his impregnable fortress as a very fine thing in
itself, but quite out of place.

"I gather from your remarks," said Lady Mabel, "that Portugal has
often had a foreigner at the head of its army."

"Very often, indeed," answered L'Isle. "This same kingdom, which, in
spite of its narrow territory and small population, had, through the
enterprise of its rulers and the energy of the people, extended its
conquests in the East and the West; which, in the sixteenth century
had thirty-two foreign kingdoms and four hundred and thirty garrisoned
towns tributary to it--has now so much degenerated in its
institutions, that for two centuries it has never been able to defend
itself, or even make a decent showing in the field, but by foreign aid
and under a foreign leader. The Duke of Schomberg, Archduke Charles,
the Count de Lippe the Prince of Waldeck, and other Germans, have in
turn led the army, and each had to reorganize it, and revive its
discipline. Now, they rely on Beresford to train them for battle, and
Wellington to lead them to victory. The Count de Lippe found the
military character so sunk, that officers were often seen waiting at
the tables of their colonels; and the sense of individual honor was so
lost, that one of his first reforms was to insist on his officers
fighting when insulted, if they would not be cashiered."

"The former greatness of Portugal," said Lady Mabel, "is even more
wonderful than its present decay. Yet that is lamentable, indeed, when
the government, without striking a blow, could run away from the
country on the approach of the invader."

"That might have been called an act of deliberate wisdom," said
L'Isle, "had it not been stamped with feebleness and cowardice in the
execution. Resistance was hopeless against France united with Spain,
its tool, and soon to be its victim. Yielding to the storm left the
invaders without apology for the plunder and atrocities the French
have since perpetrated on the people. Nor was it a sudden thought. As
long ago as the beginning of the last century, a Portuguese Secretary
of State, seeing the defenceless condition of his country, urged that
the King should remove to Brazil, and fix his court at Rio Janeiro. He
points out the dependent state of his country in Europe, and asks:
'What is Portugal?' A corner of land divided into three parts; one
barren, one belonging to the church, and the other part not even
producing grain enough for the inhabitants. Look now