hands which may not seize me, may it have feet which may not
overtake me; for may I be armed with the arms of St. George,
covered with the cloak of Abraham, and shipped in the ark of Noah,
so that it can neither see me, nor hear me, nor draw the blood from
my body. I also adjure thee, O Lord, by those three blessed
crosses, by those three blessed chalices, by those three blessed
clergymen, by those three consecrated hosts, that thou give me that
sweet company which thou gavest to the Virgin Maria, from the gates
of Bethlehem to the portals of Jerusalem, that I may go and come
with pleasure and joy with Jesus Christ, the Son of the Virgin
Maria, the prolific yet nevertheless the eternal virgin."


The woman of the house and her daughter had similar bags attached
to their necks, containing charms, which, they said, prevented the
witches having power to harm them. The belief in witchcraft is
very prevalent amongst the peasantry of the Alemtejo, and I believe
of other provinces of Portugal. This is one of the relies of the
monkish system, the aim of which, in all countries where it has
existed, seems to have been to beset the minds of the people, that
they might be more easily misled. All these charms were
fabrications of the monks, who had sold them to their infatuated
confessants. The monks of the Greek and Syrian churches likewise
deal in this ware, which they know to be poison, but which they
would rather vend than the wholesome balm of the gospel, because it
brings them a large price, and fosters the delusion which enables
them to live a life of luxury.

The Sunday morning was fine, and the plain before the church of the
convent of San Francisco was crowded with people hastening to or