hield of arms. The
fourth story is finished by a globe-bearing parapet, within which the
tower rises to another parapet much corbelled out. The last or sixth
story is set still further back and ends in a fantastic dome-shaped
roof. In short, the tower is a good example of the wonderful and
ingenious way in which the eighteenth-century builders of Portugal often
contrived the strangest results by a use--or misuse--of pieces of
classic detail, forming a whole often more Chinese than Western in
appearance, but at the same time not unpicturesque.[171]

[Sidenote: Oporto, Quinta do Freixo.]

A much more pleasing example of the same school--a school doubtless
influenced by the bad example of Churriguera in Spain--is the house
called the Quinta do Freixo on the Douro a mile or so above the town.
Here the four towers with their pointed slate roofs rise in so
picturesque a way at the four corners, and the whole house blends so
well with the parapets and terraces of the garden, that one can almost
forgive the broken pediments which form so strange a gable over the
door, and the still more strange shapes of the windows. Now that factory
chimneys rise close on either side the charm is spoiled, but once the
house, with its turrets, its vase-laden parapets, its rococo windows,
and the slates painted pale blue that cover its walls, must have been a
fit setting for the artificial civilisation of a hundred and fifty years
ago, and for the ladies in dresses of silk brocade and gentlemen in
flowered waistcoats and powdered hair who once must have gone up and
down the terrace steps, or sat in the shell grottoes of the garden.

[Sidenote: Queluz.]

Though less picturesque and fantastic, the royal palace at Queluz,
between Lisbon and Cintra, is another really pleasing example of the
more sober rococo. Built by Dom Pedro III. about 1780, the palace is a
long building with a low tiled roof, and the gardens are rich in
fountains and statues.

[Sidenote: Guimaraes, Quinta.]

Somewhat similar, but unfinished, and enriched with niches and statues,
is a Quinta near the station at Guimaraes. Standing on a slope, the
garden descends northwards in beautiful terraces, whose fronts are
covered with tiles. Being well cared for, it is rich in beautiful trees
and shrubs.

[Sidenote: Oporto, Hospital and Factory.]

Much more correct, and it must be said commonplace, are the hospital and
the English factory--or club-house--in Oporto. The plans of b