William Beckford 
Italy: With Sketches of Spain and Portugal 

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Portugal attracting much attention in her present convulsed and declining state, it might not perhaps be uninteresting to the public to cast back a glance by way of contrast to the happier times when she enjoyed under the mild and beneficent reign of Donna Maria the First, a great share of courtly and commercial prosperity.