The first station from Caldas (Obidos), with its little town, nestles at the foot of an eminence10 upon which another of the stupendous medi?val castles peculiar11 to Portugal rears its massive battlements, castles in comparison with which most of the English feudal12 strongholds are mere13 sentry-boxes. For these Portuguese14 fortresses15 were national outposts thrust forward successively into conquered or debatable land; bases for further extension southward and bulwarks17 against the return of the tide of Islam. Another two hours of travelling brought us into a country of red rolling hills, with a bold granite18 ridge19 on the east and a still loftier ridge beyond merging20 into the blue mist on the horizon. For miles on either side grand sweeps of flowering heather 201flushed against breaks and slides of ochre-earth, touched here and there with the light feathery green of the pines; whilst in the dips of hills sheltered valleys of bronzing vines and little white granges, slept tranquilly21 after the bustle22 of the just finished vintage. Soon we get nearer the granite hills before us, and looming23 over the station, upon a great projecting spur of one of these there frowns another of these tremendous strongholds, from which, running towards the east and south between us and Lisbon, there bars the way a series of gigantic ridges24 and peaks. Most of the heights are capped by towers, and scored along the faces of the mountains may still be discerned lines and marks of earthworks and redoubts. These are the never-to-be-forgotten lines of Torres Vedras, by which the genius of Wellington finally held the legions of Napoleon at bay, and saved Portugal—and incidentally Europe—from the domination of the French.
All the earth seems soaked and saturated25 in sunlight and brilliant colour; little ancient towns, like Runa, perched on the tops of cliffs, at the foot of which more modern hamlets cluster, testify to the changed conditions between the 202days when the first need was safety from aggression26, and the later times when, the danger of wanton attacking being past, men sought accessibility and ease. Acacias, aloes, canes27, olives, and vines spreading down the plain, tell of a benign28 and equable climate enjoyed in security and peace; a beautiful and favoured land, where nature has done its best to make man happy without making him idle. As the twilight29 begins to fall we change trains at Cacem, the junction30 of the small local line from Lisbon to Cintra, and thenceforward we travel due west towards the sea. Before us looms31 a great isolated32 mountain, the “Rock of Lisbon,” which seafarers know so well, with its bold outline and its gleaming towers on the topmost crag.
“And Cintra’s mountain greets them on the way.”
—Childe Harold, canto33 i.
The “mountain of the moon,” and of its goddess Cynthia, devoted34 from the dawn of time to the worship of deities35 that, one by one, have been deposed36, this long-backed hummock37, stretching nearly fifteen miles from end to end and rising well-nigh two thousand feet above the plain, is one of Europe’s acknowledged beauty spots, and, like a human professional beauty, on this 203occasion coyly hid its charms from too ready a discovery by cloaking its summit with a cloud as black as ink, forerunner38 of the coming night. The gradient of the line continues upward as we wind round the base of the hill, and it is quite dark when the terminal station of Cintra is reached, and after a long drive upward the quaint39 little English hostelry, known to four generations of Britons, welcomes me to dinner and to rest.
Like the similar mountain of Bussaco, the “Rock of Lisbon” is scored by ravines and dells innumerable, sheltered valleys open to the soft sea-breezes charged with grateful moisture; and from time immemorial the luxuriance and variety of its vegetation have been proverbial. At a time when Lisbon, only some fifteen miles away, is sweltering and breathless within its south facing semicircle of hills, the slopes of the mountain of Cintra are fresh and invigorating, and some of its gardens are a veritable paradise all the year round. But beautiful as it undoubtedly40 is, Cintra owes much of its fame to its nearness and accessibility to the capital, and so far as English celebrity41 is concerned, to the accident of several influential42 Englishmen persistently43 204singing its praises at a time when Lisbon was a fashionable winter and health resort.
The village of Cintra lies in one of the folds of the great hill, at perhaps a third of its height up the side: a little Swiss-looking pleasure-town round an open pra?a, like a set scene upon a stage. A few hotels and shops, a church, the inevitable45 big stone building at the most conspicuous46 corner, with the heavily barred windows on the level of the footpath47, and the squalid prisoners begging and bandying repartee48 with the passers-by: at one end of the pra?a, a lovely ancient Manueline cross upon a palm-shaded mound49, at the base of which a picturesque50 group is usually lounging, and close by, the courtyard of an old, old palace whose most conspicuous features are two curious protruberances from the roof, looking like a cross between Kentish oast-houses, and giant champagne52 bottles. This is Cintra as seen from its central point, but over it all there towers that which gives unique distinction to its otherwise somewhat trite53, self-conscious picturesqueness54. Sheer aloft upon a precipice55 a thousand feet and more above its roofs there stretch the mighty56 battlements and massive keeps of a huge castle of fawn-coloured stone, a castle so immense as to dwarf57 Thomar, Leiria, and even Obidos almost to insignificance58. Long lines of crenellated walls following the dips and sinuosities of the crest59 of the peak appear to grow out of the mighty rounded boulders60; some of these great masses of rock seeming to hang over perilously—as they must have done for thousands of years—top-heavy and threatening.
THE OLD PALACE, CINTRA.
205To climb such an eminence looks impracticable when seen from the pra?a of the little town, and yet it is but a pleasant and easy walk up the zigzag62 road round the projecting shoulder of the hill. As I start in the early morning to ascend63 the two twin peaks, only one of which is visible from the pra?a, the air is indescribably sweet with the mingled64 freshness of the sea and the perfume of herbs and flowers. The way winds upwards65 between the trim walls of villas66 embosomed in gardens. Ampelopsis, blood-red now, long trails of wistaria and starry67 clematis, and large fuchsia trees loaded with flower, hang over the pathway everywhere, whilst masses of heliotrope68 clothe the jutting69 gables and corners, and pervading70 all are the scent71 and sight of oceans of flowers. Palms, planes, poplars, and firs shoot upward, and around their straight bare trunks there clusters a tangle72 206of figs73, laurels74, mimosa, camellias, aloes, and cactus75. On the outer side of the road, as the villas are left behind, you may look over the dwarf-wall down the tree-clad slopes into glens of deep shade, with here and there a glimpse through the branches of a vast sunlight plain far below, whilst on the inner side of the zigzag way, the mosses76 and ferns, and the pendent greenery of the precipitous hillside, with an occasional break into a deep ravine, exhibit at each turn and step some new beauty of tint78 or atmosphere. Presently at a turn of the road, after half-an-hour’s climb, you see right over head the bare granite cliff covered with huge overhanging boulders, and on the summit a long stretch of yellow battlements and a huddle79 of enormous towers. The trees around us are mostly oaks now, and the grey boulders are covered on their inner faces with ivy80 and lichens81, whilst clumps82 of purple crocuses star the grass by the wayside. The sun is as hot as July in England, but the breeze is delightfully83 fresh and pure, the sky of spotless azure85, and the air so clear that the ancient fortress16, still far above us, is seen in all its detail as if we had it near to us under a giant microscope.
207Suddenly as I turned a corner there burst upon my view another and a loftier peak than the one upon which stands the Moorish86 stronghold that had hitherto been my objective. A crag so inaccessible87 it looked, as to suggest that the imposing88 building upon it with its lofty towers was the work of a magician. The royal palace of the Penha is this, piled up rather than built upon a sheer precipice.[2] Here upon the highest point of the rock of Lisbon was King Manuel the Fortunate wont89 to linger for hours and days for many months together, climbing up from his palace in the town below, that he might gaze far out upon the Atlantic, watching and praying for the return of Vasco da Gama from his voyage to India round the African continent, 208the route that in two generations the impetus90 of Prince Henry the Navigator had opened up. There was but a tiny Jeronomite hermitage or penitentiary91 here in this savage92 eyrie to shelter the anxious king,[3] and during his vigils he vowed93 that if the great explorer came home successful he would build upon the spot a worthy94 monastery95 of the Order in memory of the event. The work must have been a prodigious96 one, for even now the place is hardly accessible by carriages, and the quantity and the weight of material necessarily brought from below was enormous. This monastery like the rest, was disestablished and secularised by the State in 1834, and King Ferdinand, the consort97 of the Queen of Portugal, and a first cousin of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, bought the building for conversion99 into a royal palace, as it remains100 to-day, and here he lived the latter years of his life with his second wife, the ex-opera-dancer, the Countess of Edla. 209Ferdinand altered his palace, in many cases with very doubtful taste, Moorish and German baronial features being liberally grafted101 on to the Manueline edifice102, with the result that the whole building when seen closely is a pretentious103 muddle104, saved from contempt by some of its ancient portions, and by its sublime105 situation.
The palace on the peak was soon lost to sight again on my climb upward, and the path led direct to the outer donjon of the Moorish stronghold opening upon a narrow path cut along the face of the rock, and bordered on the outer side by a low stone wall. The view down over the steep, rocky slope, with the town of Cintra far below, and the plain limitless beyond, is very fine, and the walls that border the path are clothed with mosses and ferns almost as lovely as those of Bussaco. The fortress must have been impregnable by force; and indeed was only gained at last from the Moors106 by treason, this very gate having been bought by the Christians107 from an unfaithful guardian109. This narrow path cut on the face of the precipice is the only practicable approach to the fortress, and leads soon to yet another gate flanked by a strong tower built upon one vast, solid boulder61. The dells below are 210filled with billows of verdure; the face of the rock on the inner side of the path is covered with creepers, ferns, and flowers, whilst above them, high up in the dips near the summit, great trees lean over, shading the way by which we come. Yet another strong gate tower we pass through; and with a sudden turn we are inside the fortress, on the right of us a ruined chapel110, once a mosque111, and on the left a watch-tower, with, at its foot, a monument upon which the cross is graven surmounting112 the crescent, emblematical113 of the fate of the adjoining chapel.
To describe in detail this prodigious ruin would be impossible in any reasonable space. The summit of the crag consists of two separate peaks at some distance from each other, the higher one occupied by the main keep, “the royal tower,” and long battlemented walls reach from one point to the other, with bastions at intervals114 and massive square keeps at the salient angles. On all sides within the great enclosure formed by the battlements, covering the whole summit, remains of towers and buildings of various sorts are scattered115, amidst the dense117 growth of trees and brushwood that have intruded118 upon the space. The battlements, many of them built upon the rounded 211boulders that border the precipice and following the contour of the hill top, are strong and perfect still; and it needs but little imagination to people them again with the turbaned and mailed warriors119, sheltered snugly120 behind them, watching for the advancing hosts of the Christian108 king, certain that, so long as Islam was true to itself, no force could take this stronghold of their race. The view over the battlements on all sides is tremendous. Just below the walls a Titanic121 scatter116 of boulders, varying in size from a few feet in diameter to the bulk of a cathedral, and then the descending122 folds of greenery, with the sunlit plains and clustering towns below; and there on the west, seemingly almost at the foot, a long stretch of breaker-strewn beach, and the blue line of the sea. The view on the Cintra side is almost appalling123, the drop from the battlements and boulders to the town being almost sheer, and on the south-east a great bay opens, and the mouth of the Tagus bounds the prospect124.
As I gazed, entranced at this wonderful scene, surrounded by yet sturdy relics125 of the war of civilisations eight centuries old; musing127 upon the immutability128 of nature’s face in comparison with even the most enduring works of man, I 212noticed a wire fixed129 on the face of the Moorish battlement, and thence to a boulder, and so from point to point, I know not whither—to the palace or the adjoining peak, perhaps. A telegraph wire! A familiar object enough, but, as it seemed to me, strangely out of harmony with the stern battlements from which for centuries the sons of the prophet held back the advance of Western civilisation126.
The point upon which the Moorish stronghold stands is connected with the higher site of the palace by a saddle-back dipping considerably130 and then rising very precipitously. The vegetation on all sides is marvellously luxuriant, and inside the well-kept gardens of the royal domain131 flowers and plants, temperate132 and sub-tropical, make the place a horticultural paradise. Through graceful133 Moorish archways, bright with Alambresque decorations and azulejos, under rocky tunnels and over medi?val drawbridges, all redolent of the gimcrack taste of the forties, the upward way leads at length to the little inner patio134 of the castle, and here, at last, some of the Manueline monastery still remains. It is little enough, a window here and a door there, and is almost swamped by modern Alambresque and German 213baronial additions, but the ancient chapel in the patio is a gem135. The beautiful groined ceiling especially attracts attention, but the pride of the place is the exquisite136 altar of translucent137 alabaster138 or jasper and black marble in the purest style of the classical Renaissance139, dated 1532, a thank-offering of King John III. for the birth of an heir. The many groups of figures in alabaster are extremely beautiful, and as the whole structure turns upon a pivot140 the perfection of the work can be seen in various lights. A concession141 to the Portuguese Manueline taste of the time is made by the pendent festoons on each side of the altar, which are formed of two lengths of knotted and twisted cable in alabaster, a tour de force of execution, though rigid142 purists may perhaps question their artistic143 appropriateness.
The chapel is marred144 by the hard, bright German stained glass inserted in the principal window by King Ferdinand; but the modern Portuguese is very far from being critical in matters of art, and though hundreds of people yearly toil145 up the mountain to venerate146 the holy image of the Virgin147 of the Penha in this chapel, and the lovely ivory figure of St. John in the sacristy, no one apparently148 thinks of removing 214the flashing offence of the stained glass window in favour of some subdued149 medium more appropriate to this beautiful little church. A climb to the highest tower of the palace is said to be rewarded by a magnificent view. I was content to take it on trust, for I had already climbed high enough, and could hardly hope to behold150 a more striking prospect than those I had enjoyed from the castle battlements, and from the inner patio of the palace itself, which is perhaps the most striking of them all.
As I retrace151 my steps down the long zigzags152 to Cintra again, and ever and anon look up at the heights from which I have come, they seem quite inaccessible. Equally, or more so, does the somewhat lower, but even more precipitous eminence called the Cruz Alta, from which the prospect is of surpassing extent over land and sea.
“Eis campinas que ao ceo seu canto elevam,
Aqui o espa?o, alem a immensidade,”
“Behold the plains their psalms153 raise to the sea,
Here spread below in space, beyond immensity,”
as the Portuguese poem on the base of the cross proclaims.
Everywhere the flowers trail over the walls 215of villas, and the high palms within rock softly in the heliotrope scented154 breeze. Very beautiful it is; but the gardens belong to other people, and are jealously closed by stone walls and iron gates. From above them, at hundreds of points all over Cintra, you may command views of gardens of tropical luxuriance; but without permission of the wealthy owners you may not enter them. Cintra’s beauty is not free like the sacred wood of Bussaco, where you may wander at your will through purely155 sylvan156 scenery that not even Cintra can surpass. The grandeur157 of the towering Moorish stronghold on its crest of grey boulders is more imposing than anything Bussaco can show, and the interior of some of the highly cultivated private gardens of Cintra are as fine as any in Europe; but, so far as the enjoyment158 of the mere traveller is concerned, I am inclined to agree with the opinion of those who hold that Cintra’s fame is quite equal to its merits. Beckford had very much to do with it. His friends the Marialvas were amongst the first of the Portuguese aristocracy, and owed the large palace of Seteaes, where Byron and some guide-books erroneously say that the humiliating convention of Cintra was signed by 216the victorious159 English generals. Beckford’s visits to them and to the court at Cintra inspired him with an enthusiastic admiration160 for the place, and his letters are full of references to its beauty. To the immensely wealthy and eccentric young Englishman desires and their accomplishment161 ever went hand in hand, and Beckford purchased a picturesque valley and slopes of the mountain some two miles from the town round the shoulder of the hill towards the west. Here he built an eccentric house, partly in the Moorish style, and here he displayed the virtuoso162 tastes and exotic luxury which afterwards made Fonthill famous.[4]
All that money and skill could do was lavished163 upon the gardens in the ravines and slopes of Monserrate; and long before Beckford died 217the place became famous throughout Europe. Sir Francis Cook, Viscount de Monserrate, to whom Monserrate belonged for many years, greatly extended and improved the property, and his son, Sir Frederick Cook, the present owner, has followed the same course of munificent164 maintenance of this earthly paradise; with the result that now the beauties of the glens at Monserrate are probably unequalled in their own way. It was the middle of October when I visited the gardens on this occasion, although I had seen it in all the glory of its spring and summer splendour on other visits, and the luxuriance of the vegetation showed as yet no signs of waning165. Great magnolias, daturas, and bougainvilliers were in full flower, with roses, clematis, brilliant coleas, and immense quantities of heliotrope. Tree ferns, aloes, agaves, and palms grew with a freedom in the open air that not even the hot-houses of Kew could surpass, whilst the crimson166 ampelopsis and golden-leaved maples167 presented gorgeous masses of colour. Some of the sylvan views are perfectly168 charming; but after all, one feels that one is simply an interloper seeing the showplace on sufferance by payment of a shilling—which 218the owner gives to a charity—and a sylvan scene, perhaps less lovely, but in which I could roam at will, as at Bussaco, would have had greater attraction for me.
Upon a peak opposite Monserrate, and belonging to the same owner, stands a humble169 little monastery that once belonged to the Franciscan-Capuchins. It is a quaint and curious place, the cloister170, a tiny one, being joined to a rock, out of which the cells are excavated171. These and the doors and ceilings of the cloister are lined with cork172 bark for warmth and cosiness173 in this exposed position, and for centuries the hermit-monks lived and prayed on this peak overlooking almost as great a panorama174 as the Jeronomites on the high crest of the Penha. Franciscans and Jeronomites are alike gone now; but in this case at least the place has been saved from desecration175, and the little chapel is maintained with reverent176 care by Sir Frederick Cook, to whom the place belongs. Byron and Southey, too, did much for the fame of Cintra. In a room at Lawrence’s Hotel, commanding a fine view of plain and sea, the former wrote a portion of “Childe Harold,” and his references in verse 219to the beauty of the place are numerous. Writing of the cork convent, Byron refers thus to Honorius, a rigid ascetic177 who in a cave there lived long years in self-imposed penance:—
“Deep in yon cave Honorius long did dwell,
In hope to merit heaven by making earth a hell.”
Volumes of poetry, indeed, have been in the aggregate178 written about Cintra. Byron made it practically his first stage of “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage,” and went in raptures179 over it:—
“Lo, Cintra’s glorious Eden intervenes
In variegated180 maze181 of mount and glen.
Ah, me! what hand can pencil guide or pen
To follow half on which the eye dilates182,
Through views more dazzling unto mortal ken51
Than those whereof such things the bard183 relates
Who to the awe-struck world unlocked Elysium’s gates—
The horrid184 crags by toppling convent crown’d,
The cork-trees hoar that clothe the shaggy steep,
The mountain moss77 by scorching185 skies embrown’d,
The sunken glen whose sunless shrubs186 must weep,
The tender azure of the unruffled deep,
The orange tints187 that gild188 the greenest bough98,
The torrents189 that from cliff to valley leap,
The vine on high, the willow190 branch below,
Mixed in one mighty scene with varied191 beauty glow.”
The poet, in one of his letters to his mother complaining of the dirt and discomfort192 of 220Lisbon, says: “To make amends193 for the filthiness194 of Lisbon and its still filthier195 inhabitants, the village of Cintra, about fifteen miles from the capital, is perhaps in every respect the most delightful84 in Europe. It contains beauties of every description, natural and artificial; palaces and gardens rising in the midst of rocks, cataracts196, and precipices197; convents on stupendous heights; a distant view of the sea and the Tagus.... It unites in itself all the wildness of the Western Highlands with the verdure of the south of France.”
Robert Southey, too, calls Cintra “the most blessed spot in the habitable globe,” and Beckford’s letters are crowded with eloquent198 passages to the same effect. “The scenery,” he says, “is truly Elysian, and exactly such as poets assign for the resort of happy spirits.... The mossy fragments of rock, grotesque199 pollards and rustic200 bridges you meet with at every step, recall Savoy and Switzerland to the imagination; but the exotic cast of the vegetation, the vivid green of the citron, the golden fruitage of the orange, the blossoming myrtle, and the rich fragrance201 of the turf, embroidered202 with the brightest coloured and most aromatic203 flowers, 221allow me, without a violent stretch of fancy, to believe myself in the garden of the Hesperides.”
The Portuguese poets have of course dwelt much upon the beauties of Cintra, especially Almeida Garrett, the principal Portuguese poet of modern times. One stanza204 by him is cut upon a slab205 erected206 on one of his favourite walks in the village as a memorial, and the following lines from it may be quoted:—
“Cintra, amena estancia,
Throno da vegetante primavera:
Quem te n?o ama, quem em teu rega?o
Uma hora da vida lhe ha corrido,
Essa hora esquecerá?”
“Ah! Cintra, blest abode207,
The throne of budding spring,
Who loves thee not: and who
Can e’er forget in life
An hour passed in thy lap?”
When the stronghold on the crest of the mountain was securely held by the Moslem208 soldiery, before the great Affonso Henriques swept southward with the Cross victorious, the Moorish kings of Lisbon lived in silken ease below in their summer alcazar in the pra?a of Cintra—a building this full of interest still, though injudicious or inexperienced travellers have caused no 222little disappointment by comparing it unjustifiably with the splendid Arab remains at Seville, Granada, and Toledo. Truth to say, the palace at Cintra is no Alhambra, and should not be approached with expectations of anything of the sort. And yet the place is very quaint and charming as you enter the courtyard from the pra?a, hard by the Manueline cross with its spiral shaft209. The front of the palace appears to be purely Manueline, the elaborate window and door decoration, consisting of twisted cables and intertwined branches, and even the pillars, spouts210, and gargoyles211 are all redolent of Portugal’s age of heroic expansion and wealth under the “Fortunate” king.
It was a regal Christian palace long before his time; for his great-grandfather, John the Great and his wife Philippa of Lancaster, had adapted the Moorish alcazar for their summer residence and made it their favourite palace, their grandson and successor Affonso being born here. But it was in the palmy times of Dom Manuel that the palace of Cintra became the centre of culture, wit, and poetry, where gaily-clad courtiers listened to the wondrous212 tales of Portuguese explorers returned from Africa and the Indies, and poets 223sang the national epics213 telling of the opening of the mystic East with its wealth untold214 to Portuguese commerce and dominion215.
Though the outside of the palace is Portuguese Manueline, the interior exhibits at every step portions of the original Moorish edifice unaltered. The vast kitchen, with its enormous champagne-bottle chimneys in the centre, has never ceased to be available for culinary uses from the time of the Arab kings until to-day; whilst the dining-room is pure Moorish, lined with beautiful Arab tiles. Arab tiles, indeed, remain in many rooms, and the chancel of the chapel, once of course a mosque, is exquisitely216 paved with them. There is a beautiful little Moorish patio too, with its marble fountain and laurels, that might be a portion of a palace at Fez or Mequinez now, so pure and intact is it. The older rooms of the palace generally are dark, for the Moorish architects shut out the sun wherever possible, and the up and down floors on all sorts of queer levels impress upon one the immense antiquity217 of the place as a dwelling218-house.
The finest rooms are the hall of magpies219, the hall of swans, and the hall of stags. The 224first-named is a square apartment with beautiful Moorish tiles, and a coved220 ceiling covered with paintings of magpies, each one with a motto issuing from its mouth saying, Por Bem, “with good intent.” The legend told is that Queen Philippa one day surprised John the Great, who was a gallant221 lover, kissing a maid of honour and offering her a rose. The Plantagenet queen had a temper of her own, which John probably feared more than the Castilian charge up the slope of Aljubarrota, and the king in exculpation222 cried to his wife, “Por Bem”; as who should say, Honi soit qui mal y pense. The reputation of John was such that his excuse passed from mouth to mouth derisively223, the queen’s sycophantic224 maids repeating it with such significant emphasis, and so frequently, that the king to shame them adopted “Por Bem” as his motto, and had his reception hall at Cintra painted with the chattering225 birds repeating it.
Manueline Windows in the Old Palace, Cintra
Another fine Moorish hall is called the hall of swans, of which the ceiling is painted with those birds, in memory of a pair of them kept in the patio below, and given to King Manuel by his brother-in-law, Charles V., as a very great rarity. Another large apartment, with a conical roof, was 225constructed by King Manuel himself, who gave to it the name of the hall of stags. Here the king collected the armorial achievements of all the Portuguese nobility. Seventy-four stags are ranged around the room, each one having dependent from its neck the scutcheon of a noble family—except one, that of Tavora, which the great minister Pombal, in the eighteenth century, ordered to be erased—whilst upon a frieze226 running round the hall is the following verse:—
“Pois com esfor?os e leaes
Servicios, foram ganhados,
Com estes e outros taes
Devem ser conservados.”
“By prowess stout227 and loyal fame
These honours bright were gained;
By others like or eke1 the same
They needs must be retained.”
The small and plain hall of audience or justice has at the end a seat of tiled brick upon which the Sovereigns sat, and here tradition says the Council met, summoned by the rash young King Sebastian in 1578, to sanction the crusading attack upon Morocco upon which he had set his heart. All his fiery228 zeal229 and imperiousness were needed to persuade his nobles to agree to an adventure from which many foresaw disaster. 226But the ambitious youth had his way, and his mysterious fate, never solved when he disappeared for ever from the eyes of men at the battle of Alcacer Kebir, ended the male line of the house of Avis which John I. had begun at Aljubarrota two hundred years before. In this gloomy chamber230 the die was cast, and with the loss of Sebastian his uncle Philip II. and his descendants became kings of Portugal for a century.
A more modern tragedy was enacted231 within these ancient walls. The vicious young debauchee, Affonso VI., was deprived of his crown and his wife by his brother Dom Pedro, in 1667; and here in the palace, in a room called after him, the wretched king passed the last twelve years of his imprisonment232, shut off entirely233 from the sight of men. The windows of his prison-chamber still show the sockets234 wherein the strong bars were set, and a deep groove235 worn in the brick floor along one side marks the spot where the footsteps of the caged king, as he paced up and down for years before his bars, have worn his enduring epitaph. Up in a little closely barred cell overlooking the choir236 of the chapel, where Affonso used to hear mass, he died suddenly in 1683.
227The old palace of Cintra, indeed, is full of memories, a place to linger in and about, rather than to rush through at the tail of a guide; although it must be confessed that the guardian in this case does take an intelligent interest in the objects under his care. Cintra, in short, is beautiful beyond compare in certain directions; but, as happens in most frequented show-places, the chief beauties can only be enjoyed by the permission of others, and by the use of a silver key. The beautiful villa44-gardens are jealously shut in by high walls and forbidden by gates marked private; the palace of the Penha, a royal residence, is approached with bated breath and whispering humbleness237, and the palace in the town, though not now inhabited by royalty238, is still only shown on special application. But there is one thing in Cintra that may be enjoyed freely and uncontrolled by all, the finest thing that Cintra can show, the view from the town of that stupendous Moorish fortress on its precipitous height. In sylvan beauty, in sweetness and freshness of atmosphere, even in its sublime prospects239 of mountain, vale, and sea, Bussaco may rival and, in some respects, surpass it; but the long-stretched yellow battlements and massive 228towers piled upon the eternal granite boulders, sheer up a thousand feet and more over the little pleasure-town and its leafy ravines, would be worth the voyage to Portugal alone to see, even though the gardens of the rich were more reserved and exclusive than they are.
2. Byron thus speaks of this climb up the hill of Cintra:—
“Then slowly climb the many winding241 way,
And frequent turn to linger as you go,
From loftier rocks new loveliness survey,
And rest ye at Our Lady’s house of woe242.”
This last epithet243 for the monastery, which is now the royal palace, is an error arising from a misunderstanding, which Byron shares with many other people to the present day. The original name of the venerated244 image of the Virgin, after which the monastery was named, is “Nossa Senhora da Penha,” “Our Lady of the Rock.” For some reason the place is still often referred to as the “Pena,” which means “sorrow,” and the Saint becomes “Our Lady of Woe,” as Byron called it.
3. Two German ecclesiastics245, who in 1450 were sent to Lisbon by the Emperor Frederick III. to ask for the hand of the Portuguese Infanta Leonor, thus mention Cintra in the narrative246 of their voyage: “Oh! Cintra, most pleasant place and royal garden, with a little river in which there are good trout247. Here, too, there are devout248 brethren in a Jeronomite monastery, who live according to their rule.”—Historia Desponsationis Frederici III. cum Eleanora Lusitanica.
4. When Byron visited Cintra in 1809, Beckford, whose fame as an author rests upon his curious Eastern tale of “Vathek,” had left his villa at Monserrate for the more pretentious splendours of Fonthill, and the Peninsular war was pending249.
“And yonder towers the Prince’s palace fair;
There thou, too, Vathek, England’s wealthiest son,
Once formed thy paradise, as not aware,
When wanton wealth her mightiest250 deeds hath done,
Meek251 peace voluptuous252 lures253 was ever wont to shun254.
Here didst thou dwell, here schemes of pleasure plan,
Beneath yon mountain’s ever beauteous brow;
But now, as if a thing unblest by man,
Thy fairy dwelling is as lone240 as thou.”
点击
收听单词发音
收听单词发音 |
1
eke
|
|
| v.勉强度日，节约使用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
inmates
|
|
| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
diversified
|
|
| adj.多样化的，多种经营的v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 )；进入新的商业领域 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
situated
|
|
| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
inspection
|
|
| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
shrines
|
|
| 圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
specialty
|
|
| n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
exhausted
|
|
| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
irresistibly
|
|
| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
eminence
|
|
| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
peculiar
|
|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
feudal
|
|
| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
mere
|
|
| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
Portuguese
|
|
| n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
fortresses
|
|
| 堡垒，要塞( fortress的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
fortress
|
|
| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
bulwarks
|
|
| n.堡垒( bulwark的名词复数 )；保障；支柱；舷墙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
granite
|
|
| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
ridge
|
|
| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
merging
|
|
| 合并（分类） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
tranquilly
|
|
| adv. 宁静地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
bustle
|
|
| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
looming
|
|
| n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
ridges
|
|
| n.脊( ridge的名词复数 )；山脊；脊状突起；大气层的)高压脊 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
saturated
|
|
| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
aggression
|
|
| n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
canes
|
|
| n.（某些植物，如竹或甘蔗的）茎( cane的名词复数 )；（用于制作家具等的）竹竿；竹杖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
benign
|
|
| adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
twilight
|
|
| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
junction
|
|
| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
looms
|
|
| n.织布机( loom的名词复数 )v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的第三人称单数 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
isolated
|
|
| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
canto
|
|
| n.长篇诗的章 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
devoted
|
|
| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
deities
|
|
| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
deposed
|
|
| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
hummock
|
|
| n.小丘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
forerunner
|
|
| n.前身，先驱（者），预兆，祖先 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
quaint
|
|
| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
undoubtedly
|
|
| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
celebrity
|
|
| n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
influential
|
|
| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
persistently
|
|
| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
villa
|
|
| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
inevitable
|
|
| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
conspicuous
|
|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
footpath
|
|
| n.小路，人行道 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
repartee
|
|
| n.机敏的应答 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
mound
|
|
| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
picturesque
|
|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
ken
|
|
| n.视野，知识领域 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
champagne
|
|
| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
trite
|
|
| adj.陈腐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
picturesqueness
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
precipice
|
|
| n.悬崖，危急的处境 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
dwarf
|
|
| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
insignificance
|
|
| n.不重要；无价值；无意义 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
crest
|
|
| n.顶点；饰章；羽冠；vt.达到顶点；vi.形成浪尖 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
60
boulders
|
|
| n.卵石( boulder的名词复数 )；巨砾；（受水或天气侵蚀而成的）巨石；漂砾 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
boulder
|
|
| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
zigzag
|
|
| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
ascend
|
|
| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
64
mingled
|
|
| 混合，混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
65
upwards
|
|
| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
66
villas
|
|
| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
67
starry
|
|
| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
68
heliotrope
|
|
| n.天芥菜；淡紫色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
69
jutting
|
|
| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
70
pervading
|
|
| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
71
scent
|
|
| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
72
tangle
|
|
| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
73
figs
|
|
| figures 数字，图形，外形 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
74
laurels
|
|
| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
75
cactus
|
|
| n.仙人掌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
76
mosses
|
|
| n. 藓类, 苔藓植物 名词moss的复数形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
77
moss
|
|
| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
78
tint
|
|
| n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
79
huddle
|
|
| vi.挤作一团；蜷缩；vt.聚集；n.挤在一起的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
80
ivy
|
|
| n.常青藤，常春藤 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
81
lichens
|
|
| n.地衣( lichen的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
82
clumps
|
|
| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
83
delightfully
|
|
| 大喜，欣然 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
84
delightful
|
|
| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
85
azure
|
|
| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
86
moorish
|
|
| adj.沼地的，荒野的，生[住]在沼地的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
87
inaccessible
|
|
| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
88
imposing
|
|
| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
89
wont
|
|
| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
90
impetus
|
|
| n.推动，促进，刺激；推动力 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
91
penitentiary
|
|
| n.感化院；监狱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
92
savage
|
|
| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
93
vowed
|
|
| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
94
worthy
|
|
| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
95
monastery
|
|
| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
96
prodigious
|
|
| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
97
consort
|
|
| v.相伴；结交 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
98
bough
|
|
| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
99
conversion
|
|
| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
100
remains
|
|
| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
101
grafted
|
|
| 移植( graft的过去式和过去分词 )； 嫁接； 使（思想、制度等）成为（…的一部份）； 植根 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
102
edifice
|
|
| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
103
pretentious
|
|
| adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
104
muddle
|
|
| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
105
sublime
|
|
| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
106
moors
|
|
| v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
107
Christians
|
|
| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
108
Christian
|
|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
109
guardian
|
|
| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
110
chapel
|
|
| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
111
mosque
|
|
| n.清真寺 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
112
surmounting
|
|
| 战胜( surmount的现在分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
113
emblematical
|
|
| adj.标志的，象征的，典型的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
114
intervals
|
|
| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
115
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
116
scatter
|
|
| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
117
dense
|
|
| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
118
intruded
|
|
| n.侵入的，推进的v.侵入，侵扰，打扰( intrude的过去式和过去分词 )；把…强加于 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
119
warriors
|
|
| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
120
snugly
|
|
| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
121
titanic
|
|
| adj.巨人的，庞大的，强大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
122
descending
|
|
| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
123
appalling
|
|
| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
124
prospect
|
|
| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
125
relics
|
|
| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
126
civilisation
|
|
| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
127
musing
|
|
| n. 沉思，冥想 adj. 沉思的, 冥想的 动词muse的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
128
immutability
|
|
| n.不变(性) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
129
fixed
|
|
| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
130
considerably
|
|
| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
131
domain
|
|
| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
132
temperate
|
|
| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
133
graceful
|
|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
134
patio
|
|
| n.庭院，平台 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
135
gem
|
|
| n.宝石，珠宝；受爱戴的人 [同]jewel | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
136
exquisite
|
|
| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
137
translucent
|
|
| adj.半透明的；透明的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
138
alabaster
|
|
| adj.雪白的；n.雪花石膏；条纹大理石 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
139
renaissance
|
|
| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
140
pivot
|
|
| v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
141
concession
|
|
| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
142
rigid
|
|
| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
143
artistic
|
|
| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
144
marred
|
|
| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
145
toil
|
|
| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
146
venerate
|
|
| v.尊敬，崇敬，崇拜 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
147
virgin
|
|
| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
148
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
149
subdued
|
|
| adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
150
behold
|
|
| v.看，注视，看到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
151
retrace
|
|
| v.折回；追溯，探源 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
152
zigzags
|
|
| n.锯齿形的线条、小径等( zigzag的名词复数 )v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
153
psalms
|
|
| n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
154
scented
|
|
| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
155
purely
|
|
| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
156
sylvan
|
|
| adj.森林的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
157
grandeur
|
|
| n.伟大，崇高，宏伟，庄严，豪华 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
158
enjoyment
|
|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
159
victorious
|
|
| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
160
admiration
|
|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
161
accomplishment
|
|
| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
162
virtuoso
|
|
| n.精于某种艺术或乐器的专家，行家里手 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
163
lavished
|
|
| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
164
munificent
|
|
| adj.慷慨的，大方的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
165
waning
|
|
| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
166
crimson
|
|
| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
167
maples
|
|
| 槭树，枫树( maple的名词复数 )； 槭木 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
168
perfectly
|
|
| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
169
humble
|
|
| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
170
cloister
|
|
| n.修道院；v.隐退，使与世隔绝 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
171
excavated
|
|
| v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
172
cork
|
|
| n.软木，软木塞 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
173
cosiness
|
|
| n.舒适，安逸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
174
panorama
|
|
| n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置] | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
175
desecration
|
|
| n. 亵渎神圣, 污辱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
176
reverent
|
|
| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
177
ascetic
|
|
| adj.禁欲的；严肃的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
178
aggregate
|
|
| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
179
raptures
|
|
| 极度欢喜( rapture的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
180
variegated
|
|
| adj.斑驳的，杂色的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
181
maze
|
|
| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
182
dilates
|
|
| v.（使某物）扩大，膨胀，张大( dilate的第三人称单数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
183
bard
|
|
| n.吟游诗人 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
184
horrid
|
|
| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
185
scorching
|
|
| adj. 灼热的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
186
shrubs
|
|
| 灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
187
tints
|
|
| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
188
gild
|
|
| vt.给…镀金，把…漆成金色，使呈金色 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
189
torrents
|
|
| n.倾注；奔流( torrent的名词复数 )；急流；爆发；连续不断 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
190
willow
|
|
| n.柳树 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
191
varied
|
|
| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
192
discomfort
|
|
| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
193
amends
|
|
| n. 赔偿 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
194
filthiness
|
|
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
195
filthier
|
|
| filthy（肮脏的，污秽的）的比较级形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
196
cataracts
|
|
| n.大瀑布( cataract的名词复数 )；白内障 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
197
precipices
|
|
| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
198
eloquent
|
|
| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
199
grotesque
|
|
| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
200
rustic
|
|
| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
201
fragrance
|
|
| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
202
embroidered
|
|
| adj．绣花的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
203
aromatic
|
|
| adj.芳香的，有香味的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
204
stanza
|
|
| n.（诗）节，段 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
205
slab
|
|
| n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
206
ERECTED
|
|
| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
207
abode
|
|
| n.住处，住所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
208
Moslem
|
|
| n.回教徒，穆罕默德信徒；adj.回教徒的，回教的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
209
shaft
|
|
| n.(工具的)柄，杆状物 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
210
spouts
|
|
| n.管口( spout的名词复数 )；（喷出的）水柱；（容器的）嘴；在困难中v.（指液体）喷出( spout的第三人称单数 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
211
gargoyles
|
|
| n.怪兽状滴水嘴( gargoyle的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
212
wondrous
|
|
| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
213
epics
|
|
| n.叙事诗( epic的名词复数 )；壮举；惊人之举；史诗般的电影（或书籍） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
214
untold
|
|
| adj.数不清的，无数的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
215
dominion
|
|
| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
216
exquisitely
|
|
| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
217
antiquity
|
|
| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
218
dwelling
|
|
| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
219
magpies
|
|
| 喜鹊（magpie的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
220
coved
|
|
| v.小海湾( cove的过去分词 )；家伙 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
221
gallant
|
|
| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
222
exculpation
|
|
| n.使无罪，辩解 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
223
derisively
|
|
| adv. 嘲笑地，嘲弄地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
224
sycophantic
|
|
| adj.阿谀奉承的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
225
chattering
|
|
| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
226
frieze
|
|
| n.(墙上的)横饰带，雕带 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
228
fiery
|
|
| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
229
zeal
|
|
| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
230
chamber
|
|
| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
231
enacted
|
|
| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
232
imprisonment
|
|
| n.关押，监禁，坐牢 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
233
entirely
|
|
| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
234
sockets
|
|
| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
235
groove
|
|
| n.沟，槽；凹线，（刻出的）线条，习惯 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
236
choir
|
|
| n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
237
humbleness
|
|
| n.谦卑，谦逊；恭顺 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
238
royalty
|
|
| n.皇家，皇族 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
239
prospects
|
|
| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
240
lone
|
|
| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
241
winding
|
|
| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
242
woe
|
|
| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
243
epithet
|
|
| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
244
venerated
|
|
| 敬重（某人或某事物），崇敬( venerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
245
ecclesiastics
|
|
| n.神职者，教会，牧师( ecclesiastic的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
246
narrative
|
|
| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
247
trout
|
|
| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
248
devout
|
|
| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
249
pending
|
|
| prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
250
mightiest
|
|
| adj.趾高气扬( mighty的最高级 )；巨大的；强有力的；浩瀚的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
251
meek
|
|
| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
252
voluptuous
|
|
| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
253
lures
|
|
| 吸引力，魅力（lure的复数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
254
shun
|
|
| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |