XIV. On, on the vessel flies, the land is gone, And winds are rude in Biscay's sleepless bay. His fabled golden tribute bent to pay; And soon on board the Lusian pilots leap, And steer 'twixt fertile shores where yet few rustics reap XV. Oh, Christ! it is a goodly sight to see What Heaven hath done for this delicious land! Gaul's locust host, and earth from fellest foemen purge. XVI. What beauties doth Lisboa first unfold! A nation swoln with ignorance and pride, Who lick yet loathe the hand that waves the sword To save them from the wrath of Gaul's unsparing lord XVII. But whoso entereth within this town, Doth care for cleanness of surtout or shirt, Though shent with Egypt's plague, unkempt, unwash'd, un hurt. XVIII. Poor, paltry slaves! yet born 'midst noblest scenes Through views more dazzling unto mortal ken XIX. The horrid crags, by toppling convent crown'd, XX. Then slowly climb the many-winding way, And rest ye at " Our Lady's house of woe;" (1) In hope to merit Heaven by making earth a Hell. 1) The Convent of "Our Lady of Punishment," Nossa Señora de Pena, on the summit of the rock. Below, at some distance, is the Cork Convent, where St. Honorius dug his den, over which is his epitaph. From the hills, the sea adds to the beauty of the view. [Since the publication of this poem, I have been informed of the misapprehension of the term Nossa Señora de Pena. It was owing to the want of the tilde, or mark over the , which alters the signification of the word: with it, Peña signifies a rock; without it, Pena has the sense I adopted. I do not think it necessary to alter the passage; as though the common acceptation affixed to It is "Our Lady of the Rock," I may well assume the other sense from the seve rities practised there.] XXI. And here and there, as up the crags you spring, These are memorials frail of murderous wrath: XXII. On sloping mounds, or in the vale beneath, When wanton Wealth her mightiest deeds hath done, XXIII. Here didst thou dwell, here schemes of pleasure plan, (1) It is a well known fact, that in the year 1809 the assassinations in the streets of Lisbon and its vicinity were not confined by the Portuguese to their countrymen, but that Englishmen were daily butchered: and so far from redress being obtained, we were requested not to interfere if we perceived any compatriot defending himself against his allies. I was once stopped in the way to the theatre at eight o'clock in the evening, when the streets were not more empty than they generally are at that hour, opposite to an open shop, and in a carriage with a friend had we not fortunately been armed, I have not the least doubt that we should have " adorned a tale instead of telling one. The crime of assassination is not confined to Portugal: in Sicily and Malta we are knocked on the head at a handsome average nightly and not a Sicilian or Maltese is ever punished! Behold the hall where chiefs were late convened! ( With diadem hight foolscap, lo! a fiend, A little fiend that scoffs incessantly, There sits in parchment robe array'd, and by His side is hung a seal and sable scroll, Where blazon'd glare names known to chivalry, And sundry signatures adorn the roll, Whereat the Urchin points and laughs with all his soul Convention is the dwarfish demon styled And ever since that martial synod met, And fain would blush, if blush they could, for shame. Will not our own and fellow-nations sneer, To view these champions cheated of their fame, By foes in fight o'erthrown, yet victors here, Where Scorn her finger points through many a coming y So deem'd the Childe, as o'er the mountains he Sweet was the scene, yet soon he thought to flee, (1) The Convention of Cintra was signed in the palace of the Marchese alva. The late exploits of Lord Wellington have effaced the follies of C lle has, indeed, done wonders; he has perhaps changed the character of a r reconciled rival superstitions, and baffled an enemy who never retreated befo predecessors. For Meditation fix'd at times on him; XXVIII. To horse! to horse! he quits, for ever quits Or he shall calm his breast, or learn experience sage. XXIX. Yet Mafra shall one moment claim delay, (1) Lordlings and freres ill-sorted fry I ween! But here the Babylonian whore hath built A dome, where flaunts she in such glorious sheen, XXX. O'er vales that teem with fruits, romantic hills, And life, that bloated Ease can never hope to share. (1) The extent of Mafra is prodigious; it contains a palace, convent, and most Superb church. The six organs are the most beautiful I ever beheld, in point of decoration; we did not hear them, but were told that their tones were correspondent to their splendour. Mafra is termed the Escurial of Portugal. |