68 A SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



the powerful minister, who, however unscrupulous and 

 cruel in the means he employed to efifect his object, as his 

 enemies bitterly assert, at all events by his decisive energy 

 and active measures worked such reforms in the middle of 

 the last century, and, as his admirers triumphantly declare, 

 by his own unassisted courage and consummate prudence 

 saved the country from anarchy and destruction. Another 

 picture singled out for my particular observation was the 

 well-known face of our Charles I., though my conductor 

 was impressed with the conviction, of which I found it 

 difficult to disabuse his mind, that this portrait repre- 

 sented ' Charles III. d'Angleterre.' As regards the books, 

 they number 30,500 volumes, exclusive of manuscripts ; 

 and are (as might be supposed) almost entirely confined 

 to theological works, inasmuch as here are congregated 

 several of the libraries of the suppressed convents. A 

 great many Bibles of very early dates were successively 

 handed down for my examination, and I have little doubt 

 that, as I was assured, the shelves contained many valu- 

 able and scarce works on the history of the country ; but 

 abstruse speculations of churchmen and the minute points 

 of doctrine on which the Schoolmen loved to contend, 

 seemed to comprise the great bulk of the heavy tomes 

 which lined the walls on either hand. However, both 

 pictures and books were apparently held cheap by my 

 conductors in comparison with treasures of another kind, 

 which were carefully produced from a cabinet at the ex- 

 treme end of the room. Here I was desired to be seated, 

 and then one by one these valuables were taken from the 

 cloths which enwrapped them, and exposed for my ad- 

 miration. I need not linger over these, which formed the 

 ordinary sample of the objects usually collected in such 

 places ; as for example, a triptych of Limoges work ; several 

 beautifully carved ivories; some exquisitely painted 

 miniatures, and other highly-prized objects of art ; but I 



