INTRODUCTION. A VOLUME illustrative of the manners and opinions of the interior of Portugal cannot, at the present critical moment in the affairs of that country, be an unacceptable offering to the public. The sketches here presented to the reader claim no higher merit, than that of being faithful transcripts of the scenes from which they have been made; and they exhibit in a desultory manner the state of Portuguese society disorganized by warfare. The Author attempts merely to recount what incidentally presented itself to his observation; he has followed no plan, nor has he formed any plot, at the conclusion of which the novel-loving reader has to arrive. But he flatters himself, that, slightly as he has developed the national character of the Portuguese of the interior, it will be sufficient to interest without story, when read at a period, like the present, of general excitation as to the prospects and fate of Portugal. Correct representations of manners and costume always possess a certain value. There is no story in any of Tenier's pictures; but they have |