"Jealoufy, and an innate difpofition to fecrecy, are affigned as the chief caufes of this. feparation. They hold it as a maxim, that he who talks least thinks beft; and that the most perfect man is not he who has moft good qualities, but feweft bad ones. Pride might alfo operate, as they with not to fhew their apartments, no more than their wives and daughters, unlefs they be arrayed in their beft attire.

"Yet, however we may regret the many innocent enjoyments of which the females are thus deprived, their feclufion is productive of much domeftic felicity. Their bland and fimple manners are not liable to be corrupted, nor their attachments diffipated by an extenfive communication with the world. The fond husband, thus folaced, is happy, fupremely happy in the fociety of a virtuous partner, whose fole affection is concentered within the narrow circle of her family.

"As to their perfons in general, the women are rather below than above the middle ftature, but graceful and beautiful. No females are lefs ftudious of enchanting their attractions by artificial means, or counterfeiting, by paltry arts, the charms that nature has withheld. To the most regular features, they add a fprightly difpofition and captivating carriage. The round face, and full fed form, are more esteem ed in this country, than the long tapering vifage and thin delicate frame. Molt nations entertain fone peculiar idea of beauty in the linea ments and caft of the face; that of the Portuguese will be beft underftood by their own defcription of a perfect beauty, which is as follows: "The forehead should be broad, fmooth, and white. The eyes large, bright, and quick, but at the fame time ftill and modeft. With refpect

to the colour, there are divers opinions; fome prefer the blue, fome the black, and others the green. A Portuguefe named Villa-Real, wrote a treatife in praife of the last. The eye-brows fhould be large, of a black colour, and form an arch concentric with that of the eye-lid. To be properly adjusted to the reft of the face, the nofe fhould defcend in a direct line from the forehead, and form a regular pyramid.

"The mouth, the portal of the human ftructure through which the meffengers of the intellect have conftant egrefs, ought to be rather fmall than large. The lips rather full than thin; rather relieved than funk, and the edge of a pure carnation. Teeth are accounted beautiful when they are white, regular, and of equal fize, refembling a row of pearls fet in an arch of ruby.

66

The cheeks must be fmooth, and fomewhat relieved; the centre of a pure carmine colour, fading infenfibly into a lily white; both colours fo perfectly blended and proportioned, that neither should predominate.

"With refpect to the neck, there is great majefty in one which is large and fmooth, rifing from the fhoulders like an alabafter column.

"But among all the female charms, the moit tranfcendent are the breafts. In form they fhould refemble a lemon; in colour and fmoothness, the orange bloffom.

"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 ftature, the middle fize is most admired. Without a graceful walk, the most perfect beauty appears awkward; whereas a modeft, airy, and ferene movement, enhances every other charm; and befpeaks the tranquillity of a mind

formed

formed in the school of virtue and decorum.

"They ufually fit upon cufhions, which, among the better fort, are of crimfon velvet. One of their principal employments is fpinning flax, for which they ftill ufe the fpindle and diftaff. The women of the province of Minho are fo celebrated for this branch of induftry, that formerly it was cuftomary to conduct the bride to the house of her fpoufe, preceded by a youth carrying a fpinning apparatus. In the houfes of the most refpectable merchants, traders, and farmers, the female part of the family difdain not to occupy their time in this manner. Accomplishments, fuch as people of very humble circumftances in England commonly bestow on their daughters, as dancing, mufic, drawing, and languages, are unknown here; even among ladies of the first rank.

"Cottons, muflins, and coloured filks, they very rarely wear. A kind of black garment called mantilha, over a petticoat of the fame colour, both of woollen cloth or filk, but oftener of the former, is the ufual drefs, except in Lisbon, where the women wear black filk mantos; a kind of garment that covers the head and upper part of the body. Cloaks and petticoats of divers colours, made of woollen cloth, fringed with gold lace or ribands, are worn by the inferior ranks. The country-women, except on Sundays and holidays, ftill wear the ancient national drefs-a jacket and petticoat.

"With refpe&t to the drefs. of the men, it differs not from that of the English or French, except in one garment, namely the capot, like that of the Spaniards and Italians; and even this, of late years, is much difufed, as it has been often known

to ferve for worfe purposes than cover a ragged coat. It is an ex cellent garment, however, for travelling in winter.

"To defcribe the dreffes of the feveral religious orders is foreign to our purpofe; let it fuffice, therefore, to obferve, that the difference in their refpective habiliments confifts more in the colour than in the fhape.

"The intermediate clafs between the nobility and merchants is compofed of men of fmall independent property in lands or houfes, derived from their fathers, or purchafed with the fruits of their own induftry; in the capacity of merchants or factors, or by their economy whilst in office under government. Thefe are the gentlemen of Portugal. Comparatively speaking, they are few in number, but their virtues are many. Protectors of the poor, benevolent and humane citizens of the world. Men, who, whilft they enlighten the nation by their talents, and purfue its mott fubftantial intereft, are the most ready and able to protect and main tain its rights.

"There is one clafs of people here, than whom, perhaps, few nations can produce a more inoffenfive and indurious, and at the fame time a more degraded and oppreffed; thefe are the pillars of the state,' the peafantry, who are kept in a ftate of vaffalage by a band of petty tyrants, affuming the title of Fidalgos.

"Among thofe, to whom this title properly appertains, there are undoubtedly many who have a juft chim to honour and refpect; not from the antiquated immunities of feudal times, but from their perfonal virtues. We entirely feparate them from the ignorant, intolerant wretches, who grind the face

of

of the poor, and depopulate the land.

"Indeed, I am informed by a Portuguese gentleman of very high rank, who fincerely deplores the wretched ftate of the peafantry of his country, that the chief part of their miferies is owing not to government, but to thefe gentry. I know not how to give the reader a juft idea of them; by privilege they are gentlemen, in manners clowns; beggars in fortune, monarchs in pride. Too contemptible for the notice of the fovereign, to excite the jealoufy of the nobles they are too weak; but too ftrong for the peafantry, from whom they exact adoration. They are to be feen in every town, in every village and hamlet, wrapt up to the eyes in capots, brooding over their imaginary importance. The induf, trious 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 fhire, The wretched farmer, in vain, attempts to justify himself, and after exhauft, ing his refources to fee lawyers, he is fure to be caft at the end of a tedious and vexatious fuit. His property is then feized upon, even to his very implements; and if it be not found fufficient to answer all demands, he is doomed to perish in a prifon. Many induftrious families have been thus annihilated; and others, apprehenfive of fharing the fame fate, have forfaken their lands, and often the kingdom, to feek protection in the colonies.

"Beggars are a formidable clafs in this country. Several laws have been enacted from time to time, to diminish the number and reftrain the licentioufnefs of this vagrant train, but in vain. They ramble 1798.

about, and infeft every place, not entreating charity, but demanding it. At night they affemble in hordes at the beft manfion they can find, and having taken up their abode in one of the out-offices, 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 perfon on the highway, he muf offer then money; and it fometimes happens that the amount of the offering is not left to his own difcretion. Saint Anthony affails him on one fide, Saint Francis on the other; having fi lenced their clamour in behalf of the favourite faints, he is next attacked for the honour of the Virgin Mary; and thus they rob him for the love of God.

"In the year 1544, a law was made, tending to decrease the number of beggars with which the kingdom was infefted. By one article it was ordained, that the lame fhould learn the trade of a taylor or fhoemaker. That the maimed, for their fubfiftence, fhould ferve those who would employ them; and that the blind, in confideration of their food and raiment, fhould devote their time to one of the labours of the forge, blowing the bellows.

"With refpect to diverfions, hunting, hawking, and fifthing, which were formerly practifed, are now very much difufed; indeed, there are but few parts, except in the province of Alentejo, wherein the first can be well exercifed, on account of the mountainous furface of the country; befides. the want of good cattle is another obftruction; for fuch is the feeblenefs of the horfes and mules, that they are obliged to employ oxen in drawing all their vehicles of burden.

F

Horfe

"Horfe-racing is a fport to which they are utter ftrangers, nor do gentlemen ride abroad for amufement but very feldom; and then a guide must attend them, left they should lose their way.

"People of fafhion, and delicate perfons, ufually travel in litters. And ladies fometimes take fhort excurfions in the country, upon an ass, or a mule.

"In paffing through the streets, the people in general are fond of

riding faft; but in the country they move very deliberately, infomuch that it is not unufual to fee even the poft-boy fleeping on his mule.

"Billiards, cards, and dice, particularly the two laft, are the chief amufement of every clafs. Their only athletic exercife is bull-fighting, and fencing with the quarterstaff: the latter is confined to the common people; the former has been often defcribed."

“IF

F the morning at Paris is devoted to business, the evening at least belongs to pleasure over thofe hours fhe holds an undivided empire, but is worthipped at innumerable altars, and hailed by ever-varying rituals.

"During the laft winter the amufements of twenty-four theatres, which were opened every night, were every night fucceeded by pub. lic and private balls, in fuch numbers, that there were no less than two thousand ball-rooms infcribed on the registers of the police, which keeps its wakeful vigils over every fort of amufement, in all their gradations, from the bright blaze of waxen tapers which difplays the charms of nymphs dreffed à la fauvage or à la grec, who grace the fplendid ball de Richlien; to the oily lamp which lights up the feventh ftory, or the vaulted cellar, where the blind fidler's animating fcrape calls the fovereign people to the cotillon of wooden fhoes.

"Thefe two thousand ball-rooms of the capital afford ample proof

that no revolution has taken place in the manners of the French, and that they are ftill a dancing nation. They have indeed of late fully demonftrated to the world that they are capable of greater things; and that when the energies of their fouls are called forth, they can fol low Buonaparte across the bridge of Lodi; but when their minds return to their natural position, every barrack has a room appropriated for dancing, and the heroes of Arcole, as well as the muscadins of Paris,

All knit hands, and beat the ground
In a light fantastic round.'

"The fetes of the court, it is afferted by the few perfons remaining in France, by whom they were frequented, were but tawdry fplendour compared with the claffical elegance which prevails at the fetes of our republican contractors. As a fpecimen of thefe private balls, I fball trace a fhort fketch of a dance lately given by one of the furnishers of ftores for fleets and armies, in his fpacious hotel, where all the

furniture,

furniture, in compliance with the prefent fashion at Paris, is antique; where all that is not Greek is Roman; where ftately filken beds, maffy fophas, worked tapeftry, and gilt ornaments, are thrown afide as rude Gothic magnificence,and every couch resembles that of Pericles, every chair those of Cicero; where every wall is finished in arabefque, like the baths of Titus, and every table, upheld by Caftors and Polluxes, is covered with Athenian bufts and Etrufcan vases; where that 'modern piece of furniture a clock is concealed beneath the claffic bar of Phoebus, and the dancing hours; and every chimneyiron is fupported by a fphinx, or a griffin. The drefs of his female vifitors was in perfect harmony with the furniture of his hotel; for although the Parifian ladies are not fufpected of any obftinate attachment to Grecian modes of government, they are moft rigid partizans of Grecian modes of drefs, adorned like the contemporaries of Afpafia -the loofe light drapery, the naked arm, the bare bofom, the fandaled feet, the circling zone, the golden chains, the twifting treffes, all dif play the most inflexible conformity to the laws of republican coftume. The most fashionable hair-dreffer of Paris, in order to accommodate himself to the claffical taste of his fair customers, is provided with a a variety of antique bufts as models; and when he waits on a lady, enquires if the chufes to be dreft that day à la Cleopatre, la Dianne, or la Pfyche? Sometimes the changeful nymph is a veftal, fometimes a Venus; but the last rage has been the Niobé: of late fat and lean, gay and grave, old and young, have been all à la Niobé; and the many-curled periwig, thrown afide by the 1afhionable clafs, now decorates he heads of petty fhop-keepers.

"The fair Grecians being dea termined not to injure the contour of fine forms by fuperfluous incumbrances, no fashionable lady at Paris wears any pockets, and the inconvenience of being without is obviated by sticking her fan in her belt, fliding in a flat purfe of morocco leather, only large enough to contain a few louis, at the fide of her neck, and giving her fnuff-box and her pocket-handkerchief to the care of the gentleman who attends her, and to whom he applies for them whenever he has occafion.

"For a fhort time during the winter, in defiance of froft and fnow, the coftume of a few reigning belles was not à la grec, but à la fauvage. To be dreffed à la fauvage, was to have all that part of the frame which was not left uncovered clad in a light drapery of flesh colour. The boddice under which no linen was worn (fhifts being an article of drefs long fince rejected at Paris, both by the Greeks and the favages) the boddice was made of knitted filk, clinging exactly to the fhape, which it perfectly difplayed; the petticoat was on one fide twifted up by a light feftoon; and the feet, which were either bare or covered with a filk ftocking of flesh colour, so woven as to draw upon the toes like a glove upon the fingers, were decorated with diamonds. Thefe gentle favages, however, found themfelves fo rudely treated whenever they appeared, by the fovereign multitude, that at length the fafhions of Otaheite were thrown afide, and Greece remains the flanding order of the day.

But to return to the contractor, and his ball-after feveral hours had paft in dancing cotillons, which the young women of Paris perform with a degree of perfection-a light nymphith grace unfeen elsewhere

F 2

and