a variety of important objects, evince the laudable attention of that society to the improvement of their country. The xvth Chapter contains a translation of the Observations of Dr. Domenick Vandelli, on the natural productions of the Portuguese colonies that are not generally applied nor known. This inquiry is not particularly interesting to an Englishman.

To the description of the constitution and government, (which is very brief,) the revenue, the military and marine departments, the conquests and the coinage of Portugal, attention is given in a series of chapters: but we do not observe any notice of the ecclesiastical establishments.-As the power of defence, among the Portuguese, is now an object of attention, we shall quote Mr. M.'s statement of their army and navy.

The military establishment of Portugal, at present, consists of twenty-nine regiments of infantry, including four battalions of artillery and a corps of engineers; making, all together, about twenty thousand men. The cavalry are divided into eleven regiments, and consist of about four thousand. The militia, and auxiliaries of the different provinces, are computed at twenty-five thousand; the latter receive half-pay on the peace establishment.

The uniforms of both infantry and cavalry are blue coats and white facings; the marine corps wear green coats. The breeches is generally of a colour with the coat, and the waistcoat is either white or buff-colour.

"At the beginning of the war of 1762, the army was in a most wretched state, scarcely amounting to ten thousand men; most of whom were peasants, embodied in haste, without uniforms, without arms, asking charity, whilst the officers served at the table of their colonels." Such is the picture given by a French writer of the military of Portugal, before Count de Lippe was called thither. To this able general the kingdom is indebted for the restoration of military discipline, which, unfortunately, a temporary security has. since relaxed. The nation has great cause to regret the narrow system of policy that induced the King's ministers to dispense, so prematurely, with his services; until at least he ascertained the extent and direction of mountains, and other natural barriers, the course and rapidity of rivers, the position and strength of fortresses, so necessary to be laid down in charts and plans, in order to prosecute a campaign upon scientific principles. Of these great requisites they have yet but a very imperfect knowledge; nor are their neighbours and natural political enemies the Spaniards much better informed in this respect. Hence an engineer in the service of the latter has observed, perhaps with a good deal of truth, that the two powers, since the foundation of their respective monarchies, have not made ne judicious campaign.

With respect to the naval force, though it is much improved of late years, still it is greatly inferior to what it had been under John III. This Monarch is allowed to have surpassed all his predecessors in attention to maritime affairs; during his reign, twenty men

of war and four large galleys were constantly in commission, to protect the coasts of the kingdom, and convoy the rich fleets returning from the colonies, exclusive of the different fleets that were stationed on the coasts of India and China.

When John IV. ascended the throne, scarcely a ship of these escaped the ravages of the Spaniards; indeed the marine force of the kingdom was in a manner annihilated; and its arsenals stripped and demolished. Some efforts were made to recover this fatal blow; but its progress was so very slow, that at the beginning of the reign of Joseph I. there were but five sail of the line, and about the same number of frigates; most of which were dismantled, without sailors or officers. The aid of foreigners was at length called in, particu larly the English and French, to teach the art of ship-building and navigation to a people who, during the last two centuries, were sovereigns of the ocean; and whose voyages and discoveries rose [raised] their reputation over all other nations.

A kingdom so advantageously situated for commerce, and possessed of such vast resources as Portugal, with the impenetrable woods of Brazil at its command, and so many fine ports and bays on its coasts, might readily recover its former respectability by sea, as it has now brought the art of ship-building to a high degree of improvement. Its marine force, at present, is computed at thirteen sail of the line and fifteen frigates.'

Antiquities and curiosities appear to have had little value with the Portuguese; and their proficiency in the arts, excepting music, has not risen even to mediocrity. King John IV. composed pieces under a fictitious name, and dedicated a treatise on modern music to his favourite performer.

Mr. M. now introduces his reader to the domestic customs and manners of this nation, in a very pleasing style.-The following sketch is touched "con amore," and with the hand of a master:

Among the middling and subordinate ranks, the females espe cially, there is very little intercourse, except fortuitous meetings in the churches and streets. Every class of tradesmen has a distinct oratory, supported by the voluntary contributions of their society; here they assemble every evening, before supper, to chaunt vespers. They rarely visit each other's houses but on particular occasions, as weddings and christenings; and then they entertain very sumptuously, or rather satiate with profusion.

Jealousy, and an innate disposition to secrecy, are assigned as the chief causes of this separation. They hold it as a maxim, that he who talks least thinks best; and that the most perfect man is not he who has most good qualities, but fewest bad ones. Pride might also operate, as they wish not to shew their apartments, no more than their wives and daughters, unless they be arrayed in their best

attire.

Yet, however we may regret the many innocent enjoyments of which the females are thus deprived, their seclusion is productive of

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much

much domestic felicity. Their bland and simple manners are not
liable to be corrupted, nor their attachments dissipated by an exten-
sive communication with the world. The fond husband, thus solaced,
is happy, supremely happy in the society of a virtuous partner,
whose sole affection is concentered within the narrow circle of her
family.

As to their persons in general, the women are rather below than
above the middle stature, but graceful and beautiful. No females
are less studious of enhancing their attractions by artificial means,
or counterfeiting, by paltry arts, the charms that nature has with
held. To the most regular features, they add a sprightly disposi-
tion and captivating carriage. The round face, and full fed form,
are more esteemed in this country, than the long tapering visage and
thin delicate frame. Most nations entertain some peculiar idea of
beauty in the lineaments and cast of the face; that of the Portu-
guese will be best understood by their own description of a perfect
beauty, which is as follows:

The forehead should be broad, smooth, and white. The eyes large, bright, and quick, but at the same time still and modest. With respect to the colour, there are divers opinions; some prefer the blue, some the black, and others the green. A Portuguese, named Villa-Real, wrote a treatise in praise of the last. The eyebrows should be large, of a black colour, and form an arch concentric with that of the eye-lid. To be properly adjusted to the rest of the face, the nose should descend in a direct line from the forehead, and form a regular pyramid.

The mouth, the portal of the human structure through which the messengers of the intellect have constant egress, ought to be rather small than large. The lips rather full than thin; rather relieved than sunk, and the edge of a pure carnation. Teeth are accounted beautiful when they are white, regular, and of equal size, resembling a row of pearls set in an arch of ruby.

The cheeks must be smooth, and somewhat relieved; the centre of a pure carmine colour, fading insensibly into a lily white; both colours so perfectly blended and proportioned, that neither should predominate.

With respect to the neck, there is great majesty in one which is large and smooth, rising from the shoulders like an alabaster column.

But among all the female charms, the most transcendent are the breasts. In form they should resemble a lemon; in colour and smoothness, the orange blossom.

The most beautiful hands are long and white; the fingers full and tapering. Feet are not accounted pretty if they be not small.

Of the stature, the middle size is most admired. Without a graceful walk, the most perfect beauty appears awkward; whereas a modest, airy, and serene movement, enchances every other charm ; and bespeaks the tranquillity of a mind formed in the school of virtue and decorum.'

The subsequent observations are important:

1

There

There is one class of people here, than whom, perhaps, few nations can produce a more inoffensive and industrious, and at the same time, a more degraded and oppressed; these are the "pillars of the state," the peasantry, who are kept in a state of vassalage by a band of petty tyrants, assuming the title of Fidalgos *.

Among those, to whom this title properly appertains, there are undoubtedly many who have a just claim to honour and respect; not from the antiquated immunities of feudal times, but from their personal virtues. We entirely separate them from the ignorant, intolerant wretches, who grind the face of the poor, and depopulate the land.

• Indeed, I am informed by a Portuguese gentleman of very high rank, who sincerely deplores the wretched state of the peasantry of his country, that the chief part of their miseries is owing not to government but to these gentry. I know not how to give the reader a just idea of them; by privilege they are gentlemen, in manners clowns; beggars in fortune, monarchs in pride. Too contemptible for the notice of the Sovereign, to excite the jealousy of the nobles they are too weak; but too strong for the peasantry, from whom they exact adoration. They are to be seen in every town, in every village and hamlet, wrapt up to the eyes in capots, brooding over their imaginary importance. The industrious husbandman must not address them but on his knees. His fate, and that of his family, are at their mercy. On the most trivial pretence, they cite him to the court of the next camarca, or shire. The wretched farmer, in vain, attempts to justify himself, and after exhausting his resources to fee lawyers, he is sure to be cast at the end of a tedious and vexatious suit. His property is then seized upon, even to his very implements; and if it be not found sufficient to answer all demands, he is doomed to perish in a prison. Many industrious families have been thus annihilated; and others, apprehensive of sharing the same fate, have forsaken their lands, and often the kingdom, to seek protection in the colonies.

Beggars are a formidable class in this country. Several laws have been enacted from time to time to diminish the number and restrain the licentiousness of this vagrant train, but in vain. They ramble about, and infest every place, not entreating charity, but de manding it. At night they assemble in hordes at the best mansion they can find, and having taken up their abode in one of the outoffices, they call for whatever they stand in need of, like travellers at an inn; here they claim the privilege of tarrying three days, if agreeable to them.

When a gang of these sturdy fellows meet a decent person on the highway, he must offer them money; and it sometimes happens that the amount of the offering is not left to his own discretion.

"Fidalgo, a gentleman, one nobly descended. From the Portuguese word filho, a son, and the Spanish algo, something; that is, the son of something, or a son to whom his father had something to leave; viz. an honour and estate; thence, for shortness, called fidalgo." Vieyra.

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Saint

G.2.

Saint Antony assails him on one side, Saint Francis on the other; having silenced their clamour in behalf of the favourite saints, he is next attacked for the honour of the Virgin Mary; and thus they rob him for the love of God.'

Billiards, cards, and dice, are the principal amusements of evěry class; and their only athletic exercises are bull-fighting and fencing with the quarter staff.

The Portuguese language is compounded of the Latin, Greek, and Arabic; for the Romans, when possessing themselves of Lusitania, with their usual policy, were as zealous to propagate their language as their laws. At the beginning of the 8th century, the Arabs, subjugating the country, engrafted their idiom on Gothic Latinity.

In the XXVIth Chapter, we have anecdotes of twenty-nine distinguished characters and eminent literati; those of the unfortunate Camoëns (naturalized in England by Mickle's translation of the Lusiad) may be perused with a mixture of pleasure and regret.-A full account of him will be found in our livth vol. p. 250-257. from Mr. Mickle's valuable work.-Of another of the Portuguese literati, the following anecdote occurs:

DON JOHN RODRIGUES DE SA DE MENEZES.

Don John de Menezes, a scholar, a soldier, and a statesman, was high in authority under five successive kings, namely, Alphonso V. John II. Emanuel, John III. and Sebastian; each of whom he served with fidelity and honour. Among his literary works is a collection of poems on the genealogy of the principal families of Portugal; a work which is said to have had the effect of introducing a taste for letters among the rude and untaught nobility of his country.

When King Sebastian was about to embark in that fatal expedition to Africa in which he was slain, Menezes was one of those provident counsellors who strongly remonstrated on the inexpediency of such a rash and impolitic measure; among other arguments he observed, in an assembly consisting of the King and the principal men of the nation, that if his Majesty persisted in his resolution, the Portuguese monarchy must inevitably expire in Africa; and therefore he would advise, among other equipments, to carry thither a bier and a shroud, in order to give the monarchy a decent interment in that unhallowed land.

"I once thought you a brave man," replied the boyish King, "but age has chilled your blood and degenerated you into a coward. How old art thou, Cavalier de Menezes ?"

"In your Majesty's counsel," rejoined the veteran, in a firm but respectful tone, "I am upwards of fivescore years; but in the field of battle, where I am determined to fight under your banners till the last, your Majesty will scarcely think me thirty."

Menezes died in the year 1579, at the beginning of Cardinal Henry's reign, at the age of 115, having seen six different crowned

G.2.heads on the throne of Portugal.

The