however, by correct data, published many years ago, and BOOK since confirmed by more recent details, that the total num- cxxxvIII ber of those in holy orders, including the members of the secular clergy, as well as the persons of both sexes in the monasteries, cannot be more than 29,000 individuals.* The higher clergy consist of three archbishops and thirteen bishops. The archbishop of Braganza possesses the highest dignity, he is styled patriarch and primate, titles which were created in 1716. If some writers are to be believed, the clergy are not irreproachable, but on the contrary, shamefully corrupt. It appears, however, that within a period of twenty years, the manners of the people have been improved, and the national character of the Portuguese has in some respects been changed by frequent communications with foreigners. They are no longer the same people that violated the most sacred moral obligations, and observed punctiliously the ceremonies of religion. The soldiers are no longer like those, who in the war of the Succession, refused to march until St. Antony, the patron of Lisbon was appointed their general by Don Pedro, the king. The Portuguese are still superstitious, but not fa Bourgoin, in his Nouveau Voyage en Espagne, (Paris 1797, 3 vols. 8vo.) and Dumourier in the Etat present du Portugal, estimate the number in holy orders at 200,000. M. de Laborde made the number amount in 1808, to 280,000. M. Bory de St. Vincent, in his Guide du Voyageur en Espagne, supposes them equal to more than 200,000. The above number, the result of M. Balbi's calculation in the Statistique du Portugal is not below the truth, and we believe indeed that its tendency is to diminish rather than to remain stationary. It is remarkable, then, that the same mistake has been so often committed, more particularly as from the number of convents, the number of their inmates can be easily calculated. In the year 1790, according to the geography of Stein, there were 418 convents for men, and 108 for women. It is known that the mean number of persons for each convent is sixteen, therefore it may be easily shown that in the same year the total number of individuals in all the convents did not exceed 8416. But the convents have been since reduced to 363; thus there are only now in Portugal 5808 monks and nuns. If the number of those employed in the hospitals be estimated at 100, and it is not more, the result will be 5908. Portugal contains about 4054 parishes; supposing five priests for each parish, the number throughout the kingdom amounts to 20,270, and together with the inhabitants of the convents to 26,178. Thus it appears we have rather exceeded than underrated their total number in assuming it equal to 29,000. BOOK natical. Docile to the voice of their priests, they tolerated CXXXVIII the inquisition, but condemned the excesses of that revolting tribunal. The mildness or apathy of the people is apparent even in political commotions; their politeness extends from the highest to the lowest orders of society; unlike the Spaniards, they are friendly disposed towards strangers, nor is it in that respect only they resemble the French, their vivacity is almost as great. The Portuguese have been accused of indolence and vain-glory; the peasants in Estremadura and Alen-Tejo, are indeed slothful and lazy, but if the people in all the provinces boast of their nation, it may be attributed to their own ignorance and to the important part which their ancestors acted on the theatre of the world. It has been frequently asserted since the time of Link,* that the Portuguese are perfidious and vindictive. There is either something worse than exaggeration in the assertion, or the people are much changed. Although it may be just to condemn them for their faults, it is not right to conceal their good qualities; they are for the most part much attached to their native land, disinterested in their friendships, and faithful in their attachments. According to M. Balbi, an impartial and judicious observer, the people in the province of Mino are shrewd and industrious, but impetuous and easily excited; the inhabitants of Tras-osMontes are simple, brave and active; those in Beira are more laborious, but less polished than the natives of Estremadura: the Algarvians on the other hand are the most lively people in Portugal. The portrait of the Portuguese drawn by Du Chatelet,† and copied by modern geographers, is any thing but flattering. The people, says that writer, are of a swarthy complexion, their noses are short, their lips thick ; now certainly they are not of a swarthy complexion,neither are short noses nor thick lips characteristic features. They have the See Bamer kungen aufeiner Reise durch Frankreich, Spanien und vorzuglich. Portugal 1800. The work entitled Voyage du duc Du Chatelet en Portugal avec des notes de Bourgoing, (1798, 2 vols. 8vo.) was written by M. Cormartin, a zealous royalist of La Vendee. complexion of the people in southern Europe, although not BOOK of a tall stature, they are in general well made; deformed cxxxvIII persons are rarely seen amongst them. The finest and strongest men in the kingdom are those in the provinces of Mino, Tras-os-Montes, and on the mountains of Estrella, they have generally fair complexions and light or chestnut hair; in the other provinces black is the prevailing colour of the hair. Long black hair, a fine complexion, large eyes and white teeth might render the Portuguese the most attractive women, if with the gaiety of the French, they united the dignity of the Spaniards. ments. The vivacity and warm imagination which distinguish the AmusePortuguese, are probably the causes of their eagerness after pleasure. The theatre, music, dancing, processions, bull fights, in short, whatever can gratify the senses, have to them irresistible charms. Their lively music is not unpleasing to strangers, the popular songs, accompanied with the guitar, are light and graceful, but in most of them the words are too licentious. The national dance or the Foffa is so lascivious that every stranger who sees it, must deplore the corruption of the people, and regret to find such exhibitions permitted not only in the country, but in the heart of towns, and even on the stage. The Portuguese language, formed from that of the an- Language. cient Turdetani and the Latin, was once like other Italic tongues, a barbarous dialect; Arabic words were introduced into it under the domination of the Moors, and afterwards French vocables, when Count Henry of Burgundy settled in Portugal with his comrades. It acquired greater regularity during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; in the sixteenth, that softness and energy were united, which have been so justly admired in the verses of Camoens. Since the same period the Portuguese language has degenerated; the usurpation of the throne by Philip the Second hastened its decline. Despotism checked the flight of genius, and repressed the utterence of generous thoughts, servility substituted the language of flattery for that of truth, thus the sentiments as well as the language of the people were degraded. The Portuguese has not the guttural sounds of the Spanish, it is rich and BOOK CXXXVIII Literature. Fine arts. sonorous, but the frequency of nasal terminations, and the facility with which the words of other languages may be adopted, weaken its harmony; had not several modern writers proved the contrary, it might be supposed from the last defect, that it was not rich in vocables.* It is a common error to condemn Portuguese literature, because it happens to be little known in Europe. The country has produced distinguished men in many departments of knowledge. Some poets since the time of Camoens are held in no ordinary celebrity by their countrymen; if those who have devoted themselves to the dramatic muse, have been unable to raise the Portuguese theatre from the obscurity in which it languishes, it must be admitted on the other hand, that several Lyric poets are not unworthy of the fame which has been conferred on them. Citizens became legislators during the last political struggles, and although the mass of the people were incapable of enjoying the wise institutions of Don Pedro, still the knowledge diffused among the higher classes must have one day a salutary influence on the destinies of the kingdom. From data, which we believe correct, it appears that more than a hundred works in the various departments of literature and science are published every year in Portugal. The number is certainly greater than might have been inferred from the intellectual state of the people. There was a time when the liberty of the press, and the interest excited by political questions, increased the number of newspapers to more than thirty. The low state of the fine arts may be attributed to the little encouragement afforded either by the wealthy or by government. Music is the only one in which any of the Portuguese have hitherto become eminent. Many facts are not wanting to prove the low state of education among the lower orders; in Spain, indeed, the system of education is much worse; with that exception, however, there is perhaps no other country in Europe where the number of scholars relatively to the schools is so inconsiderable. But the places of education for the children of the rich or pri * See Atlas ethnographique du Globe, by Ad. Balbi. + Essai Statistique du Portugal. BOOK vileged classes may bear a comparison with any in other cxXXVIII countries. Scientific instruction is committed to able professors, and the labour of the students is abridged by good elementary works, written in the Portuguese language. ment. Since the year 1821, the time in which the form of go- Governvernment was changed, Portugal has more than once excited the attention of Europe. The constitution by which the legislative power was committed to the king and the cortes, must form for a long time an epoch in the history of the country. But a real national representation was no innovation in the state, for the establishment of the cortes dates from the eighth century, or from the foundation of the kingdoms of Leon and Castille, and they are repeatedly mentioned in the earliest times of the Portuguese monarchy. These assemblies, which German or Gothic princes. formed round the elective throne, were composed of the great proprietors or barons, to whom the right of conquest gave that of constituting themselves into a national body, and they assumed the prerogative of restraining the power of kings, and confining it within due limits by the refusal of subsidies. With the military nobility, the clergy afterwards united, an order by so much the more powerful, as during the wars against the Moors, the banner of the cross became the banner of independence. The invasion of the Sueves and Visigoths did not destroy in the Spanish Peninsula the duties of those agents whom the Romans appointed in the great towns, for they still exist under the name of procuradores; they formed the third class of members that composed the Spanish and Portuguese cortes. These assemblies deliberated on the laws, and regulated the imposts. It was not unusual for them to encroach on the prerogatives of the crown; while the cortes sat at Coimbra in 1387 under the reign of John the First, the deputies of the town being averse to war with Castille, the king informed them that he would conclude a peace, or continue the war according to the advice of the people. Lastly, they exercised an authority which in the present day might be considered revolutionary in some countries, for in a period of 525 years, the Portuguese cortes elected five kings; namely, Alphonso the First, count of Portugal, Alphonso the Third after the de |