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CHAPTER IV. 



LISBON — continued^ 



During our stay at Lisbon the Cortes assembled, and as we 

 witnessed the arrival of the representatives, our minds were 

 duly impressed with admiration at the gay liveries and smart 

 equipages of the senators, and at the gorgeousness of their 

 court robes. The royal carriages, dra>vn by six horses, to- 

 gether with their coachmen, footmen, and postilli(ms, were 

 a perfect blaze of scarlet and gold ; and if matter-of-fact 

 Englishmen are inclined to grumble (as they are some- 

 times apt to do) at the unwonted dress they are called 

 upon to assume, when in attendance on their sovereign, 

 let thern study the costume of state in which the Por- 

 tuguese senator must appear, and they will be more satis- 

 fied at their own comparative immunity from that burden. 

 When the opening of the Cortes had been pronounced com- 

 plete, the event was celebrated by the parading of troops 

 Id. their gayest uniform, through the principal streets of 

 the city ; reviews of cavalry in the larger squares, with 

 bands playing and colours flying; continual firing of guns 

 from the men-of-war in the harbour,all of which were decked 

 with flags, and in fine, such a din of military bands from 

 the heart of the city, such deafening salutes from the river, 

 and such j\n expenditure of powder as savoured more of 

 the bombardment of a besieged city than the announce- 

 ment of the opening of a peaceable Parliament. I^ut then 

 the southerner delights in sensation, and his ordinary mode 



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