Narrative of a Yacht Voyage in the Mediterranean during the years 1840, 41

Front matter

NARRATIVE OF A YACHT VOYAGE. LONDON : RICHARDS, PRINTER, 100, ST. SIARTIN's LANK NARRATIVE OF A YACHT VOYAGE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN DURING THE YEARS 1840-41. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1842. TO THE RIGHT HON. THOMAS GRENVILLE. Dear Mr. Grenville, When you expressed a wish to see my journal upon our return from abroad, I was only prevented from sending it to you immediately, by perceiving that it was little fitted to meet any eye. but my own, from the illegible aud confused state in which such a manuscript was necessarily written, with the unpropitious accompa niments of a tossing ship and a rolling sea. This gave me the idea of putting the account of our voyage into a clearer shape, and of offering it to you with less of repetition and detail than in its original condition.

At the same time I have endeavored to render it not wholly use less to those who may meditate the same sort of expedition with ourselves. But I must remind you that not having staid anywhere long enough to make observations of much research and con sequent value, my only hope can be to give you a few hours' amusement, with out attempting to add a volume to your library. You have been a cordial partaker in the many joys, and the few. though deep, sorrows of my life ; and it is a pleasure to me to offer this account of a very amusing portion of it, to one who, where he is best known, is most honored and beloved. In this feeling I remain, Dear Mr. Grenville, Yours most sincerely, E. M. Grosvenor Motcombe House, Shaftesbury, 8th November 1842. CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

Chapter I

Departure from England — the Lizard — Bay of Biscay — Coast of Portugal — Stormy Petrels — Rock of Lisbon — Barque in distress — North Passage — Fort St. Julian — Castle of Belem . - . . . 1 CHAPTER H. Lisbon — Marquis de Pombal — Police — Dogs — Cintra — Convent of Nossa Senhora da Penha — Cork Convent — Colares — Monserrat — 'Old Palace — Marialva Villa — Return to Lisbon — San Jeronimo — Aqueduct — Brigand — English Cemetery— Black Horse Square — Public gardens — Church of San Roque . . .7 CHAPTER IH. Departure from Lisbon — Bugio Fort — Cape St. Vincent — Rota — Cadiz — Cathedral — Market — Dress — "Trajano" Steamer — Banks of Guadalquiver — Seville- Torre del Oro — History — Casa de Ayuntamientos — Cathedral — Columbus — Tobacco Manufactory — Bull Arena — Christina Gardens — Alcazar - . .22

CHAPTER IV.

Alcala — La Caridad — Murillos — La Giralda — Alameda Vieja — Casa de Pilatos — Grave of Murillo — Majo Dresses — Ladies — Lonja — Return to Cadiz, and Departure -.....- VI CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTER V.

Cape Spartel — Tanger — Moors — Costume — Rhamadhan — Mosque — Market — Old walls — Camels — Matamores — Festival of the Lamb — Ancient Mole — -Jewish Cemetery — Closing the gates — Pilgrims — Caravanserai — Plain — Aqueduct — Castle — Cruelty — Funeral — Departure from Tanger — Straits — Gibraltar 51

CHAPTER VI.

The Convent — The Rock — Mount Calpe — Galleries — Signal Post — Alameda — EuropaPoint— Jacob's Ladder — St. Michael's Cave — Parade— Gibraltar to Malaga — Alameda — Cathedral — History 76

CHAPTER VII.

To Granada — Guardas de Camino — Colmenar— Country — Venta de Los Najos — Dangerous road — Loxa — Xenil — Venta Nueva— Sierra Nevada — Vega— Santa Fe — Granada ...... 88

CHAPTER VIII.

Cathedral — Capilla Real — Tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella — Pomegranate Gate — Torres Bermejos — Alameda de Los Pobres — Alhambra — Moorish House — Generalise — Convent de Los Martires — Zacatin — La Silla del Moro — Vivarambla — Xenil Alameda . . 10.3

CHAPTER IX.

History— Cathedral — Convent of San Jeronimo — Plaza del Triunfo — Doila Mariana Pineda— Cartuxa— Albaycin — Caves in the rocks — Convent of St. Michael — Gonsalvo de Cordova— Convent of S. Francisco de Pablo — Darro ...... CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. VII

CHAPTER X.

Departure from Granada — Crosses by the road-side — Return to Malaga — River Guadalmedina — Wine Magazines — The Soldier's return Home — Catholic Cemetery — Convent de la Victoria — Police — Red-legged Partridges — Protestant Cemetery — Departure from Malaga 127

CHAPTER XI.

Almeria — Capo de Gata — Guarda Costa — Torre de la Testa — Cartagena — Costume — Church — Naval College — Fort — History — Capes Nao, S. Martino, and S. Antonio — Monjuich — Barcelona .... 144

CHAPTER XII.

Cathedral — Fortifications — Rambla — History — Shops — The Swiss Jeweller — " La Surprise " — Audiencia Real — Cathedral — The General's Garden— Citadel — Fair of turkeys . . . . . . .155 CHAPTER XHI. Departure from Barcelona — Three days' gale — Majorca — Bay of Palma — "Manzanares" — Fortifications — Jews — Old Convent— Cathedral —Fish Market — Cemetery — Costume ...... 171

CHAPTER XIV.

Lonja — Theatre — Fort — Flowers — From Palma to Naples — Quarantine — Churches — Palace of Charles the Fifth — Pompeii— Capo di Monte— Campo Marzo — Landslip at Gragnano — Cape Misenum — Monte Circello — Water Spout ...... CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 210 224 244 264 286

CHAPTER XV.

Civita Vecchia — Cardinal de Angelis— To and from Rome — Naples — Baiæ — Pozzuoli— Solfatara — Lake Avernus —Cumæ — Piscina Mirabile — Sorrento — Capri — Strom boli — Straits of Messina ....

CHAPTER XVI.

Messina — Churches — Capucin Convent — Matagriffone — Chary bdis — Taormina — Mount Etna — Augusta — Syracuse — Cathedral — Fountain of Arethusa — Antiquities — Capucin Convent .....

CHAPTER XVII.

History of Syracuse — River Anapus — Papyrus — Fountain of Cyane — Santa Lucia — Departure CHAPTER XVIH. Mount Taygetus — Cerigo — Cape Matapan — Caravi — Zea — Andros — Negropont — Straits of Doro — Mytilene — Tenedos — the Troad — the Dardanelles — " White Spots " — Old Castles of Europe and Asia — Sestos and Abydos — Halcyons Voyageurs — Gallipoli — Lampsaki — Sea of Marmora — Constantinople

CHAPTER XIX.

Golden Horn — Mausoleums of Sultans — Sublime Porte — Court of Seraglio — Dogs — Baths — Mosque of Sultan Achmet — Atmeidan — Burnt Column

CHAPTER XX.

Petit Champ des Morts — Tomb of Theodora, and church, now mosque — Grave of Constantine Palæologus, and of Arab slave —Mosques — Tower of Seraskier — Suleimanieh — Greek cisterns — Cistern of the Thousand and CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. IX 302 330 346 One Columns — Tomb of Mahmoud the Second — Mosque of Ayoub — Sultan's Procession— Spinning Dervishes — Armenian and Frank Burying Grounds — Late Sultan's Shooting — Sultanas—Beshiktash—Foun tain at Tophana . . . ■ ■

CHAPTER XXI.

Bazaars— Outer Courts and Gardens of the Seraglio— Ayoub— Street of Tombs— Sultan— Cannon Foundry CHAPTER XXn. Manufactory of Small Arms— Turkish Seventy-four— Sultan's Procession with Harem — Bazaars — Bulgurlu — Cemetery of Scutari — Howling Dervishes — Cavalcade from Beirout— Chalcedon— Sweet Waters of Europe - LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. VOL. I. 1. Cape St. Vincent - •■ to face page 23 2. Garden of the Alcazar - - ... 39 3. Alhambra - - - ... Ill 4. Alhambra ---... 113 5. Generalise .... ... us 6. Stone cross near Loxa - - ... 132 7. Cathedral— Palma - - ... 183 8. Street at Palma leading to Cathedral ... 184 9. Old Convent by Cathedral - ... 187 10. Fountain at Tophana - - ... NARRATIVE OF A YACHT VOYAGE.

CHAPTER I. DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND THE LIZARD BAY OF BISCAY COAST OF

PORTUGAL STORMY PETRELS ROCK OF LISBON BARQUE IN DISTRESS NORTH PASSAGE FORT ST. JULIAN CASTLE OF BELEM. and they were gallant barks As ever through the raging billows rode." Sottthey. On Friday, October 2, 1840, we left Plymouth in our yacht " The Dolphin," of 217 tons, with a captain, mate, and carpenter, a crew of ten sailors, a cook, cook's mate, and steward. The vessel was conveniently arranged, and contained our two selves, four children, a maid, and a servant ; it had moreover the convenience of a bath, and was in all respects as agreeable in point of light, air, freshness, and comfort, as any mode of marine conveyance could be. For the final fittings-up, and during subse- B DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. ijuent bad weather, we had already been detained at Portsmouth, Portland Roads, and Plymouth, since the 10th of September ; it was therefore with no small degree of satisfaction that we .seized the first symptom of a favourable wind, and, though compelled to leave unaccom plished a visit we were just stepping into the boat to make to Sir Graham and Lady Moore at Devonport, we weighed anchor at two o'clock p. m. A vessel full of emigrants for Van Die men's Land, got under weigh at the same time, and it was impossible not to be struck with a melancholy feeling of the various sentiments which must have agitated the breasts of those vo luntary exiles, who were then leaving their homes and their country most likely never to return.

Probably to drown the mournful recollections which weighed heavy on the hearts of many, they were joining in a choral farewell, which resounded over the waters as we floated slowly by them. The breeze increasing, we passed the Falmouth lights at nine in the evening, and the Lizard at midnight, going at the rate of eight knots an hour. Oct. 3. — A great deal of swell occasioned a proportionate degree of rolling, but the weather was fine ; by noon we were one hundred miles from the Lizard. BAY OF BISCAY. 3 Oct. 4. — Still continuing at about nine or ten knots an hour ; a very fortunate passage through the boiling whirlpool of the Bay, with the accompaniments of a heavy swell and tre mendous rolling. Some of the party were able to perform Divine service at half-past ten, and also prayers in the evening, at which the ship's company were present.

Oct. 5. — Several little land birds came about the ship to-day, which is always a melancholy sight, as at such a distance there is no chance of their reaching land again. At midnight we passed Cape Finisterre, distant about fifteen miles. Oct. 6. — Our fair wind forsook us, and turned to S.W. so we were obliged to proceed solely by tacking, which, to those who do not love the sea for its own sake, is the most tiresome of all deliberate modes of torment ; with the pitching, the various noises and creaking of the ship also increase to a wonderful degree. We were ofl" Oporto this afternoon ; a very wild and stormy setting sun, violent wind and rain about seven o'clock in the evening ; most of the sails were taken in, but a wave burst over the fore-staysail, and split it from one end to the other.

Four sailors were on the bowsprit, when it dipped completely in the sea, and their comb2 COAST OF PORTUGAL. panions were much relieved when their heads again rose above water. The wind abated by degrees, but the rain fell in torrents all night. Oct. 7. — Wind equally adverse ; we tacked backwards and forwards, gaining very little ground, advancing about one knot per hour, impeded by the continual heavy swell. Several porpoises and grampuses seen to-day, and an unpleasant train of stormy petrels following the ship. These little birds appear always running, with extended wings, on the top of the water, and only show themselves in the roughest wea ther. A most unpromising sunset, and the moon enclosed in a dismal sickly-looking white halo, portending wind and rain. Oct. 8. — Having steered in the night towards Oporto, we found ourselves off that place in the morning, and would fain have sheltered ourselves within the harbour from the perverse and contrary wind; but a tremendous surf raging over the bar of sand at its mouth, with rocks both above and below water, made it too dan gerous to attempt getting in ; we therefore stood off again, and continued pitching about all night, with violent rain.

Oct. 9. — Wind the same, but the weather finer : the sailors partook of the amusement of angling for seagulls, but luckily had no success. ROCK OF LISBON. At dusk the rain and wind recommenced, and continued, with furious thunder and lightning, all night. Oct. 11. — At last the weather moderated, and the wind veering to the east, we were enabled to continue our course at about six knots an hour. Beautiful moonlight, and we stayed on deck till ten o'clock in comparative quiet. Oct. 12. — Sea calm, and we sailed gently on. Great interest was excited in our ship to-day, by the appearance of a vessel in distress, and apparently attempting, but evidently with great difficulty, to get into the Tagus. At two o'clock p. m. we were in sight of the Bock of Lisbon, and got under the shore to tack into the river.

A beautiful moonlight evening en sued, as mild as June. A Portuguese pilot offered his services, which were not accepted, and we recommended him to try his luck with two merchant brigs which were coming in behind us. We were occupied from about five o'clock p. m. till eleven, in tacking in by the North passage, between the North Cachop shoal and the shore, the wind being against, but the tide with us ; — a business of great nicety, effected only by fol lowing the charts with accuracy, and which obliged us to tack innumerable times ; at last, CASTLE OF BELEM. we got round the light-house of St. Julian, en tered the river, and anchored, unharmed, westward of the old Tower of Belem. There was a peculiar fragrance in the air this evening, arising from the aromatic shrubs and plants, which grow plentifully on the shores of the Tagus.

Chapter II. Lisbon Marquis De Pombal Police Dogs Cintra Convent Of Nossa

SENHORA DA PENHA CORK CONVENT COLARES MONSERRAT OLD PALACE MARIALVA VILLA RETURN TO LISBON SAN JERONIMO AQUEDUCT BRIGAND ENGLISH CEMETERY BLACK HORSE SQUARE PUBLIC GAR- DENS CHURCH OF SAN ROQUE. " Lo ! Cintra's glorious Eden intervenes, In variegated maze of mount and glen." Byron. October 13. — Some official authorities from the " Braganza" Portuguese frigate, stationed in the middle of the river, a little above Belem, came early on board, to inquire our numbers, the name of the vessel, and of its owner, and to put other questions, according to the usual rou tine. Our boat went ashore to the Health office by the castle of Belem, and on its re turn we weighed anchor and proceeded up the river. The appearance of the town is extremely beautiful, covering a long extent of steep rocky hills on the right bank of the river, with old MARQUIS DE POMB Aland picturesque buildings, surrounded by gardens.

The unfinished palace of the Ayuda is a conspicuous object on the heights above, and the convent of San Jeronimo, close down upon the shore, is a beautiful specimen of singularly and richly ornamented gothic. The palace of Las Necessidades, where the king and queen reside, though painted red and yellow, is not unpicturesque, standing amidst a mass of surrounding buildings, backed by gardens and a small wood ; but it has no preten sions beyond that of a comfortable residence. The Estrella church, surmounted by a hand some cupola, crowns the hill above the palace, and is the only object or point in the whole town to break the outline of the mass of buildings. We were anchored immediately opposite to the house of the famous Marquis de Pombal ; — now grey and ruinous, but with the appearance of having been handsome, and in a beautiful position, looking down on the Tagus — magnificent, but " yellow," not with gold, but mud — over to the opposite shores, which are very beautiful, being a succession of undulating hills and valleys, covered with vineyards, and enli vened with villages.

Sebastian Joseph de Car valho, afterwards Count d'Oeyras and Marquis MARQUIS DE POMBAL. de Pombal, was born in 1699, at Soure, a village in Coimbra. During the reign of John V, king of Portugal, he was sent to England as envoy extraordinary, and filled that post from 1739 to 1745; upon the accession of Joseph, in 1750, he was appointed one of the three se cretaries of state, and from that time became a leading character in the government of Portu gal. The principal feature in his administration was the expulsion of the Jesuits, which took place in 1759, a few months after the ex ecution of the Tavora family, who had been condemned for an alleged conspiracy against the life of the king, the truth or falsehood of which cannot now be discovered. The Jesuits, against whom Carvalho had always entertained a hostile feeling, were accused of being partici pators in the plot, and were, in consequence, conveyed in a summary manner out of the kingdom to the dominions of Pope Clement XIII, and landed, without consulting his plea sure, at Civita Vecchia.

Pombal retained his post of prime-minister during the life-time of Eang Joseph, and upon the accession of his daughter Maria, who had married her uncle Pedro, he was honourably dismissed, with a large pension. The five last years of his life b LISBON. were passed in retirement, and he died in 1782, at the age of eighty-three. He has acquired renown by the wise and vi gorous measures he pursued for the reform and improvement of his country ; but the barbarous punishments which he inflicted on many indi viduals show that his character was strongly tinctured with cruelty. We have the English ten-gun brig of war, the "Espoir," for a near neighbour ; there is also a French brig, "La Coquette;" the Portu guese seventy-four, the" Don John;" and two or three smaller ships of war were lying dismantled at anchor.

The English sixteen-gun brig, the " Trinculo," was going out of the river as we came in, to assist the barque we had seen the day before, which had been signalised from the light-house : she was bound for Sydney, New South Wales, with ninety emigrant passengers, and was towed into the Tagus by a Lisbon steamer, for which service her captain paid the enormous sum of £350. We find it is not the common practice to enter the Tagus by the North passage without a, pilot, it being one of great intricacy ; and what few, with a contrary wind, would wish to attempt. Nothing but the accuracy of the LISBON. charts and the brightness of a clear and moonlight night could have excused our doing so : there were breakers immediately upon our track ; but — Finis coronas opus! Oct. 14. — Though the morning of yesterday was very hot, there was so much rain, we were obliged to check our impatience to land, which was great ; and it was not till this morning that we took the boat, and went ashore about half a mile up the river, near the Fish Market.

We found the quay covered with the boatmen of Lisbon (a race very like the lazzaroni of Na ples, but on a smaller scale), with mangy dogs, sleeping in the sun. After a visit to the con sular office, we took a walk along the town to our minister's ; and found that it is much to the advantage of Lisbon to be viewed from the river only, whence it looks gay and beautiful : the interior is a mass of dirt, and most miserable decrepid looking houses, many painted in tawdry colours. Not one handsome building appeared in all our course ; every thing looked the picture of ruin and desolation. The streets are narrow, horridly paved, with generally a drain in the centre, up and down steep hills, where strings of loaded mules are perpetually skating. These streets are slippery, both in dry and wet weather, and many LISBON. are impracticable for carriages : they are, how ever, considerably improved from former times, by its being now forbidden by law to throw any thing out of the windows, except from eleven o'clock at night till four in the morning, between which hours this method of cleaning the houses is legally practised.

The carriages are a curious specimen of non improvement for the last two hundred years, and are suited probably to the roads over which the miserable quadrupeds have to drag them. They are a species of phaeton, small, high, and rickety, with large, nodding, overwhelming heads, big enough to hold two diminutive Portuguese, and are drawn by two half-starved ponies, or bony refractory-looking mules, with large sharp bits, governed by a disproportionately tall postilion, occasionally decorated with a cocked hat. We descended to another landing-place, called the Packet Stairs, immediately opposite the yacht, by a curious passage for a civilized town, being a steep alley, like a drain on a large scale, partly covered in, and a most elegible place for robbery and murder, both of which, by all accounts, are in a very flourishing state in this ill-regulated country.

There is a tolerable military patrol in the town, but no police in the country; the authorities are afraid to LISBON. 13 act, through intimidation ; aud felons guilty of the most atrocious crimes escajie unpunished. The laws are so ill enforced, that at this mo ment a notorious ruffian, who has been proved to have committed ten or twelve murders, has been in prison eleven months without being executed, and it is supposed, from the laxity of the law, and the many opportunities of appeal ing, that he has even a chance of escape, and of being again let loose upon society. In towns with a dirty population, the quad rupeds have frequently an air superior to the human race ; but here, even the dogs are of a degraded kind; — the most wretched mongrels, sprawling over the pavement, suffering alike from leprosy and famine, looking silly and apathetic, with none of the usual merits of their kind belonging to them.

Finally, the shops offer no temptations, and we were re joiced on returning to the yacht to be independent of sleeping on shore. Oct. 15. — We were glad to see a fine morning for an expedition to Cintra, for which, through the kindness of the vice-consul, we had made all our arrangements yesterday, and on proceeding to shore about ten o'clock, found two carriages waiting for us in the street near the Packet Stairs landing-place ; the larger one, called by LISBON. courtesy " the coach," resembled an exceedingly shrivelled postchaise, just wide enough to hold two persons, and a small seat opposite for a third: in this we packed three of our party, and two of us clambered into the " open carriage," which was one of the old phaetons— very rickety, and perched on exceedingly high wheels. Both were drawn by a pair of mules, and driven by a man in a large tattered cloak, riding as post ilion.

In this guise we pursued our jingling course, up and down the very hilly lanes, called " streets," of Lisbon, the pavement being so slippery, that were it not also uneven, the animals could not keep their feet, and thus it continued almost all the way to Cintra. We observed a number of wretched villas by the road-side, miserably out of repair, varied with vineyards and ill-kept gardens of oranges and lemons, but not a blade of grass at this season (or any other, I believe), and as the har vest was over, the ground was covered with a meagre brown stubble; the country is dotted with windmills. The approach to Cintra is marked by several crosses near the road-side, in commemoration ofvarious murders. This town occupies the north-east side of the Rock of Lisbon, and is singularly beautiful, as testified in too many CINTRA 15 descriptions, both in poetry and prose, for any details to be necessary here.

The scenery is a mass of rocks, mountains, pathways, heaths, with woods of orange and lemon trees, hedges of geranium, aloes, and every sort of aromatic shrub, all growing one over the other. The street of the town strangely steep and narrow. On the descent of the hill, about a mile farther on, we found a very comfortable set of apartments prepared for us at Madame Bento's hotel; and then, thinking we could walk faster than donkeys could carry us, we set out at three o'clock, with a wonderfully unintellectual guide, and mounted by a long ascent to the convent of Nossa Senhora da Penha, on the highest peak of the highest rock. An extremely fatiguing and steep, but well managed zigzag road, leads to this curious old convent, now being restored in good taste by the present king-consort, as a sort of villa for himself and the queen.

The view from it is very fine, extending over an immense plain, in the midst of which, like Palmyra in the Desert, stands the gigantic edifice of Mafra ; and beyond, the view extends, on one side, over a wide expanse of bare and arid country, dotted with poor looking villages as far as the ridge of Torres Vedras ; and in other directions, over Lisbon, the Tagus, and far over the Atlantic. CINTRA. From the top of this rock, King Emanucl, after long expectation, witnessed the return of Vasco do Gama's ships in 1497, after the discovery of the passage to India round the Cape of Good Hope ; and, in consequence of a vow he made at the time, the convent was built; it is con structed of the gray stone of the rock. From thence we descended by a delightfully wild path, a sort of sheepwalk, amidst heath and rock, and over many succeeding hills, towards the Cork convent, which was farther off than we expected, or indeed wished, as rain coming on brought early darkness with it ; however, it was impossible to make our guide comprehend that we wished to return by a shorter way, if there was one, which I believe there was not, and we therefore proceeded by steep rocky paths to the Cork convent, through increasing rain, but still admiring the beautiful views over Colares, Mr. Beckford's villa of Monserrat, and the exquisite country around.

But it became so dark by the time we got to the convent, the rain descending in torrents, that we were obliged to make the best of our way, and bad was the best, through holes, squashy puddles, over slippery rocks and stones, to the Marialva Villa, and then at last we attained our inn, where we found lights, good fires, a good dinner, and good repose. CINTRA. Oct. 16. — From the inn the old palace looks very pretty and ])icturesque, being a collection of the most singular-looking chimneys, turrets, and domes, of all shapes and sizes ; and we regretted not having allowed ourselves time to visit the interior, which is said to be interesting. After breakfast we again walked to the Ma rialva villa ; the views from it, over the mountains and Monserrat, on to the sea, are most beautiful ; the place itself, as usual, was mi serably untidy and ill kept, all except one small and green-looking garden of box hedges in patterns, with a fountain in the centre, on a sort of terrace, overhanging the immense plain be low, and very pretty.

We set out at one to return to Lisbon — called at Lord Howard de Walden's on our way, — found him and Lady H. in the garden of their villa — and then returned by the same exe crable road, which, bad as it is, is the best in Portugal, inasmuch as it is, literally, the only one existing in the kingdom. As may be im agined from this circumstance alone, the con dition of the interior of the country is wretched ; — none of the nobility who have estates ever go near them. There is no authority or power to execute law or justice, and all is poverty, star vation, and robbery. SAN JERONIMO. Oct. 17. — We rowed down the Tagus, and landed to see San Jeronimo, formerly a convent of great wealth, now converted into a school for four hundred children, where various languages and trades are taught. It seems really well arranged, and calculated to do good.

But the most striking part is the exquisite beauty of the architecture, both of the cloisters and of the church. The monastery, now used for the school, was of great extent ; having, as usual, long corridors round the centre, which is laid out as a garden, in beds of flowers, in tersected with small pieces of clear water : the beds are in compartments of coloured tiles, and the walks are carried on raised stone piers, between the little canals, with a few nar row bridges, conducting from one to the other. This might be very successfully imitated in any garden, where there is a good command of water. The tracery of the surrounding cloisters is of great beauty and delicacy, consisting of the richest foliage and arabesque patterns, twisted up with serpents, and all sorts of grotesque de signs, in the most graceful and fairy-like com binations.