28 A SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



show their aversion to them, that in the University of 

 Coimbra, where theology especially flourishes, several of 

 the text-books employed in the schools are said to bo in 

 the * Index Expurgatorius ' of Rome. Neither do the Portu- 

 guese clergy resemble the Spanish priests in appearance 

 more than in doctrine, for in dress they more nearly ap- 

 proach our own clergy, being habited in black, and of no 

 peculiar ecclesiastical cut, while the hat they universally 

 wear exactly resembles what we denominate the wide- 

 awake, and which, light in weight, and shading the 

 neck as well as face, is admirably adapted to a southern 

 climate. 



Tliere is one church, outside the city indeed, but scarcely 

 beyond its suburbs, which is of so remarkable a style of 

 architecture, so richly though quaintly decorated, and 

 withal so interesting, that I paid several visits to it, and 

 always found some fresh point of attraction, so singularly 

 does it differ from all other ecclesiasticoi buildings in 

 Lisbon, and so entirely does it occupy the first place 

 amongst the architectural lions hereabouts. It was a plea- 

 sant excursion by river, on board one of the steamboats 

 which ply every half-hour between the quay and Belem, 

 or it was an equally agreeable drive through the extensive 

 suburbs in one of the many public carnages which may be 

 at any time hailed, and I have more than once extended 

 my walks to this suburban district. The church is said to 

 have been built to commemorate the glorious voyage of 

 the great Portuguese naval discoverer, Yasco de Gam.a, 

 and to occupy the site of a small chapel, wherein he and 

 his brave companions, like Grod-fearing men as they were, 

 spent tlie night in prayer before they set out on their ad- 

 venturous voyage. It is built of a limestone of a remark- 

 ably fine grain, dug in the immediate neighbourhood, for 

 I accidentally stumbled upon the quarries. This lime- 

 stone, when first quarried, is of a most clear and dazzling 



