stands, which is almost a
desert, is yet well suited to the size and grandeur of the building which
contains it. But here are now no monks to take care of it; they have
been driven forth, some of them to beg their bread, some of them to serve
under the banners of Don Carlos in Spain, and many, as I have been
informed, to prowl about as banditti. The place is now abandoned to two
or three menials, and exhibits an aspect of solitude and desolation which
is truly appalling. Whilst I was viewing the cloisters an exceedingly
fine and intelligent-looking lad came up to me, and asked (I suppose in
the hope of obtaining a trifle) if I would permit him to show me the
village church, which he told me was well worth seeing. I said 'No,' but
that if he would show me the village school, I should be much obliged to
him. He looked at me with astonishment, and assured me that there was
nothing to be seen in the school, at which not more than half a dozen
boys were instructed, and that he himself was one of the number; but I
told him that he should show me no other place, and he at last
unwillingly attended me. On the way he said that the schoolmaster was
one of the brothers of the convent who had lately been expelled, and that
he was a very learned man and spoke French and Greek. We went past a
stone cross, and the boy bent and crossed himself with much devotion: I
mention this circumstance, as it was the first instance of devotion which
I had observed amongst the Portuguese since my arrival. When near the
house where the schoolmaster resided, he pointed it out to me and then
hid himself behind a wall, where he waited till I returned.

On stepping over the threshold I was confronted by a short stout man,
between sixty and seventy years of age, dressed in a blue jerkin and grey
trousers, without shirt or waistcoat. He looked at me sternly, and
enquired in the French language what was my pleasure. I apologised for
intruding upon him, and stated that, being informed that he occupied the
situation of schoolmaster to the place, I had come to pay my respects to
him, and to beg to be informed respecting the manner of instruction which
he adopted. He said that whosoever told me that he was a schoolmaster
lied, for that he was a brother of the convent. I replied that I had
heard that all the friaries had been broken up and the brothers
dismissed; whereupon he sighed, and said it was too true. He was then
silent for a minute, and his