of drinking to the healths of illustrious personages, especially where the nobility are not so near on a level with the commonalty, as they are in our well-constituted country. The Roman gallants used to take off as many glasses to their mistresses as there were letters in her name, according to Martial, who says, Let six cups to Nævia's health go round, LISBON, AS IT WAS BEFORE THE FRENCH TOOK POSSESSION OF IT. THE first object that must strike every foreigner on entering Lisbon is the badness of the police; the filth of the streets lies every where in heaps, which, in the narrow streets where the rain does not wash it away, require great skill in walking, to avoid sinking into them. In one of the most frequented streets on the river leading to the Ribera Nova, there is only a narrow path winding near the houses; and the reader may form an idea of the number of people who daily use it, the gallegos with their very heavy burthens, which a passenger cannot avoid; while the carts pass as near to the houses as possible, that the horses may not go in the deepest part of the mud; and thus all the dirt and filth is blindly splashed upon the passengers, in the worst manner conceivable. As to the night, the city was formerly lighted, but now this practice has ceased; and, as the window-shutters are shut early, there is no light to diminish the darkness of these dirty, narrow, ill-paved streets. A host of dogs without masters, and living on the public, wander about like hungry wolves; and, still worse than these, an army of banditti. Our friends often expressed their astonishment at our venturing into Portugal in these times of war; but I assured them it was by no means so bold an undertaking, as to go at midnight from Belem to Maravilhas, at the eastern extremity of the town. How can a nation, among whom are a number of enlightened men, bear such an abomination, which degrades Lisbon even below Constantinople? The government is said annually to appropriate a considerable sum to cleansing the streets; but how this money is disposed of is best known to the intendant of the police of Lisbon and of the whole kingdom, Dom Diogo Ignacio de Pina Manique. Nor must the reader be surprised if I should relate much evil of Dom Diogo, his unjust imprisonments, and the wretched manner in which he feeds the prisoners; but this I will relate in few words, to shew that Dom Diogo is by no means beloved, though a traveller ought to be very cautious and moderate in forming a judgment. The amusements of the carnival are always governed by the ruling taste of every nation. Of what then should they consist in Lisbon? Both high and low delight in throwing all kinds of dirt and filth on the passengers, who in conformity to custom, and to avoid quarrels, must bear it patiently. The high walls of the quintas in the town, the vacant and deserted grounds, invite to robbery and murder, which are still farther favoured by the badness of the police. These crimes are always perpetrated with knives, though all pointed knives are prohibited. Murders generally arise from revenge or jealousy; rob bers are generally contented with threats. The spring is the most dangerous time, and I have known every night marked with some murder. The boldness of the assassins is astonishing. On a fast-day, in a procession in honour of St. Rochus, a man was murdered in open day in the throng, at five o'clock in the afternoon. In the summer of the same year a man was robbed at noon, between the walls near the Prince of Waldeck's, who was witness to the transaction. The robbers were even so bold as to attack coaches. But the criminals almost always escap ed, the compassion of the Portugueze being such, that every one assists him in his flight. They exclaim Coutadinho! or alas, poor man! and every thing is done to assist him. The punishment of death is entirely done away, and the culprit is sent to the Indies or Angola; a punishment which by no means gives the impression of death, though the climates of both are so unwholesome that destruction is certain. A great part of these robbers are negroes, of whom there is a greater number here perhaps than in any other city of Europe, not excepting London. Many of them get their bread as tradespeople, not unfrequently be come good and respectable citizens, and instances occur of their arriving at a high degree of skill as artisans. A larger portion are beggars, thieves, procurers, and pre curesses. Every negro who has served his master seven years in Europe is free, and then not unfrequently becomes a beggar unless he has had a very good master. Great numbers of them are employed as sailors, and I do not see any reason why they are not also enlisted as soldiers; but Mr. Jungk's assertion, that one fourth of the inhabitants of Lisbon are negroes and creoles, like many other assertions of that author, is much aggravated. There is a great number of vagabonds in Lisbon, for all idle people from the provinces come in torrents to the metropolis, and are permitted to live in the open town without impediment. Hence arise the immense number of beggars, who partly rove about, and partly remain in fixed places, crying out continually, and promising to mention this or that person to Nossa Senhora in their prayers. A physician might here meet with an uncommon number of remarkable cutaneous disorders; I have often observed a true leprosy, and endeavoured by observations of this kind to render myself insensible to the disgust they inspire. These beggars receive a great deal in charity, through a mistaken sense of piety prevalent in Catholic countries. They also often practise artifices to obtain charity. I remember an old man who fell down before us through hunger, as he afterwards said, and thus immediately obtained from my youthful companion a considerable piece of gold; while I, somewhat colder, Temarked his theatrical performance, withheld my cha rity, examined into the affair, and found my suspicions grounded. Another class of begging is that for souls in purgatory. The religious fraternities, to whom it properly belongs to collect these alms, and to have masses performed in a certain church for that purpose, farm out this employment to certain people, who post themselves in the neighbourhood of this church to beg; for which they generally pay eight milrees annually, and by this contract frequently gain one hundred milrees a year. Every thing is done in Portugal pelo amor de Deos e pelas almas, (for the love of God and of the souls.) The monasteries send their fruit, usually grapes, to be sold in the streets as it were by auction, in order to perform masses for the money. They are cried about the streets as uvas pelas almas (grapes for the souls ;) and when the price is asked, the answer is generally considerable. In the Calzada de Estrella sat a beggar, who always cried sauff for the souls. Snuff is a great article of necessity for all ranks, for both sexes, for every old man, and in short for the whole nation. Nor is it difficult to obtain the partiality of any of the common class of people, if the traveller but offer him a pinch of good snuff. I saw a beggar-woman put some snuff to the nose of her child who was still in arins. On a botanical excursion near Lisbon I met a well-dressed lady, who asked for a pinch of snuff, as she had left her box; and when I told her that I never used one, she replied, with an expression of the most violent grief, estou desesperada (I am quite in despair). Nor can we blame Alphonso IV. for giving. the English soldiers, who had fought so bravely for him at the battle of Ameixial, two pounds of tobacco each. The smoking of tobacco is, however, very uncommon; nor are even cigarros, though so customary in Spain, used by any but sailors. The porters, water-carriers, and most of the servants, come from the Spanish province of Gallicia, and are called Gallegos. These useful men leave their poor native country, emigrating partly into the other provinces of Spain, partly into Portugal, to earn money by the severest labour, and, in many provinces of Portugal, assist in the harvest. They are extremely laborious, and, though avaricious, honest. This character, however, is not entirely unspotted. Sometimes they settle in Portugal, and open small tippling and eating houses, or grocers' shops, but generally return home with the money they have gained. I have often seen pictures of Portugueze, which, instead of natives, represented Gallegos, whose dress is somewhat different. The vignette of the New Picture of Lisbon has the same fault. The dress of the common people is a vest of various colours, as blue, black, dark brown, &c. over which they wear a mantle with hanging sleeves, like the Spaniards, but a three-cornered hat, and not a brown cap, which is peculiar to the Gallegos. Young ladies also wear a similar mantle, as do both men and women of considerable rank, only that they wear them of various colours, and often figured. Beneath this mantle a fashionable dress is often concealed, similar to that of London or Paris. Great coats and round hats are quite unusual among the natives. Women of the lower classes. wear a handkerchief wound round their head so that a corner hangs down behind; some wear the Spanish net (redesilla) but never the Spanish veil. Among the rich, who in other respects pursue European fashions, we here and there saw one with her hair tied flat behind with a riband. The female peasants round Lisbon come to town in a red jacket and a black pointed velvet cap. Murphy, who in his Travels in Portugal has many very just remarks, is truly ridiculous in others. He says, for instance, fruit-women wear pointed caps, though he might, however, have easily convinced himself of the contrary. Having also, perhaps, once seen some servants playing at cards while waiting for their masters, he sets this down as a general characteristic; but, with his permission, I have also once seen the same in London. On Sunday, he says, that the hair-dressers go about with their swords and chapeaux-bras; this also may have happened once, but is by no means customary. Fires seldom happen in Lisbon; but in the winter of 1798-9 they occurred very often, and a house was burnt down in which a young girl lost her life. He says much in favour of the common people, and praises the great politeness of the Portugueze; adding, that they constantly give the right hand to strangers in walking. Just the contrary: it is singular that, in direct opposition to the customs of other nations, the Portugueze through politeness give every one the left hand. His knowledge of the language cannot be great, for he says a Portugueze never fails to say, "I am dying with desire to see you ;" which he translates, with a violation of all grammar, morro com suudades de o ver *. What is said in praise of this nation by Murphy and other writers is very just; but what they say against them is not unfrequently exaggerated. They who would judge of the nation by Lisbon run the risk of committing frequent errors; for this city is a rendezvous for all the vagabonds of the whole kingdom, and a great part of the foreigners of the lower ranks are also the scum of their nations. I know that these last are sometimes very docile, and easily fall into the custom of hiring themselves as banditti; for I know certainly of serious proposals of this kind being made. But I must confess that, notwithstanding the numbers of bad people among the lower classes, and the unworthy manner in which foreigners often act toward the inhabitants, examples are *He should have said de ver a vm. T. |
