(_Endorsed_: recd. Jan. 10, 1836) EVORA IN THE ALEMTEJO, 15_th_ _Dec._, 1835. At length I departed for Mafra; the principal part of the way lay over steep and savage hills, very dangerous for horses, and I had reason to repent, before I got back to Cintra, that I had not mounted one of the sure-footed mules of the country. I reached Mafra in safety; it is a large village, which has by degrees sprung up in the vicinity of an immense building, originally intended to serve as a convent and palace, and which next to the Escurial is the most magnificent edifice in the Peninsula. In this building is to be seen the finest library in Portugal, comprising books in all sciences and languages, and which, if not suited to the place in which the building stands, which is almost a desert, is yet well suited to the size and grandeur of the building which contains it. But here are now no monks to take care of it; they have been driven forth, some of them to beg their bread, some of them to serve under the banners of Don Carlos in Spain, and many, as I have been informed, to prowl about as banditti. The place is now abandoned to two or three menials, and exhibits an aspect of solitude and desolation which is truly appalling. Whilst I was viewing the cloisters an exceedingly fine and intelligent-looking lad came up to me, and asked (I suppose in the hope of obtaining a trifle) if I would permit him to show me the village church, which he told me was well worth seeing. I said 'No,' but that if he would show me the village school, I should be much obliged to him. He looked at me with astonishment, and assured me that there was nothing to be seen in the school, at which not more than half a dozen boys were instructed, and that he himself was one of the number; but I told him that he should show me no other place, and he at last unwillingly attended me. On the way he said that the schoolmaster was one of the brothers of the convent who had lately been expelled, and that he was a very learned man and spoke French and Greek. We went past a stone cross, and the boy bent and crossed himself with much devotion: I mention this circumstance, as it was the first instance of devotion which I had observed amongst the Portuguese since my arrival. When near the house where the schoolmaster resided, he pointed it out to me and then hid himself behind a wall, where he waited till I returned.