Thus on the Moors the hero rush'd along,

Th' aftonifh'd Moors in wild confufion throng;
They fnatch their arms, the hafty trumpet founds,
With horrid yell the dread alarm rebounds;

The warlike tumult maddens o'er the plain,
As when the flame devours the bearded grain :
The nightly flames the whistling winds infpire,
Fierce through the braky thicket pours the fire:
Rous'd by the crackling of the mounting blaze,
From fleep the shepherds start in wild amaze;
They fnatch their cloaths with many a woeful cry,
And scatter'd devious to the mountains fly.
Such fudden dread the trembling Moors alarms,
Wild and confused they snatch the nearest arms;
Yet flight they fcorn, and eager to engage

They fpur their foamy steeds, and trust their furious
Amidst the horror of the headlong shock,

With foot unfhaken as the living rock

Stands the bold Lufian firm; the purple wounds

rage:

Gufh horrible, deep groaning rage refounds;

Reeking

As when a lion, rushing from his den,
Amidst the plain of fome wide-water'd fen,
(Where num'rous oxen, as at eafe they feed,
At large expatiate o'er the ranker mead;}
Leaps on the herds before the herdfman's eyes ;
The trembling herdsman far to distance flies ;
Some lordly bull (the reft difpers'dand fled)
He fingles out, arrefts, and lays him dead.
Thus from the rage of Jove-like Hector fler
All Greece in heaps; but one he feiz'd, and flew ;
Mycenian Periphas.

POPE. IL. XV.

Reeking behind the Moorish backs appear

The shining point of many a Lusian spear;
The mail-coats, hauberks, and the harness steel'd,
Bruis'd, hackt, and torn, lie fcatter'd o'er the field;
Beneath the Lufian sweepy force o'erthrown,
Crush'd by their batter'd mails the wounded groan;
Burning with thirst they draw their panting breath,
And curse their prophet as they writhe in death.
Arms fever'd from the trunks ftill grafp the " fteel,
Heads gafping roll; the fighting fquadrons reel;

Fainty

-fill grafp the feel.-There is a paffage in Xenophon, upon which perhaps Camöens had his eye. Επεὶ δέ ἔληξεν ἡ μάχη, παρῆν ἰδεῖν, τὴν μέν yv aïμalı wepuguévv, &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 ftretched over each other, the fhields pierced, the fpears broken, and the drawn fwords, fome scattered on the “earth, some plunged in the bosoms of the flain, and fome yet grafped in "the hands of the dead foldiers."

66

As it was neceflary in the preface to give a character of the French tranflation of the Lufiad, fome support of that character is neceflary in the notes. To point out every instance of the unpoetical taste of Castera, were to give his paraphrase of every fine paffage in Camöens. His management of this battle will give an idea of his manner; it is therefore transcribed: “Le Portugais beurte impetueeusement les foldats d'¡smar, les renverse et leur ouvre le fein à coups de lance; on fe rencontre, on se choque avec une fureur qui ébranleroit le sommet des montagnes. La terre tremble fous les pas des courfiers fougueux; l'impitoyable Erinnys voit des bleffures enormes et des coups dignes d'elles : les guerriers de Lufus brifent, coupent, taillent, enfoncent plaftrons, armures, boucliers, cuiraffes et turbans; la Parque étend fes ailes affreufes fur les Mauritains, l'un expire en mordant la pouffiere, l'autre implore le fecours de fon prophete; têtes, jambes et bras volent et bondiffent 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 fucceeded. As tranflation cannot convey a perfect idea of an author's manner, it is therefore not attempted. The attack was with such fury that it might shake the tops of the mountains: This

bombaft,

Fainty and weak with languid arms they close,
And staggering grapple with the staggering foes,
So when an oak falls headlong on the lake,
The troubled waters, flowly fettling, shake:
So faints the languid combat on the plain,
And fettling staggers o'er the heaps of flain.
Again the Lufian fury wakes its fires,
The terror of the Moors new strength inspires;
The scatter'd few in wild confufion fly,
And total rout refounds the yelling cry.
Defiled with one wide sheet of reeking gore,
The verdure of the lawn appears no more:
In bubbling ftreams the lazy currents run,
And shooth red flames beneath the evening fun.
With fpoils enrich'd, with glorious trophies v crown'd
The heaven-made fovereign on the battle ground

Three

bombaft, 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 tiffue 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 tranflate the Lufiad with the fpirit of Camöens.

·with glorious trophies crown'd.—This memorable battle was fought in the plains of Ourique, in 1139. The engagement lafted fix hours; the Moors were totally routed with incredible flaughter. 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 fwell 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, fat down to comfort his mind by the perufal of the Holy Scriptures. Having read the ftory of Gideon, he funk into a deep fleep, in which he faw a very old man

Three days encampt, to rest his weary train,

Whose dauntless valour drove the Moors from Spain.
And now in honour of the glorious day,

When five proud monarchs fell his vanquifh'd prey,

On

in a remarkable dress come into his tent, and affure 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 fooner faw him than he knew him to be the old man whom he had seen in his dream. This venerable perfon acquainted him, that he was a fisherman, and had led a life of penance for fixty 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 affurance of victory. Accordingly, at the ringing of the bell, the Count put his army in motion, and fuddenly beheld in the eastern sky, the figure of the cross, and Chrift 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 fame 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 five wounds of Christ. Others affert, that he gave in a field argent five escutcheons azure, in the form of a cross, each charged with five bezants argent, placed falterwise, with a point fable, in memory of the five wounds he himself received, and of five Moorish kings flain in the battle. There is an old record, faid 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 difcovered many inconsistencies in it. They find the language intermixed with phrases not then in ufe: 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, Metropolitan of Braja, which is contrary to ecclefiaftical 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 Caftile. 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

On his broad buckler, unadorn'd before,

Placed as a cross, five azure fhields he w wore,

In

till about fix years after the battle of Ourique. For mankind, fay the authors of the Univerfal History, were not then fo ignorant and barbarous, as to fuffer a change of government to be made without any farther ceremony, than a tumultuous huzza. An account of the coronation of the firft 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 great fuccefs, in 1145, he called an assembly of the prelates, nobility, and commons, at Lamego. When the affembly opened, he appeared, feated on the throne, but without any other marks of regal dignity. Laurence de Viegas then demanded of the affembly, whether, according to the election on the field of battle at Ourique, and the briefs of pope Eugenius III. they chufed to have Don Alonzo Enriquez for their king? To this they answered they were willing. He then demanded, if they defired the monarchy should be elective or hereditary. They declared their intention to be, that the crown fhould defcend to the heirs male of Alonzo. Laurence de Viegas then afked, " Is it your pleasure that he be invested with the enfigns of royalty?" He was answered in the affirmative; and the archbishop of Braga placed the crown upon his head, the king having his fword drawn in his hand. As foon as crowned, Alonzo thus addreffed the affembly: "Bleffed be God, who has always affifted me, and has enabled me, "with this fword, to deliver you from all your enemies. I fhall 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 ftate. I am your king, "and as fuch let us make laws to fecure the happiness of this kingdom." Eighteen short statutes were then framed, and affented 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, to do homage, and pay tribute to that prince, or to any other. On this, every man drawing his sword, cried with a loud voice, "We are free, and our king is free; we owe our.li"berty to our courage. If the king shall at any time fubmit to fuch an act, "he deferves death, and shall not reign either over us, or among us." The king then rifing up, approved this declaration, and declared, That if any of his defcendants confented to fuch a fubmiffion, he was unworthy to fucceed, fhould be reputed incapable of wearing the crown, and that the election of another fovereign should immediately take place.

W

-five azure fields-Fanfhaw's tranflation of this is curious. He is literal in the circumstances, but the debafements marked in Italic are his

own?