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such as are committed to his charge unto that agreement in the faith and knowledge of God, and to that ripeness and perfectness of age in Christ, that there be no place left among them either for error in religion or for viciousness in life."

I am ready to admit, that in many cases a minister may act up to the spirit of these engagements, and yet have a residuum of time disposable to some other fit occupation. Though that residuum might be well employed in pursuits strictly professional, yet he is fully at liberty to employ it, if domestic necessities are urgent, in the instruction of pupils. But let him remember, that it is only this residuum which is at his disposal. Let him average, on a conscientious estimate, the daily time which the faithful performance of his ministerial engagements, as already stated, exacts. That time let him hold as sacred. The remainder, and that only, let him assign to the office of tutor and its many attendant cares. If he judges or finds it insufficient, he has three alternatives before him: either to resign his parochial charge, and devote himself to the office of tutor; or, by enlarging the number of his pupils, to enable himself to employ a curate, a man of active piety, to supply his own deficiencies to his parishioners; or to be contented to bring up his family on a lower scale, and regain the requisite time for parochial duties by reducing the number of his pupils, and his consequent emoluments, accordingly.

R.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer.

THE enclosed extracts from the journal of an officer who marched a small detachment of a British regiment from Lisbon to Coimbra, are communicated to you by permission of the family to whom the letter containing it was addressed.

I have the honour to be, &c.
L. S.

[The following paper has been as thenticated by a private communication. EDITOR.]

JOURNAL OF A MARCH FROM LISBON
TO COIMBRA.

Coimbra, Oct. 12, 1811. Soon after our arrival at Lisbon, the regiment received orders to reembark for Figueras. A small de tachment, however, the command of which was given to me, proceeded by land to Coimbra; where our comrades joined us yesterday. We marched from Lisbon on the moreing of the 27th September. The day was sultry; and we had to reach by the evening Villa Franca, distant twenty-one miles. Having passed the suburbs, we observed hedges of the American aloe, and Indian fig, some of the former eight or nine feet high; and on each side of the road were the finest vise yards, in full bearing. Near the houses and convents the vines were trained so as to form alcoves and shady walks; the ripe bunches of grapes hanging from the verdant ceiling. There were also fig trees and pomegranates in abundance; but very few forest trees, except the stone pine and cork tree. We met several of the country carts, drawn by oxen. The axles, being made of wood, and never greased, make a noise heard half a mile off, and similar to the cries of dying pigs, combined with the filing of rusty iron.-The Tagus was on our right during the whole of the day, generally about half a league distance; the intermediate country being a garden of vineyards and olive grounds. The prevailing colour of the dress of the peasantry a dark snuff. This, with their immense broad-brimmed hats and swarthy complexion, gives them a very sombre appearance. We passed the strong lines thrown up at the village of Santarem by the British army. They extend to the famous lines at Torres Vedras, where Lord Wellington kept at bay Massena with his immense force for five

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weeks; at the end of which the Marshal made a most disastrous retreat, losing in it at least ten thou sand men. An eye-witness last night told me, that scarcely a yard of the road was free from the dead or dying bodies of soldiers, horses, nules, and asses; and for many leagues together on my march hither, I myself seldom saw a hundred yards free from the bones of horses, &c. We reached Villa Franca by sun-set; where, by the stupidity and ignorance of the Portuguese commissary, I was two hours in getting billets and provisions. The men and mules were all quartered in the same hovel. The people where I was billeted were extremely hospitable and kind.

On the 28th, I was obliged to stay for some time after the men had marched forward, in consequence of our guide (a runaway, impertinent Irishman) having neglected to draw the chopped straw for the mules. My corporal, however, remained with me; and was my only companion during this day's route of about thirty miles. We went through a very wild country, interspersed with extensive woods of fir and cork. The heath, which grows six or seven feet high, had been burned to the ground for the sake of pasturage. The conflagration had destroyed some of the woods. On all sides I was regaled with the sight of innumerable bushes of myrtle, growing as thickly as English gorse, and a great deal of it in the most luxuriant bloom. About midday, we met a party of British soldiers, who told me they had seen nothing of my party. This surprised me. I began to suspect the guide had lost his way. We soon reach ed a village, reduced to extreme wretchedness by the French. I went to a house and asked to buy some bread. They had none; not even an egg; and nothing to drink but water. Yet this house was both an inn and a shop. So I went into the stable, and ate a few grains of Indian corn, which my horse had

refused. I had a little whiskey with me. I mixed this with some water which I found in a trough. And this was my dinner. At this place I could hear nothing of the party. After an hour's halt, we went onward. Near the village I saw a large castellated mansion, bearing marks of French outrage. For some miles the country was open; and, with the exception of four or five fields, in a state of antediluvian wildness. Within half a league of the next village, we entered an extensive pine forest; the road through which was very deep in white sand. At the extremity of the wood, the road narrowed suddenly between two rocky banks; just leaving room for one carriage, or rather a calash, which is carried between two mules like a sedan. On these roads wheels could not be conveniently used. Where wheels are used, they are so high (to prevent an overturn) as to be nearly on a level with the top of the carriage. We entered Rio Major in the evening, much tired. Still there were no tidings of our party; but there was considerable delay and embarrassment about billets; though I had the extraordinary fortune of supping on stewed beef. I ate with avidity; but when the repast was over, the thoughts of the party troubled me. It was a fine moonlight evening; and I walked to the forest; where I sat, anxiously listening, at the foot of a tree. Seeing and hearing nothing, I walked into the wood, and listened again. At last, I heard what I thought to be a voice, a human voice, and, from the accent as modified by distance, an Englishman's. But all was again silent; and from the deepness of the sand, it was utterly impossible to hear any trampling of feet. At length I heard some one speak in downright English within less than a hundred paces. Conceive my delight! I hailed, and found the longlost party. On their coming up, they told me they were ready to drop from excessive weariness. They had not lost their way: but

in the heat of the day had retired to a shed near the road. It was there that I had passed them unperceived. I soon got them into the town, pro cured them refreshment, and quickly forgot my cares in a sound sleep.

At day-break on the 29th, we marched for Carvalhos. I took notice of a very large oak, shivered by lightning; the force of which must have been tremendous. It was covered with lichen caperatus full of shield; and reminded me of my botanical rambles with my dear friend ***** I here made a hasty sketch of the scene; the first I attempted in Portugal. At Carvalhos (another unhappy village, ruined by the French), they could neither give nor sell me a morsel of any thing, not even at the best house in the place; but at another I got some bad bread, and a bit of stale salt-fish, which, when cooked, I could not eat. The landlord of my billet said he had no eggs, fowls, meat, nothing. The French had taken all. But, as he spoke, in strutted a fine full-grown young chicken. Our eyes instantly met. He did not seem much confused. I told the interpreter to let him know, that had I been a French officer, I should have taken the fowl without ceremony. He pleaded in excuse, that he had only this and another to breed from; and therefore could not part with them. I slept to-night, or tried to sleep, ou straw.

Before sun-rise (on the 30th), we departed for Leira. Within a short league of this city we halted. The view was magnificent. A river flows at the foot of the eminence where we stood. Beyond this, fine broken hills entirely covered with wood; hamlets and villages interspersed: and the back ground occupied by bold and distant mountains. We were close to a gentle man's house. I went into the garden, or, "where once a garden The first thing I saw was a bomb sheik-On reaching Leira, we went to the commissary. He was a .Portuguese. He gave us, out of a

was.

tub, some salt beef so extremely pa trid, and alive, that we could not touch it. The bread too was so of fensive, that I could not even bear it in the room. I procured, indeed, some boiled beef at the inn ; but the ideas you have of boiled beef are as foreign to what I tasted, a delicate veal to shoe-soal. Having rested, I went into the town. What a sight! Almost every house a heap of ruins; the convents destroyed; the streets green with grass; in some streets, not an inhabitant; such a mournful silence in these deserted places: and where there were any inhabitants, such pale, wretched figures! A friar led me round an immense convent. It wa a mass of ashes and ruin. Every picture, every statue, every ornament, every monument, and ever every tomb, broken and destroyed Human bones, that had lain at rest for ages, had been disturbed, and were scattered over the ground. The walls were black with fire; the stair cases pulled down; the windows tern out of their frames; the very fountains ruined! Oh, such a scene of desolation! The actors in this scene had, in some instances, scrawled their names with firebrands on the walls of the churches and convents. The most finished specimen of Gothic architecture I ever saw is a chapel situated among the rocks on which the castle stands. This has suffered worse than any other building. Every tomb is broken open in search of treasure. The beautiful foliage of the stone capi. tals is knocked to pieces out of pure mischief, the altars levelled, the fine carved doors completely demolished. Really, my tears were ready to flow, when I stood on the high brow of the castle, and looked down upon the ruins of one of the fairest cities of this kingdom at my feet. Oh war, war! what a scourge to the pations art thou! And oh happy, thrice happy, peaceful, blessed England, whom alone, of all the nations of Europe, the Lord has in mercy preserved from its ravages!

The castle itself (a Moorish antiquity) is also in ruins. It occupies the summit of a huge pile of rocks, rising three or four hundred feet perpendicularly from the plain. It is perfectly insulated. The area of the castle is about two acres; and the base of the rock from six to eight. In our march from Leira to Pombal (on the 1st October), we met a party of deserters handcuffed two and two, attended by a Portuguese guard, whose only arms were cudgels; they had no uniforms, and looked altogether like banditti. Pom3 bal was still more desolated than Leira. My quarters here were very comfortable. In the garden belong ing to the house there was such a profusion of oranges on the trees, that the branches were supported by props. I noticed that the servant blew the fire by means of a hollow cane, about a yard long, which was as efficacious as a pair of bellows. In this country I saw crops of Indian corn.

In passing through the town of Condexia, the desolating effects of the French invasion were more conspicuous than I had before seen. On their celebrated retreat from our lines at Torres Vedras, they destroyed all before them; and though exceedingly oppressed by the British troops, completely effected their purpose with a quickness and dexterity truly astonishing. Our artillery were not able to march through the town, as it was all in flames on their arrival; so close were they to the French rear. In the town was a most noble house, with a centre and two wings; in happier times, the residence of a grandee; but now a mere scorched shell. We saw another mansion in the same state; and beyond that, a fine range of stables. Opposite to these was a fountain, with a gigantic stone figure sitting near it. Even this had been battered by the French. Within half a league of Coimbra the road becomes so steep as would alarm an English traveller; yet down this almost precipitous de

clivity oxen draw heavy loads of timber. I can only compare it to a stone staircase of half a mile long. Coimbra is situated on a high hill gradually sloping to the Mondego. The channel of the river may be four hundred yards wide. Its waters, however, do not cover this channel; but run in several rivulets of four or five yards' width, and two feet deep, wandering over the proper bed of the river, which is composed of sand washed down from the surrounding mountains. The whole' has an extraordinary appearance. On these streams are numbers of flat-bottomed boats, built very long, with their heads and sterns high and curling. At present, the river derives a mournful interest from the numbers of sick, dying, and dead soldiers, which are perpetually wafted down to the hospitals and burying-grounds in the city. Every evening many of the invalids are seen crawling up to the convents which are converted into barracks. But I anticipate.

We entered Coimbra on the Sd of October. The bridge over the Mondego is broken down. This was done to prevent any sudden incursion of the enemy. A battery is erected to enfilade the line of the bridge. We went to the commissary's office, through the narrowest and most filthy streets I ever saw. Oh the horrors of a Portuguese street! no wonder the inhabitants suffer by the fever. Added to all other smells, the natives are always frying fish in oil at every corner; the fumes of which increase the general noisomeness. Having settled my men, and the mules, at a convent, we drew our provisions, forage, and fuel. My allowances are precisely the same as the men's, and are as follow. One pound of bread and of beef, one pint of wine, one eighth of a pound of rice, three pounds of wood; ten pounds of chopped straw with six pounds of barley, for the mules, per diem. All this looks very well on paper, and sounds very comfortable to the hungry reader and more

hungry writer. But now for some matter of fact by way of garnish. The bread is made of American flour, and generally so sour that you would not touch it: a hungry soldier would. The beef is part of an old cow or ox, so lean. so insipid, that it would puzzle Mrs. Raffald herself to make it palatable, unless she surprised it and the eater too. The wine is the common wine of the country; and during the last two days has been such bad vinegar that I could not do any other thing with it than throw it away. The rice is for soup, and, after the stones and dirt are taken out of it, does very well. The wood is to cook the aforesaid viands, and amply sufficient, as one kettle boils for all the men, who, of course, contribute each his three pounds. The chopped straw is not chopped straw, but the stalks of Indian corn, about as thick as Carlo's tail, and hard as a stick. The barley, good or bad as it happens. Thus you see how we live. Yet my billet is at what is here called an inn in England it would be a beggar's pot-house. However, by buying a few herbs, and by seasoning the meat, and having had young meat for the last two days, I have achieved a most excellent stew; and have had a pudding also. In fact (to let you still farther into the secret), by the assistance of a brother officer stationed here, I have discovered where I can procure all things I could properly want, and have had as good breakfasts and dinners as a man need to have. But the time is approaching, when a piece of bad beef boiled in plain water without any seasoning, and tea without milk or cream, will be all I shall have; and well off I shall consider myself if I can always have that. At the time of our army's pursuit after the French, a small biscuit sold for a dollar (five shillings), and was eagerly bought at that price.

There is much romantic beauty in the environs of Coimbra; though of that peculiar character of which none but a skilful artist could make

a good picture. The most interest ing thing I have seen in the neighbourhood is the garden of the canvent of Santa Criox. The convent itself stands almost in the centre of the city, the garden being at the back. It was very extensive. I walked half a mile into it, and was not near the end. The breadth of these gardens I could pretty we ascertain, as the grand walks lead up the valley in the centre, whil the hills on each side rise sufficiently high to give you a commanding view of the whole breadth. We entered by a strong iron barred gate, which introduced us into a large square kitchen-garden, s rounded by avenues of orange, lime, citron, and lemon trees, in full bear ing.

From this we entered a broad walk amongst all sorts of fruit-trees and beautiful shrubs; on our let was a high wall covered with flowerpots. On the other side of this wa was the flower-garden. It is laid ou in the ancient style, in parterres and borders edged with box, and dis posed in very beautiful devices, We passed on through long ranges of walks, shaded with vines and orange groves, for a quarter of a mile; when we came to two large temples, painted internally with ar chitectural designs and views of an cient buildings. The outside was adorned with various figures in stone. There was also a good deal of grotto work in petrified wood, The whole, in my opinion, was tasteless. At the end of another walk was an archway, cut in an extraordinarily high cypress hedge. I guessed it to be about thirty feet. This archway was the entrance into a rotunda, formed of the same hedge, perhaps sixty yards in diameter. The whole area, with the exception of a circular broad walk, was occupied by a bath, the finest I ever saw. But the water was discoloured by fish, kept there for the monks' table. These gardens at present are in disorder, as the la bourers are employed in making the wine at the vineyard, a district

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