114 A SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



partments, and the whole surrounded with jewels of real 

 intrinsic value. As soon as, without shocking the reve- 

 rential feelings of the custodian, we could withdraw him 

 from this exhibition over which he evidently loved to 

 linger, but which, to say the truth, was of no great interest 

 in our eyes, we visited the chapter-house and then the 

 cloisters; the latter very fine, and of the same general 

 character, though by no means so beautiful, nt)r in any 

 respect so highly decorated, as those at Belem. In the 

 midst stood a handsome fountain, and another at one 

 corner ; and this arrangement, which we had also noticed 

 both at Belem and at Batalha, denotes intention and a 

 uniforai plan, the meaning and use of which we did not 

 comprehend, and were wholly unable to discover. To this 

 convent the unfortunate Princess Joanna, the unsuccessful 

 rival to the famous Isabella for the crown of Castile, re- 

 tired in 1476, when, weary of the selfish schemes and 

 miserable plots of which she was either the tool or the 

 victim, she resigned all worldly ambitions and devoted 

 herself to a religious life ; and that, too, at a period when 

 the court at Lisl)on was celebrated above every other court 

 in Christendom for its gorgeous magnificence, its luxury, 

 and splendour ; and so great a reputation did she gain for 

 sanctity, that she was ever after known in Portuguese 

 annals as ' the excellent lady.' * 



Then we visited Sevelha (the old cathedral), which may 

 shortly be described as a fortified church, and which, with 

 its strong thick massive walls and solid sturdy buttresses, 

 not only looks as if it could sta.nd a siege, but with its 

 handsome though dilapidated western doorway and window 

 above, looks as if it had stood a siege, and that too a severe 

 one. Indeed this quaint old church, which has several 

 architectural peculiarities, fully detailed in the Handbook, 



* Prescotl's Ferdinand (i7id liuhdla, vol. ii. p. 309. 



