--_Kinsey._
_Column of Disgrace._--About the middle of the last century, the Duke of
Aviero was detected in a conspiracy with the Jesuits in Portugal, and
accordingly executed. His house, at Belem, was levelled to the ground at
the time of the Duke's decapitation, and on the site was erected _a
column of disgrace_, which still remains, though some shops have been
erected beside it to hide the inscription; a just symbol of the conduct
of the nation on this subject, for what they cannot alter they strive to
conceal.
Over the proscenium of the opera-house at Lisbon is a large clock placed
rather in advance, whose dexter supporter is old Time with his scythe,
and the sinister, one of the Muses playing on a lyre.
_A Lisbon Dandy._--A small, squat, puffy figure incased within a large
pack-saddle, upon the back of a lean, high-boned, straw-fed,
cream-coloured nag, with an enormously flowing tail, whose length and
breadth would appear to be each night guarded from discolouration by
careful involution above the hocks. Taken, from his gridiron spurs and
long pointed boots, up his broad, blue-striped pantaloons, _a la
Cossaque_, to the thrice-folded piece of white linen on which he is
seated in _cool_ repose; thence by his cable chain, bearing seals as
large as a warming-pan, and a key like an anchor; then a little higher
to the figured waistcoat of early British manufacture, and the
sack-shapened coat, up to the narrow brim sugar-loaf hat on his
head,--where can be found his equal? Nor does he want a nose as big as
the gnomon of a dial-plate; and two flanks of impenetrable, deep, black
brushwood, extending under either ear, and almost concealing the
countenance, to complete the singular contour of his features.
Pages:
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31