in my way to Alcoboça. He informs me that the greatest confusion reigns in that Convent at present, the Queen having put a stop to their election of a new General, which causes some serious apprehension among them; the consequence they suppose at least will be an abridgement of their present unlimited power. He advises me not to set out for thence till something be determined on, when it will be in his power to obtain there an agreeable reception for me.

"The connoisseurs at Lisbon are in great expectation of shortly seeing the drawings of Batalha, which I do not purpose to submit to their inspection; but in this respect I will be entirely guided by your instructions.

"This day I received a letter from Mr. Skies, who begs me to assure you of his attachment; and informs me, that he has lately got three medals of great antiquity, which he wishes to send you by me if I should go to Feguiera, but as my circumstances will not admit of taking that journey at present, I must beg of him to forward them to me at Lisbon.

"Mr. Stephens, who is just returned from Lisbon, presents his compliments to you; likewise the Prior and all the Friars at Batalha. In a country like this, which is incessantly visited by strollers from all parts of Europe, every one who is not well recommended is set down at first sight as an impostor; and as I brought no letters from you, I must submit to be ranked under that name till time or your letter to Mr. Stephens, and your other friends here, convinces to the contrary.

"In a few days I set out for Alcobaça, where I purpose staying a few weeks, or according as I find any thing worth observation; from thence I will go to Lisbon by way of Mafra and Cintra, where I expect to receive your directions. A few lines from you will set me in an enviable situation; and make me forget the remembrance of many a painful feeling excited by the sorrowful reflections of being forsaken and friendless in this solitary country. I remain, dear Sir, with particular attachment, your faithful and obliged humble servant, JAS. MURPHY."

Lisbon, June 28, 1789.

3. "DEAR SIR, "From Marinha Grande I proceeded to Alcobaça, as soon as the General was elected; and was kindly received by the Friars, to whom I was strongly recommended by Mr. Stephens. It is unnecessary for me to give you a description of a place which you know so well already; there is very little architecture worth a traveller's notice. I gleaned it of every thing remarkable, and took my leave of the Friars after a stay of nearly three weeks, who parted with me with great reluctance, as they expected that I would stay there to complete drawings of the Church and Monastery similar to those which I made of Batalha; so that it was with difficulty I could get away from them. The manners

of the people are deserving of a stranger's notice. There are here at present one hundred and fifteen Friars, who, with their attendants, occupy a building containing an area of four hundred and eighty-four thousand and fifty-six square feet. Computing it at three stories high, it would be sufficiently large to contain four thousand five hundred families; which, if industriously employed in directing the plough or the loom, would contribute more to the real advantage of Portugal than their vast conquests in the Brazils.

"I have copied an inscription from the base and neck of an antique chalice here, of which Mr. Bluteau, as I am informed, has written a great deal. Last night I arrived in Lisbon, when my best friends here, Messrs. Stephens, informed me that a few days ago they received two letters from you, wherein you recommend me to their protection. Yours, JAMES MURPHY."

4. "DEAR SIR, Lisbon, July 18, 1789. "In my last I informed you that I intended making drawings of some things about Lisbon till such time as I received your answer; but, being informed that it was necessary first to obtain permission from the Court before any thing of the kind could be done, on that I applied to Mr. Seabra, the Minister for the Home Department, to whom Mr. Stephens showed your letter; he immediately granted leave, saying that he would be very happy in having an opportunity of obliging any one belonging to Mr. Conyngham. I showed him the drawings of Batalha, with which he was highly pleased, and took them to show the Queen, who had them in her possession for three days; they are just returned without receiving scarcely any damage; with a letter, which Mr. Stephens has in his possession, of which the following is a literal translation :

"Her Majesty and his Royal Highness the Prince have seen the drawings of Batalha, with which they were greatly pleased; they now return them, requesting that, as soon as they are engraved, the artist will remember to send them some copies to renew the pleasure they had in seeing the original drawings.

(Signed)

SEABRA.'

"The people here did not imagine that the Queen would receive a production of art with so much pleasure until they saw this letter. It was then they began to know the value of the work; and the next day I fortunately discovered the intention of some people here, whom I will not mention, who are determined to have drawings of Batalha made at any expense, when they found that all other solicitations were ineffectual to obtain them, in order to have them presented to the Queen, with a view to insinuate themselves into her good graces. This I will endeavour to prevent if possible; I have therefore got my friend

the Rector of Corpo Sancto to write to Batalha, requesting that they will let him know if any one should come there with an intent to make drawings of the Church; in the mean time I intend going some distance into the country as being cheaper and less subject to the intrusion of people than this place, there to make another set of the drawings of Batalha, and to have them presented to the Queen in your name if you will permit me; and to open a subscription for the work to prevent others from undertaking it. As I have not been so fortunate as to receive your answer to any of my former letters, I am obliged to act in the best manner I can. However, what I state here I humbly submit to your consideration, pledging myself to follow strictly whatever advice you send me, as I do not propose to take a single step in this affair until such time as I receive your answer. I am, &c. JAMES MURPHY."

5. "DEAR SIR,

Lisbon, Aug. 10, 1789.

"The particulars of what I mentioned to you in my letter of the 18th of July I communicated to your friend, the Rev. Mr. Hill, who recommends to me not to present any copy of the work to the Queen, as the people about her, he thinks, might take advantage of the opportunity, and have them engraved before mine would be published. He thinks it would be advisable to open a subscription for the work here as soon as convenient: and that many of the natives, taking example by her Majesty and the Prince, would become subscribers; I have, therefore, given up the idea of going to the country, or doing any thing further with respect to the Batalha drawings until such time as I receive your directions how to proceed. Since the date of my last, I waited on his Grace the Duke de la Toens and his Excellency Mr. Pinto, the Secretary, who from the friendship they have for you have offered me their protection whilst I remain in this country. A gentleman here, whose name is Verdié, informs me, that on looking over some ancient records he found the architect of Batalha mentioned, and that his name was Stephen Stephenson, a native of England, who together with the master stone-cutter and gate-keeper is mentioned among the list of pensioners of King John the First.

"There lives in Lisbon a man who possesses the secret of making Marseilles soap, who begged I would inform you, as he wishes to know whether the Dublin Society would encourage him to carry on a manufactory of said article in Ireland.

"Mr. Stephens has drawn bills on you for £.50 sterling, the amount of which I have received agreeably to your orders, for which I return you my most sincere thanks. I remain, dear Sir, with my best wishes for your long life, your grateful and obliged humble servant, JAMES MURPHY."

THE preceding letters have been copied from a small quarto copy-book which Mr. Murphy used in Portugal; and which is now in the possession of T. Crofton Croker, Esq. F. S. A. To that gentleman, who has recently presented to the Society of Antiquaries of London the original drawings of Mr. Murphy's magnificent work on Batalha, the Editor is indebted for these pleasing illustrations of Mr. Conyngham's liberal patronage of rising merit; and of the earliest efforts and adventures of a man who afterwards attained considerable reputation both as a traveller and an architect.

James Cavanah Murphy was a native of Blackrock near Cork, and originally a bricklayer in that city, where his talents for drawing-it is said in caricaturing his master with a burnt stick upon the wall attracted the notice and procured the patronage of the late Sir James Chatterton, Bart. He was thus enabled to visit the Irish metropolis, and there introduced to Mr. Conyngham, by whose encouragement he proceeded to Portugal. Whilst abroad he acquired a competent knowledge of the Portuguese and Spanish languages, and held for a short time a diplomatic situation of importance from the Court of Portugal to that of Spain. During a residence of some years in the Peninsula, he pursued his professional studies with the most devoted and persevering attention, of which his works afford abundant testimony. The titles of three of these have been given in p. 431; but there was besides a posthumous publication (in 1816) entitled," Arabian Antiquities in Spain *," which exceeds in magnificence his previous works, and indeed is equalled by few architectural publications which this country has produced. It contains 98 plates, on a very large folio. On this work Mr. Murphy was employed for the last fourteen years of his life; the former seven of which were spent in Spain, and the latter at home. This appears from the preface; which, as the work is necessarily of rare occurrence, shall be here quoted at length:

"The Antiquities of the Spanish Arabs have, for many ages, continued unheeded or unknown. The annals of past centuries scarcely deign to mention them: and the descriptions of modern pens but imperfectly supply the place of the pencil. Accurate delineations, so essential to render them intelligible, might have been expected from the enlightened nations of the Peninsula, whose artists and antiquaries have vied with the most celebrated of other countries. The task, however, was supinely deferred, or feebly attempted, while prejudice, the sad inheritance of nations, was actively employed in demolishing the works of infidels, whom it was accounted both pious and popular to divide.

"The suffrages of the discerning few, and especially of Bayer and Casiri, at length contributed to remove, or at least to miti* It is in the title of this work that Mr. Murphy's name of Cavanah first appears.

gate, this prejudice, and to arrest the progress of destruction. In consequence of the representations made by those profoundly learned and virtuous men, the Royal Academy of St. Ferdinand was commissioned by the Spanish Government to send two Architects under the direction of a Captain of Engineers, with instructions to make drawings of the Palace of Alhamra, and of the Mosque of Cordova. After a lapse of several years, the joint labours of the three Academicians were published at Madrid, in the year 1780, in a folio volume, intituled, Antiguedadas Arabes de España; containing about sixteen plates of Arabic designs together with a few pages of letter-press. Some of the inscriptions in this publication were translated by the accurate Casiri. Such was the greatest progress made, to the end of the eighteenth century, in exploring the antiquities of the polished and enlightened people, who occupied the Peninsula during a period of nearly eight hundred years.

"The interesting but imperfect description of the remains of Arabian art, exhibited in the volumes of some modern travellers, as existing in the once renowned Mohammedan cities of Granada, Cordova, and Seville, excited in the author an ardent desire to visit them. He accordingly embarked for Spain, and arrived at Cadiz in May in the year 1802; whence he proceeded to Granada, through Lower Andalusia. The Governor of the Alhamra, desirous that the knowledge of its splendid remains should be accurately transmitted to posterity, obligingly facilitated the author's access to that royal palace, at all hours of the day, while he was employed in the agreeable task of measuring and delineating its interior works. Equal facilities were offered at Cordova, the remains of whose celebrated Mosque and Bridge are delineated in the former part of the present volume. Seven years were unremittingly devoted to these delightful pursuits; and since the author's return to England in 1809, nearly seven years more have been wholly given to preparing for publication the present work. The Admirers of the Arts are here presented with the result of fourteen years' continued labour, executed at an expence of many thousand pounds;-in the hope that, by the union of the graphic art with the descriptions of the engravings annexed, such facilities will be afforded, as shall enable the reader to form an accurate estimate of the very high state of excellence to which the Spanish Arabs attained in the Fine Arts, while the rest of Europe was overwhelmed with ignorance and barbarism *."

"In justice to the memory of an eminent and noble patron of the Arts, the late Earl of Bristol, the author with pleasure records that his Lordship had it in contemplation to send two Roman artists to Granada to make designs of the Palace of Alhamra, and to publish them at his own expense. The Earl of Bristol relinquished the idea only on being informed by the letter of a friend who was visiting that city, that the author had anticipated his munificent intention." 2 F 3*

VOL. VI.