The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 400, November 21, 1829

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Various. The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 14, No. 400, November 21, 1829

The Limoeiro, at Lisbon

THE CARD

MAHOMET THE GREAT AND HIS MISTRESS

Select Biography

JUVENILE POETESS

Curious Dial

NOTES OF A READER

HISTORY OF INSECTS

SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS

WOOD ENGRAVING

AUSTRIA

HANGING

SCOTTISH POETRY

TO CONSTANTINOPLE,

BERWICK

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

THE LORD MAYORS DAY

Monthly Magazine

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A LANDAULET

THE GATHERER

BELL.—THE CRY OF THE DEER SO CALLED

THE CURSE OF SCOTLAND

POLITICAL PUNS

ANNUALS FOR 1830

Отрывок из книги

Locks, bolts, and bars! what have we here?—a view of the Limoeiro, or common jail, at Lisbon, whose horrors, without the fear of Don Miguel in our hearts, we will endeavour to describe, though lightly—merely in outline,—since nothing can be more disagreeable than the filling in.

For this purpose we might quote ourselves, i.e. one of our correspondents,1 or a host of travellers and residents in the Portuguese capital; but we give preference to Mr. W. Young, who has borne much of the hard fare of the prison, and can accordingly speak more fully of its accommodations and privations. Mr. Young is an Englishman, who married a Portuguese lady in Leiria, and resided for several years in that town. He was arrested in May, 1828, on suspicion of disaffection towards Don Miguel's government: nothing appears to have been proved against him, and after having suffered much disagreeable treatment in different jails in Leiria and Lisbon, he was discharged in the following September, on condition of leaving the country. He returned to England, and lost no time in publishing a volume entitled "Portugal in 1828;" with "A Narrative of the Author's Residence there and of his persecution and confinement as a state prisoner."

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Besides these double bars, there is a shutter immensely strong and close, so that when shut, light is totally excluded; the iron door has a strong bolt and lock, and outside of this there is a strong wooden door; in the front of the windows, and about six feet from them, there is a high wall; so that in the best of these dungeons, there is only a reflected light.

These are all the prisons on the ground floor, and when full (which they too often are) the wretched prisoners are forced to lie at night in two rows, with their feet to the wall, and their heads to the middle of the room; this position they adopt on account of the cold and damp of the stone walls; they touch each other, and the floor is completely covered. Nay, at times, so full is the gaol, that they are obliged to lie on the corridors, and even on the steps.

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