WANDERINGS 1858

The weather being very hot, we had been advised not to go to Cintra till late in the afternoon, so about five o'clock we set off in an open carriage ; but no sooner had we left Lisbon than a perceptible difference in the temperature took place, and before we reached Cintra we were nearly frozen. The drive was about fifteen miles long, and most of it led us through an ill-cultivated and extremely uninteresting country. We passed underneath the famous aqueduct of Lisbon, which supplies the town with water; the height of its loftiest arch is two hundred feet. The scenery we passed through was, as I said, very monotonous, but once arrived at Cintra we felt well repaid for the trouble we had had in coming, and the atrocious road which had brought us to it. One's first view of Cintra must be for ever connected with two tall red brick chimneys, which rise from the centre of the village ; on inquiring what manufacture was carried on here, we were informed that the kitchen of His Majesty's palace boasted these append- ages, why or wherefore I never could find out ! We drove to a small inn, kept by a Swiss of the name of Durand, where we were comfortably lodged, and, being very tired, our first act at Cintra was to go to bed, having ordered two donkeys to be in attendance next morning. July 17th. — The principal object of interest in this place is the convent of the Penha, so called from its being situated on the summit of a preci- pitous and rocky crag, or penha ; convents however having been lately abolished throughout Portugal, the king has appropriated it as a summer residence. It was built a.d. 1497, by Pedro IL, who used to climb regularly every day to the top of the hill to watch for Vasco di Grama's return from the Cape of (rood Hope. To his great joy one fine morning he descried his sail, and, as the story goes, immediately began the erection of the convent on the then almost inaccessible rock. It was dedicated to Nossa Senora repaid for the trouble we had had in coming, and the atrocious road which had brought us to it. One's first view of Cintra must be for ever connected with two tall red brick chimneys, which rise from the centre of the village ; on inquiring what manufacture was carried on here, we were informed that the kitchen of His Majesty's palace boasted these append- ages, why or wherefore I never could find out ! We drove to a small inn, kept by a Swiss of the name of Durand, where we were comfortably lodged, and, being very tired, our first act at Cintra was to go to bed, having ordered two donkeys to be in attendance next morning. July 17th. — The principal object of interest in this place is the convent of the Penha, so called from its being situated on the summit of a preci- pitous and rocky crag, or penha ; convents however having been lately abolished throughout Portugal, the king has appropriated it as a summer residence. It was built a.d. 1497, by Pedro IL, who used to climb regularly every day to the top of the hill to watch for Vasco di Grama's return from the Cape of (rood Hope. To his great joy one fine morning he descried his sail, and, as the story goes, immediately began the erection of the convent on the then almost inaccessible rock. It was dedicated to Nossa Senora The only luxury the old saint and his brethren allowed themselves was to have all their cells lined with cork, which kept out the damp. We went into several of these dungeon-like holes: the length of them is five feet, the height about the same, and the entrances (there are no doors) are not more than three and a half feet high ; but Honorius, thinking this too comfortable, went into the garden, and hollowed out a hole under a projecting piece of rock ; into this he crawled, and here he lived and died ! The only inhabitant now of this lonely place is an old man who appears more than half-witted. He very much resembles a superannuated ourang-outang, and hobbles about with a stick twice as high as himself. We were amused at the care with which he locked up the kitchen, refectory, and cells, in this unenviable abode. What there was to run off with, or if there had been, who would have come to take it, we were at a loss to conceive. After resting here some time we remounted our donkeys. The Portuguese saddle, which we were using to-day, is not so comfortable as the Spanish, from there being no support for the back. It consists of a flat piece of wood, with a couple of pegs at each end ; pillows are piled on ad libitum, and a footboard is placed at whichever side the rider prefers. The Portuguese women invariably sit on what we should consider the wrong side. Donkey- hire is certainly cheaper here than in most parts of the world. The fare is tenpence for the whole day. We were out five hours with two men and were only charged a sum equivalent to tenpence. We were very much puzzled with the coinage of this country. At Lisbon one day we went into a stationer's and bought a few things we wanted. When the bill came in we could make nothing of it, paper five hun- dred "reis," pens three hundred "reis," and blotting- paper two hundred " reis ; " so we sent for our friend the French waiter, and were informed we were to pay a " mil-reis : " a piece of money equal to a dollar or four shillings English. This was simple enough, and we easily understood that one thousand reis made one dollar, but positively every day we remained in Portugal we heard the name of some new coin : every ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred, one hundred and ten, one hundred and twenty, &c. &c. &c, of these infini- tesimal " reis " had some break-jaw unpronounceable name, and so many " mil-reis " made something else ! We really gave it up as a bad job. From the Cork convent we proceeded down the hill, and then along a beautiful shady road, between rows of cork and various other trees, till we arrived at what appeared to be the entrance to a fine park. So it once was, and deer once ornamented its shady glades and well kept grounds. There was a small lodge at the gateway, but it was tenantless, and handsome stone pillars were all that remained to tell of the iron gates which had been torn from their hinges. A fine avenue of trees, the road now grass-grown and out of repair, ended in a gently sloping lawn, on which we dismounted, and found ourselves in a few minutes within the deserted walls of Montserrat, where Beckford once accumulated all that wealth could procure, and taste devise, to beautify a place so en- riched by nature's charms. This quinta, or villa, which was once the residence of this extraordinary man, stands on a projecting piece of ground. A narrow strip of turf surrounds the house, and on three sides we looked down steep banks into lovely wooded glens. The Atlantic, at the distance of eight or ten miles, bounds the view in this direction; and the convent of the Penha, with the rocky ridge of Cintra and a wild and broken country at its foot, forms a glorious background to the scene. But now all is deserted ; this spot which, by his own, and by every contemporary writer's account, Beckford had con- verted into a perfect paradise, is now a complete ruin. Bootless, and windowless, nothing but the shell of the building remains, lovely in its desolation and enchantingly picturesque. I believe there is some flaw in the title to the land, for, since Beckford left it, Montserrat has been uninhabited, and whoever likes may come and help to finish what the spoiler has left undone. It was already late, and several miles lay be- tween us and Cintra, so with a parting glance at the strange and lovely scene around us, we turned homewards, and after a beautiful ride reached our hotel. Being engaged to spend the evening with some friends to whom we had brought letters of in- troduction, we went to them about six o'clock ; but hearing from them that the king-regent and some of the royal family were walking along a road at a little distance from the house, we went out in hopes of seeing them. We did not accomplish this, not know- ing exactly which way they had gone, but we had a delightful walk, and among other objects of interest saw the Palace of Marialva where the famous, or rather infamous, Convention of Cintra was signed. The guests at our friend's house were such as are usually to be found abroad, and who often prove agreeable society ; the Austrian, Kussian, and Swedish ministers were there, and also one or two ladies. After tea we went out to the terrace, in front of the palace, where a band was playing. The drawing-room windows were open, and we saw the regent several times ; he often stands at the window, and sings while the band is playing ; they say he has a very good voice, and is fond of showing it off. We were disappointed of hearing him, though we stayed till past ten o'clock. Next morning I was up before breakfast and took a long walk, after which we again ascended the Penha. We were to sail for England next day, so we left Cintra about twelve o'clock, and a few hours after were comfortably installed in our old quarters in the Braganza. We were much pleased with this hotel; the rooms were clean and the cuisine excellent. The only specimens of entomology we were troubled with, were black beetles of a size peculiar to Lisbon and unequalled in any other country. " Black beetle " was the first word I asked the meaning of in Portuguese, in order to point them out, with gesticulations of horror and disgust, to the astonished and not un- frequently amused housemaid.

WANDERINGS THE LAND OF HAM.
LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, & ROBERTS. 1858.

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