the lofty stone walls with which each quinta was surrounded ; so that, once within the ring fence, it was generally imperative on the intruder to return to the gate by which he entered. Now these villas and quintas, surrounded each by its own wall, and backed by its own woods, succeed one another all along the slopes of the hills on which Cintra stands ; far below them lies the red, scorched, glowing plain, far above them stand the bare jagged rocks, which seem so strangely distorted, and look so uneven and rough, and whose summits reach two thousand feet above the sea. To me these heights were a great attraction, and almost every day I climbed to one and another peak, now wandering out westwards to the point which overhangs the mouth of the Tagus, now ascending to the point crowned by the Penha palace, now choosing some intermediate height fur my mountain scramble. From all, the view was in most respects the same : the rocks themselves the strangest collection of boulders, thrown together in huge masses, like an immense stone heap on a gigantic scale. Immediately below lay the town of Cintra, with its long suburbs of villas and gardens, and woods stretching along the hills on both hands ; to the north the flat, interminable, treeless plain, glowing in the sun, and abounding in cornfields and vine- yards, with Mafra four leagues away, showing its vast pile of buildings like a second Escorial, colossal in size, even from here ; to the south the hills of Alemtejo, stretching far away into the clear distance, and, perhaps, as some report, in the extreme horizon, even the mountains of the little southern province of Algarve; to the west the broad Atlantic, of whose waters I had never seen at one glance half such an expanse before; to the east the Tagus, winding up towards the capital, and extending into a broad bay above it, though Lisbon itself was hidden from view by the lower hills which intervene. There was always a fresh breeze blowing on the top of these elevated ridges, and there was always an un- clouded sky and the very brightest of suns, and it was diffi- cult to decide which of the many peaks was the highest, for each in turn, as seen from some fresh point of view, seemed to claim the right of precedence. However, leaving others to settle that knotty point, we may affirm of all of them, that they boasted the same glorious prospect, that they were all equally rugged and barren, and that here silence and solitude reigned supreme, broken only by the occasional tinkle of a sheep-bell, or the shrill reed-pipe of a goat- herd, for in these upland rocks the Arcadian herdsmen thus beguiled the monotony of their lives. Nor was animal life much more abundant than the vegetation: for of the mammalia I saw not a single specimen ; of birds, a colony of choughs and an occasional raven monopolised the upper rocks, while larks and pipits contented themselves with a lower elevation. But the reptile world was better repre- sented; for brown and green lizards basked on the glowing rocks, and darted in and out amidst the huge boulders, and on one occasion I succeeded in shooting a fine specimen of the beautiful ' eyed ' or ' great spotted ' green lizard (Zacevta ocellata), which measured nearly two feet in length, and was of the most vivid green hue, speckled and spotted with deep black or bright blue. Subsequently, I saw several of this gigantic species, but on no occasion, not even in the museum at Lisbon, did I meet with so large a specimen as in the rocks above Cintra. If, however, I might credit the assertion of an unscientific witness, who certainly had no wish to exaggerate, but related what he believed to be true, my large lizard would appear to be but a mere pigmy ; for I was repeatedly told of a gigantic green lizard which haunted some rock terraces at Montserrat, which measured about four feet in length ! but this, I take leave to say, was an unintentional over-estimate. Pre-eminently conspicuous on one of the highest summits stands the Penha or Pena Convent, once (as its name implies) a monastery, but now the palace of the enlightened Dom Fernando, father to the present king. Now, if it be the case, as the ancient Persians thought, that ' a palace ought to have a lofty site, and look down on the habitations of meaner men,' then, undoubtedly, the Penha Palace is most admirably situated, for by many hundred feet it out-tops all other buildings in the place. Otherwise, notwithstanding the excellent carriage road which winds up to the castle gate, methought it was somewhat inconvenient to have one's dwelling so high in these peaceable times, when strength and security from attack are not the first considerations in choosing a dwelling-place. Moreover, perched on the extreme summit, this semi-regal palace is exposed to every wind which blows, and though it is well to feel a gentle breeze stirring, when the heat below is almost tropical, it is another thing to be exposed to such frequent hurricanes and rude blasts, as coming in direct from the wide Atlantic, seem to haunt these heights with a pertinacity which reminds one they have had nothing to worry for many a thousand miles, on their course across the ocean. With this trifling exception of situation (which however has its advantages in a sultry clime), the Penha Castle is a pleasant residence : it is built after the Moorish style, with horse-shoe arches, and the walls glitter with bright blue glazed tiles or azulejo ; and it is castellated, turreted, and balconied at every possible point. It is also provided with ramparts, drawbridges, porcullis, and mock defences, and cannon pointing in all directions, to frighten away Moors or other would-be in- vaders, in case they should think it worth while to climb so high. From the Penha turrets conspicuous on one side is a colossal statue of the great discoverer Vasco de Grama, armed with lance and shield, who stands on the very summit of an elevated peak ; and on the other side the ruins of two Moorish towers, which crown other heights, and which must have been impregnable fortresses in troublous times when such elevated positions were of real advantage. Below the Castle are gardens and shrubberies, admirably laid out and beautifully kept ; and here we strolled without hindrance, for all here is liberally thrown open to the public ; indeed, Dom Fernando is in all respects a liberal, generous man, and much beloved by people of all ranks. There are other lions to be visited at Cintra, which are all duly chronicled in the Handbook, and on which I need not enlarge. There is the royal palace, which attracts the eye before you enter the town, and is always a prominent feature in the view, remarkable for its tall, sugar-loaf chimneys, which remind one of glass works, or other facto- ries, rather than of a king's summer residence. There is a large, rambling villa, of no external beauty, but interesting as the spot where the famous Convention of Cintra was signed. There is an unpretending quinta, once the humble possession of the famous Joao de Castro. There is the Cork Convent, so called from the lining of cork wherewith the walls are cased in this semi-subterranean monastery. And here I am reminded that I must not take leave of Cintra without special mention of the cork trees, which grow here in greater profusion and to a larger size than I have ever seen elsewhere. Moreover, all parts of the tree — trunk, limbs, and branches — are fringed with the elegant maiden-hair fern, which seems to get a footing in the rough bark and cling and grow in the most surprising manner. The general aspect of the cork tree is very much that of the oak — the same fantastic twist of the branches, the same rugged bark, the same expansive spread, over- shadowing a large space of ground; and with the luxuriant undergrowth which prevails here, it is one of the most picturesque, as well as one of the most umbrageous trees of the forest. Next to the cork, the olive is the most conspicuous tree at Cintra, and it is preserved and tended with considerable care ; and, under the favourable conditions of sufficient heat and an ample supply of water to the roots, it attains a size as well as a vigour which cannot be sur- passed. English travellers are apt to decry the olive as of a dull, dusty colour, and with no pretensions to beauty; but I have long learned to see infinite attractions in this singular tree ; and those who have lived in sultry weather near an olive-yard know what a grateful shade from a glar- ing sun these distorted trees offer, and how pleasantly their silvery leaves shimmer in the lightest breeze, and rustle and murmur with a soothing, gentle whisper, very conducive to repose. Both the cork and olive, as well as the chestnut, abound throughout the length and breadth of Portugal, but nowhere do they reach a greater degree of perfection than at Cintra, which is essentially the home of these southern trees, and where soil and climate combine to supply the conditions required. For the same reason, the gardens and shrubberies here are so flourishing, for the scorching rays of the sun are tempered by the cool breezes, and copious springs burst from the mountain side, and trickle down the hills in every gully ; and so camellias and many other kindred shrubs, which cannot exist in the scorching climate of Lisbon, thrive here with a luxuriance that astonishes the Northern traveller. And herein, indeed, consists the real charm of Cintra, the profusion and magnificence of its vegetation, which produces plenty of cool shade and a delightful retreat, which can only be duly ap- preciated by those who have been parched, and fried, and powdered by the intolerable summer heat, and glare, and dust of Lisbon. During the latter end of April, which we spent in these mountains, the sun was by no means overpowering ; indeed, though the days were hot enough, the nights were almost chilly ; and as I came out to Portugal for the express pur- pose of gaining a good store of caloric, I was not sorry to find myself on the 1st of May on my way back to Lisbon, on the top of an omnibus or diligence, when we had a most amusing journey, and on as splendid a morning as one could desire. For, to our great satisfaction, a large fair was held midway between Cintra and Lisbon ; and the consequence was, that the road was thronged by country people, all in holiday attire. It is true, there was no Jack-in-the-green, such as one may see on Mayday in England ; but the costumes of many of these good folks were strange and picturesque enough. Their variety, too, was charming ; and the airs and graces adopted by those most elaborately dressed added much to the quaintness of the scene. Everybody was on horseback, if that term may be applied generically to those who bestrode mules and donkeys as well, for by far the larger number was mounted on these inferior animals; and though droves of cattle, cows and calves and bullocks, horses, mules, and donkeys, blocked up the road at frequent intervals, these were almost universally consigned to the care of the drudges, the women and the boys ; while their lords and masters flourished on in front on elaborately worked saddles, the trappings and cloths and bridles of their animals as gorgeous and gay as their own many-coloured garments. But when we stopped at the half-way station, to bait our horses, after precisely the same form as that adopted by our driver before, including the liberal libation of wine over the back and loins of each horse, in order to give them courage and strength, it was grand to see one and another of these fair-going dandies gallop up to the door of the inn, tie his richly-caparisoned mule to an iron ring, after the genuine fashion of a Spanish bait, and then strut in and out of the door of the hostelry, and swagger and com- port himself with the most ridiculous pretensions ; and all ))ecause his velvet hat was peaked and adorned with a feather, his bright blue jacket was frogged and braided and garnished with silver buttons, his boots were adorned with tassels, his saddle-cloth was scarlet, and his large, flat, wooden stirrups studded with silver nails. It was amidst crowds of such gaily-dressed farmers and dealers, and amidst a string of carts and carriages of marvellous shape and colour; and, above all, amidst a general holiday look, and real joyity and merriment conspicuous in the faces of all, as if they were out for a day's pleasure, and meant to enjoy it, that we drove back to the capital, which we found in a glowing heat, with the thermometer at 86° in the shade, notwithstanding a gentle breeze, which blew almost daily up the river from the sea.
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