LISDON: OENEUAL VIE^V. 19 



' Wo had, I acknowleclgre, expected to find Tvisl)on and 

 tbo Lisbonitcs uiiaavoiiry and unclean, for they have Ioiimt 

 had this reputation, and we liad not forgotten the i)oet'H 

 description — 



Wjioso cntoroth within, this town, 



That, Hhconinp; far, colostial scorns to bo, 

 DiHConsohito will wander up and down, 



'Mid many tilings unsightly tx) strango o'c ; 



For hut and palaco show like filthily. 



Doubtless this was the case nob many years ago ; but as 

 we^wandered through the handsome streets, and admired 

 the elegant buildings, the squares and the public gardens, 

 we simultaneously exclaimed that we knew no foreign town 

 Vvrhicb had such a general air of cleanliness, and we were 

 agreeably surprised to find how remarkably bright and 

 fresh and sweet the. whole city appeared to be. Subse- 

 quent observation only corroborated these first impressions, 

 and I now unhesitatingly decla,re that no town of Southern 

 lands, not even Turin, which in some respects it re- 

 semble?, presents a cleaner, fairer appearance than the 

 much -maligned city of Lisbon. To this no doubt the 

 steepness of the streets, in great measure conduces, for the 

 >e7en hills on which it is biiilt by no means resemble the 

 z^^^zii bills of Rome, snch gentle slopes as to be scarcely 

 traced by the diligent enquirer; but these are real sharp 

 inclines, such <is would not disgrace the city of Bath, so 

 that to walk ever Lisbon was a laborious task in hot 

 wsiitber. and oie interminable ascent and descent, with 

 the very rare relief of a little fiat ground, which was 

 immediately seized ttpon for a '^Pra^a' or < Largo,' or a 

 public garden. Now-, in i warm climate there is, next to 

 good d~'d.nage and eUalniiness, nothing more essential for 

 the heoith as well as the .comfort of -a town than large open 

 spacer? -vvhich may acfc as rcservoksof i^ir, or, as they have 

 beer- vvcll called, Uhe hm.gs* of, <i <j5ty, and with these 



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