416 SKETCHES IN PORTUGAL. 



been silent spectators of. My mistaking the emperor for Holden, 

 originated from their similarity in size and dress ; the latter having 

 put on a blue surtoutover his jacket on leaving Oporto, and exchanged 

 his military cap for a seal skin one of mine, which, although darker 

 than that worn by the emperor, was not observable in the dim light 

 afforded by the lantern ; besides, when I saw his majesty, on joining 

 the troops in the afternoon, he had a cocked hat on, trimmed with 

 ostrich feathers, and this he resumed again the next day. While I 

 had my eyes yet fixed on those above, who were following Don 

 Pedro into the house, I heard a gruff voice bestowing the most 

 abusive epithets on my poor horse, arid wondering who had the im- 

 pertinence to place him there beside the emperor's. I thought I had 

 better shift my quarters before I got into some scrape. 



" That horse belongs to me," said I, addressing the grumbling sol- 

 dier, who was already casting him. adrift ; and replacing the bridle, I 

 led him out of the yard, to seek for other quarters, as I originally in- 

 tended. The door of a house, or rather hovel, being open on the 

 other side of the way, I quickly introduced myself and my horse 

 into the naked apartment, and found it occupied by two or three 

 officers and their horses ; the former sitting in a circle on the plastered 

 floor, and enjoying themselves with a jorum of port wine, which they 

 invited me to share with them. But the bit of candle which was 

 stuck in the neck of an empty bottle, being in the act of expiring, and 

 threatening to drop through every moment, we were all at our wits' 

 ends how to obtain another ; till, recollecting the one in the lantern at 

 the foot of the staircase, I volunteered my services to go and fetch it. 

 This it was less easy to do than to say ; for, on crossing over, I found 

 two sentinels were posted there, which, of course, rendered the at- 

 tempt altogether impracticable. Thinking, however, I might perhaps 

 procure one from one of the emperor's attendants, I mounted the stairs ; 

 but, on reaching the door at the entrance of a passage, hesitated to pro- 

 ceed further, as all within was total darkness ; and though I heard 

 the sound of voices in distant apartments I should certainly have de- 

 scended, and thus have missed one of the many opportunities I have 

 had of estimating the amiable qualities of Don Pedro (for whatever 

 may be his bad ones, nulla virtu te redemptum a vitils cannot be said 

 of him), had not the rays from a torch in the street shot through a 

 window directly in front of me, and enabled me to discover a room 

 with folding doors open at the end of the passage in which I stood. 

 Stepping as lightly as if I had been treading on a flower-bed, I ad- 

 vanced towards the room, and by the time I entered it, the torch 

 having pass on, all was again in darkness, At this moment a door 

 was thrown back on my left, and two servants came in, one carrying 

 lights, the other a pilau for the emperor's supper. As I was well 

 known to every one about him, they expressed no surprise at seeing 

 me there, and telling me they would furnish me with what I wanted 

 as soon as they came back, passed into a room on the right, and as 

 they neglected to close the door, I had a full view of an inner apart- 

 ment, in which were the emperor, Villa Flor, Padre Marcus, Al- 

 meida, Jose da Silva Cavalho, and Ayostinho Jose Freire. The 

 house, like all the others, having been deserted, was completely des- 

 titute of furniture, and his majesty was raising himself when I 



