82 A SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



Ferreira da Costa, I mention one who was not only of 

 inestimable service to us, but who is as polished and 

 well-informed a Portuguese gentleman as we met with 

 throughout our tour. 



Under his guidance, then, we sallied forth to see the 

 great monastery of Alcobapa, for the details of which I 

 must refer my readers to the Handbook, where a very full 

 and accurate description will be found. To ourselves it was 

 of exceeding interest : in the first place, it was the largest 

 and most splendid monastery in Christendom, containing 

 none but monks of noble, or, at all events, gentle birth ;* 

 who were very seldom to be seen on foot, but rode abroad 

 on excellent mules. f Tlien it was governed by an abbot- 

 general, who was elected amongst the brethren for three 

 years, enjoyed episcopal honours, and was also chief of the 

 whole of the members of the Bernardine Order residing in 

 Portugal.^ It had indeed been suppressed a few years 

 back, in common with all other religious houses in Por- 

 tugal; and previous to its suppression it had been bar- 

 barously consigned to the flames by Massena in the retreat 

 of the French from Portugal ; but though the conflagra- 

 tion lasted twenty-one days, and consumed the greater 

 portion of the cloisters and cells of the monastery, yet the 

 principal buildings escaped, and they remain to this hour 

 just as they stood when peopled with monks, and so they 

 offer an admirable sample of what an abbey was in the 

 olden time. Already, however, neglect is beginning to 

 work its never-failing results, and as at the departure of 

 the monks there were none left to execute repairs, these 

 magnificent buildings are gradually beginning to fall into 

 decay ; and doubtless, ere long, heaps of ruins and crumb- 



♦ Historical, Military, and Picturesqiie Observations on Tortugal. By 

 Colonel Landmann. London, 1818. Vol. ii. p. 235. Portugal and Gallicia. 

 By Lord Carnarvon. Page 20. 



t Landmann, ii. 236. \ Ibid. ii. 237. 



