barometer fell very much. There was brought out a wooden image, which they say never failed. It was the figure of our blessed Lord, clothed with purple robes, and crowned with thorns. I think they called him the LORD OF THE PASSION. Upon his shoulders he bore a large cross, under the weight of which he was represented as stooping, till his body bent almost double. He was brought from the Le Grass Convent in very great pomp, and placed in a large cathedral church. Being on board at that time, I lost this sight; but the subsequent evening I beheld the SEIGNEUR fixed on an eminence in a large cathedral church, near the altar, surrounded with wax tapers of a prodigious size. He was attended by many noblemen, and thousands of spectators of all ranks and stations, who crowded from every quarter, and in their turns, were admitted by the guards to come within the rails, and perform their devotions. This they expressed by kneeling and kissing the SEIGNEUR'S heel, by putting their left and right eye to it, and then touching it with their beads, which a gentleman in waiting received from them, and then returned again. This scene was repeated for three days successively; and during all this time, the church and space before it, was so thronged with carriages and people, that there was scarce any passing. The music on this occasion was extremely soft, and the church was illuminated in a very striking manner. The third day in the forenoon it rained, and soon after the SEIGNEUR was conducted home in as great splendour, and with much greater rejoicing, than when he was brought forth. As my situation was very commodious, I saw the whole; and afterwards went and heard part of the sermon, which was delivered before the SEIGNEUR in the church to which he belonged. The preacher was full of action; and in some part of his discourse, as one who understood Portuguese informed me, pointing to the image, he said, "Now he is at rest. He went out in justice, but is returned in mercy." And toward the conclusion, he called upon the people to join with him in an extempore prayer. This they did with great fervency, which was expressed not only by repeating

it aloud, but by beating their breasts, and clapping their cheeks, and weeping heartily. To complete the solemnity, immediately after the delivery of the blessing, all on a sudden, from the place near which the image stood, there was heard a most soft and soothing symphony of music, which being ended, the assembly broke up, and I returned to my lodgings; not a little affected, to see so many thousands led away from the simplicity of the gospel, by such a mixture of human artifice and blind superstition, of which indeed I could have formed no idea, had I not been an eye-witness. This concern was still increased, by what I heard from some of my fellow-passengers, who informed me, that about eleven, one night, after I came aboard, they not only heard a friar preaching most fervently before the SEIGNEUR, but also saw several companies of penitents brought in, lashing and whipping themselves severely. How little is this unlike to those who cut themselves with knives and lancets, and cried out from morning to night, 'O Baal, hear us.' Methinks I hear you say; And had I been present, I should have wished for the spirit of an Elijah to' -Hush, my friend, I am content to guess at the rest till we meet. In the mean while, let us comfort ourselves with this thought, that there is a season approaching, when the Lord God of Elijah will himself come, and destroy this and every other species of antichrist, by the breath of his mouth, and the brightness of his appearing, even by the all-conquering manifestations of his eternal spirit. Whether as men, christians, or protestants, we have not more and more reason to pray night and day, for the hastening on of that glorious and long wished-for period; you will be better able to judge, when I send you, as I purpose to do, if I have time, a further account of a lent procession or two, of which I was also a spectator."

The following account of the procession of St. Francis, Mr. Whitefield gives in a letter dated April 3, 1754, to the same friend.

My dear friend,

Though some other business demands my attention, yet I must not forget the promise made you of a further account of the processions I saw at Lisbon. Some of those already mentioned, were extraordinary, by reason of the great drought; but that which is to be the subject of my present letter, was an annual one; it being customary at Lisbon to exhibit some procession or another every Friday in lent. An intelligent protestant, who stood near me, was so good as to be my interpreter of the dumb shew as it passed along. I say dumb shew: for you must know it was chiefly made up of waxen or wooden images, carried on men's shoulders through the streets, intending to represent the life and death of St. Francis, the founder of one of their religious orders. They were brought out from the Franciscan convent, and were preceded by three persons in scarlet habits, with baskets in their hands, in which they received the alms of the spectators, for the benefit of the poor prisoners. After these, came two little boys in party-coloured clothes, with wings fixed on their shoulders, in imitation of little angels. Then appeared the figure of St. Francis, very gay and beau-like, as he used to be before his conversion. In the next, he was introduced under conviction, and consequently stript of his finery. Soon after this, was exhibited an image of our blessed Lord himself, in a purple gown, with long black hair, with St. Francis lying before him, to receive his immediate orders. Then came the virgin mother, (horresca referens) with Christ her son at her left hand, and St. Francis making obeisance to both. Here, if I remember aright, he made his first appearance in his friar's habit, with his hair cut short, but not as yet shaved on the crown of his head. After a little space, followed a mitred cardinal gaudily attired, and before him lay St. Francis almost prostrate, in order to be confirmed in his office. Soon after this, he appears quite metamorphosed into a monk, his crown shorn, his habit black, and his loins girt with a knotted cord. Here he prays to our Saviour, hanging on

a cross, that the marks of the wounds in his hands, feet, and side, might be impressed on the same parts of his body. The prayer is granted; blood comes from the hands, feet, and side; and the saint, with great devotion, receives the impressions. This was represented by red waxen strings, reaching from those parts of the image to the corresponding parts of St. Francis's body. Upon this he begins to do wonders; and therefore, in a little while, he is carried along, as holding up a house which was just falling. This miracle, they say, was performed, if my information be true, at Madrid, but the particulars of its history I have forgotten. At length the father died, and is brought forth lying in his grave. But lo! the briars and nettles under which he lay, are turned into fine fragrant flowers. After this he is borne along upon a bier covered with a silver pall, and four friars lamenting over him. He then appears for the last time, but with an increase of power; for he was represented as drawing tormented people out of purgatory with his knotted cord, which, as you may well imagine, the poor souls caught at, and took hold of very eagerly. At length came a georgeous friar under a splendid canopy, bearing in his hand a piece of the holy cross. After him followed two more little winged boys, and then a long train of fat and well-favoured Franciscans, with their Calceis Fenestratis, as Erasmus call them; and so the procession ended. Methinks I hear you say, 'It is full time;'-and so say I; for as the sight itself disgusted me, so I am persuaded the bare narration of it, though ever so short, cannot be very pleasant to one who I know abhors every thing that savours of superstition and idolatry. We will therefore take our leave of St. Francis, whose procession was in the day time: but I must tell you it is only to inform you of another of a much more awful and shocking nature, which I saw afterwards at night. About ten o'clock, being deeply engaged in conversation with my kind host, in came an Englishman, and told me in all haste, that he had seen a train of near two hundred penitents passing along, and that in all probability I might be gratified with the same sight, if I hastened to

a place whither he would conduct me. I very readily obeyed the summons, and, as curiosity quickened my pace, we soon came up with some of these poor creatures, who were then making a halt, and kneeling in the street, whilst a friar from a high cross, with an image of our Lord crucified in his hand, was preaching to them and the populace with great vehemence. Sermon being ended, the penitents went forward, and several companies followed after with their respective preaching friars at their head, bearing crucifixes. These they pointed to and brandished frequently, and the hearers as frequently beat their breasts, and clapped their cheeks. At proper pauses they stopped and prayed, and one of them, more zealous than the rest, before the king's palace, sounded the word penitentia through a speaking trumpet. The penitents themselves were clothed and covered all over with white linen vestments, only holes were made for their eyes, to peep out at. All were bare-footed, and all had long heavy chains fastened to their ancles, which, when dragged along the street,made a dismal rattling: but though alike in dress yet in other respects there was a great variety amongst them. For some carried great stones on their backs, and others dead men's bones and skulls in their hands. Some bore large and seemingly very heavy crosses upon their shoulders, whilst others had their arms extended quite wide, or carried a bow full of swords with the points downwards. Most of them whipped and lashed themselves, some with cords, and others with flat bits of iron. It being a moonlight night, I could see them quite well; and indeed some of them struck so hard, that I perceived their backs left bare on purpose to be lashed, were quite red, and swoln very much by the violence and repetition of the blows. Had my dear friend been there, he would have joined with me in saying, that the whole scene was horrible; so horrible, that being informed it was to be continued till morning, I was glad to return from whence I came about midnight. Had you been with me, I know you would have joined with me in praising and gratefully adoring the LORD of all lords, for the great wonder of the reforma