(“Who has not seen Lisbon has not seen a thing of beauty.”)

Unfortunately the interior of the superb metropolis does not correspond with the imposing beauty of its exterior. Lisbon has a noble square, called Largo do Comercio; it has all the various buildings which one expects to meet with in the capital of a kingdom and an important maritime town; but, with the exception of the chapel of São João Baptista, not one amongst them is remarkable for its architecture. The only important structure outside the city is the famous aqueduct Os Arcos das Agoas, which was built by João V., the Rei Edificador, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and sustained no injury during the earthquake of 1755. On approaching the city it crosses a valley on a superb marble bridge of thirty-five arches, the highest of which is 246 feet in height.

LISBON.

Lisbon is relatively poor in interesting monuments, but few towns can rival it in natural advantages of soil, climate, and geographical position. Its situation is {485} most central; its harbour, at the mouth of a navigable river, is one of the most excellent in the world; and its entrance can be easily defended, the principal works erected for that purpose being Fort São Julião and the Tower of Bugio.

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Fig. 199.—PENICHE AND THE BERLINGAS.

Scale 1 : 142,860.

Lisbon is important not only as regards Portugal, but also, on account of its position, with reference to the rest of Europe—nay, of the entire world. As long as the Me­di­ter­ra­nean was the theatre of human history it remained in obscurity, but no sooner had mariners ventured beyond the columns of Hercules than the beautiful harbour at the mouth of the Tejo became one of the principal points of departure for vessels starting upon voyages of discovery. Lisbon became the most advanced outpost of Europe on the Atlantic, for it offered greater facilities than any other port for voyages directed to the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and the western coasts of Africa. The achievements of Portuguese mariners have passed into history. Vast territories in every quarter of the globe became tributary to little Portugal, and it needed the epic force of a Camões to celebrate these wonderful conquests.