a town of Portugal, the capital of a corregimiento of the province of Estremadura. It is one of the most ancient places of the kingdom, and is situated on a rising ground, at the foot of which is a small pellucid stream, called the Siera. The town contains four churches, the same number of convents and hospitals, and a population of about 2500 persons, who are supplied with water from a small but beautiful marble aqueduct. Good wine is made in the vicinity. It has been deemed a place of great importance in all the wars which from remote ages have visited Portugal, but was peculiarly distinguished when the duke of Wellington held the command of the allied armies. This place is about twenty-eight miles from Lisbon, on the road to Coimbra. From it there is an extensive chain of points, some formed by nature, and others by art, stretch- Torricelli from the town to the river Tagus, behind which the duke collected an army to await the enemy, who, with a force of vastly superior numbers, had driven him out of Spain.