vout population of Lisbon were hurrying to attend divine worship in the numerous churches, which on that day, according to custom, were brilliantly illuminated in honor to the festival, when, at four minutes after nine, the first convulsive shocks were perceived; and soon after, this proud city became a heap of undistinguishable ruins. The astonished people, who were not buried in the first fall, terrified and confounded, rushed forth tumultuously to avoid the threatened immolation; and with confused shouts and half-expressed prayers, implored favor from the Most High, while falling edifices, or yawning chasms, on every side crushed or ingulfed them with a fearful and relentless certainty. Some fled to the water, in the hope of safety: but their hope was vain ; for the river, violently agitated by the mighty shocks of the earth, rose to an extraordinary height: its impetuosity increased with its bulk, until it became swollen to a torrent, and, bursting its banks, swept away all within its reach. Vast ships sunk beneath the troubled surface of its angry waves; whilst others, torn from their anchors, and hurled round with furious precipitation, disappeared in the vortex, or, driven furiously against each other, were dashed to pieces by the violence of the shocks. "To increase the horrors of this sad scene, whilst the temples of the living God, and the palace of the noble, and the dwelling of the artisan were mingling in one common ruin, fires appeared in various places at one and the same moment, raging with unchecked fury, and threatening to consume all that the earthquake had spared. If, even at this distance of time, the excess of the general misery is too painful to dwell long upon, how terrible must have been the scenes of individual suffering! “Lisbon, however, was not the only city that suffered by the earthquake. Other parts of Portugal (and, indeed, of Europe), especially Setubal and the Algarves, were seriously injured on that eventful occasion. With regard to the loss of life occasioned by this catastrophe, it was calculated that, in the city of Lisbon alone, 30,000 persons perished by fire or water, or were buried under the ruins. For four days the city continued a prey to the flames, during which period violent shocks were repeated at various intervals. 66 Among the buildings destroyed, were the magnificent palace of the Patriarch, built by Dom John V.; the royal palace; and churches and convents without number; while of private palaces and common dwelling-houses overthrown, some idea may be formed from the fact that entire streets became one mass of ruins. It was estimated that seven millions sterling could scarcely repay the damage done by this dreadful visitation, though some VOL. LX. - No. 127. 42 of the treasure of the Patriarchate was recovered, among which was a silver cross valued at £30,000, while no less than 1,500 arrobas * of silver were dug out of the ruins of that and other edifices some time after the earthquake. 6 "When this catastrophe occurred, the royal family were fortunately at the small palace of Belem in the suburbs of Lisbon. Their consternation was great; the whole court was in tears. The king, looking round in silence upon his trembling attendants, addressed himself to Pombal, who (hastening to offer what assistance and consolation he could at that awful moment) had just entered the palace. What is to be done,' exclaimed Dom Joseph, to meet this infliction of Divine Justice?' 'Bury the dead, and feed the living,' was the calm and immediate reply of Pombal, whose noble figure and collected demeanour commanded the admiration of all around him, as he uttered this concise reply. From this time, it is said, Dom Joseph looked upon his minister as a mortal of superior mould.— Vol. 1., pp. 87–92. After order had been somewhat restored, the Jesuits, the old enemies of the minister, began to assail him again with the weapons of superstition, declaring that this great calamity was a just punishment inflicted by heaven upon the impiety and sacrilege of Pombal and his supporters. Unfortunately for them, they rashly predicted a repetition of the earthquake the following year; but when their prophecy was falsified by the event, their cause was fatally injured in the popular estimation, and they were overwhelmed with ridicule. The minister took advantage of the opportunity to rebuild the ruined parts of the city on a more regular plan; a public garden was laid out; handsome squares were constructed; and all the buildings of any great pretensions now existing in Lisbon were planned or executed by him. Among the measures which distinguished this period of Pombal's administration, two may be selected of special importance for their influence on the industry and character of the country; these are the formation of the celebrated Oporto Wine Company, and the expulsion of the Jesuits. The former, though a monopoly possessing great privileges, acted most beneficially on one of the leading branches of Portuguese industry and trade; the other was a bold, wise, and successful measure, or rather series of measures, to relieve the country from the insidious and hateful domination of a * An arroba is 32 lbs. + Senhor, enterrar os mortos, e cuidar os vivos. powerful and corrupt body of ecclesiastics. They had established themselves in Portugal in 1540, in the reign of John the Third. By degrees they silently and stealthily secured the confidence of the royal family; they obtained control of the University of Coimbra; their numbers, at first limited. by a papal bull to sixty, increased without restriction, under the authority of another bull granted in 1543; they extended their power to the Portuguese colonies, and even aimed to establish an independent government in Paraguay, under the supremacy of the general of the order. Pombal could not remain insensible to the pernicious influence on the country of such an intriguing and ambitious order of men, leagued together by a bond independent of, if not hostile to, the secular government; and he fearlessly set about the dangerous and formidable task of overthrowing them. He persuaded the king to dismiss his confessor, the Jesuit Moreira; he made energetic representations to the pope of their mischievous intrigues and interference in the affairs of the country; and finally succeeded in depriving them of their usurped power, and expelling them from all the Portuguese dominions by a decree issued in October, 1759. The firm and manly resistance made by Pombal to the pretensions of the court of Rome, soon after the detection and punishment of the Arveiro conspiracy, led to a rupture between the two governments. The causes of dissatisfaction were stated in a long and able manifesto, which the government of Portugal transmitted to Rome. The difficulties between the two courts were not disposed of until the accession of Ganganelli, under the name of Clement the Fourteenth, to the papal chair. A separation of the church had well-nigh been effected by the obstinacy of the papal government on the one hand, and the firmness of the Portuguese minister in resisting ecclesiastical encroachments on the other. But the new pope, a man of greater abilities and sounder views than his predecessor, anxious, moreover, to avoid all schism in the Church, immediately on his elevation, wrote to Pombal, begging him, in urgent terms, to bring about a reconciliation. The relations of the two courts were restored to a footing of cordial amity; and the pope gave the Portuguese minister the most emphatic testimonies of the high respect in which he held his character. The sincerity of his professions was amply proved by his famous bull, bearing date July 21, 1773, suppressing the society of the Jesuits. We have no space to follow the history of Pombal's administration through the remaining years of the period during which he was at the head of affairs. His vigor was felt through every department of the government; wise reforms were made in the civil, the military, and the naval services; the means of education were enlarged, and the method greatly improved. King Joseph died February 24, 1777, after a reign of twenty-seven years; and with his death terminated the long ministry of Pombal. He soon after retired to the city which bears his name. He was not allowed, however, to pass the remainder of his days in peace. The numerous enemies, whose hostility had been held in check during the life of King Joseph, now busied themselves not only in undoing the effects of his wise policy, but in assailing his character and tarnishing his fame. The queen weakly yielded to these cabals against the great minister, and a severe decree was issued against him in 1781; and thus a remarkable example was given of the ingratitude with which monarchies as well as republics reward their greatest benefactors. Pombal died in 1782, in the eighty-third year of his age. An inscription, delineating in striking terms the great features of his character, was placed upon his tomb; but the government, not satisfied with having harassed the last years of his life with their malicious persecutions, had the incredible meanness to order this just tribute to be erased. The name of this great statesman forms no small part of the national glory of Portugal. His administration was the last bright period in her history. The treatment he received at the close of his honorable life has left a stigma upon her name; and her career since that time has done but little to obliterate it. The work of Mr. Smith, from which we have chiefly, though not wholly, drawn, is a valuable addition to biographical and political literature. It contains many documents subsidiary to the narrative of events in Pombal's public life, which are also illustrative of the character and history of the times. But the utter insignificance of Portugal at the present day has so far thrown her past history into obscurity, that the career of this great man is now scarcely known, and the public are surprised to be told, that there is any thing of importance in the annals or policy of such a country. ART. IX.-CRITICAL NOTICES. 1.- The Waif a Collection of Poems. Cambridge, John Owen. 1845. 12mo. pp. 144. E. P. Supple THIS is an elegant little volume, containing a number of beautiful poems, which have hitherto led a precarious and somewhat vagabond existence on the outskirts of English literature, and have never before been brought into each other's company. They mostly appeal to one mood of the mind, and are distinguished rather by sweetness and delicacy than power. They are intended to soothe more than to stir. A serene sadness, a melancholy fringed with light, a kind of nun-like saintliness of tone and demeanour, are their general characteristics. The fine "Proem" of Professor Longfellow indicates their prominent features, and the condition of mind which they address. They are intended for those hours when we are oppressed by an indefinable sadness, a restless and powerless discontent with the things about us; when we are conscious of aspirations tied down by human weakness, and have the desire, but not the ability, to soar; "A feeling of sadness and longing, And resembles sorrow only As the mist resembles the rain." To a person who reads the poems in another mood of mind, they may appear too tame, uniform, and gentle; for they come, but, "Not from the grand old masters, Not from the bards sublime, Whose distant footsteps echo Through the corridors of time"; — " from some humbler poet, "Who, through long days of labor, "Such songs have power to quiet And come like the benediction |