The Library Was Small, And Possessed Nothing
Remarkable; The View, However, From The Roof, Over The Greater Part
Of Lisbon
And the Tagus, was very grand and noble; but I did not
visit this place in the hope of seeing
Busts, or books, or fine
prospects, - I visited this strange old house to converse with its
inmates, for my favourite, I might say, my only study, is man. I
found these gentlemen much what I had anticipated, for this was not
the first time that I had visited an English - establishment in a
foreign land. They were full of amiability and courtesy to their
heretic countryman, and though the advancement of their religion
was with them an object of paramount importance, I soon found that,
with ludicrous inconsistency, they cherished, to a wonderful
degree, national prejudices almost extinct in the mother land, even
to the disparagement of those of their own darling faith. I spoke
of the English -, of their high respectability, and of the loyalty
which they had uniformly displayed to their sovereign, though of a
different religion, and by whom they had been not unfrequently
subjected to much oppression and injustice.
Rector. - My dear Sir, I am rejoiced to hear you; I see that you are
well acquainted with the great body of those of our faith in
England. They are as you have well described them, a most
respectable and loyal body; from loyalty, indeed, they never
swerved, and though they have been accused of plots and
conspiracies, it is now well known that such had no real existence,
but were merely calumnies invented by their religious enemies.
During the civil wars the English - cheerfully shed their blood and
squandered their fortunes in the cause of the unfortunate martyr,
notwithstanding that he never favoured them, and invariably looked
upon them with suspicion.
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