The Sun.
London, England, 1827-03-15 00:00:00

MODES OF VISITING AT LISBON.

It is not good taste at Lisbon to pay visits in the morning—
that is to say, a London morning, between. breakfast and dinner.
The lady of the house is most probably not at home, or if you
should, by the blunder of the domestic, surprise her, I will not
answer for the cordiality of thy reception. Pray think of this
when you come to Lisbon, and learn to conform to the custom
of the country. Every Portuguese lives domestic in the morn-
ing, and dines at three o'clock--the house is not to be approached
till evening.
At seven you pay your visits of ceremony. It is said that the
porter who attends on these occasions, by ringing a bell a certain
number of peals, gives notice of the rank of the person who ap-
proaches, and that the master or mistress are thus prepared to pay
the essential forms. I know not if such be the fact, but I know
that the visitors will have to make their way through a stable-
yard, and 0,..er a defiled entrance in the palaces of the nobility,
and through dirt and darkness in the dwellings of the gentry.
When at last you have found out the state-room, the cordiality
with which you are received reconciles you to the previous an-
noyance—the master of the Louse tells you over and over again
how delighted be is to see you ;. and the lady thanks you for your
I friendly recollection of her. The daughters steal long.glances at
the stranger; but unless young folks are of the party, I have ob-
served that they take no part in the conversation. Should another
pretty maid be among the visitors, then run their tongues in soft
syllables of admiration, respect, and attention, which I defy the
quickest-witted miss at a Croydon boarding-school to follow. The
men of the middling order frequently clasp each other round the
waist, or slap the back with exclamatory " ass!" and cries of
"My dear friend !" The young ladies bestow kisses on the
cheek, and if there be no rivalry in the case, may even on the
lips of there acquaintance. As to the old women, I fancy they
hate each other at Lisbon as cordially as they do all over the
world. .

I had the opportunity of visiting this week in two houces .one
of the highest rank, the other of the order of Russell-square and
Baker-street. In the former we found the mother of the Noble
and hie Countess, with a family of charming grown up daughters
and three or four children, three boys and one little girl. The
old lady sat on a south of open matting, with her son and daughter
in law beside her, engaged at cards. The young ladies were on
chairs on each side, spectators of the game. Round the grand-
mamma Was thrown the never-failing capote. The Countess
wore an English cap, and her daughters with their beautiful black
hair -dressed in the last French fashion. They seemed to he a
most united family. The courtesy with which they received a
friend, and the gracefulness with which they viewed Isis putting
the stranger at ease, gave me a high opinion of the good breeding
of the Portuguese nobility. Present an untitled -stranger to an
English Duke's domestic circle, I questibn if a simple ‘. pray take
a chair, Sir," would not be the extent of its politeness. At the
house of the merchant we found the entire family men, women,
and children, wrapped up in cloaks. One partyxlayed at whist,
and another at the antiquated game of orabre. the young ladies
appeared amiable and sprightly. One of them did the honours of
a tea-table in the English fashion; and the others talked of the
English army, and the number of officers expected on the follow-
ing ball ti ht. These Lancers have played the deuce with the
hearts of the Lisbon lasses. If the matter goes on much further,
it must be taken up as a breach of our promised neutrality. For-
merly the red a.a was woman's protection—now-a-days, it is a
signal of assault. From the anxiety expressed by these young
ladies, I fancy they have not yet found out the danger.
In Lisbon all families of distinction have one or two nights in a
week set apart for receiving their friends. Once presented you
have no occasion thereafter fur particular invitations. The gentle-
man and lady of the house tell you they will be happy to see you
their nights. When it is agreeable you go--it is, at least,
necessary to du 6r4 qeeasionally, as an acknowledgment of their
politeness. At eight o'clock, even in the gayest house: you find
all the company assembled. There is no announcement of your
name by the domestic. The master of the house contrives to be
entrance of the reception room, to receive gentlemen, and
the mistress lmi:ress to do he honours by the ladies. The entertainments
generally commence with music—ltaiian is, of coarse, preferred
--.Flossini's compositions above all others. The native airy are,
unfortunately, to =pie to be often introduced. I.Then a stranger
!-•
hears the touching Modinha, a Portuguese ballad, lie deplores
the perversion of fashion which rejects it for more complicated
modulation. It is languishing and plaintive, tender and impas-
sioned. Win the heart. of a Portuguese girl as you may—the
guitar and a Modiniia will tef!!.,..re it. If the party be more dis-
tinguished than usual, a professor of music is ,:ailed in to superin-
tend the concert---but generally speaking, one young lady accom-

panics oit the piano, while her friends sing duets or trios in th-
most delightful, and often scientific manner. Can you believe it
—there is no printed music in Lisbon—not even the all-sublime
Constitutional Hymn. If you want music, you employ penmen to
copy, or to note it down. Printed foreign music can, however,
be bought, either Paris or Loudon editions. I understand there
are two native composers of admitted talent, Bontempo and Juan
Evangeliste.. The former has distinguished himself by some clever
Operas—the other is more admired as a performer than as a com-
poer.
Passing from the music-room, you are introduced into a general
conversation-room,-where old ladies tower in plumes and turbans,
and young ladies do sentiment with their lovers. Here refresh-
ments are first handed round, consisting of glasses of cold spring
water, orgeat, lemonade, sweatmeats and biseuite; and here in the
imitation of the -English, is the last scandal talked over, and
scores of fresh reputations murdered. Neither disposed for old
women, cold water, or scandal—you find your way back to the
music-room, from whence the singers have been ejected to make
way for the dancing band and the dancers. The quadrille may
be more crowded than you are accustomed to. my sweet young
lady—perhaps we have twenty-four or thirty-two in a set.
Though you move with elegance, and glide with Parisian neat-
ness, I fear you must admit the Portuguese ladies dance better
than the generality of our country-women, even though they have
the barbarity to admit thirty in a quadrille. I could- not avoid
smiling at the sudden change which a little quickness of the time
effected in the manner of all the Portuguese young ladies in one
quadrille. At first, by way of affecting the English fashion, they
moved with noiseless step—but as the time quickened, their spirits
rose, their eyes began to flash, the feet, freed from restraint, ga;ly
bore them in the mazes of the figure—l dare not say more. I own

it was too much for my philosophy;
A little beyond the music saloon were two rooms for cards, in
one of which sober and sedate players were at short points, at
crowns, half pound', or pounds, the point ; in the other, a round
table was filled by amateurs, at rondo, the game which turns the
heads, and turns out the pockets of all the fidalgos and hopeful
sons of quality. Every body game 4 at Lisbon". The-Master pas-
sion is that of cards. It would be waste of time to count you the
number of families ruined by its desolating influence. Rondo is
the game of the supreme bon ten. It is simplicity itself. In
England it is called lanskinet—in Ireland little innocent Jemmy.
The dealer shows a card for himself, and another for the company,
you play any sum you like upon either—the card first turned of
similar value to either. determines which aide has wen. In Eng-
land the dealer draws the cash if both cards come up the same—
for instance, two queens—hut here thatbonus is not permitted. The
sum of money won and lost at rondo every night is incredible. In a
small way I have seen it played for pieces of two sovereigns value,
and frequently a hundred of these pieces depend on the card.—
Passing from this room you penetrate to the utmost limits of the
house, to the last room of the suite, where a scene of profligacy is
exhibited more disgraceful than anything, however vile, that one
has hitherto witnessed in Portugal. There the master of the house
holds, in concert with a gentleman of equal rank, who takes the
labour of dealing the cards, a faro bank. I saw, at the house of
one of high command in the army, a person covered with orders
acting as the dealer of one of theta: movable hells. I was toll he
supported an expensive establishment, by going round from house
to house, providing the money for the bank, allowing a per cent-
age to the giver of the entertainment. Moreover, I was told that
a faro hank was exhibited at every party at Lisbon, and so invete-
rate is the passion of the people for play, that if you had the finest
house, and disposed to assemble the most brilliant society, you
could not bring twenty people together, unless there was a gaming
table of this deseription for their recreation.
Some of the houses of the Nobility or wealthy merchants are
magnificently furnished ; many of them have a poverty of attire
which an Etsgliah tradesman would be ashamed of. The first
order paint the ceilings with love scenes of the ancient mytho-
logy, an 4 hang the sides of the principal chatnber with flowered
silk, which gives an elegance and lightness superior to any other
decoration. One large glass, in a mahogany frame, with gilt
mouldings, is placed at the top of the ream ; but several well-
regulated establishments are without a glass or mirror. Fre-
quently an English carpet is laid down during winter ; but more
generally the floor is covered with a soft rush matting, which is
very pleasant to the foot. At tide top of the room a couch, or
long cane seat, is placed, with a rug on the ground, for the mis-
trees of the mansion ; six chairs are put at each side, making
with the couch three parts of a small square. Visitors approach
the lady of the.house by the open space opposite to her couch, and
then occupy the chairs in the order that they find them. By this
means you have the conversation concentrated, and a poor devil of
a stranger is not left, as in England, on the extreme flank of a
circle to draw up the lips and look pretty, or to startle at the
sound of hie own voice going the round to the lady of the house,
who lounges quite at ease on a pillowed sofa, holding a conversa-
tion only with the person chancing to he nearest to her. Indeed,
the Lis;oon people have excellent principles of social inter-
course ; perhaps by-and-bye we shall have reason to admire the
whole structure. They have rejected the cruel long English
dinner-table, where a large party of guests are set opposite to each,
as in a country dance, and obliged to drop off in double files for
conversation, and they have substituted a round or a•square table,
where the whole party are brought into contact, and are com-
pelled to make common cause of entertainment. They have also
rejected the heavy joints, the carving on the table, the splashing
of the gravy, and the steams of a large dinner, all set down toge-
ther. The soup is assisted by the master of the table, to which,
if you desire, the servant adds powdered Parmesan cheese. The
servants then carve the different dishes, and hand them round to
the company, each selecting that part which he likes best ; and
in the interval of the courses the butler fills your glass with wine
of the country, Claret, Port, or Madeira.
A great deal of wine is drunk at dinner, as there is no custom
of after libations as in England. You take at least a pint, fre-
quently a bottle, from the soup to the last of the dessert. The
entire occupies about two hours ; coffee is then introduced, and
you are at liberty to use your own engagementa for the evening,

NATIONAL VACCINE BOARD.

ANNUAL REPORT.-

To the Hight lion. Robert Peel, Secretary of State fur the Home

Department. •
continue to use all possible diligence in extending
the knowledge of the best process for effectual vaccination, and
to supply the means, as well as to suggest the mode, of accom-
plishing this object.
Front the• quantity of vaccine lymph distributed since our
last report, and from the accounts of our correspondents, we
are led to presume that this practice is becoming daily more
general ; and this inference is still further confirmed by the
fact, that within the last twelve months only 503 deaths have
occurred from small-pox within the the Bills of Mortality ;
whereas, in the preceding year, 1,299 persons are.- recorded as
having fallen victims to that loathsome disease. The whole •of
this difference • ought not, perhaps, in candour, to be attri-
buted to the influence of vaccination ; for the small-pox,
tdistemper malignant o
c
during the year -1825, assumed A
cha-
racter
_and. there were more instanceslecuaofli.tt
curring twice in the same individual than had ' ever been re-
ported to us before. But when we reflect that, before the in-
troduction of vaccination, the average number of deaths from
Small-pox, within the Bills of Mortality, was annually about
4,000, no stronger arguments can reasonably be demanded in
favour of the value of this important discovery. Nor can any
more striking proof be given of the paternal care of Government
to protect the people at home and abroad from this destructive dis-
ease, than the establishment and maintenance of this Boarth—Wc
have the honour to be, Sir, your faithful servants,
HENRY HALFORD, President of the
; • - Royal College of Physician&
-14 . W. LAMBE, Z Censors of the Royal Col-
•• J. COPE, S lege of Physicians.
ritvlsz JOHN ABERNETHY, President of the
Royal College of Surgeons.
ASTLEY COOPER, Vice-President of
•
the Royal College of Surgeons.
CLEM. HUE, M.D., Registrar.
National Vaccine Establishment, Feb. 17.

JURIDICAL SOCIETY.—The Anniversary Dinner
of the Juridical Society took place on Saturday in the British
Hotel, Edinburgh,—James Moncreiff, Esq., Dean of the Faculty
of Advocates, in the Chair ; John Cunninghame, Esq. Advocate,
and Richard M'Kenzie, Esq. W. S. Croupiers.. The dinner was
served up in the manner for which the British Hotel is so justly
celebrated ; and the wines, Cockburn's best, gave universal satis-
faction. The band of the 25th Regiment Was present, and played
some fine airs in the course of the evening.

KEAN' AND TILE INDIANS.--Mr. F. Meyer has
lust finished a whole length portrait of Mr. Kean, in the dress
presented to, and worn by him, en occasion of his being
chosen a Chief awl Prince of the Huron Tribe of Indian►, by the
name of Alanienouidet. The picture has been painted by desire
of the patentee, committee, and performers of the Theatre Royal
Drury-lane, in commemoration of the return of that distinguished
actor to his native country, and with the intention of presenting
at one view a faithful portrait of Mr. Kean, and a conect delinea
tion of the costume of that warlike tribe, who unanimouly elected
him a Chieftain and a Brother, at Q4ebec; in October last,

LONDON,
THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 15, 1827.

The French Papers of :Monday, and the Etoile
dated Tuesday morning, reached town by Express this
morning at an early hour. The Morning Papers of
Monday contain no news. The Qzeotidienne asserts
that the intelligence received at Madrid from G-allicia
is favourable to the Portuguese Royalists ; and the
Constitutionnel says that the preparations for war are
continued in Spain with much activity. This appears
to he certainly the case, for the Etoile, in an article
dated Madrid, March 1, states that a Decree of the
12th February gives a new proof of the zeal of the
Spanish Government in hastening the organi2ation of
the Royalist volunteers, ordering the Intendants of
Provinces, on pain of being suspended from their
offices, to hasten the levy of the taxes imposed by the
Decree of the 24th August for the equipment of those
troops. We subjoin two other paragraphs from the
Etoile (but which originate with the Augsburg Ga-
zette), and the price of the Stocks in Paris on
Monday :
. .
(From the Etoile dated Tuesday, March 13.)
.6 CONSTANTINOPLE, rEft. 7.—ln the note delivered by M.
Minziacky to the Reis Effendi, the following phrase, which is con-
sidered as authentic, is particularly spoken of :---‘ The Porte itself
must desire an intervention. If the Greeks are conquerors it be-
comes necessary, and in the contrary case the Porte would deceive
itself if it believed that the Emperor Nicholas would see with in-
difference the extermination of a people professing the awe religion
as hiniself2—Augsburg Gazette.
" I.etters from St. Petersburgh say, that differences have arisen
between Generals Yermaloff and Paskewitsch, relative to the em-
ployment of the Russian troops in Georgia under their command.
General Diebitsch,, Aid-de-camp to the Emperor, is gone for the
purpose of reconciling them."—Augsburg Gazette.
FRENCH FuNos, PARIS, Mancrt 12.—Five per Cents., Jouis.
du 22d Mars, 981. 80c. 98f. '7sc. 70c. 75c. 80c. 'Mc. ; Three
per Cents. 69f. 25c. 20c. 25c. ; Bank Stock, 1,990 E ; Rentee
de Naples, 75f. 40c. 3.5 c. 40c. ; Rentes d'Espagne, 1 ; Royal
Spanish Loan, 52i i.--Exchange on London, one month, paper,
25f. 35c. ; money 25f. 85c. ; three months, paper 25f. 20c. ;
money, 25f. 20c.— Coors Authentique.

The next accounts from Portugal are looked for'
with eagerness and with .some: degree of anxiety. The
miserable state of the Army of the North, as described
by its own General, must prevent its undertaking any
very
iely co
againstnjunc
ionte vigorous
%oz
hearerat ofion no
suchw levies
a: country ,
,hch are likelyasTrans
:‘s7 and
to join this Army and render it 'inert efficient, The
question, therefore, constantly asked, and which
can answer, is—will the British troops act n
toiloitst
Rebelwitli pthreo,ince ?
Portuguese forces, offensively
The next advices will probably
solve this queStion, and upon it, we conceive, much
will depend. If the British troops do not thus co-
operate
n attes
will h
n theo t
be Portuguese, r
putt the rebellion in Tras-05..,,1-Cleoswe-:i.
..,,I-Cleoswe-:i. General CLAUDINO,
eor u g
who seems to know the state of affairs throughout
the kingdom, better than almost any other person,
and who speaks his sentiments in the Chamber of
Deputies with the frankness of the soldier, and with
the warmth and energy of the Patriot, founded his
argument for taking the most vigorous measures for
the termination of the civil war, and the punishment
of traitors, on the declaration that the condition of
things in
Tras-os-71Iontes was daily becoming worse,
and that all the acts of the Rebels in that province
showed that they had no fear of the result of their re-
bellion.

The Marquis de CHAVES, whose influence, from
the large possessions of his family in that province, is