I Was In The Church Of Elvas At The Moment, Hearing The
Mass Of The King, And The Priest Fell On The Ground, And Let Fall
The Host From His Hands.
I shall never forget how the earth shook;
it made us all sick; and the houses and walls reeled like
drunkards.
Since that happened I have seen fourscore years pass by
me, yet I was older then than you are now."
I looked with wonder at this surprising female, and could scarcely
believe her words. I was, however, assured that she was in fact
upwards of a hundred and ten years of age, and was considered the
oldest person in Portugal. She still retained the use of her
faculties in as full a degree as the generality of people who have
scarcely attained the half of her age. She was related to the
people of the house.
As the night advanced, several persons entered for the purpose of
enjoying the comfort of the fire and for the sake of conversation,
for the house was a kind of news room, where the principal speaker
was the host, a man of some shrewdness and experience, who had
served as a soldier in the British army. Amongst others was the
officer who commanded at the gate. After a few observations, this
gentleman, who was a good-looking young man of five-and-twenty,
began to burst forth in violent declamation against the English
nation and government, who, he said, had at all times proved
themselves selfish and deceitful, but that their present conduct in
respect to Spain was particularly infamous, for though it was in
their power to put an end to the war at once, by sending a large
army thither, they preferred sending a handful of troops, in order
that the war might be prolonged, for no other reason than that it
was of advantage to them.
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