Retrofpea of Foreign 
(from 1580 to 1640), and the ruinous 
wars which followed the acceflion of the 
houie of Braganza to the throne, fuffice 
alone to explain the degeneracy of Portu- 
gal till the reign of Peter IL, in whoie 
time the mines of Brazil were difcovered. 
4¢ That dilcovery,”” he fays, ‘would have 
been a fource of profperity to the king- 
dom, rather than of poverty and depopu- 
Jation, but for the fatal treaty of 1703*, 
which, by deftroying all its manufac- 
tures, and throwing its commierce into 
the hands of a powerful ally, produced 
_# balance of trade fo difadvantageous to 
the Portuguefe, that the whole produce 
of their mines f{carcely fuffices to pay it.” 
‘The fame author afferts, ‘¢ that the mines 
delayed for fome time the fatal effects of 
_ that treaty; but that they afterwards be- 
came refponfible for all the evil, when the 
ruin of the national induftry began to be 
perceived; and that under the reign of 
' fohn V. they produced ‘that apparent 
epulence, which, not having its founda- 
tion in imduftry, and being conftantly di- 
minifhed by the effects of an unfavourable 
balance, in the end entirely difappeared. 
Tn our time,”” concludes the author of 
this paper, ‘‘ we have feen the dawn of a 
faiver day,, ant pokerity will, no doubt, 
celebrate the reign of a fovereignt, who 
refufcitated a flourithing ‘city frem its 
afhes. He reftored public credit, and de- 
tiroyed the prejudices that fubjeéted us to 
2% nation very clear-fighted m regard to its 
own intereft, which under the feduétive 
$22 
veil of protection, reduced us toa {tate 
° 
little better than that ef a colony.”” -” 
A yeung Portugueie nobleman, fur- 
rounded by the inveterate enemies of the. 
marquis of Pombal, could not be ex- 
pected te pronounce a more direct pane- 
gyric on his adminiftration. But the 
adoption of his ideas by the literary fo- 
ciety, of which he is a member, proves 
at once the difpofition of that fociety to- 
wards England, and the policy of the 
prefent government. If Don Rodrigo had 
been leis reftrained by courtly confidera- 
tions, and ‘by the fear of drawing upen 
himfelt the animofity of fanaticifm, he cer- 
tainly would not have failed to number 
among the cauies of the decline of Por- 
tugal, and among the obiacles to its re- 
generation, the eftablifliment of the In- 
quifition, which took place in the reign 
of John III. thatis to fay, at the very 
epoch, fince which his country has been 
ina regular &ate of dzeay. 

* The treaty between England and Por- 
_. tugal, commonly called Merbyen’s treaty. 
’ : Re Nien 
| Jofeph 1. 
Portugal. 
Literature....Sciences. (Sup. 
The fecond volume of the TranfaS&tions 
of the Academy of Lifbon, contains papers 
on a variety of {fubjeéts, interefting to 
Among them, are long details 
concerning the culture of the vine, and 
the means of bringing it to perfection. 
In this treatife, the violent meafures em- 
ployed in 1766, by the marquis of Pom- 
bal, to prevent the increafe of vineyards 
at the expence of tillage, are in fome re- 
{oeéts-jultified. The abufe which that 
minifter wifhed to deftroy, has in a great 
degree furvived his adminifiration. . It is 
ftill prevalent in the three northern pro- 
vinces, efpecially in thofe of Tra-los-- 
Montes and Beira, where grounds highly 
fuitable to corn and vegetables are planted 
with vines. In the fertile and beautiful 
province of Entre-Minhe-y-Deuro, that 
culture ought more particularly to give 
place to other kinds, the wine it produces 
being much weaker than the produce.of 
the other provinces, A proof of this is 
afforded by a vineyard near Alafoens, be- 
tween the Vonga and the Mondego, the 
wine of which is fo defeétive in fpirits, 
that from ten meafures only one of brandy 
is obtained. 
The fecond volume alfe contains fome 
cilricus papers’ concerning the cochineal 
of Brazii, the overflowing of the Tagus, 
the ravages it makes, and the means of 
preventing them; as alfo concerning fea- 
coal; the trees that it would be advan- 
tageous to propagate; iron manufactories; 
the whale-fifhery; the cultivation of 
watte-land, &c. 
The fucceeding volumes contain feve- 
ral treatiies equally udeful, and which 
may be found interefting, even ont of 
Portugal; fuch are thofe relative to agri- 
cultural matters, particularly the vine and 
clive-tree. One ot theft papers, the au- 
thor of which, YVinceenzio Ceatha de Sca-~ 
bra, appears to be an obferver well verfed 
in botanical ftudies, recommends the cul- 
ture of the palma chrifii, the fruit of 
which contains a feed that yields oil in 
abundance. ‘This tree, which grows in 
great plenty about the Brazils, turnithes 
all the miners with fufficient oil for their 
confumption. If planted in Portugal, 
where its cultivation has been attempted 
with fuece’s in feveral places, it. would 
fupply the want of oil of olives in many 
cafes; but the author acknowledges that 
the oil ‘of the palmz chrifti, commonly 
called cattor oi], cannot be ufed as an ali- 
ment, on account of its naufeous talte, 
and purgative quality. 
Another treatife, written by Maauel 
Dias Lapiiia, and entitled ** Phyfical.and 
Economical 
