Lisbon, April 10, 1754.
My very dear Friend,
STILL I am here, surrounded with every thing, in an ecclesiastical way, that can offend a mind which desires to worship the Lord Jesus in outward as well as inward simplicity. To-morrow is what they call Holy Thursday. May I be as solicitous to have my heart illuminated by the spirit of God, as the people here are to illuminate their churches and altars. The pageantry is indeed incredible. Though we have been detained longer than expectation, yet I trust what I have seen and heard, will do me service in the future part of my life. Was I returning to, as I am going from England, and had I a proper companion, I would make a tour to Leghorn, Genoa, Rome, &c. and so to Marseilles. What instruction would such a mind as yours gather from such various scenes? O that I may be like a busy bee, and suck some honey even from superstitious flowers! I do not wonder now, whence the illuminations, dressing of altars, and those other things which I have lately mentioned in a public manner on another occasion, took their birth. It is all in imitation of what is daily practised abroad. May the Lord Jesus crush the cockatrice in its egg, and prevent its growing any bigger! I write this from a merchant’s house, who sent for me from on board. Thus our Lord provides for those that are employed for him. Help me to praise him. My fatherless charge are all well. In a day or two we expect to sail. My most cordial respects attend your mother, and all your dear relations. Continue to pray for me, and thereby add to the obligations already conferred on, my very dear friend,
Yours most affectionately in our common Lord,
G. W.
LETTER MXL.
Lisbon, April 12, 1754.
My dear Friend,
PROVIDENCE still detains us at Lisbon, and therefore I know you will be enquiring what more news from thence?—Truly, as extraordinary as ever—for I have now seen the solemnities of an Holy-Thursday, which is a very high day in this metropolis, and particularly remarkable for the grand illuminations of the churches, and the king’s washing twelve poor men’s feet.—Through the interest of a friend, I got admittance into the gallery where the ceremony was performed. It was large, and hung with tapestry; one piece of which represented the humble Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.—Before this, upon a small eminence, sat twelve men in black. At the upper end, and in several other parts of the gallery, were side-boards of large gold and silver basons and ewers most curiously wrought; and near these a large table covered with a variety of dishes, all cold, set off and garnished after the Portuguese fashion. Public high mass being over, his majesty came in attended with his nobles, who seemed to me to look like so many Roman senators. The act of washing the feet, I did not get in time enough to see; but that being ended, several of the young noblemen served up the dishes to the king’s brother and uncles; these again handed them to his majesty, who gave (I think) twelve of them in all to each poor man. Every thing was carried on with a great deal of decency and good humour. The young noblemen served very chearfully, their seniors looked quite pleased, and the king and his royal relations behaved in a very polite, easy manner,—upon the whole, though as you may easily guess it was not an exact copy of the tapestry, yet, as the poor mens cloaths and food, when sold, came to about ten moidores; and as there was little mixture of superstition in it, I cannot say but I was as well pleased with my morning’s entertainment as with any thing I had seen since my arrival.—I believe the whole took up near two hours. After dinner we went to see the churches; but the [♦]magnificence and sumptuousness of the furniture, cannot well be expressed.—Many of them were hung on the occasion with purple damask trimmed with gold.—In one of them there was a solid silver altar of several yards circumference, and near twelve steps high: and in another a gold one, still more magnificent, of about the same dimensions.—Its basis was studded with many precious stones, and near the top were placed silver images, in representation of angels. Each step was filled with large silver candlesticks, with wax-tapers in them, which going up by a regular ascent, ’till they formed themselves into a pyramid, made a most glittering and splendid blaze.—The great altars also of the other churches were illuminated most profusely, and silver pots of artificial flowers, with a large wax-taper between each, were fixed all round several of them.—Between these, were large paintings in black and white, representing the different parts of our Saviour’s passion. And, in short, all was so magnificently, so superstitiously grand, that I am persuaded several thousands of pounds would not defray the expences of this one day. Go which way you would, nothing was to be seen but illuminations within, and hurry without.—For all persons, princes and crowned heads themselves not excepted, are obliged on this day to visit seven churches or altars, in imitation, as is supposed, of our Lord’s being hurried from one tribunal to another, before he was condemned to be hung upon the cross.—I saw the queen pass by in great state to visit three of them. Velvet cushions were carried before her Majesty, and boards laid along the streets for herself and retinue to walk upon. Guards attended before and behind, and thousands of spectators stood on each side to gaze at them as they passed along. Being desirous of seeing the manner of their entrance, we got into the last church before they came. It was that of St. Domingo, where was the gold altar before mentioned, and at which her Majesty and train knelt about a quarter of an hour.—All the while, the Dominican friars sung most surprisingly sweet. But as I stood near the altar, over against the great door, I must confess my very inmost soul was struck with a secret horror, when, upon looking up, I saw over the front of the great window of the church, the heads of many hundred Jews, painted on canvas, who had been condemned by what they call the Holy Inquisition, and carried out from that church to be burnt.—Strange way this, of compelling people to come in! Such was not thy method, O meek and compassionate Lamb of God! Thou camest not to destroy mens lives, but to save them.—But bigotry is as cruel as the grave.—It knows no remorse.—From all its bitter and dire effects, good Lord deliver us!—But to return to the Queen. Having performed her devotions, she departed and went in a coach of state, I believe, directly from the church to her palace, and without doubt sufficiently fatigued: for, besides walking through the streets to the several churches, her Majesty also, and the princesses, had been engaged in waiting upon, and washing the feet of twelve poor women, in as public a manner as the king. In our walk home, we met his Majesty with his brother and two uncles, attended only with a few noblemen in black velvet, and a few guards without halberts. I suppose he was returning from his last church, and, as one may well imagine, equally fatigued with his royal consort and daughters.—When church and state thus combine to be nursing fathers and nursing mothers to superstition, is it any wonder that its credit and influence is so diffusive among the populace?—O Britain! Britain! hast thou but zeal proportionable to thy knowledge, and inward purity adequate to the simplicity of thy external worship, in what a happy and god-like situation wouldst thou be! Here I could weep again.—Again I leave you to guess the cause; and if I can send you one more letter of a like nature, before we leave this place, it is all you must expect from, my dear friend,