3.

Throughout this purple land, where Law secures not life.
Stanza xxi. line 9.

It is a well-known fact that in the year 1809, the assassinations in the
streets of Lisbon and its vicinity were not confined by the Portuguese
to their countrymen; but that Englishmen were daily butchered: and so
far from redress being obtained, we were requested not to interfere if
we perceived any compatriot defending himself against his allies. I was
once stopped in the way to the theatre at eight o'clock in the evening,
when the streets were not more empty than they generally are at that
hour, opposite to an open shop, and in a carriage with a friend: had we
not fortunately been armed, I have not the least doubt that we should
have "adorned a tale" instead of telling one. The crime of assassination
is not confined to Portugal; in Sicily and Malta we are knocked on the
head at a handsome average nightly, and not a Sicilian or Maltese is
ever punished!

4.

Behold the hall where chiefs were late convened!
Stanza xxiv. line 1.

The Convention of Cintra was signed in the palace of the Marchese
Marialva. The late exploits of Lord Wellington have effaced the follies
of Cintra. He has, indeed, done wonders; he has perhaps changed the
character of a nation, reconciled rival superstitions, and baffled an
enemy who never retreated before his predecessor.

["The armistice, the negotiations, the convention, the execution of its
provisions, were commenced, conducted, concluded, at the distance of
thirty miles from Cintra, with which place they had not the slightest
connection, political, military, or local. Yet Lord Byron has sung that
the convention was signed in the Marquis of Marialva's house at Cintra"
(Napier's _History of the War in the Peninsula_, i. 161). The
"suspension of arms" is dated "Head Quarters of the British Army, August
22, 1808." The "Definitive Convention for the Evacuation of Portugal by
the British Army" is dated "Head Quarters, Lisbon, August 30, 1808."
(See Wordsworth's pamphlet _Concerning the Relations of Great Britain,
Spain, and Portugal, etc._, 1809, App. pp. 199-201. For sentiments
almost identical with those expressed in stanzas xxiv., xxv., see
_ibid._, p. 49, _et passim_.)]

5.

Yet Mafra shall one moment claim d