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    with his own most precious blood ; " " depict to them the annihilation of the Divinity , under the fragile form of human nature . ** On matters of such high import as the Godkman , a little bombast may , however , be allowed . But to whom or what do our readers think the following quotation applicable : " But what do I behold ? What prodigy is this ? I see in the horizon a liitte cloud arise from the sea ; a star , Tike to the

    morning star , appears at a distance , and approaching , dissipates the dark * ness and horrors of the tempestuous night , and announces the luminary of day ! I see upon the waters a noble virgin ; the silver moon forms her footstool , the sun gilds the mantle w hich rails frorn her majestic shoulders , the stars surround her head as a diadem of light ! ' * This , readers , this prodigy , this cloud , this star , this noble virgin with majestic shoulders , with all the retinue of heaven for her suite , is the harmless , powerless girl , daughter

    to Don Pedro . Thus the orator proceeds : " She touches at Gibraltar , she listens and hears , sentiments of indignation at every sound animate her delicate cheeks ; the standard of Alfonso Henriques is unfurled ! Rejoice , Portuguese ! Rejoice , ye proscribed 1 it is our Queen who comes ; it is the tender mother who comes in search of her children ! The Usurper totters on his throne ; his infamous satellites , confused and panie ~ struck ,

    like a vessel beaten by the storm , without rudder or pilot , already feel the bitter remorses of treachery . Rejoice , Portugese ! the daughter of the Caesars is arrived . Let us exult in the Lord , brethren ; our sufferings are at an end . " Notwithstanding the pompous nothingness of much of this sermon , it may , we doubt not , be considered as at least an average specimen of the style of preaching which prevails in Portugal . The preacher has been disciplined in his mind by affliction , by contact with men of utterly opposite

    taste , by that reflection which the adoption of liberal ideas in political mat- * ters necessarily implies , and may therefore be expected to exhibit the style of his countrymen in rather a subdued than an exaggerated form . In spite of the bombast of the discourse , it cannot be read without a melancholy pleasure , arising from the sentiments in favour of liberty and true to nature with whicb it is interspersed , mingled with the recollection that he who ut ~ ters them is one of many who have given up all for a good and holy cause , and are wanderers in strange lands , and far from their families , destitute and

    almost hopeless * The sermon contains descriptions of the state of affairs in Portugal which we know from private sources to be too true . ** Perjured priests , " says tbe preacher , " profane thy altars ; the roofs of th y sanctuary re-echo tbe sanguinary supplications' of a corrupt clergy . " •* Our virgins violated , our wives persecuted , our orphans abandoned , justice sold , the blood of the just man put tip in public auction . " The present misery of Portugal is owing chiefly to the clergy . They are the chief supporters of the existing tyranny . They are the implacable enemies of all improvement . With them all crimes are pardonable but one—offences against religion .

    What a solemn and fearful thought it is that the professed ministers of the religion of peace , and of the holy and benevolent Jesus , should be amongst the chief enemies of mankind , and the crudest and wickedest of our race ! The following quotation from a letter lately received from an English correspondent will serve to illustrate our remarks : *• Situated as we are in Lts ~

    hon , religion is the last subject to converse on with the natives ; find for this reason the greater part are falling into the error committed at tbe beginning of the French revolution . The priests will not allow their flocks to think for themselves , and force them to attend mass ; the consequence is , they turn Atheists . The parish priests have orders to take an account of all their parishioners , and to notice all those who do not attend mass regularly . Nura-

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    The Watchman . 333

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1829, page 333, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2572/page/37/