150 A SPRING TOUR IX PORTUGAL. 



means peculiar to Portugal; nor are the rude scenes so 

 coarsely and even grotesquely exhibited here, any mark of 

 profanity or irreverence. In short, it must be remembered, 

 that where the more correct taste and cold decorum of the 

 educated Englishman suspects profanity and irreverence, 

 the more simple mind of the impulsive untaught South- 

 erner gazes on a scetfe which strikes him with awe, and 

 inspires him with feelings of devotion and adoration : and 

 as such we need not hesitate to believe that the strange 

 figures of Bom Jesus, resorted to by rich and poor through- 

 out Portugal, and gazed at with tearful eyes and stricken 

 hearts, prove a valuable help to the pilgrims, in concen- 

 trating their attention on the holy exercises of faith and 

 devotion they have come hither to follow out. Then 

 again, it must not be forgotten that this is a relic of an 

 old national custom ; for, first of all nations to introduce 

 the sacred mystery or miracle play was Portugal. Spain 

 very early followed eagerly in the wake,* and very soon 

 these rude dramatic representations became popular 

 throughout Europe ; but the honour, if honour it be, is 

 due to one Gril Vicente, a Portuguese, who by his autos 

 or spiritual dramas, totally unlike any regular plays, and 

 very rude both in design and execution, led the way to the 

 mysteries which prevailed to so great an extent, were so 

 liable to degenerate into profanity, and were in consequence 

 so often proscribed daring the fifteenth and sixteenth 



centuries.! 



But, however paltry and disappointing in an artistic 

 sense, the chapels leading up to the pilgrimage church, we 

 were amply repaid for our toilsome walk by the magnifi- 

 cent view which was gradually unfolded to our gaze, as we 

 climbed higher and higher towards the top. And though 

 we were not impressed with the solemnity of the repre- 



* Preseott's Reif/n of Ferdinand and Isahella, vol. ii. p. 20Q. 

 t llallam's Literature of EurojK, vol. i. pp. 263, 442. 



