upon a small eminence, sat twelve men in black. At the upper end, and in several other parts of the gallery, were side boards of large gold and silver basins and ewers, most curiously wrought; and near these a large table covered with a variety of dishes, all cold, set off and garnished after the Portuguese fashion. Public high mass being over, his majesty came in, attended with his nobles, who seemed to me to look like so many Roman senators. The act of washing the feet, I did not get in time enough to see; but that being ended, several of the young noblemen served up the dishes to the king's brother and uncles; these again handed them to his majesty, who gave, I think, twelve of them in all, to each poor man. Every thing was carried on with a great deal of decency and good humor. The young noblemen served very cheerfully, their seniors looked quite pleased, and the king and his royal relations behaved in a very polite, easy manner. Upon the whole, though, as you may easily guess, it was not an exact copy of the tapestry, yet as the poor men's clothes and food, when sold, came to about ten moidores; and as there was a little mixture of superstition in it, I cannot say but I was as well pleased with my morning's entertainment as any thing I had seen since my arrival. I believe the whole took up nearly two hours. After dinner we went to see the churches; but the magnificence and sumptuousness of the furniture, cannot well be expressed. Many of them were hung on the occasion with purple damask trimmed with gold. In one of them there was a solid silver altar of several yards circumference, and nearly twelve steps high: and in another a gold one, still more magnificent, of about the same dimensions. Its basis was studded with many precious stones, and near the top were placed silver images, in representation of angels. Each step was filled with large silver candlesticks, with wax tapers in them, which going up by a regular ascent, until they formed themselves into a pyramid, made a most glittering and splendid blaze. The great altars also of the other churches were illuminated most profusely, and silver pots of artificial flowers, with large wax tapers between each, were fixed all around several of them. Between these, were large paintings in black and white, representing the different parts of our Savior's passion. And, in short, all was so magnificently, so superstitiously grand, that I am persuaded several thousands of pounds would not defray the expenses of this one day. Go which way you would, nothing was to be seen but illuminations within, and hurry without. For all persons, princes and crowned heads themselves not excepted, are obliged on this day to visit seven churches or altars, in imitation, as is supposed, of our Lord's being

hurried from one tribunal to another, before he was condemned to be hung upon the cross. I saw the queen pass in great state to visit three of them. Velvet cushions were carried before her majesty, and boards laid along the streets for herself and retinue to walk upon. Guards attended before and behind, and thousands of spectators stood on each side to gaze at them as they passed along. Being desirous of seeing the manner of their entrance, we got into the last church before they came. It was that of St. Domingo, where was the gold altar before mentioned, and at which her majesty and train knelt about a quarter of an hour. All the while, the Dominican friars sung most surprizingly sweet. But as I stood near the altar, over against the great door, I must confess my very inmost soul was struck with a secret horror, when, upon looking up I saw, over the front of the great window of the church, the heads of many hundred Jews, painted on canvas, who had been condemned by what they call the Holy Inquisition, and carried out from that church to be burned. Strange way this, of compelling people to come in! Such was not thy method, O meek and compassionate Lamb of God! thou camest not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. But bigotry is as cruel as the grave. It knows no remorse. From all its bitter and dire effects, good Lord deliver us! But to return to the queen. Having performed her devotions, she departed and went in a coach of state, I believe, directly from the church to her palace, and without doubt sufficiently fatigued; for, besides walking through the streets to the several churches, her majesty also, and the princesses, had been engaged in waiting upon, and washing the feet of twelve poor women, in as public a manner as the king. In our walk home, we met his majesty with his brother and two uncles, attended only by a few noblemen in black velvet, and a few guards without halberts. I suppose he was returning from his last church, and as one may well imagine, equally fatigued with his royal consort and daughters. When church and state thus combine to be nursing fathers and nursing mothers to superstition, is it any wonder that its credit and influence is so diffusive among the populace? O Britain! Britain! hadst thou a zeal proportionable to thy knowledge, an inward purity adequate to the simplicity of thy external worship, in what a happy and godlike situation wouldst thou be! Here I could weep again. Again I leave you to guess the cause; and if I can send you one more letter of a like nature, before we leave this place, it is all you must expect from, my dear friend, yours most assuredly in our glorious Head, &c."

The following account of the representation of the crucifixion of the blessed Jesus, in one of the large churches, is curious.

"My dear friend,

"LISBON, April 12, 1754.

"After the news already sent you, I thought our Lisbon correspondence would entirely have been put a stop to; for upon returning to my lodgings, as weary I believe, as others that had been running from church to church all day, word was sent to me, that our ship would certainly sail the next morning. This news, I own, was not altogether agreeable to me, because I wanted to see the conclusion of the Lent solemnities. However, I made ready; and having despatched my private affairs over night, was conducted very early in the morning, by my kind host, down to Bellum, where the ship lay. We parted. The wind promised to be fair; but dying away, I very eagerly went ashore once more. But how was the scene changed! Before, all used to be noise and hurry; now, all was hushed and shut up in the most awful and profound silence. No clock or bell had been heard since yesterday noon, and scarcely a person was to be seen in the street all the way to Lisbon. About two in the afternoon we got to the place, where, I heard some days ago, an extraordinary scene was to be exhibited. Can you guess what it was? Perhaps not. Why then I will tell you. It was the crucifixion of the Son of God, represented partly by dumb images, and partly by living persons, in a large church belonging to the convent of St. De Beato. Several thousands crowded into it; some of whom, as I was told, had been waiting there from six in the morning. Through the kind interposition and assistance of a protestant or two, I was not only admitted into the church, but was very commodiously situated to view the whole performance. We had not waited long before the curtain was drawn up. Immediately, upon a high scaffold hung in the front with black baize, and behind with silk purple damask, laced with gold, was exhibited to our view an image of the Lord Jesus at full length, crowned with thorns, and nailed on a cross between two figures of like dimensions, representing the two thieves. At a little distance on the right hand, was placed an image of the virgin Mary, in plain long ruffles, and a kind of widow weeds. Her veil was purple silk, and she had a wire glory round her head. At the foot of the cross lay, in a mournful posture, a living man, dressed in woman's clothes, who personated Mary Magdalen; and not far off stood a young man, in imitation of the beloved disciple. He was dressed in a loose green silk vesture, and bob wig. His eyes were fixed on the cross, and his hands a little extended. On each side, near the front of the stage, stood two sentinels in buff, with formidable caps and long beards; and directly in the front stood another yet more formidable, with a large

target in his hand. We may suppose him to be the Roman centurion. To complete the scene, from behind the purple hangings came out about twenty little purple vested winged boys, two by two, each bearing a lighted wax taper in his hand, and a crimson and gold cap on his head. At their entrance upon the stage, they gently bowed their heads to the spectators, then kneeled and made obeisance, first to the image on the cross, and then to that of the virgin Mary. When risen, they bowed to each other, and then took their respective places over against one another, on steps assigned for them at the front of the stage. Opposite to this, at a few yards distance, stood a black friar in a pulpit hung in mourning. For a while he paused, and then, breaking silence, gradually lifted up his voice until it was extended to a pretty high pitch, though I think scarcely high enough for so large an auditory. After he had proceeded in his discourse about a quarter of an hour, a confused noise was heard near the front great door; upon turning my head, I saw four long bearded men, two of whom carried a ladder on their shoulders, and after them followed two more with large gilt dishes in their hands, full of linen, spices, &c. These, as I imagined, were the representatives of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. On a signal given from the pulpit, they advanced towards the steps of the scaffold. But upon their first attempting to mount it, at the watchful centurion's nod, the observant soldiers made a pass at them, and presented the points of their javelins directly to their breasts. They are repulsed. Upon this a letter from Pilate is produced. The centurion reads it, shakes his head, and with looks that bespoke a forced compliance, beckons to the sentinels to withdraw their arms. Leave being thus obtained, they ascend; and having paid their homage, by kneeling first to the image on the cross, and then to the virgin Mary, they retired to the back of the stage. Still the preacher continued declaiming, or rather, as was said, explaining the mournful scene. Magdalen persists in wringing her hands, and variously expressing her personated sorrow; while John, seemingly regardless of all besides, stood gazing on the crucified figure. By this time it was near three o'clock, and therefore proper for the scene to begin to close. The ladders are ascended, the superscription and crown of thorns taken off, long white rollers put around the arms of the image, and then the nails knocked out which fastened the hands and feet. Here Mary Magdalen looks most languishing, and John, if possible, stands more thunder-struck than before. The orator lifts up his voice, and almost all the hearers expressed concern by weeping, beating their breasts, and smiting their cheeks. At length the body is gently let down. Magdalen

eyes it, and, gradually rising, receives the feet into her wide spread handkerchief; while John, who hitherto stood motionless like a statue, as the body came nearer the ground, with an eagerness that bespoke the intense affection of a sympathizing friend, runs toward the cross, seizes the upper part of it into his clasping arms, and, with his disguised fellow-mourner, helps to bear it away. And here the play should end, were I not afraid you would be angry with me, if I did not give you an account of the last act, by telling you what became of the corpse after it was taken down. Great preparations were made for its interment. It was wrapped in linen and spices, &c., and being laid upon a bier richly hung, was afterwards carried round the church yard in grand procession. The image of the virgin Mary was chief mourner, and John and Magdalen, with a whole troop of friars, with wax tapers in their hands, followed after. Determined to see the whole, I waited its return, and in about a quarter of an hour the corpse was brought in, and deposited in an open sepulchre prepared for the purpose; but not before a priest, accompanied by several of the same order in splendid vestments, had perfumed it with incense, sung to, and kneeled before it. John and Magdalen attended the obsequies; but the image of the virgin Mary was carried away and placed upon the front of the stage, in order to be kissed, adored, and worshipped by the people. This I saw them do with the utmost eagerness and reverence. And thus ended this Good Friday's tragi-comical, superstitious, idolatrous farce. A farce, which, while I saw, as well as now while I am describing it, excited in me a high indignation. Surely, thought I, while attending on such a scene of mock devotion, if ever, now is the Lord Jesus crucified afresh; and I could then, and even now, think of no other plea for the poor beguiled devotees, than that which suffering innocence put up himself for his enemies, when actually hanging upon the cross: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' There was but one thing wanting to raise one's resentment to the highest pitch, and that was, for one of the soldiers to have pierced the side of the image upon the cross. This in all probability you have heard has actually been done in other places, and with a little more art, might, I think, have been performed here. Doubtless it would have afforded the preacher as good, if not a better opportunity of working upon the passions of his auditory, than the taking down the superscription and crown of thorns, and wiping the head with a blooded cloth, and afterwards exposing it to the view of the people; all which I saw done before the body was let down. But alas! my dear friend, how mean is that eloquence, and how entirely destitute of the demonstration of the