juice of the grape, which, he said, was "le meilleur lait des vieillards ;" and we found we could not gratify him more than by emptying the second bottle.

He now displayed his library with great pride. It contained a very well chosen collection of books, historical as well as medical. He paid our nation many compliments on the additions we had made to the sciences, particularly that of medicine. He pointed out to me the works of my illustrious countrymen, Brown and Cullen. He was ignorant of English, but had studied them in their French translations. Huxham, Sydenham, and many other works of English physicians, also graced his shelves. Understanding that D*** and myself had studied physic at Edinburgh, he put a variety of questions respecting that university, and our answers seemed to afford him much pleasure.

He was very curious to learn the particular appearances of the Aurora Borealis, and regretted that a country so fertile, as he was pleased to say, in intellect, should be condemned to such short days, and dreary severe winters. The length of our days in summer seemed to shake his faith; he did not appear to conceive it probable that in Caithness and the Orkneys, it should sometimes be so little dark at

midnight, that the smallest printed books may be read without the aid of a lamp. His geographical books, he said, had so informed him, but till now he had been incredulous.

Golegam is a very neat well-built town. The streets are much wider and cleaner than any I have seen in Portugal; and, if I may judge from the number of newly built houses, it is rapidly increasing. Our entertainer, however, told us, that it was rather unhealthy, its inhabitants being very subject to agues, which, he said, arose from the Tagus frequently overflowing its low banks, and inundating the adjoining country.

One of the inhabitants of Golegam gave a party in the evening to the officers of the fiftieth, to which we were invited, but declined going, our drenching in the morning rendering our beds more attactive than the black eyes of the Portuguese ladies.

After breakfast this morning, we embraced our venerable host, who requested we would return to his house, if the fortune of war should again lead us to Golegam, and with sentiments of much esteem for this respectable old man, we quitted the village.

The road from Golegam passes through a country,

closely covered with olives, till it reaches a village named Cardiga, situated on the banks of the Tagus. Here again the peasants were employed in collecting the produce of the olives.

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At Cardiga is a handsome old convent, with a lofty round tower overhanging the road, and commanding the view of a most beautiful reach of the Tagus On crossing the little stream on which Cardiga stands, a charming landscape opened upon us. A small bridge and the round tower formed the foreground, in the distance were some richly cultivated hills, and in the middle, the white village of Barquinha, beautifully seated at the further extremity of the reach of the Tagus before-mentioned. Many white sails were flitting down the lucid stream, over whose reedy banks waved a tall grove of black poplars, and under their branches the road conducted us to Cardiga.

Barquinha is a very flourishing little village, which has arisen from the decay of the more ancient town of Tancos. Here we found a great degree of bustle and activity. The streets re-echoed the sounds of the boat-builders' mallets, and the hoarse bawls of the boatmen, who crowded the little barks on the shore, as they were taking in, for the supply of Lisbon, their cargoes of fire-wood.

Leaving Barquinha, the road winds along the Tagus, by the steep brow of a granite mountain; and about half a league further on, we came to this place (Tancos), where we shall pass the night.

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LETTER XXIV.

JUIZ DE FORA AT TANCOS.-SITUATION OF THAT TOWN.-TORRE DE ALMOUROL.FIGO DO INFERNO.-RIVER ZEZERA.-TOWN OF PUNHETE. ROAD TO ABRANTES,

Abrantes, 5th Nov. 1808.

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We arrived here yesterday forenoon. At Tancos D*** and I were billeted on the Juiz de Fora. His family exhibited an example of the old Portuguese character, as it existed two centuries ago.

We sat down to dinner with Signor B*** and two of his sons, who were both (as appeared from their bare crowns) in holy orders. His wife and daughters were in an adjoining room; but did not make their appearance. Signor B*** and his sons were hospitable, but rather grave and sententious, much inclined to reason and talk politics; which last I wished always to decline, as the discussion of the convention of Cintra is rather a thorny subject.

Tancos lies upon a projecting point of land, at the foot