106 A SPRIXG TOUR IX PORTUGAL. 



fortified, manufactories were established, education was 

 promoted, the Jesuits were expelled, autos de fe were 

 suppressed, the Inquisition was restrained ; and, in one 

 word, Portugal shook off the stagnation and apathy which 

 were beginning to overpower her, and arose invigorated 

 and refreshed. And this happy change was mainly due 

 to the vioforous administration of her gjreat statesman, the 

 celebrated Marquis of Pombal. 



Vie dismissed our carriage at Pombal, and took the 

 train to Coimbra, an hour's journey by express through a 

 dull, uninteresting country ; and then suddenly, as we 

 emerged from the hills into a broad valley, the University 

 of Portugal was disclosed to view, covering the steep face 

 of the clitf on which it is built, and stretching along the 

 northern bank of the river Mondego, and rising from the 

 water's edge in terraces to the very summit, which is 

 worthily crowned by the buildings of the University. It 

 was a fair scene to look upon, and as it shared to the full 

 in the peculiarity of all the larger Portuguese cities of 

 being built on the face of a precipice, one could take in 

 the whole of the houses at a single glance, like so many 

 martins' nests, clinging in successive tiers to the hill-side ; 

 and the first glimpse from the railway gave a general idea 

 of the aspect of this famous old city, long celebrated as the 

 Athens of Portugal : — 



From Helicon the Muses wing their way, 

 Mondego's flow'ry banks invite their stay ; 

 Now Coimhra shines, Minerva's proud abode ; 

 And, fired with joy, Parnassus' blooming god 

 Beholds another dear-loved Athens rise, 

 And spread her laurels in indulgent skies.* 



* Camoens' Lnsiad, book iii. Translated by Miekle. This famous 

 poem, the chief work of Portugal's most admired poet, entitled Os Lusiadas, 

 is altogether in praise of the Lusitauian people. But the Portuguese nation 

 cultivated poetry, and particularly romances, quite as early and quite as 



