We procured a Portuguese soldier from the guard-room to shew us the house, which lay at a considerable distance, at the further extremity of the village. On arriving, our guide knocked for some time, before he could rouse a monk, who at length demanded what was the matter. On being informed that some English officers had arrived with billets, he opened the casement, and popped out his bare crown to reconnoitre our numbers.

Observing our strength, he commenced a most noisy remonstrance with our guide, who, shivering from the cold of a bleak northerly wind (to the influence of which Mafra is much exposed), answered by a volley of maledic tions, which soon brought the unwieldy master of the mansion, in his night-cap, to the window.

He affected to be much annoyed by the liberty which; he said, the Juiz de Fora had taken, in sending officers at so late an hour to disturb his family. To these complaints, our conductor replied by thumping the door with the butt-end of his musket, which soon brought the whole family to the bottom of the stair-case.

As the junior monk spoke French, a conversation now commenced, in which we informed him that we had just arrived from Torres Vedras; and that although the Juiz

de Föra might have acted wrong in granting a billet upon his house: yet we could not think of passing the night in the streets as little could we consent to return to that magistrate's house, to procure an exchange of the billet.

After they had both called all the saints in the calendar to witness the injury they had suffered by this intrusion, and again and again protested that they had neither beds nor bed-chamber to spare, they were at length brought a little to reason by the Portuguese soldier; but no arguments could induce them to give us stalls for our horses, although we were assured by our guide that they had a capacious stable behind the house, quite empty.

We were therefore obliged to ride back to the upper part of the village, and leave our cavalry at a public stable; and on our return were admitted to the room which they had prepared for us, containing three mattrasses laid on the floor. Here we passed the night; and quitted the inhospitable roof early the following morning.

I have related this anecdote, not from its importance, but to shew the selfish character of some of the monastic clergy of Portugal, and how little these men are disposed

to evince any just degree of gratitude for the assistance which has been lent them by the British army.

I took this opportunity of examining the royal convent of Mafra, of which I shall now send you a short description.

It was built by King John the Fifth, in pursuance of a vow which he made to St. Antonio, during a dangerous attack of sickness, to found a convent, for the use of the poorest friary in the kingdom. Upon enquiry, twelve Franciscans were found living in a hut at Mafra; and the king, having procured a plan from Rome, employed a German, named John Fredericks, to superintend the execution of the work. It was begun in 1717, and finished in 1731. It is constructed of whitish marble, and contains thirty-seven windows in front. The church is placed in the centre, having the palace on one side, and the convent on the other. The whole building forms a square of about seven hundred and thirty feet.

Murphy, in his Travels in Portugal, censures the bad taste of the architect, who, he says, was a jeweller in List bon. I must own that I think the flight of stairs before the building peculiarly grand. On ascending these steps, one hundred and sixty-two in number, we passed through

a portico with twelve colossal statues of saints, cut in white Carrara marble, of tolerable workmanship.

The interior of the church is handsome, and entirely covered with very beautiful marbles, of exquisite polish, disposed in pannels. There are six organs, and ten or twelve altars. Over each of the latter, instead of pictures, are marble basso-relievos, very well executed. The church is lighted by a number of windows, ranged beneath a cupola of the Corinthian order, the interior of which is incrusted with marbles, beautifully carved, and encompassed by a handsome gallery.

The convent contains three hundred cells, each of twenty feet by eighteen. i We were shewn a handsome library, with a tolerable assortment of books. It measures in length three hundred and eighty-one palms, but is only forty-three in breadth. The whole edifice is said to contain eight hundred and seventy rooms, and five thousand two hundred windows.

The French troops had occupied the building as a barrack, and left it polluted by all manner of filth and rags.'

The passages and walls, in all directions, are scorched and defaced by the action of their fires, which they had

kindled, without compunction, close to the finest marble facings, which again the heat had rent in many places.

Sixty or seventy monks now inhabit this convent, some of whom we found occupied in performing mass, and others. attending to the auricular confessions of some unfortunate female peasants, who, on their knees, were pouring forth their secret sentiments to those indolent, prying mortals.

On our road hither, we passed through an immense suburb called Benefico, composed of villas, belonging chiefly to the foreign merchants of Lisbon, who live here in a good style, and seem to enjoy all those pleasures which men in easy circumstances can procure in this luxurious climate. Around these quintas, as they are called, are generally pretty extensive gardens, well laid out, and supplied by water from deep draw-wells, the wheels of which are turned by mules.

Mr. Beckford, of Fonthill, is the proprietor of one of the most beautiful of these. The gardens contain a remarkably fine collection of exotic plants, which here thrive in the open air. This villa was formerly the property of a Mr. De Vismes, who lavished an immense sum upon it.:

After passing Benefico, the road turns suddenly to the