88 A SPEING TOUE IX PORTUGAL. 



was due the education, so far as it went, of the children 

 all around them. Who, again, in those days of general 

 ignorance had such practical wisdom, as well as such 

 scholarship and learning, and therefore could give such 

 good advice, as the monks ? And so, in a well-conducted 

 monastery such as Alcobafa is said to have been, they were 

 looked up to, and deservedly esteemed by the whole coun- 

 try-side, as the great benefactors of the district ; and the 

 abbey was the point cVappui on which all classes leaned, 

 and to which all eyes turned, when they needed assistance. 

 I give no opinion as to the advantage or disadvantage of 

 such institutions in the present day : perhaps the spirit 

 of the nineteenth century is hardly calculated for their 

 success, and possibly the grave objections which are urged 

 against their revival more than counterbalance the bene- 

 fits they would still confer. But, be this as it may, I must 

 contend that the amount of good they have effected in 

 past times is incalculable. Unquestionably there were 

 occasional instances, as in every community on earth, of 

 corruption and disorder; and doubtless every authentic 

 case against a religious body was made the most of, as at 

 this day, by the irreligious and worldly. Still, no unpre- 

 judiced enquirer into mediaeval times can deny that, as a 

 body, they were anything but the lazy, idle, sensual drones 

 which a puritan and uncharitable age has portrayed ; and 

 even we at this present day owe a large debt of gratitude 

 to the monks for the preservation and advancement of 

 much that we enjoy, and for the enlightenment and 

 civilization, may I not sa}'-, of the religious faith and the 

 morality of our times. 



At present a small corner of the extreme north-west 

 wing of Alcobaya is occupied by a small band of thirty 

 soldiers. This was once the hospedarium, to which the 

 guest was always received with welcome, and from which 

 none were turned away. Here, too, are certain rooms 



