100 A SPRING TOUR IN RORTUGAL. 



houses at home. Moreover, that it is a bond fide vault, 

 and neither upheld, nor supported, nor assisted by any un- 

 seen contrivance, we are enabled to assert, inasmuch as 

 we mounted above it and there beheld the rough stones, 

 the construction, and the great key-stone of this enormous 

 roof. There, too, we beheld an outer gabled roof pro- 

 jected over it, though nowhere impinging upon it, formed 

 in three steep ridges and covered with tiles, and effectually 

 protecting it from the weather. 



We spent above an hour in wandering over the various 

 roofs of this pile of buildings, picking our way over the 

 great tiles laid in cement, and reminded at every step of 

 the stone roof of iVIilan Cathedral, though this was rough 

 and rugged walking, whereas the Italian duomo is covered 

 with smooth slabs ; and we could not but admire the good 

 taste and judgment of the restorers, who had begun their 

 praiseworthy efforts by repairing all the dilapidations in 

 the roof and excluding the rain, thus rendering the fabric 

 weather-tight before they began the more interesting and 

 telling work of renewing the decayed mouldings, the in- 

 tricate tracery, and the exquisite sculpture of the interior. 

 Then we climbed to the top of the spire, and looked down 

 upon the monastery below as on a large ground-plan, 

 and took in the relative positions of the several portions, 

 and comprehended the general arrangement of the whole. 

 Hence too we had an admirable view of the pretty country 

 around, hilly and well wooded, and withal well watered 

 and productive, as the precincts of a religious house are 

 almost invariably found to be. 



And now it only remained to visit the capella imperfetta, 

 a mere unfinished fragment, a sample of a noble design 

 never completed, but nevertheless, without dispute, the 

 gem of the whole building. So we descended from the 

 roof and made our way to the east end of the church, 

 where this marvellous jewel holds the position which in 

 our cathedrals is generally occupied by the Lady Chapel. 



