Page:Lisbon and Cintra, Inchbold, 1907.djvu/90

Rh The Spanish during their rule and the French in their withdrawal took away with them many valuable documents which at the present moment help to enrich the archives of France and Spain.

The vast block of the Cortes stands on an elevated terrace above the street of S. Bento; in the midst of the houses on the opposing slope beyond stands the old Convento of the Jesuits. Doubtless it may have struck the reader that monastic houses seem to play a big part in descriptive records of Lisbon. The State took possession of them at the suppression of the religious Orders, converting them into barracks, hospitals, schools, academies. At every corner these plain, massive buildings arrest the eye, their buff-coloured exteriors declaring them government property. They are not beautiful to look upon, unless one penetrates to their hidden cloisters which always please; the austere side of monasticism reveals itself in their outward construction. What attracts, however, is their atmosphere of history, their survival as records of the varied phases of the past, as reminders of the extreme volte-face made by the Portuguese in affairs political, religious and social.

Of all the monastic Orders represented in Portugal none held so firm a sway over the minds of the people as the followers of Loyola. Introduced into the country by D. João III under the pretext of sending missionaries into Portuguese colonies, the Company of Jesus spread in three years right through the country and became extremely powerful. D. João, convinced that religion was essential to the welfare of his subjects, did not limit himself to persuasion of its efficacy, but had recourse to force, and to that end established the tribunal of the Inquisition at Evora in 1530, in Lisbon seven years later, and in Coimbra in 1541. Between these two great powers in the land 64