84 A SPRING TOUR IN TORTUGAL. 



approached by an imposing flight of broad steps which 

 lead up to the west door. Its architecture is generally 

 designated * modern Xorman Grothic,' if that term may 

 suggest any definite idea to my reader's mind. More aptly 

 it is styled by Fergusson not unlike the Cistercian abbey 

 of Pontigny in style, and is characterised by that author as 

 at once 'simple and grand, and as belonging to one of the 

 most splendid monasteries in the world.' * Externally the 

 church has a lofty and noble aspect, towering up as it 

 should above the secular buildings with which it is sur- 

 rounded, but the west front appeared to me massive and 

 heavy. On entering we were much struck with the great 

 height of the nave, and doubtless it is exceedingly lofty ; 

 but the many large pillars of excessive dimensions which 

 support the vaulted roof, and the very narrow arches they 

 form, and the narrow nave and still narrower side aisles, 

 enhance the appearance of height in a great degree. The 

 side chapels and altars bear traces of more elaborate 

 decoration in carving, paintiDg, and gilding than are 

 usually to be met with in Portugal ; but the great objects 

 of attraction are the richly-carved but now much-muti- 

 lated monuments of Dom Pedro the Cruel and the far- 

 famed Donna Ignez de Castro : these splendid tombs lie in 

 the south transept, and are examined with deep interest by 

 the visitor, not only for their really beautiful workmanship 

 which is much to be admired, but far more from the very 

 romantic history which appertains to that deeply-attached 

 but most unfortunate couple, of whom one hears so much 

 and sees so many pictures, and for which I again refer to 

 the Handbook (page 111). From the church we went to 

 the gardens, now a simple meadow, but wherein the re- 

 mains of statues and obelisks, broken flights of wide steps, 

 and well-carved stone balustrades mark how daintily the 



* Illustrated Handbook of Architecture, p. 836. 



