118 THE ATLANTIC. (CHAP. 1. 
forms of the imbedded shells have been reproduced by the 
sculptor, and the nautilus and the goniatite of the elder times, 
and arabesques and horns of plenty, and the chubby faces of 
Christian cherubs, blend in the creation of the old architect 
like truth and fiction in the dream of a poet. 
Behind the cloisters are the rooms of the seminary, and the 
cloisters are hung with neatly designed programmes of the 
courses of study, and lists of the successful candidates for hon- 
ors at various examinations. We were invited to see the 
school, but we declined. The pupils were at dinner, and we 
lingered about the silent quadrangle, reluctant to leave it —it 
was so sweet and still. I am surprised that we do not hear 
more of the monastery and church of Santa Maria of Belem, 
for our little party, all of whom had already seen many things 
in all parts of the world, agreed that it was unusually pleasing. 
There are many things in Lisbon to interest ‘¢ philosophers,” 
not, I fear, from the proper feel- 
ing of respect, but rather with good-natured indulgence, because 
3 
as our naval friends eall us 
and other- 
wise holding on to loose ropes; and because our education has 
we are fond of talking vaguely about “ evolution, 
ro) he) ’ 
been sadly neglected in the matter of cringles and toggles and 
erummets, and other implements by means of which England 
holds her place among the nations. 
The buildings of a new Polytechnic School had been just 
completed at the time of our visit. The institution is of im- 
posing dimensions, built in the form of a hollow square, with a 
quadrangular garden in the centre. It contains lecture-rooms, 
a consulting library, spacious and well-lighted chemical and 
physical laboratories, and galleries for museum purposes. The 
collections in mineralogy and paleontology are on the ground- 
floor, and the zoological museum, under the able superintend- 
ence of Professor Barboza du Bocage, is lodged in four fine 
galleries on the upper story, one of them devoted entirely to 
the African fauna, in which the museum is particularly rich. 
