"Meanwhile, Lady
Mabel, there is much worth seeing in Portugal. All is not like the
wilderness of Alemtejo. If you will believe the Portuguese, it was not
to the imagination of the poet, but to the eye of the traveler in
Lusitania, that we owe the poetic pictures of the Elysian fields. All
the Portuguese agree that their country is crowded with the choice
beauties and wonders of nature, and they certainly should know their
own country best. I have seen enough of it to satisfy me, that though
but a little corner of the smallest of the continents, it is a lovely
and remarkable part of the earth. Its beautiful mountains, not
sublime, perhaps, like the Alps and Pyrenees, but exquisitely rich and
wonderful in coloring, with a variety of romantic and ever-shifting
scenery, are perhaps unrivaled in Europe; its grand rivers, often
unite on their banks the wildest rocks with the loveliest woodland
scenes; its balmy climate fosters in many places an ever green foliage
and a perpetual spring."
"From your description of the country," said Lady Mabel, "one might
take you for a Portuguese."
"Yet they themselves have little perception of the real beauties of
nature," said L'Isle.
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