Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-02

approach it from the sea, with its domes
and towers. all fianked by castellated
heights and purple mountains behind, it is
| imposing and grand. When you come to
wander within it you are never astonished
or even greatly impressed by its edifices.
| Its churches are less interesting than those
of any other city of equal size In Europe.
| The Church OF the Heart of Jesus, on the
summit Of Estrella Hill, in imitation of St.
Peters at Rome, without the colonnade, is
the most pretentious in Lisbon. The church
of Sac Domingo, the see of the Cardinal
Patriarch, near the Rocio, is vast in proper
tioHs. The mortuary church of Sac Vicente
is interesting chiefly from its contain
ing, in curious gilt boxes, the remains of
the illustrious dead of the royal House
of Braganca. The tiny church OF San
Rogue, with its famous Chapel of St.
John, attracts all visitors on account of its
marvellous mosaics. These, forming the
back and sides of the structure, are copies
in veritable size of Raphael Urbino's De-
scent of the Holy Ghost, Guido's Annun-
citation and Michael Angeles Baptism of
Christ. The wonderful perfection of this
work is shown in the fact that from any or
dinary point of observation, no difference
between them and the originals can be de-
tected. More curious still the entire chapel
and its interior decorations were first set up
in Rome, blessed bv Pope Benedict XIV,
taken down, and transferred to its present
site. Its cost has been millions and there
is probably not in the whole world such
treasure in art work, silver, gold and preci-
Gus stones, in sacred edifce of equal dimen-
sionS
The Lisbon of Columbus Time.
1t is the charm of extreme contrast and
endless change which holds and makes one
love old Lisbon. There are no two streets.
pracas. churches, public buildings, shops or
homes alike Away from the half dozen
modern business streets, it is almost the
same Lisbon that Columbus knew. Here is
a shadowv shop of one story where grimy
men grope about among gritty piles of
charcoal The next building may be a
three or five story structure housing the
richest of wares, whose upper stories are
fancifully decorated il gorgeous paints and
gifts.
Next to this on one side of dark pass
age jolly cobblers beat ceaseless staccatos,
cutler grinds and hammers on the other, and
away in there q stream of light shows ex-
quisite stairs leading to some enclosed
court where home of opulence is en-
hedded in vines and roses. Everywhere are
ponderous base and arch, huge column and
buildings whose insignifcance is ludicrously
startling.
In many of the older public edifices the
architecture is Moorish, or semi-Moorish,
and the facades are often fankeG by square
towers and diminutive Saracenic domes.
The general plan of shop and abode in the
ancient portions of the city is, the shop
below and the home above, or the lower
story is used as sort of entrada
to walled in home structures in the
rear, or the habitation above. In the latter
case these en.radas are temporary shops for
itinerant cobblers, cutters, saddlers and the
like, or llounging places for beggars, DON
KEYS and goats But however unsavory
may seem the ground floor of, or the street
entrance to, any structure, The upper
stories of the same, OF the pretty home nests
behind, afford abundant compensation In
picturesque groupings and scenes.
As Many Balconies as Havana.
Balconies are as universal as in Havana,
Valladolod, Madrid or Seville. Some pro-
ject from supports of carved stone. Others
rest with airy insecurity upon fancifully
wrought timbers, and still others may be
seen in the dainties: patterns into which
brass and iron may be wrought Many are
latticed; and in this lattice-work are odd
little slides and gates. Behind these the
fair Portuguese women eat their dainty
salads, of which they are inordinately fond,
and sip their wines and ices. And from a
partially-opeled lattice as you pass you will
catch glances from lovely ewes, and as often
smiles and coquettish looks from roguish
faces. The Lisbon maidens must be charv
of their looks upon friends or strangers in
the street; but social custom gives them the
somewhat compensative and altogether
blessed right to fiirt desperately with you
from the lofty and safe outposts of their
balconied alcobas.
As one passes toward the outskirts of
Lisbon, all of that suggestive of the home
is pleasanter still. There is hint of snug
ness in the high surrounding, vine-covered
walls of yarGs and courts. Here the open
court of the Spaniard and the Moor becomes
more common and more beautiful. It
shelters the e-gatherings and belong
ings of the average family. All its mem
bers are more or less within it, or within
reach of voice from it. Many lovely flowers
and clambering vines light up the place in
winter as well as in summer DAYS. The
murmurous fall OF water is always heard,
for no patio is without its fountain, And
poor indeed is the home in old Lisbon that
has not its walled garden with a wealth of
flowers, plants, outrageous trees and
quaint, tiled, ground-sunken troughs
through which the water is ceaselessly
whimpering and whispering-for all the
gardens are thus irrigated-while every
court and garden is melodious with the
songs of scores of those matchless brown
canaries which are weekly brought, hum
dreds upon hundreds, from the sunlit isles
of the Azores. EDGAR L. WAKEMAN.