The Convent of Alcobaça, belonging to the Ber nardino monks, was founded by Alphonso Henrique, to commemorate the capture of Santarem from the Moors in 1148. It "was constructed upon a scale of feudal magnificence,” having a kitchen of nearly 100 feet in length, through which a stream of water is constantly flowing. Of this convent Murphy gives a detailed account.

The Church is a splendid specimen of what is called the Norman Gothic.

The cloisters are exceedingly beautiful.

Mr. Canning visited this celebrated convent in 1816, and presented the monks with an edition of the Iliad, with a Latin inscription, in his own hand, in testimony of his sense of their gracious reception of him. The "Recollections of Alcobaça and Batalha," by the author of "Vathek," from an excursion to those monasteries in 1794, should be read by every one intending to visit them now, in their decadence, after the great injuries which they sustained during the Peninsular war.

Batalha, built by order of Don John, to celebrate his victory over the Spaniards in the year 1385, at the battle of Abjubarrota, is the finest specimen of architectural beauty in the country, and no one acquainted with the magnificent and time-honoured

cathedrals of England should fail to visit it. Some of the stone-work is as fine and sharp as if it had only been perfected a few years ago. Every part and portion of it deserves to be minutely examined. Murphy's elaborate description of it can afterwards be studied; he was in raptures with nearly all he saw, and, dilating on its manifold beauties, he says, "The assemblage of spires, pinnacles, buttresses, and windows, their deep projecting shadows, the Siberian solitude of the place, rendered this one of the most remarkable scenes I ever beheld." Another writer says, "The just proportions and noble simplicity of the roof, of the clustered columns and pointed arches, can nowhere be surpassed. In an unfinished chapel, however, the Arabesque and the Norman style are strangely blended; still the ornaments are so graceful, the sculpture so rich, and the general workmanship so beautiful, that the eye is not revolted by such an incongruous mixture."

The Chapter House of Batalha is unique in its marvellous beauty. The author of "Vathek," in describing it, says, "It is a square of 70 feet, and the most strikingly beautiful apartment I ever beheld; the graceful arching of the roof, unsupported by console or column, is unequalled; it seems suspended by magic ;" and he calls the cloisters" a

glorious square of nearly 200 feet." And no one who may luxuriate in their rare beauty will think that his account of it is at all exaggerated.

At Torres Novas the remains of the old Moorish castle and square tower will be visited with feelings of much interest by the antiquarian. Torres was taken from the Moors by Don Affonso Henrique in 1148, but retaken by Aben Josef in 1190, and by him was utterly destroyed.

Near to Torres are fine olive yards, in which are trees of an extraordinary size; one of them containing an olive, the girth of whose trunk, at 3 feet from the ground, is 20 feet; and in another olive yard is a splendid tree of the same circumference, and at least 80 feet in height, named the "Rainha das Oliveiras." Some of the trees in this neighbourhood yield an almost incredible quantity of olives; one of them has produced, on several occasions, not less than thirty bushels of olives in

one season.

The district of Thomar is of very great fertility, and of considerable beauty. The town itself, now a city, was taken from the Moors by Don Affonso Henrique in 1147; and in 1190 its castle sustained the memorable siege of "o califa Jacub," in whose signal defeat the monks of the vast convent of Thomar did good service. It is said that, on three occasions during the Peninsular war, no less than six regiments were (at the same time) lodged within the capacious premises of the convent at Thomar without any inconvenience to the monks in their separate cells.

Near Barquinha is a building of an extraordinary size and character, which the owner is not unwilling to show to strangers. The works in it for pressing the olives are extensive.

Abrantes, like Santarem, is an ancient town, and similarly located; the views from it are very extensive, embracing a large part of the Alem-Tejo, and of the country, inundated when there is a "fresh" in the Tagus. It is said to have been founded by the Celts 308 years B.C., under the ancient name Tibucci or Tivecci. The church of S. Vicente is deemed by some persons to be "one of the most beautiful in the kingdom."