on certain journals which I kept during my stay in Spain, and
numerous letters written to my friends in England, which they had
subsequently the kindness to restore: the greater part, however,
consisting of descriptions of scenery, sketches of character, etc.,
has been supplied from memory. In various instances I have omitted
the names of places, which I have either forgotten, or of whose
orthography I am uncertain. The work, as it at present exists, was
written in a solitary hamlet in a remote part of England, where I
had neither books to consult, nor friends of whose opinion or
advice I could occasionally avail myself, and under all the
disadvantages which arise from enfeebled health; I have, however,
on a recent occasion, experienced too much of the lenity and
generosity of the public, both of Britain and America, to shrink
from again exposing myself to its gaze, and trust that, if in the
present volumes it finds but little to admire, it will give me
credit for good spirit, and for setting down nought in malice.


Nov. 26, 1842.



CHAPTER I



Man Overboard--The Tagus--Foreign Languages--Gesticulation--Streets
of Lisbon--The Aqueduct--Bible tolerated in Portugal--Cintra--Don
Sebastian--John de Castro--Conversation with a Priest--Colhares--
Mafra--Its Palace--The Schoolmaster--The Portuguese--Their