PORTUGAL. ( 553 



unfair in their dealings, especially with stfangers. It is hard, how- 

 ever, to say what alteration may be made in the character of the Por- 

 tuguese, by the expulsion of the Jesuits, and diminution of the papal 

 influence among them ; by that spirit of independence, with regard 

 to commercial affairs, which, to the interest of their country, is now so 

 much encouraged by their court and ministry ; but above all, to the 

 events of the late war, which has served so much to rouse the spirit 

 of the nation. 



The Portuguese are neither so tall nor so well made as the Spa- 

 eiards, whose habits and customs they imitate ; only the quality affect 

 to be more gaily and richly dressed. The Portuguese ladies are thin* 

 and small of stature. Their complexion is olive, their eyes black 

 and expressive, and their features generally regular. They are es- 

 teemed to be generous, modest, and witty. They dress like the Spa° 

 nish ladies, with much aukwardness and affected gravity, but in gen- 

 eral more magnificently ; and they are taught by their husbands to 

 exact from their servants a homage, that in other countries is paid 

 only to royal personages. The furniture of the houses, especially of 

 their grandees, is rich and superb to excess ; and they maintain an 

 incredible number of domestics, as they never discharge any who 

 survive after serving their ancestors. The poorer sort have scarcely 

 any furniture at all, for they, in imitation of the Moors, sit always 

 cross-legged on the ground. The Portuguese peasant has never reap- 

 ed any advantage from the benefits of foreign trade, and of the fine 

 and vast countries the kings of Portugal possessed in Africa or in the 

 East; or of those still remaining to them in South America. The 

 only foreign luxury he is yet acquainted with is tobacco; and when 

 hi*, feeble purse can reach it, he purchases a dried Newfoundland 

 cor! -fish : but this is a regale he dare seldom aspire to. A piece of 

 bread made of Indian corn, and a salted pilchard, or a head of garlic, 

 to give that bread a flavour, compose his standing dish ; and if he 

 can get a bit of the hog, the ox, or the calf he himself fattens, to re- 

 gale his wretched family at Christmas or Easter, he has reached the 

 pinnacle of happiness in this world ; and indeed whatever he pos- 

 sessed beyond this habitual penury, according to the present state 

 and exertions of his intellects, would quickly be taken from him, or 

 rather he would willingly part with it, being taught by his number- 

 less ghostly comforters, with which his country swarms, to look for- 

 ward for ease and happiness to another state of existence, to which 

 they are themselves the infallible guides and conductors. 



To these remarks we shall subjoin those of Mr. Murphy, a late 

 traveller in Portugal. "The common people of Lisbon and its en- 

 virons are a laborious and hardy race. It is painful to see the trou- 

 ble they are obliged to take for want of proper implements to carry- 

 on their work. Their cars have the rude appearance of the earliest 

 ages ; these vehicles are slowly drawn by two stout oxen. The corn 

 is shelled by the treading of the same animals. They have many 

 other customs which to us appear very singular : for example, 

 women sit with the left side towards the horse's head when they 

 ride. A postillion rides on the left horse. A tailor sits at his work 

 like a shoemaker. A hair-dresser appears on Sundays with a sword, 

 a cockade, and two watches, or at least two watch-chains. A tavern 

 is known by a vine-bush, a house to be let by a piece of blank paper, 

 the door of an accoucheur by a white cross, and a Jew by his extra- 

 catholic devotion, A Portuguese peasant will not walk with a supe« 



Vol. I. 4 B 



