as a rule, the priests perform their duties without zeal and in a slovenly manner.  One often hears it said that their behaviour and their morality leave much to be desired.  There are among them gentlemen of blameless life and even of ascetic practices, but it is commonly reported that, as a whole, they are of inferior birth and education.  It is not easy for a stranger to form any opinion on these points, but it must be conceded that their appearance is generally suggestive of the truth of the statement, and it may be admitted that there is an undue proportion of ignoble and sensuous faces amongst them.

Funerals are occasions of great pomp, and are often picturesque enough, while the masses for the dead at intervals after and on the anniversary are, no doubt, profitable to the Church.  By attending these one has a good opportunity of testifying to the esteem in which the deceased was held, or to one’s good will towards the family or representatives.  These masses are generally advertised in the papers, with thanks to those friends who have attended funeral masses.  As there is scarcely any intellectual activity in Portugal, there is practically no religious thought.  A dull acquiescence in the dictates of the Church may be crossed by an occasional gleam of rebellion against sacerdotalism, roused by some temporary stirring up of the hatred felt against the Jesuits.  But it in no way alters the habitual attitude of the people towards religion and its outward manifestations.  One thing is certain, and that is that in town or country a man or a woman must be in the lowest depths of poverty and distress to refuse to throw a few reis into the bags of the licensed mendicants who, bareheaded, and clad in scarlet or white gowns, go round soliciting alms for the support of the churches on whose behalf they are sent out.

As is customary in most countries, the women are more amenable to religious influences than the men, and are more under the dominion of the priest.  This is not likely to be altered yet awhile, for, under the present system of education and bringing up, the female portion of the community is not only not intellectual, but may even be described as being unintelligent.  They are slovenly, and cannot be described as good housewives.  They are pleasure-loving and garrulous, though this latter trait is not, I suppose, a specially national characteristic.  They do much hard work, especially in the fields.  In the classes above (if above be the proper word) the hand-workers, the young girls are still kept very strictly, and are not allowed to go out alone.  Their knowledge of life is limited to the view from the windows of their homes, where they may be seen looking out on the street scenes below whenever the shade allows them to stand at the window or on the balcony.  No “new woman” movement of any importance has yet taken place, and though there are modifications in woman’s position in the national life, it is probable that it will take one if not more generations before women in Portugal achieve the emancipation which their sisters have attained in more progressive countries.