of the last six,
though the actual heads are rather better. They all represent famous men
of old, from Alexander the Great to Nero. Two are broken; that of
Augustus is signed with what may perhaps be read Donus Vilhelmus,
'Master William,' who unfortunately is otherwise unknown.

It seems impossible now to tell where these were made, but they were
certainly inspired by the four genuine Florentine medallions on the tank
wall, and if by a native artist are of great interest as showing how men
so skilled in making beautiful tiles could also copy the work of a great
Italian school with considerable success.

Of the third class of tiles, those where the patterns are merely painted
and not raised, there are few examples at Bacalhoa--except when some
restoration has been done--for this manner of tile-painting did not
become common till the next century, but there are a few with very good
patterns in the house itself, and close by, the walls of the church of
Sao Simao are covered with excellent examples. These were put up by the
heads of a brotherhood in 1648, and are almost exactly the same as those
in the church of Alvito; even the small saintly figures over the arches
occur in both. The pattern of Alvito is one of the finest, and is found
again at Santarem in the church of the Marvilla, where the lower tiles
are all of singular beauty and splendid colouring, blue and yellow on a
white ground. Other beautiful tiled interiors are those of the Matriz at
Caldas da Rainha, and at Caminha on the Minho. Without seeing these
tiled churches it is impossible to realise how beautiful they really
are, and how different are these tiles from all modern ones, whose hard
smooth glaze and mechanical perfection make them cold and anything but
pleasing. (Figs. 10 and 11, _frontispiece_.)

Besides the picture-tiles at Bacalhoa there are some very good examples
of similar work in the semicircular porch which surrounds the small
round chapel of Sant' Amaro at Alcantara close to Lisbon. The chapel
was built in 1549, and the tiles added about thirty years later. Here,
as in the Dominican nunnery at Elvas, and in some exquisite framings and
steps at Bacalhoa, the pattern and architectural details are spread all
over the tiles, often making a rich framing to a bishop or saint. Some
are not at all unlike Francisco Mattos' work in Sao Roque, which is also
well worthy of notice.

Of the latest pictorial tiles, the finest are perhaps those in the
ch