210 A SPRING TOUR IN PORTUGAL. 



(juirements, the time allotted for imparting knowledge 

 will not be thought too great. I may add, that Coimbra 

 enjoys a great reputation, as well for the learning as for 

 the painstaking of its professors ; and it is said that the 

 standard of attainment aimed at and reached by many of 

 its graduates will bear favourable comparison with that of 

 any other University in Europe. To prove this assertion 

 would of course be exceedingly difficult ; but it is, at all 

 events, not to be denied that the system pursued here is 

 highly creditable to all concerned, and is crowned with 

 most satisfactory results. 



On climbing the hill to its summit, and entering the 

 quadrangle, which comprises the greater part of the Uni- 

 versity buildings, we encountered several professors as 

 well as large bodies of students just returning from 

 lectures; and nothing could exceed the kindness and 

 civility wdth w^hich we were directed to the various points 

 of interest, and invited to enter the several public rooms, 

 and see for ourselves the arrangements and appliances in 

 use. First we entered the Observatory, and w^ere most 

 courteously shown all the instruments with which it is 

 supplied, and which, by the way, we noticed w^ere almost 

 entirely procured from London and Paris ; as well as the 

 Observatory library, which also in great part consists of 

 English publications from Greenwich and elsewhere. Then 

 taking leave of the professor, who had in the most obliging 

 manner pointed out what was principally worthy of ob- 

 servation, we crossed the quadrangle, and entered the 

 great library, a magnificent room, w^ell proportioned, well 

 filled with books, and furnished with the galleries requisite 

 for reaching the upper shelves; and which also contained 

 some twenty closets for quiet study, reminding us of our 

 own Bodleian at Oxford. We -were told that the number 

 of books amounted to 60,000 volumes, a figure very much 

 below that which is generally attributed to this library. 



