tantly
devoted; it was down in a few seconds, and a chapel to St. Sebastian
begun. Men, women, and children worked all night, and the walls were
raised to at least two-thirds of the intended height; but day brought
weariness, and perhaps the morning breeze chilled the fever of
enthusiasm. The voluntary labourers worked no more, and no subscription
adequate to the hire of workmen to complete it has yet been raised: so
that the new St. Sebastian's stands roofless, and the officiating priest
performs his masses with no other canopy than the heavens.

Other and better consequences have, however, arisen from the revolution
of November. The grievances of the inhabitants of Madeira were severe.
The sons of the best families were seized arbitrarily, and sent to serve
in the armies of Europe or Brazil: scarcely any article, however
necessary, or however coarse, was permitted to be manufactured; the very
torches, made of twisted grass and resin, so necessary for travelling
these mountain roads after sunset, were all sent from Lisbon, and every
species of cultivation, but that of the grape, discountenanced. Thus
situated, every class joined heart and hand in the revolution: deputies
were sent to the Cortes; petitions respecting the state of agriculture,
manufactures, and commerce, were presented; and many, perhaps most, of
the grievances were redressed, or at least much lightened.

Till the year 1821, there had never been a printing-press in Madeira;
but the promoters of the revolution sent to England for one, which is
now set up in Funchal; and on the 2d of July, 1821, the first newspaper,
under the name of PATRIOTA FUNCHALENSE, appeared. It contained a well
written patriotic preface; and the first article is a declaration of the
rights of citizens, and of the pretensions of the Portuguese nation, its
religion, government, and royal family, as adopted by the Cortes for the
basis of the constitution to be formed for its government. The paper has
continued to be published twice a week: it contains a few political
addresses and discourses; all foreign intelligence; some tolerable
papers on distilling, agriculture, manufactures, and similar topics;
some humorous pieces in prose and verse; poems _on several occasions_;
and, at the end of the month, a table of the receipts and expenditures
of government. Among the advertisements I observe one informing the
public where _leeches_ may be bought at about two shillings and sixpence
a piec