Page:Historical account of Lisbon college.djvu/114

 On being informed of this the Superiors at once appealed to the law, but owing to the well known dilatoriness of legal proceedings in Portugal, for upwards of fifty years in spite of repeated judgments in its favour, the College had received nothing. At last in 1788, Louis de Vasconcellos, brother of the Marquis of Castello Major, was appointed Viceroy of Brazil, and being most friendly to Father Allen and well disposed towards the College, he readily took up the cause, and by his influence the Misericordia was compelled to refund the money it had received from the sale of the effects of John Dionysius d'Azevedo.

On this occasion was erected what is called &quot;The Observatory.&quot; This is an elevated square terrace formed nearly in the centre of the building, and commanding one of the most magnificent views in Europe. The object proposed in its erection was to form an astronomical observatory in the strict sense of the term. It was intended, as soon as the work should be completed, to establish a fund for the support of one of the members of the House, who should be employed exclusively in astronomical studies and observations, and who might communicate with the various Astronomical Societies of Europe. Circumstances, however, which were not foreseen, rendered the design abortive, to the great chagrin of Father Allen the principal projector, who ever after testified his regret and disappointment by terming the Observatory &quot;Initium dolorum meorum.&quot;

From the terrace thus erected the view is truly magnificent As it stands in an elevated and central position it presents a complete panorama of the circumjacent city and its environs. On the south the majestic Tagus may be seen winding along from the ocean, bounded on one side by the buildings of the city, and on the other by a line of regularly undulating hills which rise well nigh perpendicularly from its surface. Where these hills gradually slope to the plane, may be seen an immense tract of woodland reaching on the west to the Atlantic, on the east as far as the eye can reach and