[1] This crucifix was made of the bronze which had formed the statue of
the terrible Duke of Alva, swept in its first form from the citadel
where it was proudly stationed, in a moment of popular fury.
[2] The History of John Bull explains this ridiculous appellation.
[3] Hills in the neighbourhood of Canton.
[4] Apuleius Met: Lib. 5.
Vehementer iterum ac sæpius beatos illos qui
Super gemmas et monilia calcant!
[5] Schönberg, beautiful mountain.
[6] Ariosto Orlando Furioso.--_Canto 7, stanza 32._
[7] A nephew of Bertoni, the celebrated composer.
[8] This excellent and highly cultivated woman died at Naples in August
1782. Had she lived to a later period her example and influence might
probably have gone great lengths towards arresting that tide of
corruption and profligacy which swept off this ill-fated court to
Sicily, and threatened its total destruction.
[9] Mem. pour la Vie de Petrarque, vol. i. p. 439.
[10] The Piscina mirabilis.
[11] See Letter VII.
[12] See Miss Williams’s poems.
[13] Since Marquis of Abrantes.
[14] Writers of travels are sadly given to exaggeration. The author of
the Tableau du Lisbonne writes, “Il est dix heures, une foule de P. de
Ch. s’avance,” &c. From such an account one would suppose the whole line
of houses in motion. No such thing. At intervals, to be sure, some
accidents of this sort, more or less, slily occur; but by no means in so
general and evident a manner.
[15] These affecting tones seem to have made a lasting impression indeed
upon the heart of a young man, one of the principal clerks in the
Secretary of State’s office; he was all admiration, all ardour, his
divinity all indifference. After a long period of unavailing courtship,
the poor lover, driven to absolute despair, made a donation of all he
was worth in the world to the object of his adoration, and threw himself
into the Tagus. Providentially he was fished out and brought home, pale
and almost inanimate. Such a spectacle, accompanied by so vivid a proof
of unlimited passion, had its effect. The lady relented, they were
united, and are as happy at this day, I believe, as the recollection of
so narrow an escape, and its cause, can make them.
[16] An old English housekeeper.
[17] For no light specimen of these atrocities, see Southey’s Letters
from Spain and Portugal.
[18] Don Joaô da Valperra.
[19] At the time I wrote this, half Lisbon believed in the individuality
of the holy crows, and the other half prudently concealed their
scepticism.
[20] Don Josè, elder brother of the late king, John VI.
[21] Dryden.
[22] The royal chapel of the Ajuda, though somewhat fallen from the
unequalled splendour it boasted during the sing-song days of the late
king, Don Joseph, still displayed some of the finest specimens of vocal
manufacture which Italy could furnish. It possessed, at the same time,
Carlo Reina, Ferracuti, Totti, Fedelino, Ripa, Gelati, Venanzio,
Biagino, and Marini--all these _virtuosi_, with names ending in vowels,
were either _contraltos_ of the softest note, or _sopranos_ of the
highest squeakery.
[23] Now Marquis of Tancos.
[24] About the period of the present king’s accession, several ladies of
this description had bounced into the peerage; but as they did not walk
at the coronation, somebody observed, it was odd enough that the
peeresses best accustomed to a free use of their limbs, declined
stirring a step upon this occasion. Horace Walpole mentions this bon mot
in some of his letters; I forget to whom he attributes it.
[25] The personage in question paid dearly for having listened to evil
counsellors and exciting the suspicions of the church. In about a
twelvemonth after this conversation, the small pox, not attended to so
skilfully as it might have been, was suffered to carry him off, and
reduced his imperious widow to a mere cipher in the politics of a court
she had begun very successfully to agitate. To this period the cruel
distress of the queen’s mind may be traced. The conflict between
maternal tenderness and what she thought political duty, may be supposed
with much greater probability to have produced her fatal derangement,
than all the scruples respecting the Aveiro and Tavoura confiscations
which the fanatical, interested priest, who succeeded my excellent
friend, excited.
[26] A well-known wily diplomatist, afterwards ambassador at
Constantinople.
[27] He resided afterwards at Paris in a diplomatic character, and is
supposed to have been implicated in some of the least amiable events of
the revolution. A mysterious passage in the first volume of Soulavie’s
Memoirs is said to refer to him. He was particularly intimate with
citizen Egalité.
[28] A nephew of the famous Angelica, and no indifferent painter
himself.
[29] I have seen a beautiful portrait, engraved by Selma, of this image,
and dedicated in due form to its first lady of the dressing-room,
Marchioness of Cogolhudo, Duchess of San Estévan, &c.