University of Virginia Library

M. Duperron de Castera, who has given a French prose translation, or rather paraphrase of the Lusiad, has a long note on this passage, which he tells us, must not be understood literally. Our author, he says, could not be ignorant that the African and Indian Oceans had been navigated before the times of the Portuguese. The Phœnicians whose fleets passed the straits of Gibraltar, made frequent voyages in these seas, though they carefully concealed the course of their navigation that other nations might not become partakers of their lucrative traffic. It is certain that Solomon, and Hiram king of Tyre, sent ships to the East by the Red Sea. It is also certain that Hanno a Carthaginian captain made a voyage round the whole coast of Africa, as is evident from the history of the expedition, written by himself in the Punic language; a Greek translation of which is now extant. Besides, Pliny, Pomponius Mela, Ptolomy and Strabo, assure us, that Mozambic and the adjacent islands and some parts of India were known to the Romans: and these words of Macrobius, Sed nec monstruosis carnibus abstinetis, inserentes poculis testiculos Castorum et venenata corpora Viperarum; quibus admiscetis quidquid India nutrit, sufficiently prove that they carried on a considerable traffic with the East. From all which, says M. Castera, we may conclude that the Portuguese were rather the Restorers than the Discoverers of the navigation to the Indies.

In this first book, and throughout the whole Poem, Camoens frequently describes his Heroes as passing through seas which had never before been navigated; and

That this supposition afforded our author a number of poetical images, and adds a solemn grandeur to his subject, might perhaps with M. Castera be esteemed a sufficient apology for the poetical licence in such a violation of historical truth. Yet whatever liberties an Epic or Tragic Poet may commendably take in embellishing the actions of his heroes, an assertion relating to the scene where his Poem opens, if false, must be equally ridiculous as to call Vespasian the first who had ever assumed the title of Cesar. But it will be found that Camoens has not fallen into such absurdity. The Poem opens with a description of the Lusitanian fleet, after having doubled the Cape of Hope, driving about in the great Ethiopian Ocean, so far from land that it required the care of the Gods to conduct it to some hospitable shore. Therefore, though it is certain that the Phœnicians passed the Ne plus ultra of the ancients; though it is probable they traded on the coast of Cornwall, and the isles of Scilly; though there is some reason to believe that the Madeiras and Carribees were known to them; and though it has been supposed that some of their ships might have been driven by storm to the Brazils or North-America; yet there is not the least foundation in history to suppose that they traded to the Indies by the Cape of Good Hope. There is rather a demonstration of the contrary; for it is certain they carried on their traffic with the East, by a much nearer and safer way, by the two ports of Elath and Eziongeber on the Red Sea. Neither is it known in what particular part, whether in the Persian gulph, or in the Indian Ocean, the Tarshish and Ophir of the ancients are situated. Though it is certain that Hanno doubled the Cape of Good Hope, it is also equally certain that his voyage was merely a coasting one, like that of Nearchus in Alexander's time, and that he never ventured into the great Ocean, or went so far as Gama. The citation from Macrobius proves nothing at all relative to the point in question, for it is certain that the Romans received the Merchandise of India by the way of Syria and the Mediterranean, in the same manner as the Venetians imported the commodities of the East from Alexandria before the discoveries of the Portuguese. It remains, therefore, that Gama, who sailed by the Compass, after having gone further than his cotemporary Bartholomew Diaz, was literally the first who ever spread sail in the great southern Ocean, and that the Portuguese were not the Restorers, but literally the Discoverers of the present rout of Navigation to the East Indies.

He interweaves artfully the history of Portugal. —Voltaire.

In no period of History does Human Nature appear with more shocking, more diabolical features than in the wars of Cortez, and the Spanish Conquerors of South America. To the immortal honour of the Portuguese Discoverers, their conduct was in every respect the reverse. To establish a traffic equally advantageous to the natives as to themselves, was the motive on which they acted; the strictest honour, and that humanity which is ever inseparable from true bravery, presided over their transactions; nor did they ever proceed to hostilities till provoked, either by the open violence or by the perfidy of the Natives. Their honour was admired, and their friendship courted by the Indian Princes. To mention no more, the name of Gama was dear to them, and the great Albuquerque was beloved as a father, and his memory honoured with every token of affection and respect by the people and princes of India, though his conquests in the East were so great, that his Countrymen, without offering any injury to the fame of Alexander, compared him to that renowned Hero. It was owing to this spirit of honour and humanity, which in the heroical days of Portugal characterised that nation, that the religion of the Portuguese was eagerly embraced by many kings and provinces of Africa and India; while the Mexicans with manly disdain rejected the faith of the Spaniards, professing they would rather go to hell to escape these cruel Tyrants, than go to heaven, where they were told, they would meet them. Zeal for the Christian religion was esteemed, at the time of the Portuguese grandeur, as the most cardinal Virtue, and to propagate Christianity and extirpate Mohammedism were the most certain proofs of that zeal. In all their expeditions this was professedly a principal motive of the Lusitanian Monarchs, and Camoëns understood the nature of Epic poetry too well to omit, That the design of his Hero was to divulge the Law of heaven, a circumstance which gives a noble air of importance to his Subject. To take notice of the vast success of the Portuguese in propagating their religion, a success so different from that of our modern missionaries, is a necessary Elucidation of this, and of several other passages of the Lusiad.

King Sebastian, who came to the throne in his minority. Though the warm imagination of Camoens anticipated the praises of the future Hero, the young monarch, like Virgil's Pollio, had not the happiness to fulfil the prophecy. His endowments and enterprising genius promised indeed a glorious reign. Ambitious of military laurels, he led a powerful army into Africa, on purpose to replace Muley Hamet on the throne of Morocco, from which he had been deposed by Muley Molucco. On the 4th of August, 1578, in the 25th year of his age, he gave battle to the Usurper on the plains of Alcazar. This was that memorable engagement, to which the Moorish Emperor, extremely weakened by sickness, was carried in his litter. By the impetuosity of the attack, he first line of the Moorish infantry was broken, and the second disordered. Muley Molucco on this mounted his horse, drew his sabre, and would have put himself at the head of his troops, but was prevented by his attendants. On this act of violence, his emotion of mind was so great that he fell from his horse, and one of his guards having caught him in his arms, conveyed him to his litter, where, putting his finger on his lips to enjoin them silence, he immediately expired. Hamet Taba stood by the curtains of the carriage, opened them from time to time, and gave out orders as if he had received them from the Emperor. Victory declared for the Moors, and the defeat of the Portuguese was so total, that not above fifty of their whole army escaped. Hieron de Mendoça, and Sebastian de Mesa relate, that Don Sebastian, after having two horses killed under him, was surrounded and taken; but the party who had secured him quarrelling among themselves whose prisoner he was, a Moorish officer rode up and struck the King a blow over the right eye which brought him to the ground; when, despairing of ransom, the others killed him. Faria y Sousa, an exact and judicious historian reports, that Lewis de Brito meeting the King with the royal standard wrapped round him, Sebastian cried out, “Hold it fast, let us die upon it.” Brito affirmed, that after he himself was taken prisoner, he saw the King at a distance unpursued. Don Lewis de Lima afterwards met him making towards the river; and this, says the historian, was the last time he was ever seen alive. About twenty years after this fatal defeat there appeared a stranger at Venice, who called himself Sebastian, King of Portugal, whom he so perfectly resembled, that the Portuguese of that city acknowledged him for their Sovereign. Philip II. of Spain was now Master of the crown and kingdom of Portugal. His ambassador at Venice charged this stranger with many attrocious crimes, and had interest to get him apprehended and thrown into prison as an impostor. He underwent twenty-eight examinations before a committee of the nobles, in which he clearly acquitted himself of all the crimes that had been laid to his charge; he gave a distinct account of the manner in which he had passed his time from the fatal defeat at Alcazar. It was objected, that the successor of Muley Molucco sent a corps to Portugal which had been owned as that of the King by the Portuguese nobility who survived the battle. To this he replied, that his valet de chambre had produced that body to facilitate his escape, and that the nobility acted upon the same motive, and Mesa and Baena confess, that some of the nobility, after their return to Portugal, acknowledged, that the corps was so disfigured with wounds that it was impossible to know it. He shewed natural marks on his body, which many remembered on the person of the King whose name he assumed. He entered into a minute detail of the transactions that had passed between himself and the republic, and mentioned the secrets of several conversations with the Venetian ambassadors in the palace of Lisbon. The Committee were astonished, and shewed no disposition to declare him an Impostor; the Senate however refused to discuss the great point, unless requested by some Prince or State in alliance with them. This generous part was performed by the Prince of Orange, and an examination was made with great solemnity, but no decision followed, only the Senate set him at liberty, and ordered him to depart their dominions in three days. In his flight he fell into the hands of the Spaniards, who conducted him to Naples, where they treated him with the most barbarous indignities. After they had often exposed him, mounted on an ass, to the cruel insults of the brutal mob, he was shipped on board a galley as a slave. He was then carried to St. Lucar, from thence to a castle in the heart of Castile, and never was heard of more. The firmness of his behaviour, his singular modesty and heroical patience, are mentioned with admiration by Le Clede. To the last he maintained the truth of his assertions; a word never slipt from his lips which might countenance the charge of Imposture, or justify the cruelty of his persecutors. All Europe were astonished at the Ministry of Spain, who, by their method of conducting it, had made an affair so little to their credit, the topic of general conversation; and their assertion, that the unhappy sufferer was a magician, was looked upon as a tacit acknowledgement of the truth of his pretensions.

Portugal, when Camoens wrote his Lusiad, was at the zenith of its power and splendor. The glorious successes which had attended the arms of the Portuguese in Africa, had gained them the highest military reputation. Their fleets covered the Ocean. Their dominions and settlements extended along the western and eastern sides of the vast African continent. From the Red Sea to China and Japan they were sole masters of the riches of the East; and in America, the fertile and extensive regions of Brazil compleated their Empire. It is not therefore to be wondered at, that the imagination of Camoens was warmed with the view of his Country's greatness, and that he talks of its power and grandeur in a strain, which must appear as mere hyperbole to those whose ideas of Portugal are drawn from its present diminished state. After the defeat of Don Sebastian at Alcazar, which was the first step of the declension of the Portuguese grandeur, his uncle Cardinal Enricus ascended the throne; but he dying after a reign of two years, Philip II. of Spain made himself master of the kingdom of Portugal, which remained under the Spanish yoke for about sixty years. During this period, the Dutch possessed themselves of the best Portuguese settlements in the East Indies, in Africa and America; and thus, a sudden evening interrupted the grandeur of the Portuguese: So just is the observation of Goldsmith,

May the English East India Company, in the midst of their successes, remember the fate of their predecessors, and ever be guarded against that politic people, who, according to the principles on which they have always acted, would take the same advantages of the weakness of England, which heretofore they took of the distresses of Portugal!

Imitated perhaps from Rutilius, speaking of the Roman Empire,

or more probably from these lines of Buchanan, addressed to John III. king of Portugal, the grand father of Sebastian.

The Twelve Peers of France, often mentioned in the old Romances. For the Episode of Magrizo and his eleven companions, see the sixth Lusiad.

John III. King of Portugal, celebrated for a long and peaceful reign; and the Emperor Charles V. who was engaged in almost continual wars.

Virg. G. I.

Some Critics have condemned Virgil for stopping his narrative to introduce even a short observation of his own. Milton's beautiful complaint of his blindness has been blamed for the same reason, as being no part of the subject of his Poem. The address of Camoens to Don Sebastian has not escaped the same censure; though in some measure undeservedly, as the Poet has had the art to interweave therein some part of the general argument of his poem.

This brave Lusitanian, who was first a shepherd and a famous hunter, and afterwards a captain of banditti, exasperated at the tyranny of the Romans, encouraged his countrymen to revolt and shake off the yoke. Being appointed General, he defeated Vetilius the Prætor, who commanded in Lusitania, or farther Spain. After this he defeated in three pitched battles, the Prætors C. Plautius Hypsæus, and Claudius Unimanus, though they led against him very numerous armies. For six years he continued victorious, putting the Romans to flight wherever he met them, and laying waste the countries of their allies. Having obtained such advantages over the Proconsul Servilianus, that the only choice which was left to the Roman army was death or slavery; the brave Viriatus, instead of putting them all to the sword, as he could easily have done, sent a deputation to the General, offering to conclude a peace with him on this single condition, That he should continue Master of the Country now in his power, and that the Romans should remain possessed of the rest of Spain.

The Proconsul, who expected nothing but death or slavery, thought these very favourable and moderate terms, and without hesitation concluded a peace, which was soon after ratified by the Roman senate and people. Viriatus, by this treaty, compleated the glorious design he had always in view, which was to erect a kingdom in the vast country he had conquered from the Republic. And had it not been for the treachery of the Romans, he would have become, as Florus calls him, the Romulus of Spain: He would have founded a monarchy capable of counterbalancing the power of Rome.

The Senate, still desirous to revenge their late defeat, soon after this peace ordered Q. Servilius Cæpio to exasperate Viriatus, and force him by repeated affronts to commit the first acts of hostility. But this mean artifice did not succeed: Viriatus would not be provoked to a breach of the peace. On this the Conscript Fathers, to the eternal disgrace of their Republic, ordered Cæpio to delare war, and to proclaim Viriatus, who had given no provocation, an enemy to Rome. To this baseness Cæpio added still a greater; he corrupted the ambassadors which Viriatus had sent to negotiate with him, who, at the instigation of the Roman, treacherously murdered their Protector and General while he slept.

Sertorius, who was invited by the Lusitanians to defend them against the Romans. He had a tame white Hind, which he had accustomed to follow him, and from which he pretended to receive the instructions of Diana. By this artifice he imposed upon the superstition of that people. Vid. Plut.

The French Translator has the following note on this place: Le Camoens n'a pourtant fait en cela que suivre l'exemple de l'Ecriture, comme on le voit dans ces paroles du premiere chapitre de Job. Quidam autem die cum venissent, &c. Un jour que les enfans du Seigneur s'etoient assemble devant son trone, Satan y vint aussi, &c.

An antient city in India sacred to Bacchus.

An Italian poet has given the following description of the celestial Venus.

Martel.

See the note in the Second Book on the following passage;—

Camoens says,

Qualifications are never elegant in poetry. Fanshaw's translation, and the original, both prove this.

The thought in the Original has something in it wildly great, though it is not expressed in the happiest manner of Camoens,

Called by the ancient Geographers Menuthia, and Cerna Ethiopica; by the natives, the Island of the Moon; and by the Portuguese, the Isle of St. Laurence, on whose festival they discovered it.

The Original says, the Sea shewed them new islands, which it encircled and laved. Thus rendered by Fanshaw,

Virg. En.

The historical foundation of the fable of Phaeton is this. Phaeton was a young enterprising Prince of Libya. Crossing the Mediterranean in quest of adventures he landed at Epirus, from whence he went to Italy to see his intimate friend Cygnus. Phaeton was skilled in astrology, from whence he arrogated to himself the title of the son of Apollo. One day in the heat of summer as he was riding along the banks of the Po, his horses took fright at a clap of thunder, and plunged into the river, where together with their master they perished. Cygnus, who was a Poet, celebrated the death of his friend in verse, from whence the fable. Vid. Plutar. in vit. Pyrr.

Mohammed, who was descended from Ishmael, the son of Abraham by Hagar.

Camoens, in this passage, has imitated Homer in the manner of Virgil: by diversifying the scene he has made the description his own. The passage alluded to is in the eighth Iliad:

Thus elegantly translated by Pope:

The description of the armoury, and the account which Vasco de Gama gives of his religion, consists, in the Original, of thirty-two lines, which M. Castera has reduced into the following sentence: Leur Governeur fait differentes questions au Capitaine, qui pour le satisfaire lui explique en peu des mots la Religion que les Portugais suivent, l'usage des armes dont ils se servent dans la guerre, et le dessein qui les amene.

This omission affords us one of the numberless instances of the unpoetical taste of the French Paraphrist.

This, and of consequence, the reason of the Moor's hate, is entirely omitted by Castera. The original is, the Moor conceived hatred, “knowing they were followers of the truth which the Son of David taught.” Thus rendered by Fanshaw,

By this Solomon must be understood, not the Messiah, as meant by Camoens.

Zacocia, (governor of Mozambic) made no doubt but our people were of some Mohammedan country.—The mutual exchange of good offices between our people and these islanders promised a long continuance of friendship, but it proved otherwise. No sooner did Zacocia understand they were Christians, than all his kindness was turned into the most bitter hatred; he began to meditate their ruin, and sought by every means to destroy the fleet. —Osorio, Bp. of Sylves, Hist. of the Portug. Discov.

According to the Arabians, Bacchus was nourished during his infancy in a cave of mount Meros, which in Greek signifies a thigh. Hence the fable.

—Vir. En. 7.

This similie is taken from a favourite exercise in Spain, where it is usual to see young Gentlemen of the best families entering the lists to fight with a Bull, adorned with ribbons, and armed with a javelin or kind of cutlas, which the Spaniards call Machete. Though Camoens in this description of it has given the victory to the Bull, it very seldom so happens, the young Caballeros being very expert at this valorous exercise, and ambitious to display their dexterity, which is a sure recommendation to the favour and good opinion of the Ladies.

Thus translated by Fanshaw,

The Spanish Commentator on this Place relates a very extraordinary instance of the furor arma ministrans. A Portuguese Soldier at the siege of Diu in the Indies being surroünded by the enemy, and having no ball to charge his musket, pulled out one of his teeth, and with it supplied the place of a bullet.

When Gama arrived in the East, the Moors were the only people who engrossed the trade of those parts. Jealous of such formidable rivals as the Portuguese, they employed every artifice to accomplish the destruction of Gama's fleet, for they foresaw the consequences of his return to Portugal. As the Moors were acquainted with these seas and spoke the Arabic language, Gama was obliged to employ them both as Pilots and Interpreters. The circumstance now mentioned by Camoens is an historical fact. The Moorish Pilot, says De Barros, intended to conduct the Portuguese into Quiloa, telling them that place was inhabited by Christians, but a sudden storm arising, drove the fleet from that shore, where death or slavery would have been the certain fate of Gama and his companions. The villany of the Pilot was afterwards discovered. As Gama was endeavouring to enter the port of Mombaze his ship struck on a sand bank, and finding their purpose of bringing him into the harbour defeated, two of the Moorish Pilots leaped into the sea and swam ashore. Alarmed at this tacit acknowledgement of guilt, Gama ordered two other Moorish Pilots who remained on board to be examined by whipping, who, after some time, made a full confession of their intended villany. This discovery greatly encouraged Gama and his men, who now interpreted the sudden storm which had driven them from Quiloa as a miraculous interposition of the Divine Providence in their favour.

After Gama had been driven from Quiloa by a sudden storm, the assurances of the Mozambic pilot that the city was chiefly inhabited by Christians, strongly inclined him to enter the harbour of Mombaze; “Nec ullum locum (says Osorius) magis opportunum curandis atque reficiendis ægrotis posse reperiri. Jam eo tempore bona pars eorum, qui cum Gama conscenderant, variis morbis consumpta fuerat, et qui evaserant, erant gravi invaletudine debilitati. . . . . Tellus abundat fructibus et oleribus, et frugibus, et pecorum et armentorum gregibus, et aquis dulcibus. Utitur præterea mira cælitemperie. Homines vivunt admodum laute, et domos more nostro ædificant.—Misit rex nuncios, qui Gamam nomine illius salutarent. . . . Aiunt deinde regionem illam esse opulentissimam, earumque rerum omnium plenissimam, quarum gratia multi in Indiam navigabant. Regem adeò esse in illos voluntate propensum ut nihil esset tam difficile, quod non se eorum gratia facturum polliceretur.” Osorius Silvensis Episc. de Rebus Emman. Regis Lusit. gestis.

Erant enim in ea classe decem homines capite damnati, quibus fuerat ea lege vita, concessa, ut quibuscunque in locis a Gama relicti fuissent, regiones lustrarent, hominumque mores et instituta cognescerent. Osor.

During the reign of Emmanuel, and his predecessor John II. few criminals were executed in Portugal. These great and political princes employed the lives which were forfeited to the public in the most dangerous undertakings of public utility. In their foreign expeditions the condemned criminals were sent upon the most hazardous emergencies. If death was their fate, it was the punishment they had merited: if successful in what was requited, their crimes were expiated; and often, as in the voyage of Gama, they rendered their country the greatest atonement for their guilt which men in their circumstances could possibly make. Where the subject thus obtrudes the occasion, a short digression, it is hoped, will be pardoned. While every feeling breast must be pleased with the wisdom and humanity of the Portuguese monarchs, indignation and regret must rise on the view of the present state of the penal laws of England. What multitudes every year, in the prime of their life, end their days by the hand of the executioner! That the Legislature might devise means to make the greatest part of these lives useful to society is a fact, which surely cannot be disputed; though perhaps the remedy of an evil so shocking to humanity may be at some distance.

Erant enim in ea classe decem homines capite damnati, quibus fuerat ea lege vita, concessa, ut quibuscunque in locis a Gama relicti fuissent, regiones lustrarent, hominumque mores et instituta cognescerent. Osor.

During the reign of Emmanuel, and his predecessor John II. few criminals were executed in Portugal. These great and political princes employed the lives which were forfeited to the public in the most dangerous undertakings of public utility. In their foreign expeditions the condemned criminals were sent upon the most hazardous emergencies. If death was their fate, it was the punishment they had merited: if successful in what was requited, their crimes were expiated; and often, as in the voyage of Gama, they rendered their country the greatest atonement for their guilt which men in their circumstances could possibly make. Where the subject thus obtrudes the occasion, a short digression, it is hoped, will be pardoned. While every feeling breast must be pleased with the wisdom and humanity of the Portuguese monarchs, indignation and regret must rise on the view of the present state of the penal laws of England. What multitudes every year, in the prime of their life, end their days by the hand of the executioner! That the Legislature might devise means to make the greatest part of these lives useful to society is a fact, which surely cannot be disputed; though perhaps the remedy of an evil so shocking to humanity may be at some distance.

In these lines, the best of all Fanshaw, the happy repetition “so chaste, so white,” is a beauty which, though not contained in the original, the present translator was unwilling to lose.

See the Preface.

When Gama lay at anchor among the islands of St. George, near to Mozambic, “there came three Ethiopians on board, (says Faria y Sousa) who, seeing St. Gabriel painted on the poop, fell on their knees in token of their Christianity, which had been preached to them in the primitive times, though now corrupted.” Barros, c. 4. and Castaneda, l. i. c. 9. report, that the Portuguese found two or three Abyssinian Christians in the city of Mombaze, who had an oratory in their house. The following short account of the Christians of the East may perhaps be acceptable. In the south parts of Malabar, about 200000 of the inhabitants professed Christianity before the arrival of the Portuguese. They called themselves the Christians of Saint Thomas, by which apostle their ancestors had been converted. For 1300 years they had been under the Patriarch of Babylon, who appointed their Meterane or archbishop. Dr. Geddes, in his History of the Church of Malabar, relates, that Francisco Roz, a jesuit missionary, complained to Menezes, the Portuguese archbishop of Goa, that when he shewed these people an image of our Lady, they cried out, “Away with that filthiness, we are Christians, and do not adore idols or pagods.”

Don Frey Aleixo de Menezes, archbishop of Goa, did “endeavour to thrust upon the church of Malabar the whole mass of popery, which they were before unacquainted with.” To this purpose he had engaged all the neighbouring princes to assist him, “and had secured the major part of the priests present, in all one hundred and fifty three, whereof two-thirds were ordained by himself, and made them abjure their old religion, and subscribe the creed of pope Pius IV.” Millar's History of the Propag. of Christianity.

The French translator has the following note on this place, “Cet endroit est l'un de ceux qui montrent combien l'Auteur est habile dans la mythologie, et en même tems combien de pénétration son allégorie demande. Il y a bien peu de gens, qui en lisant ici, &c.—This is one of the places which discover our Author's intimate acquaintance with Mythology, and at the same time how much attention his allegory requires. Many readers, on finding that the protectress of the Lusians sprung from the sea, would be apt to exclaim, Behold, the birth of the terrestrial Venus! How can a nativity so infamous be ascribed to the celestial Venus, who represents Religion? I answer, that Camoens had not his eye on those fables, which derive the birth of Venus from the foam of the waves, mixed with the blood which flowed from the dishonest wound of Saturn; he carries his views higher; his Venus is from a fable more noble. Nigidius relates, that two fishes one day conveyed an egg to the sea shore: This egg was hatched by two pigeons whiter than snow, and gave birth to the Assyrian Venus, which, in the Pagan theology, is the same with the celestial: She instructed mankind in Religion, gave them the lessons of virtue and the laws of equity. Jupiter, in reward of her labours, promised to grant her whatever she desired. She prayed him to give immortality to the two fishes, who had been instrumental in her birth, and the fishes were accordingly placed in the Zodiac. . . . . . This fable agrees perfectly with Religion, as I could clearly shew; but I think it more proper to leave to the ingenious reader the pleasure of tracing the allegory.” Thus the grave Castera.—Besides the above, Mythology gives two other accounts of the origin of the sign Pisces. When Venus and Cupid fled from the rage of Typhon, they were saved by two fishes, who carried them over the river Euphrates. The fishes, in return, were placed in the Zodiac. Another fable says, that that favour was obtained by Neptune for the two Dolphins, who first brought him his beloved Amphitrite. This variety in the Pagan Mythology is, at least, a proof that the allegory or a Poet ought not, without full examination, to be condemned on the appearance of inconsistency.

Cloto, or Clotho, as Castera observes, has by some error crept into almost all the Portuguese editions of the Lusiad. Clotho was one of the Fates, and neither Hesiod, Homer, nor Virgil have given such a name to any of the Nereides; but in the ninth Eneid Doto is mentioned,

The Nereides, in the Lusiad, says Castera, are the virtues divine and human. In the first book they accompany the Portuguese fleet;

“And without doubt, says he, this allegory, in a lively manner, represents the condition of mankind. The virtues languish in repose; adversities animate and awake them. The fleet sailing before a favourable wind is followed by the Nereides, but the Nereides are scattered about in the sea. When danger becomes imminent, Venus, or Religion, assembles them to its safety.” Whatever the reader may think of the intention of Camoens, there is undoubtedly a prettiness in this explication. The following part is indeed highly pedantic. “Doto, continues Castera, is derived from the verb Διδωμι, I give. According to this etymology Doto is Charity. Nyse is Hope, and Nerine Faith. For the name Nyse comes from Νεω, I swim. For the action of Hope agrees with that of swimming, and is the symbol of it. Nerine is a term composed of νηστις, an old word, which signifies the waters of the sea, and of ρινη, a file; as if one should say, the file of the sea-waters, a mysterious expression, applicable to Faith, which is the file of our soul, and which is rendered perfect by the water of baptism.” Our French Translator wisely adds, that perhaps some persons may despise this etymology, but that for his part, he is unwilling to reject it, as it tends to unravel the allegory of his author.

Imitated from Virgil.

—Virg. En. I.

Latona, says the fable, flying from the serpent Python, and faint with thirst, came to a pond, where some Lycian peasants were cutting the bulrushes. In revenge of the insults which they offered her in preventing her to drink, she changed them into frogs. This fable, says Castera, like almost all the rest, is drawn from history. Philocorus, as cited by Boccace, relates, that the Rhodians having declared war against the Lycians, were assisted by some troops from Delos, who carried the image of Latona on their standards. A detachment of these going to drink at a lake in Lycia, a croud of peasants endeavoured to prevent them. An encounter ensued; the peasants fled to the lake for shelter, and were there slain. Some months afterwards their companions came in search of their corpses, and finding an unusual quantity of frogs, imagined, according to the superstition of their age, that the souls of their friends appeared to them under that metamorphosis.

Is is allowable in Epic Poetry to introduce a comparison taken from a low image? This is a question which has exercised the abilities of Critics and Translators, till criticism has degenerated into trifling, and learning into pedantry. To some it may perhaps appear needless to vindicate Camoens, in a point wherein he is supported by the authority of Homer and Virgil. Yet as many readers are infected with the sang froid of a Bossu or a Perrault, an observation in defence of our Poet cannot be thought impertinent. If we examine the finest effusions of genius, we shall find, that the most genuine poetical feeling has often dictated those similies which are drawn from familiar and low objects. The Sacred Writers, and the greatest Poets of every nation, have used them. We may therefore conclude, that the criticism which condemns them is a refinement not founded on Nature. But, allowing them admissible, it must be observed, that to render them pleasing requires a peculiar happiness and delicacy of management. When the Poet attains this indispensible point, he gives a striking proof of his elegance, and of his mastership in his art. That the similies of the Emmets and of the Frogs in Camoens are happily expressed and applied, is indisputable. In that of the Frogs there is a peculiar propriety, both in the comparison itself, and in the allusion to the fable; as it was the intent of the Poet to represent not only the flight, but the baseness of the Moors. The similie he seems to have copied from Dante, Inf. Cant. 9.

And Cant. 22.

Osorius gives the following account of this adventure. Talking of the two Exiles whom Gama had sent on shore; Rex læta et hilari fronte exules accepit, imperavitque domesticis suis, ut illis urbis situm et pulchritudinem demonstrarent. Ubi vero reversi sunt, Rex multa aromatum genera, quæ ex India deportari solent, illis ostentat, et quantulum visum est donat, ut Gamæ monstrare possent, et admonere, quanto esset utilius apud Regem amicum rem gerere, quàm vitam tam periculosæ navigationi committere. Cum his mandatis redeunt exules in classem, Gama mirificè lætatus eft, et postridie anchoras tolli jubet, et naves prope urbem constitui. Cùm verò illius navis æstus incitati vi celerius, quam commodum esset, inveheretur, timens ille nè in vadum incideret, vela contrahere et anchoras demittere confestim jussit. . . . . Quo facto Mozambiquenses gubernatores metu repentino perculsi, se præcipites in mare dejiciunt, et ad lintres quasdam, quæ non procul aberat, nando confugiunt. . . . . At Gama magnis vocibus ad eos, qui in lintribus erant, inclamavit, ut sibi suos gubernatores redderent: at illi clamores illius aspernati, gubernatores in terram exposuerunt. Hic Gama cum et conjectura, et aliquo etiam Arabis gubernatoris indicio, et multis præterea signis, perspexisset è quanto periculo fuisset auxilio divino liberatus, manus in cœlum sustulit. Barros and Castaneda, in relating this part of the voyage of Gama, say, that the fleet, just as they were entering the port of Mombassa were driven back, as it were, by an invisible hand. By a subsequent note it will appear, that the safety of the Armada depended upon this circumstance.

As the planet of Jupiter is in the sixth heaven, the Author has with propriety there placed the throne of that God. C.

J'entends les censeurs, says Castera, se récrier que cet endroit-ci ne convient nullement à la Venus celeste.—I am aware of the objection, that this passage is by no means applicable to the celestial Venus. I answer once for all, that the names and adventures of the Pagan Divinities are so blended and uncertain in Mythology, that a Poet is at great liberty to adapt them to his allegory as he pleases. Even the fables, which, to those who penetrate no deeper than the Rhind, may appear as profane, even these contain historical, physical, and moral truths, which fully atone for the seeming licenciousness of the letter. I could prove this in many instances, but let the present suffice. Paris, son of Priam, king of Troy, spent his first years as a shepherd in the country. At this time Juno, Minerva, and Venus disputed for the apple of gold, which was destined to be given to the most beautiful goddess. They consented that Paris should be their judge. His equity claimed this honour. He saw them all naked. Juno promised him riches, Minerva the sciences, but he decided in favour of Venus, who promised him the possession of the most beauful woman. What a ray of light is contained in this philosophical fable! Paris represents a studious man, who, in the silence of solitude, seeks the supreme good. Juno is the emblem of riches and dignities, Minerva, that of the sciences purely human, Venus is that of Religion, which contains the sciences both human and divine; the charming female, which she promises to the Trojan shepherd, is that Divine Wisdom which gives tranquillity of heart. A Judge so philosophical as Paris would not hesitate a moment to whom to give the apple of gold. Thus Castera. The above may likewise serve as a comment on the passage in the first book. See pag. 16, l. 5.

“The allegory of Camoens is here obvious. If Acteon, and the slaves of their violent passions could discover the beauties of true religion, they would be astonished and reclaimed; according to the expression of Seneca, “Si virtus cerni posset oculis corporeis, omnes ad amorem suum pelliceret.” Castera.

“That is Divine Love, which always accompanies Religion. Behold how our Author insinuates the excellence of his moral!”

As the French Translator has acknowledged, there is no doubt but several Readers will be apt to decry this allegorical interpretation of the machinery of Camoens. Indeed there is nothing more easy for a fancyful genius, than to discover a system of allegory in the simplest narrative. The reign of Henry VIII. is as susceptible of it as any fable in the heathen Mythology. Nay, perhaps, more so. Under the names of Henry, More, Wolsey, Cromwell, Pole, Cranmer, &c. all the war of the passions, with their different catastrophes, might be delineated. But though it may be easy to find a metaphorical meaning, which was never intended by the Author, in what manner the Poets of the two last centuries adopted the use of allegory, is the question at present to be considered. Though it may be difficult to determine how far, yet one may venture to affirm, that Homer and Virgil sometimes allegorised. The poets, however, who wrote on the revival of letters, have left us in no doubt; we have their own authority for it, that their machinery is allegorical. Not only the Pagan Deities, but the more modern adventures of enchantment were used by them to delineate the affections; and the trials and rewards of the virtues and vices. Tasso published a treatise to prove that his Gierusalemme Liberata is no other than the Christian spiritual warfare. And Camoens, as observed in the preface, has twice asserted, that his machinery is allegorical. The Poet's assertion, and the taste of the age in which he wrote, sufficiently vindicate the Endeavour to unravel and explain the allegory of the Lusiad.

The following speech of Venus and the reply of Jupiter, are a fine imitation from the first Eneid, and do great honour to the Classical taste of the Portuguese Poet.

Imitated from Virg. En I.

i. e. The slave of Calypso, who offered Ulysses immortality on condition he would live with her

After the Portuguese had made great conquests in India, Gama had the honour to be appointed Viceroy. In 1524, when sailing thither to take possession of his government, his fleet was so becalmed on the coast Cambaya, that the ships stood motionless on the water, when in an instant, without the least change of the weather, the waves were shaken with a violent agitation, like trembling. The ships were tossed about, The sailors were terrified, and in the utmost confusion, thinking themselves lost. When Gama, perceiving it to be the effect of an earthquake, with his wonted heroism and prudence, exclaimed, “Of what are you afraid? Do you not see how the Ocean trembles under its Sovereigns!” Barros, L. 9. C. 1. and Faria, C. 9. who says, that such as lay sick of fevers were cured by the fright.

Both Barros and Castaneda relate this fact. Albuquerk, during the war of Ormuz, having given battle to the Persians and Moors, by the violence of a sudden wind the arrows of the latter were driven back upon themselves, whereby many o their troops were wounded.

Virg. Æn. VIII.

Magalhaens, a most celebrated navigator. Neglected by Emmanuel king of Portugal, he offered his service to the king of Spain, under whom he made most important discoveries round the Straits, which bear his name, and in the back parts of South America; acquirements, which at this day are of the utmost value to the Spanish Empire. Of this hero see further, X. Lusiad, in the notes.

Virg. Æn. IV.

Diomede, a tyrant of Thrace, who fed his horses with human flesh; a thing, says the grave Castera, presque incroyable, almost incredible. Busiris, was a king of Egypt, who sacrificed strangers.

Hercules vanquished both these tyrants, and put them to the same punishments which their cruelty had inflicted on others. Isocrates composed an oration in honour of Busiris; a masterly example of Attic raillery and satire. To this Castera wisely appeals, to prove the truth of the history of that tyrant.

Having mentioned the escape of the Moorish pilots, Osorius proceeds: Rex deinde homines magno cum filentio scaphis & lintribus submittebat, qui securibus anchoralia nocte præciderent. Quod nisi fuisset à nostris singulari Gamæ industria vigilatum, et insidiis scelerati illius regis occursum, nostri in summum vitæ discrimen incidissent.

Claud.

Ovid.

There were on board Gama's fleet several persons skilled in the Oriental languages. Osor.

See the Eighth Odyssey, &c.

Castera's note on this place is so characteristical of a Frenchman, that the Reader will perhaps be pleased to see it transcribed. In his text he says, “Toi qui occupes si dignement le rang supreme—Le Poete dit, says he, in the note, Tens de Rey o officio, Toi qui fais le metier de Roi—The Poet says, thou who holdest the business of a king. I confess, he adds, I found a strong inclination to translate this sentence literally. I find much nobleness in it. However, I submitted to the opinion of some friends, who were afraid that the ears of Frenchmen would be shocked at the word business applied to a King. It is true, nevertheless, that Royalty is a business. Philip II. of Spain was convinced of it, as we may discern from one of his letters. Hallo, says he, me muy embaraçado, &c. I am so entangled and incumbered with the multiplicity of business, that I have not a moment to myself. In truth, we kings hold a laborious office; (or trade) there is little reason to envy us.” May the politeness of England never be disgusted with the word business applied to a king!

The propriety and artfulness of Homer's speeches have been often and justly admired. Camoens is peculiarly happy in the same department of the Epopea. The speech of Gama's herald to the King of Melinda is a striking instance of it. The compliments with which it begins have a direct tendency to the favours afterward to be asked. The assurances of the innocence, the purpose of the Voyagers, and the greatness of their king, are happily touched. The exclamation on the barbarous treatment they had experienced, “Not wisdom saved us, but heaven's own care,” are masterly insinuations. Their barbarous treatment is again repeated in a manner to move compassion: Alas! what could they fear, &c. is reasoning joined with the pathos. That they were conducted to the King of Melinda by heaven, and were by heaven assured of his truth, is a most delicate compliment, and in the true spirit of the Epic Poem. The allusion to Alcinous is well timed. The apology for Gama's refusal to come on shore, is exceeding artful. It conveys a proof of the greatness of the Portuguese Sovereign, and affords a compliment to Loyalty, which could not fail to be acceptable to a Monarch. In short, the whole of the speech supplicates warmly, but at the same time in the most manly manner; and the adjuration concludes it with all the appearance of warmth and sincerity. Eustathius would have written a whole chapter on such a speech in the Iliad or Odyssey.

Camoens seems to have his eye on the picture of Gama, which is thus described by Faria y Sousa. “He is painted with a black cap, cloak and breeches edged with velvet, all slashed, through which appears the crimson lining, the doublet of crimson sattin, and over it his armour inlaid with gold,”

The admiration and friendship of the king of Melinda, so much insisted on by Camoens, is a judicious imitation of Virgil's Dido. In both cases such preparation was necessary to introduce the long episodes which follow.

For a defence of the king of Melinda's learning, ignorantly objected to by Voltaire, see the Preface.

Calliope—the Muse of Epic Poesy, and mother of Orpheus. Daphne, daughter of the river Peneus, flying from Apollo, was turned into the laurel. Clytia was metamorphosed into the Sun-flower, and Leucothoe, who was buried alive by her Father for yielding to the solicitations of Apollo, was by her Lover changed into an Incense tree. The physical meaning of these fables is obvious.

The preface to the speech of Gama, and the description of Europe which follows, are happy imitations of the manner of Homer. When Camoens describes countries, or musters an army, it is after the example of the great models of antiquity: By adding some characteristical feature of the climate or people, he renders his narrative pleasing, picturesque, and poetical.

In the year 409 the city of Rome was sacked, and Italy laid desolate by Alaric, king of the Scandian and other northern tribes. In mentioning this circumstance Camoens has not fallen into the common error of little Poets, who on every occasion bewail the outrage which the Goths and Vandals did to the Arts and Sciences. A complaint founded on ignorance. The Southern nations of Europe were sunk into the most contemptible degeneracy. The Sciences, with every branch of manly literature, were almost unknown. For near two centuries no Poet of note had adorned the Roman Empire. Those arts only, the abuse of which have a certain and fatal tendency to enervate the mind, the arts of Music and Cookery, were passionately cultivated in all the refinements of effeminate abuse. The art of war was too laborious for their delicacy, and the generous warmth of heroism and patriotism was incompatible with their effeminacy. On these despicable Sybarites the North poured her brave and hardy sons, who, though ignorant of polite literature, were possessed of all the manly virtues of the Scythians in a high degree. Under their conquests Europe wore a new face, which however rude, was infinitely preferable to that which it had lately worn. And however Ignorance may talk of their barbarity, it is to them that England owes her constitution, which, as Montesquieu observes, they brought from the woods of Saxony. The spirit of gallantry and romantic attachment to the fair sex, which distinguished the Northern Heroes, will make their manners admired, while, considered in the same point, the polished ages of Greece and Rome excite our horror and detestation. To add no more, it is to the irruption of these brave barbarians that modern Europe owes those remains of the spirit of Liberty, and some other of the greatest advantages, which she may at present possess.

Sybaris, a city in Grecia Magna, whose inhabitants were so effeminate, that they ordered all the cocks to be killed, that they might not be disturbed by their early crowing.

She was daughter to Bebryx, a king of Spain, and concubine to Hercules. Having wandered one day from her lover she was destroyed by wild beasts, on one of the mountains which bear her name. Diodorus Siculus, and others, derive the name of the Pyrenians from πυρ fire. To support which etymology they relate, that by the negligence of some shepherds the antient forests on these mountains were set on fire, and burned with such vehemence, that the melted metals spouted out and ran down from the sides of the hills. The allusion to this old tradition is in the true spirit of Homer and Virgil. C.

Hercules, says the fable, to crown his labours, separated the two mountains Calpe and Abyla, the one now in Spain, the other in Africa, in order to open a canal for the benefit of commerce; on which the ocean rushed in, and formed the Mediterranean, the Egean, and Euxin seas.

The assassination of Viriatus. See the note on Book I. p. 13.

Don Alonzo, king of Spain, apprehensive of the superior number of the Moors, with whom he was at war, demanded assistance from Philip I. of France, and of the duke of Burgundy. According to the military spirit of the nobility of that age, no sooner was his desire known than numerous bodies of troops thronged to his standard. These, in the course of a few years, having shewn signal proofs of their courage, the king distinguished the leaders with different marks of his regard. To Henry, a younger son of the duke of Burgundy he gave his daughter Teresa in marriage, with the sovereignty of the countries to the south of Galicia, commissioning him to enlarge his boundaries by the expulsion of the infidels. Under the government of this great man, who reigned by the title of Count, his dominion was greatly enlarged, and became more rich and populous than before. The two provinces of Entro Minho e Douro, and Fra los Montes, were subdued, with that part of Beira which was held by the Moorish king of Lamego, whom he constrained to pay tribute. Many thousands of Christians, who had either lived in miserable subjection to the Moors, or in desolate independency in the mountains, took shelter under the protection of Count Henry. Great multitudes of the Moors also chose rather to submit and remain in their native country under a mild government, than be exposed to the severities and the continual feuds and seditions of their own governors. These advantages, added to the great fertility of the soil of Henry's dominions, will account for the numerous armies and the frequent wars of the first sovereigns of Portugal.

Camoens, in making the founder of the Portuguese monarchy a younger son of the king of Hungary, has followed the old chronologist Galvan. The Spanish and Portuguese historians differ widely in their accounts of the parentage of this gallant stranger. Some bring him from Constantinople, and others from the house of Lorrain. But the clearest and most probable account of him is in the chronicle of Fleury, wherein is preserved a fragment of French history, written by a Benedictine monk in the beginning of the twelfth century, and in the time of Count Henry. By this it appears, that he was a younger son of Henry the only son of Robert the first duke of Burgundy, who was a younger brother of Henry I of France. Fanshaw having an eye to this history, has taken the unwarrantable liberty to alter the fact as mentioned by his author.

Nor are historians agreed on the birth of Donna Teresa, the spouse of Count Henry. Brandam, and other Portuguese historians, are at great pains to prove she was the legitimate daughter of Alonzo and the beautiful Ximena de Guzman. But it appears from the more authentic chronicle of Fleury, that Ximena was only his concubine. And it is evident from all the historians, that Donna Urraca, the heiress of her father's kingdom, was younger than her half-sister, the wife of Count Henry.

His expedition to the Holy Land is mentioned by some monkish writers, but from the other parts of his history it is highly improbable. Camoens however shews his judgment in adopting every traditionary circumstance that might give an air of solemnity to his poem.

Don Alonzo Enriquez, son of Count Henry, was only entered into his third year when his father died. His mother assumed the reins of government, and appointed Don Fernando Perez de Traba to be her minister. When the young prince was in his eighteenth year, some of the nobility, who either envied the power of Don Perez, or were really offended with the reports that were spread of his familiarity with the prince's mother, of his intention to marry her, and to exclude the lawful heir, easily persuaded the young Count to take arms, and assume the sovereignty. A battle ensued, in which the prince was victorious. Teresa it is said, retired into the castle of Legonaso, where she was taken prisoner by her son, who condemned her to perpetual imprisonment, and ordered chains to be put upon her legs. That Don Alonzo made war against his mother, vanquished her party, and that she died in prison about two years after, A. D. 1130, are certain. But the cause of the war, that his mother was married to, or intended to marry Don Perez, and that she was put in chains, are uncertain.

The Scylla here alluded to was, according to fable, the daughter of Nisus king of Megara, who had a purple lock, in which lay the fate of his kingdom. Minos of Crete made war against him, for whom Scylla conceived so violent a passion, that she cut off the fatal lock while her father slept. Minos on this was victorious, but rejected the love of the unnatural daughter, who in despair flung herself from a rock, and in the fall was changed into a lark.

The Universal Historians having related this story of Egas, add, “All this is very pleasant and entertaining, but we see no sufficient reason to affirm that there is one syllable of it true”

When Darius laid seige to Babylon, one of his Lords, named Zopyrus, having cut off his nose and ears, persuaded the enemy that he had received these indignities from the cruelty of his master. Being appointed to a chief command in Babylon, he betrayed the city to Darius. Vid. Justin.

The Spanish and Portuguese histories afford several instances of the Moorish Chiefs being attended in the field of battle by their mistresses, and of the romantic gallantry and Amazonian courage of these ladies.

Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons, who, after having signalized her valour at the seige of Troy, was killed by Achilles.

Thermodon, a river of Scythia in the country of the Amazons.

Virg. En. IX.

It may, perhaps, be agreeable to the Reader, to see the description of a Bull-fight, as managed by Homer.

Pope. Il. XV.

There is a passage in Xenophon, upon which perhaps Camoens had his eye. Επει δε εληξεν η μαχη, παρην ιδειν, την μεν γην αιματι πεφυρμενην, &c. “When the battle was over one might behold, through the whole extent of the field, the ground purpled with blood, the bodies of friends and enemies stretched over each other, the shields pierced, the spears broken, and the drawn swords, some scattered on the earth, some plunged in the bosoms of the slain, and some yet grasped in the hands of the dead soldiers.”

As it was necessary in the preface to give a character of the French translation of the Lusiad, some support of that character is necessary in the notes. To point out every instance of the unpoetical taste of Castera, were to give his paraphrase of every fine passage in Camoens. His management of this battle will give an idea of his manner, it is therefore transcribed. “Le Portugais heurte impetuesement les soldats d'Ismar, les renverse et leur ouvre le sein à coups de lance; on se rencontre, on se choque avec une fureur qui ébranleroit le sommet de montagnes. La terre tremble sous les pas des coursiers sougueux; l'impitoyable Erinnys voit des blessures enormes et de coups dignes d'elles: les guerriers de Lusus brisent, coupent, taillent, enfoncent plastrons, armures, boucliers, cuirasses et turbans; la Parque étend ses ailes affreuses sur les Mauritains, l'un expire en mordant la poussiere, l'autre implore le secours de son prophete; têtes jambes et bras volent et bondissent de toutes parts, l'œil n'apperçoit que visages couverts d'une paleur livide, que corps déchirés et qu'entrailles palpitantes.” Had Castera seriously intended to burlesque his Author he could scarcely have better succeeded. As translation cannot convey a perfect idea of an author's manner, it is therefore not attempted. The attack was with such fury that it shook the tops of the mountains: This bombast, and the wretched anticlimax ending with turbans, are not in the original; from which indeed the whole is extremely wide. Had he added any poetical image, any flower to the embroidery of his Author, the increase of the richness of the tissue would have rendered his work more pleasing. It was therefore his interest to do so. But it was not in the feelings of Castera to translate the Lusiad with the spirit of Camoens.

This memorable battle was fought in the plains of Ourique, in 1139. The engagement lasted six hours; the Moors were totally routed with incredible slaughter. On the field of battle Alonzo was proclaimed king of Portugal. The Portuguese writers have given many fabulous accounts of this victory. Some affirm, that the Moorish army amounted to 380,000, others, 480,000, and others swell it to 600,000, whereas Don Alonzo's did not exceed 13,000. Miracles must also be added. Alonzo, they tell us, being in great perplexity, sat down to comfort his mind by the perusal of the Holy Scriptures. Having read the story of Gideon, he sunk into a deep sleep, in which he saw a very old man in a remarkable dress come into his tent, and assure him of victory. His chamberlain coming in, waked him, and told him there was an old man very importunate to speak with him. Don Alonzo ordered him to be brought in, and no sooner saw him than he knew him to be the old man whom he had seen in his dream. This venerable person acquainted him, that he was a fisherman, and had led a life of penance for sixty years on an adjacent rock, where it had been revealed to him, that if the Count marched his army the next morning, as soon as he heard a certain bell ring, he should receive the strongest assurance of victory. Accordingly, at the ringing of the bell, the Count put his army in motion, and suddenly beheld in the eastern sky, the figure of the Cross, and Christ upon it, who promised him a complete victory, and commanded him to accept the title of King, if it was offered him by the army. The same writers add, that as a standing memorial of this miraculous event, Don Alonzo changed the arms which his father had given, of a cross azure in a field argent, for five escutcheons, each charged with five bezants, in memory of the wounds of Christ. Others assert, that he gave in a field argent five escutcheons azure, in the form of a Cross, each charged with five bezants argent, placed salterwise, with a point sable, in memory of five wounds he himself received, and of five Moorish kings slain in the battle. There is an old record, said to be written by Don Alonzo, in which the story of the vision is related upon his Majesty's oath. The Spanish Critics, however, have discovered many inconsistencies in it. They find the language intermixed with phrases not then in use: it bears the date of the year of our Lord, at a time when that æra had not been introduced into Spain; and John, Bishop of Coimbra, signs as a witness before John, Metrapolitan of Braja, which is contrary to ecclesiastical rule. These circumstances, however, are not mentioned to prove the falsehood of the vision, but to vindicate the character of Don Alonzo from any share in the oath which passes under his name. The truth is, the Portuguese were always unwilling to pay any homage to the King of Castile. They adorned the battle which gave birth to their Monarchy, with miracle, and the new Sovereignty with a command from heaven, circumstances extremely agreeable both to the military pride and the superstition of these times. The regal dignity and constitution of the Monarchy, however, were not settled till about six years after the battle of Ourique. For mankind, say the Universal Historians, were not then so ignorant and barbarous, as to suffer a change of government to be made without any farther ceremony, than a tumultuous huzza. An account of the coronation of the first king of Portugal, and the principles of liberty which then prevailed in that kingdom, are worthy of our attention. The arms of Don Alonzo having been attended with glorious success, in 1145 he called an assembly of the Prelates, Nobility, and Commons, at Lamego. When the assembly opened, he appeared, seated on the throne, but without any other marks of regal dignity. Laurence de Viegas then demanded of the assembly, whether, according to the election on the field of battle at Ourique, and the briefs of Pope Eugenius III. they chused to have Don Alonzo Enriquez for their king? To this they answered they were willing. He then demanded, if they desired the Monarchy should be elective or hereditary. They declared their intention to be, that the crown should descend to the heirs male of Alonzo. Laurence de Viegas then asked, “Is it your pleasure that he be invested with the ensigns of Royalty? He was answered in the affirmative, and the Archbishop of Braga placed the crown upon his head, the king having his sword drawn in his hand. As soon as crowned Alonzo thus addressed the assembly; “Blessed be God, who has always assisted me, and has enabled me, with this sword, to deliver you from all your enemies. I shall ever wear it for your defence. You have made me a king, and it is but just that you should share with me in taking care of the state. I am your king, and as such let us make laws to secure the happiness of this kingdom.” Eighteen short statutes were then framed and assented to by the people. Laurence de Viegas at length proposed the great question, Whether it was their pleasure that the king should go to Leon, do homage and pay tribute to that prince, or to any other. Upon which, every man drawing his sword, cried with a loud voice, “We are free, and our king is free; we owe our liberty to our courage. If the king shall at any time submit to such an act, he deserves death, and shall not reign either over us, or among us.” The king rising up, approved this declaration, and declared, that if any of his descendents consented to such a submission, he was unworthy to succeed, and should be reputed incapable of wearing the crown.

Fanshaw's translation of this is curious. He is literal in the circumstances, but the debasements marked in italic are his own:

(Os trinta Dinheiros; the thirty Denarii, says Camoens.)

(Writing the remembrance of him, by whom he was favoured, in various colours. Camoens.)

The tradition, that Lisbon was built by Ulysses, and thence called Olyssipolis, is as common as, and of equal authority with that, which says, that Brute landed a colony of Trojans in England, and gave the name of Britannia to the island.

The conquest of Lisbon was of the utmost importance to the infant Monarchy. It is one of the finest ports in the world, and ere the invention of cannon, was of great strength. The old Moorish wall was flanked by seventy-seven towers, was about six miles in length, and fourteen in circumference. When beseiged by Don Alonzo, according to some, it was garrisoned by an army of 200,000 men. This, not to say impossible, is highly incredible. However, that it was strong and well garrisoned is certain, as also that Alonzo owed the conquest of it to a fleet of adventurers, who were going to the Holy Land, the greatest part of which were English. One Udal op Rhys, in his tour through Portugal, says, that Alonzo gave them Almada, on the side of the Tagus opposite to Lisbon, and that Villa Franca was peopled by them, which they called Cornualla, either in honour of their native country, or from the rich meadows in its neighbourhood, where immense herds of cattle are kept, as in the English Cornwall.

This assertion of Camoens is not without foundation, for it was by treachery that Herimeneric, the Goth, got possession of Lisbon.

The aqueduct of Sertorius, here mentioned, is one of the grandest remains of antiquity. It was repaired by John III. of Portugal, about A. D. 1540.

The history of this battle wants authenticity.

As already observed, there is no authentic proof that Don Alonzo used such severity to his mother as to put her in chains. Brandan says it was reported that Don Alonzo was born with both his legs growing together, and that he was cured by the prayers of his tutor Egas Nunio. Legendary as this may appear, this however is deduceable from it, that from his birth there was something amiss about his legs. When he was prisoner to his son in law Don Fernando king of Leon, he recovered his liberty ere his leg, which was fractured in the battle, was restored, on condition that as soon as he was able to mount on horseback, he should come to Leon, and in person do homage for his dominions. This condition, so contrary to his coronation agreement, he found means to avoid. He ever after affected to drive in a calash, and would never mount on horseback more. This his natural and afterwards political infirmity, the superstitious of those days ascribed to the curses of his mother.

Virg. En. VII.

Miramolin, not the name of a person, but a title, quasi, Soldan. The Arabs call it Emir-Almoumini, the Emperor of the Faithful.

In this poetical exclamation, expressive of the sorrow of Portugal on the death of Alonzo, Camoens has happily imitated some passages of Virgil.

The Portuguese, in their wars with the Moors, were several times assisted by the English and German crusades. In the present instance the fleet was mostly English, the troops of which nation were, according to agreement, rewarded with the plunder, which was exceeding rich, of the city of Silves. Nuniz de Leon as cronicas das Reis de Port.

Sardinapalus.

Heliogabalus, infamous for his gluttony.

Alluding to the history of Phalaris.

Camoens, who was quite an enthusiast for the honour of his country, has in this instance disguised the truth of history. Don Sancho was by no means the weak Prince here represented, nor did the miseries of his reign proceed from himself. The clergy were the sole authors of his and the public calamities. The Roman See was then in the height of its power, which it exerted in the most tyrannical manner. The ecclesiastical courts had long claimed the sole right to try an ecclesiastic, and to prohibit a Priest to say mass for a twelvemonth, was by the brethren his judges, esteemed a sufficient punishment for murder, or any other capital crime. Alonzo II. the father of Don Sancho, attempted to establish the authority of the King's courts of justice over the offending Clergy. For this the Archbishop of Braga excommunicated Gonzalo Mendez, the Chancellor, and Honorius the Pope excommunicated the King, and put his dominions under an interdict. The exterior offices of Religion were suspended, the vulgar fell into the utmost dissoluteness of manners; Mahommedism made great advances, and public confusion every where prevailed. By this policy the Holy Church constrained the nobility to urge the King to a full submission to the Papal chair. While a negotiation for this purpose was on foot Alonzo died, and left his son to struggle with an enraged and powerful Clergy. Don Sancho was just, affable, brave, and an enamoured husband. On this last virtue faction first fixed its envenomed fangs. The Queen was accused of arbitrary influence over her husband, and, according to the superstition of that age, she was believed to have disturbed his senses by an enchanted draught. Such of the nobility as declared in the King's favour were stigmatized, and rendered odious, as the creatures of the Queen. The confusions which ensued were fomented by Alonzo, Earl of Bologne, the King's brother, by whom the King was accused as the author of them. In short, by the assistance of the Clergy and Pope Innocent IV. Sancho was deposed, and soon after he died at Toledo. The beautiful Queen, Donna Mencia, was seized upon, and conveyed away by one Raymond Portocarrero, and was never heard of more. Such are the triumphs of Faction!

The Baccaris, or Lady's glove, an herb to which the Druids and ancient Poets ascribed magical virtues.

Attila, a king of the Huns, surnamed The Scourge of God. He lived in the fifth century. He may be reckoned among the greatest conquerors.

The Princess Mary. She was a Lady of great beauty and virtue, but was exceedingly ill used by her husband, who was violently attached to his mistresses, though he owed his crown to the assistance of his father-in-law, the king of Portugal.

Camoens says, “A mortos faz espanto,” to give this elegance in English required a paraphrase. There is something wildly great, and agreeable to the superstition of that age, to suppose that the dead were troubled in their graves, on the approach of so terrible an army. The French translator, contrary to the original, ascribes this terror to the ghost of only one Prince, by which this stroke of Camoens, in the spirit of Shakespeare, is reduced to a piece of unmeaning frippery.

See the first Æneid.

It may perhaps be objected, that this is ungrammatical. But

and Dryden, Pope, &c. often use wove as a participle in place of the harsh sounding woven, a word almost incompatible with the elegance of versification. The more harmonious word ought therefore to to be used; and use will ascertain its definition in grammar.

When the soldiers of Marius complained of thirst, he pointed to a river near the camp of the Ambrones; there, says he, you may drink, but it must be purchased with blood. Lead us on, they replied, that we may have something liquid, though it be blood. The Romans forcing their way to the river, the channel was filled with the dead bodies of the slain. Vid. Plut.

This unfortunate lady, Donna Inez de Castro, was the daughter of a Castilian gentleman, who had taken refuge in the court of Portugal. Her beauty and accomplishments attracted the regard of Don Pedro, the king's eldest son, a prince of a brave and noble disposition. La Neufville, Le Clede, and other historians, assert, that she was privately married to the prince ere she had any share in his bed. Nor was his conjugal fidelity less remarkable than the ardour of his passion. Afraid, however, of his father's resentment, the severity of whose temper he knew, his intercourse with Donna Inez passed at the court as an intrigue of gallantry. On the accession of Don Pedro the Cruel to the throne of Castile, many of the disgusted nobility were kindly received by Don Pedro, thro' the interest of his beloved Inez. The favour shewn to these Castilians gave great uneasiness to the politicians. A thousand evils were foreseen from the Prince's attachment to his Castilian mistress: even the murder of his children by his deceased spouse, the princess Constantia, was surmised; and the enemies of Donna Inez, finding the king willing to listen, omitted no opportunity to increase his resentment against the unfortunate lady. The prince was about his 28th year when his amour with his beloved Inez commenced.

It has been observed by some critics, that Milton on every occasion is fond of expressing his admiration of music, particularly of the song of the Nightingale, and the full woodland choir. If in the same manner we are to judge of the favourite taste of Homer, we shall find it of a less delicate kind. He is continually describing the feast, the huge chine, the savoury viands on the glowing coals, and the foaming bowl. The ruling passion of Camoens is also strongly marked in his writings. One may venture to affirm, that there is no poem of equal length that abounds with so many impassioned encomiums on the fair sex as the Lusiad. The genius of Camoens seems never so pleased as when he is painting the variety of female charms, he feels all the magic of their allurements, and riots in his descriptions of the happiness and miseries attendant on the passion of love. As he wrote from his feelings, these parts of his works have been particularly honoured with the attention of the world. Tasso and Spenser have copied from his Island of Bliss, and three tragedies have been formed from this Episode of the unhappy Inez. One in English, by Mr. Mallet—but of this we need say nothing: it is one of the many neglected unsufferable loads of unanimated dulness, which, though honoured with the approbation of Mr. Garrick, have disgraced the English theatre, and rendered Modern Tragedy a name of contempt. The other two are by M. de la Motte, and Luis Velez de Guevara, a Spaniard. How these different writers have handled the same subject is not unworthy of the attention of the critic. The tragedy of M. de la Motte, from which Mallet's Elvira is copied, is highly characteristic of the French drama. In the Lusiad the beautiful victim expresses the strong emotions of genuine nature. She feels for what her lover will feel for her; the mother rises in her breast. she implores pity for her children; she feels the horrors of death, and would be glad to wander an exile with her babes, where her only solace would be the remembrance of her faithful passion. This however, it appears, would not suit the taste of a Paris audience. On the French stage the stern Roman heroes must be polite Petit-Maitres, and the tender Inez a blustering amazon. Lee's Alexander cannot talk in a higher rant. She not only wishes to die herself, but desires that her children and her husband Don Pedro may also be put to death.

The Spaniard however has followed nature and Camoens, and in point of poetical merit his play is infinitely superior to that of the Frenchman. Don Pedro talks in the absence of his mistress with the beautiful simplicity of an Arcadian lover, and Inez implores the tyrant with the genuine tenderness of female affection and delicacy. The reader, who is acquainted with the Spanish tongue will thank me for the following extract.

The drama, from which these extracts are taken, is entitled, Reynar despues de morir.

To give the character of Alphonso IV. will throw light on this inhuman transaction. He was an undutiful son, an unnatural brother, and a cruel father; a great and fortunate warrior, diligent in the execution of the laws, and a Machavilian politician. That good might be attained by villainous means, was his favourite maxim. When the enemies of Inez had persuaded him that her death was necessary to the welfare of the state, he took a journey to Coimbra, that he might see the lady, when the prince his son was absent on a hunting party. Donna Inez with her children threw herself at his feet. The king was moved with the distress of the beautiful suppliant, when his three counsellors, Alvaro Gonsalez, Diego Lopez Pacheco, and Pedro Coello, reproaching him for his disregard to the state, he relapsed to his former resolution. She was dragged from his presence. and brutally murdered by the hands of his three counsellors, who immediately returned to the king with their daggers reeking with the innocent blood of the princess his daughter-in-law. Alonzo, says La Neufville, avowed the horrid assassination, as if he had done nothing for which he ought to be ashamed.

At an old royal castle near Mondego, there is a rivulet called the fountain of Amours. According to tradition, it was here that Don Pedro resided with his beloved Inez. The fiction of Camoens, founded on the popular name of the rivulet, is in the spirit of Homer.

When the Prince was informed of the death of his beloved Inez, he was transported into the most violent fury. He took arms against his father. The country between the rivers Minho and Doura was laid desolate: but by the interposition of the Queen and the Archbishop of Braga the Prince relented, and the further horrors of a civil war were prevented. Don Alonzo was not only reconciled to his son, but laboured by every means to oblige him, and to efface from his memory the injury and insult he had received. The Prince, however, still continued to discover the strongest marks of affection and grief. When he succeeded to the crown, one of his first acts was a treaty with the King of Castile, whereby each Monarch engaged to give up such malecontents, as should take refuge in each other's dominions. In consequence of this, Pedro Coello and Alvaro Gonsalez, who, on the death of Alonzo, had fled to Castile, were sent prisoners to Don Pedro. Diego Pecheco, the third murderer, made his escape. The other two were put to death with the most exquisite tortures, and most justly merited, if exquisite torture is in any instance to be allowed. After this the King, Don Pedro, summoned an assembly of the states at Cantanedes. Here, in the presence of the Pope's nuncio, he solemnly swore on the holy Gospels, that having obtained a dispensation from Rome, he had secretly, at Braganza, espoused the Lady Inez de Castro, in the presence of the Bishop of Guarda, and of his master of the wardrobe; both of whom confirmed the truth of the oath. The Pope's Bull, containing the dispensation, was published; the body of Inez was lifted from the grave, was placed on a magnificent throne, and with the proper Regalia, crowned Queen of Portugal. The nobility did homage to her skeleton, and kissed the bones of her hand. The corps was then intered at the royal monastery of Alcobaça, with a pomp before unknown in Portugal, and with all the honours due to a Queen. Her monument is still extant, where her statue is adorned with the diadem and the royal robe. This, with the legitimation of her children, and the care he took of all who had been in her service, consoled him in some degree, and rendered him more conversable than he had hitherto been; but the cloud which the death of his Inez brought over the natural cheerfulness of his temper, was never totally dispersed.—A circumstance strongly characteristic of the rage of his resentment must not be omitted. When the murderers were brought before him, he was so transported with indignation, that he struck Pedro Coello several blows on the face with the shaft of his whip. Some grave writers have branded this action as unworthy of the Magistrate and the Hero; those who will, may add, of the Philosopher too: Something greater however belongs to Don Pedro: A regard which we do not feel for any of the three, will, in every bosom, capable of genuine love, inspire a tender sympathy for the agonies of his heart, when the presence of the inhuman murderers presented to his mind the horrid scene of the butchery of his beloved spouse.

The impression left on the philosophical mind by these historical facts, will naturally suggest some reflections on human nature. Every man is proud of being thought capable of love; and none more so than those who have the least title to the name of Lover; those whom the French call Les hommes de Galanterie, whose only happiness is in variety, and to whom the greatest beauty and mental accomplishments lose every charm after a few months enjoyment. Their satiety they scruple not to confess, but are not aware, that in doing so, they also confess, that the principle which inspired their passion was gross, and selfish. To constitute a genuine Love, like that of Don Pedro, requires a nobleness and goodness of heart, totally incompatible with an ungenerous mind. The youthful fever of the veins may, for a while, inspire an attachment to a particular object; but an affection so unchangeable and sincere as that of the Prince of Portugal, can only spring from a bosom possessed of the finest feelings and of every virtue.

History cannot afford an instance of any Prince who has a more eminent claim to the title of just than Pedro I. His diligence to correct every abuse was indefatigable, and when guilt was proved his justice was inexorable. He was dreadful to the evil, and beloved by the good, for he respected no persons, and his inflexible severity never digressed from the line of strict justice. An anecdote or two will throw some light on his character. A Priest having killed a Mason, the king dissembled his knowledge of the crime, and left the issue to the Ecclesiastical Court, where the Priest was punished by one year's suspension from saying mass. The king on this privately ordered the Mason's son to revenge the murder of his father. The young man obeyed, was apprehended, and condemned to death. When his sentence was to be confirmed by the king, Pedro enquired, what was the young man's trade. He was answered, that he followed his father's. Well then, said the king, I shall commute his punishment, and interdict him from meddling with stone or mortar for a twelve month. After this he fully established the authority of the king's courts over the Clergy, whom he punished with death when their crimes were capital. When solicited to refer the causes of such criminals to a higher tribunal, he would answer very calmly, That is what I intend to do: I will send them to the highest of all tribunals, to that of their Maker and mine. Against Adulterers he was particularly severe, often declaring it his opinion, that conjugal infidelity was the source of the greatest evils, and that therefore to restrain it was the interest and duty of the Sovereign. Though the fate of his beloved Inez chagrined and soured his temper, he was so far from being naturally sullen or passionate, that he was rather of a gay and sprightly disposition, affable and easy of access; delighted in music and dancing; a lover of learning, was himself a man of letters, and an elegant Poet. Vide Le Clede, Mariana, Faria.

This lady, named Leonora de Tellez, was the wife of Don Juan Lorenzo Acugna, a nobleman of one of the most distinguished families in Portugal. After a sham process this marriage was dissolved, and the king privately espoused to her, though at this time he was publicly married by proxy to Donna Leonora of Arragon. A dangerous insurrection, headed by one Velasquez, a taylor, drove the king and his adulterous bride from Lisbon. Soon after he caused his marriage to be publickly celebrated in the province between the Doure and Minho. Henry king of Castile, being informed of the general discontent that reigned in Portugal, marched a formidable army into that kingdom, to revenge the injury offered to some of his subjects, whose ships had been unjustly seized at Lisbon. The desolation hinted at by Camoens ensued. After the subjects of both kingdoms had severely suffered, the two kings ended the war, much to their mutual satisfaction, by an inter-marriage of their bastard children.

Judges, chap. xix. and xx.

2 Samuel, chap. iii. 10. “The sword shall never depart from thine house.”

Alcidem lanas nere coëgit amor. Ovid.