I found disembarkation at Lisbon to be a matter of considerable
vexation; the custom-house officers were exceedingly uncivil, and
examined every article of my little baggage with most provocating
minuteness.

My first impression on landing in the Peninsula was by no means a
favourable one; and I had scarcely pressed the soil one hour before
I heartily wished myself back in Russia, a country which I had
quitted about one month previous, and where I had left cherished
friends and warm affections.

After having submitted to much ill-usage and robbery at the custom-
house, I proceeded in quest of a lodging, and at last found one,
but dirty and expensive. The next day I hired a servant, a
Portuguese, it being my invariable custom on arriving in a country
to avail myself of the services of a native; chiefly with the view
of perfecting myself in the language; and being already acquainted
with most of the principal languages and dialects of the east and
the west, I am soon able to make myself quite intelligible to the
inhabitants. In about a fortnight I found myself conversing in
Portuguese with considerable fluency.

Those who wish to make themselves understood by a foreigner in his
own language, should speak with much noise and vociferation,
opening their mouths wide. Is it surprising that the English are,
in general, the worst linguists in the world, seeing that they
pursue a system diametrically opposite? For example, when they
attempt to speak Spanish, the most sonorous tongue in existence,
they scarcely open their lips, and putting their hands in their