The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 559, July 28, 1832

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Various. The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction. Volume 20, No. 559, July 28, 1832

OPORTO

POETS, MINOR AND MAJOR

STANZAS FOR MUSIC

ANECDOTE GALLERY

CARDING A TITHE PROCTOR

WALKING GALLOWS

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

LAWS RELATING TO BACHELORS

SAXON ALMANACS

SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY

EXEMPLARS ABRIDGED FROM MR. BABBAGE'S "ECONOMY OF MACHINERY AND MANUFACTURES."

THE NATURALIST

THE NINE-BANDED ARMADILLO

CLIMATE OF CANADA

THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

AN INCIDENT IN THE LIFE OF A RASCAL

NEW BOOKS

OTWAY'S "VENICE PRESERVED."

THE GATHERER

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Persons who are looking for "news from the seat of war" will probably hail the timely appearance of this Engraving, and regard it as folks sitting at a play do a drop-scene between the acts. The reader knows our pacific politics: we are of the pen, not of the sword; but we cannot be indifferent to a great political result, when

Oporto is a place of great commercial as well as political consideration. Thousands of Englishmen have a grateful recollection of the former importance upon their very lips. Its situation is one of great natural beauty. It is the largest city in Portugal, Lisbon excepted. It has been commonly said to owe its origin to the Romans;1 but it appears, from the best authors, to have been founded about A.D. 417 by the Suevi, who had established themselves in Braga and other parts of ancient Galicia, but who were driven by the Alani to the banks of the Douro, where they fortified themselves on the steep hill now occupied by the cathedral and the bishop's palace, and which is still distinguished by the appellation of the Cidade de Antiga.

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The population of Oporto and Villa Nova was stated by Colonel Batty in 1830, to amount to about 80,000 inhabitants.

Once, when high in blood, he happened to meet a suspicious-looking peasant from County Kildare, who could not satisfactorily account for himself according to the lieutenant's notion of evidence; and having nobody at hand to vouch for him, the lieutenant of course immediately took for granted that he must be a rebel strolling about, and imagining the death of his Most Gracious Majesty.7 He therefore, no other court of justice being at hand, considered that he had a right to try the man by his own opinion; accordingly, after a brief interrogation, he condemned him to die, and without further ceremony proceeded to put his own sentence into immediate execution.

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