70 A SPRING TOUR IN TORTUGAL. 



humane and pious prelates and sovereigns the world has 

 ever known, amongst whom I need but mention the 

 saintly Cardinal Ximenes and the gentle and accom- 

 plished Queen Isabella of Spain, than whom I know 

 no brighter example of consistent piety, wisdom, and 

 courage ; in short, no more perfect character, when con- 

 sidered in every aspect, throughout the whole range of 

 secular history. 



And now my conductors passed on to a small cabinet 

 of antiquities and foreign curiosities — Egyptian, Indian, 

 Chinese, South-American, &c. — the latter of no particular 

 merit; but my attention was at once attracted to eight 

 or nine stone celts, of large size and of unmistakable 

 antiquity, some of which were beautifully shaped and 

 partially polished, and all of which, I was assured, had 

 been found within the stone temples and other Druidical 

 remains, of which (said my informant) Portugal is full. 

 Then he showed me a bronze celt of exactly similar shape, 

 but flatter and of course thinner, and then what he desig- 

 nated a bronze sword of Celtic origin, but of somewhat 

 later date than the stone implements. These were all dug 

 up in the neighbourhood of Evora, and are but samples of 

 what the unexplored country contains ; for when we take 

 into consideration the enormous tracts of waste land, as 

 compared with those portions which are under cultivation, 

 we shall readily understand that the days of the exploring 

 archaeologist aie not yet come, but that at some future 

 period there will be a rich harvest of antiquities to be ex- 

 humed, when the all-exposing ploughshare shall penetrate 

 those wild solitudes, which now are so seldom trodden 

 even by the shepherd's foot. 



Taking a veiy cordial leave of my kind friends at the 

 library, and thanking them, as I did very heartily, for their 

 most obliging civilities, and amidst a shower of compli- 

 ments and expressions of mutual esteem, as is the custom 



