The
delusion was not confined to the lower orders; it reached the educated
classes; and men who had been graduated in theology became professors
of a faith which announced that Portugal was soon to be the head of
the Fifth and Universal Monarchy; Sebastian was speedily to come from
the Secret Island; the Queen would resign the sceptre into his hands;
he would give Bonaparte battle near Evora, on the field of Sertorius,
slay the tyrant, and become monarch of the world."
"And this superstition now prevails?" Lady Mabel asked.
"So widely, that at least every other man you meet is a Sebastianist."
As they rode on they found the country dotted over with _quintas_ and
country-houses, here called _montes_, from being generally seated on
hills. Around each homestead the meagre and tame-hued olive was
mingled with the deep rich green of the orange-tree, which here
produces its fruit in the greatest perfection of flavor, at least, if
not of size, and a vineyard occasionally occupied the slope of the
hill. The lower grounds were covered with extensive cornfields,
bearing here a thriving growth of wheat, there a young crop of maize,
which furnishes these people with more than half their food.
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