The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-28 00:00:00

the veil for the last three months, though there
are fourteen nunneries in Lisbon. In the Irish
nunnery, only three have taken the veil within
the last twenty years. -The sooner - these = esW•
blishments are abolished the better. Many 'of
them are receptacles- Only-of vice and misery..—
It ie hardly possible to imagine- any fate more
cruel than-that-of a young woman, who is forced
by the harsh treatment of 'relations, or inveigled
by the mistaken piety of the sisterhood, to adopt
such a course of life*. An instance occurred here
a few years ago, in which a young woman of
great heauty and virtuous habits was 'driven, by
the cruelty of her stepmother, to enter a convent,
but she survived the event only one year. Dis-
appointment, indignation; and the miseries of
confinement, brought on a disease which car-
ried her off in a few months. A considerable
number, I understand, take the veil only as a
cloak for licentiousness, others from disappoint-
ment in. love—and. some, particularly those of
good families, who have small patrimonies,
merely to obtain the means of subsistence with-
out being ,obliged to labour, or descend from
their rank in life. The sight of those places is
more hateful than that of a prison ; and the
languid,. dejected, and sickly look of many of the
inmates cannot fait to move the hardest heart to
pity:. The bolts and bars, and grates and spikes,
with which many of the windows are thickly set
—all speak a language as distinct and as easily
sinderstood as if the unfortunate inmates were to
say, We are all here from necessity, and riot
from choice." The windows of the convent
which look into the church of the Estrella,
founded by the late Queen, are secured by iron
grate& and spikes nearly as long as those, of
chevaux defi-izt, beautifully gilt and adorned, as
if gold would lessen the weight of chains, or any
thing make up for the loss of liberty. A com-
plete revolution, an earthquake, or death, are the
only hopes of release. These remarks apply
chiefly to those nunneries of the stricter class,
such as that of St. Theresa, the members of
which are never allowed to leave their convent,
or appear without a veil, or have any intercourse
with the world, except in whispers through an
iron grate—and even this to some of them is
denied. Among others of the order there is
comparative liberty, and most of the nuns con-
trive to make full use of it. A good many of
them have children, and I have seen myself a
young man who was born in a convent.
Portugal counts not less than 145 saints, to
whom she had the honour of giving birth, and
who have rendered their names immortal by
martyrdom or miracles. While the Moors had
possession of the country great numbers of
Christians were put t.- death for their adherence
to Christianity, and even under the accommo-
dating Romans many suffered. There are statues
and images erected to all these saints, many of
which are believed to have still miraculous
powers. St. Alberto, in the church of the
Carmelite Convent, is worshipped as a protector

against, fevers; and on the 7th of August the
people still continue to crowd the church and
pray for his, intercession. St. Anna is the
patroness of nurses, and when fervently prayed
30, seldom fails to grant the request of her wor-
shippers, The image of St. Euphemia is effectual
against fractures, swellings, and warts. St.
George, the guardian of the castle of that name
at Lisbon, and tutelar saint of the Portuguese
troops, has been regarded with.. great veneration
since 1381. His image is adored in the church
of the Royal. Hospgal -of St. Joseph, and
yearly performs certain ceremonies at the fes-
tival of Corpus Christi.. In 1610, the Arch-
bishop of Lisbon gave, directions that no horses
should be used on occasion of that solemnity.

St. Georg, was highly incensed at this, and
when his atiendaptAosout,.aa usual, to accom-
pany his statue to the church of St. Domingos
e remained fixed and immovable. The Bishop
was obliOti to retract his order, and ever since
he has been allowed to accompany the proces-
sion on horseback. Next Sunday, while the
Chaplain of. the Bishop, the cause of such an
insult, was performing mass 4 his altar, St.
George seized the opportunity, ,and Jct his lance
fall ou his head while in the midst of the cere-

mony. St. Roque is chiefly supplicated on be-
half of children affected' with ring-worm. St.
Quiterir is adored chiefly in he district of Alen-
quer—she cures the bite of mad dogs, and the
dogs themselves, by giving them bread
soaked in the oil of her lamp. The intercession
of St. Antidio is of great use against coughs
hand colds ;_ but St. Antonio, the glory of Lisbon
....using the words of a father of the Church,
A, the wonder of holiness, the eternal glory of
Portugal, the honour of Italy, the trumpet of the
gospel, the sovereign of the humble, and the
beloved of his father, the Seraphim of the Pa-
triarchs," caste all the rest into the shade. Let
all young maidens Ivho want husbands, and all
who have lost property, pray to St. Antony, and
make an oblation at his staine, and, but from
some fault of their's, their prayer will be success-
ful. I had almost forgot to mention St. Mar-
cellus, who is the patron of widows, and provides
them with husbands. All these saints evidently

have only changed names with Mercury, Apollo,
Diana, and other Pagan deities. Besides these
miraculous images, however,, there are no less
than .30 of Christ and 35 of the Most Holy

Virgin, in the kingdom of Portugal—ill of
nn rich, at one time or another, have performed
miracles somewhat in the same way with that of
A‘ Nosea Senliora do Buraco." The sacred

relics are without number. Seventy-nine cities
and towns boast of containing some remains of
Christ or his Cross, or the Virgin or Mary Mag-
dalen. The convent of St. Antonio, at Alacer
do Sal, ix Alentejo, possesses "a hair of the
Most Holy Beard of Christ," a shred Of the

sacred purple, a splinter of the Holy Cross, on
which he was crucified, one of the thirty pieces
of money for which Judas sold him, some of the
milk of the Virgin Mary, and a head of St. Ris-
ponsa, one of the eleven thousand virgins. Alm.
haca has a piece of the sponge with which they
gave him vinegar to drink, part of The Holy
Sepulchre, and of the table at which he and his
disciples celebrated the Last Supper, some of
the'hair of the Virgin, one of her nails, and the
clothes worn by St. Peter and St. Paul. All
these of course are genuine relics. The very
fact that nothing but a miricle -could have pre-
served them, is sufficient to decide the question.
—Morning Herald.

The passengers on board his Majesty's steam-
packets from Weymouth to, and from, Guernsey and
Jersey, are on the increase.--Dorset Chronicle.

The admirers of that merry and facetious
Knight, sir John Falstaff, will be happy to hear that he
died in good circumstances. From an inventory of his
effects, lately published by Mr. Amyot, in the 21st volume
of Archwaogia: **nears, indeed, that he must have been
excessively rich. "In gold and silver he left 26431. 10s."
an immense sum for the* slays- The value of his plate
was immense, and hie wardrithei would throw the most re-
fined modern dandy into: delPairoh.-N.B. 'Sbakepeare has
saddled ).iiw with a brava