92 A SPRING TOUR IX PORTUGAL. 



black, and white; Franciscans, Dominicans, and Carme- 

 lites : and I had observed the Eastern fathers as well, 

 Grreek and Syrian and Coptic. But the great empty shell 

 at Alcobaga spoke of high aspirations come to an end, of 

 lives devoted to Grod passed away ; and all the reflections 

 connected with this great abbey, as perfect as human 

 design and skill could effect, were of a melancholy nature, 

 for they spoke only of the past, without any reference to 

 the present or the future. 



It was in the very midst of these memories, and while 

 indulging in this dreamy retrospect and resuscitation of 

 da3^s long ago passed away, that we drove away in a char- 

 a-banc with a pair of raw-boned mules to the rival Do- 

 minican monastery of Batalha. Our route lay for nearly 

 a league up a succession of steep hills, from which we en- 

 joj'^ed an admirable bird's-eye view of the great monastery 

 we had left, towering above the town of Alcobar'a. Then 

 we passed through the long straggling street of Aljubar- 

 rota, renowned for the famous battle fought in that neigh- 

 bourhood and to which it accordingly supplied a name, 

 and which is still proudly referred to by the Portuguese 

 as one of the greatest victories which their arms have ever 

 gained : moreover, their opponents acknowledge their de- 

 feat to have been overwhelming, the flower of the Castilian 

 nobility to have been slain, and the King of Castile to 

 have worn mourning to the day of his death in commemo- 

 ration of the disaster."^ Thence we drove over pine-clad 

 hills and through perfect forests of olives, til], on winding 

 down the mountain side into the valley below, we suddenly 

 found ourselves drawing near to the incomparable flower 

 of all monastic buildings at Batalha, a single glance at 

 whose elegant fabric was enough to show to what a height 

 of perfection its elaborate details of decoration had been 



* Prescott's Ilisto7'y of the Bcign of Ferdinand and Isabella, vol. i. p. 220. 



