Unless they perish on the billowy way—

Then rouse, ye gods, and vindicate your sway.
The powers of heaven in vengeful anguish fee
The tyrant of the fkies, and fate's decree;
The dread decree, that to the Lufian train
Configns, betrays your empire of the main:
Say, Shall your wrong alarm the high abodes?
Are men exalted to the rank of gods,

O'er you exalted, while in careless ease
You yield the wrefted trident of the feas,
Ufurp'd your monarchy, your honours stained,

Your birth-right ravifh'd, and your waves profaned!

Alike the daring wrong to me, to you,
And fhall my lips in vain your vengeance fue!
This, this to fue from high Olympus bore-
More he attempts, but rage permits no more.
Fierce bursting wrath the watery gods inspires,
And their red eye-balls burn with livid fires:
Heaving and panting ftruggles every breast,
With the fierce billows of hot ire oppreft.
Twice from his feat divining Proteus rofe,
And twice he fhook enraged his fedgy brows:
In vain; the mandate was already given,

From Neptune fent, to loose the winds of heaven
In vain; though prophecy his lips inspired,
The ocean's queen his filent lips required.
Nor lefs the ftorm of headlong rage denies,
Our council to debate, or thought to rife.

And

And now the god of tempefts swift unbinds

From their dark caves the various rushing winds:
High o'er the storm the power impetuous rides,
His howling voice the roaring tempest guides;
Right to the dauntless fleet their rage he pours,
And firft their headlong outrage tears the fhores;
A deeper night involves the darken'd air,
And livid flashes through the mountains glare:
Up-rooted oaks, with all their leafy pride,

Rowl thundering down the groaning mountains' fide;
And men and herds in clamorous uproar run, ́
The rocking towers and crashing woods to shun.

While thus the council of the watery ftate,
Enraged, decree the Lufian heroes' fate,
The weary fleet before the gentle gale

With joyful hope displayed the steady sail;

Thro' the smooth deep they plough'd the lengthening way;

Beneath the wave the purple car of day

To fable night the eastern sky refign'd,

And o'er the decks cold breath'd the midnight wind.

All but the watch in warm pavilions flept;

The fecond watch the wonted vigils kept;

Supine their limbs, the mast supports the head,
And the broad yard-fail o'er their fhoulders spread
A grateful cover from the chilly gale,

And fleep's foft dews their heavy eyes affail.

Languid against the languid power they strive,
And fweet difcourfe preferves their thoughts alive.
When Leonardo, whofe enamoured thought

In every dream the plighted fair-one fought,
The dews of fleep what better to remove
Than the soft, woeful, pleasing tales of love?
Ill timed, alas, the brave VELOSo cries,
The tales of love, that melt the heart and eyes.
The dear enchantments of the fair I know,
The fearful tranfport and the rapturous woe:
But with our state ill fuits the grief or joy;
Let war, let gallant war our thoughts employ :
With dangers threaten'd, let the tale inspire
The scorn of danger, and the hero's fire.
His mates with joy the brave VELOSO hear,
And on the youth the speaker's toil confer,

The brave VELOso takes the word with joy,
And truth, he cries, shall these flow hours decoy,
The warlike tale adorns our nation's fame;
The twelve of England give the noble theme,

When Pedro's gallant heir, the valiant John, Gave war's full fplendor to the Lufian throne, In haughty England, where the winter spreads His snowy mantle o'er the shining' meads,

In baughty England, where the winter spreads
His fnowy mantle o'er the shining meads.

The

In

The feeds of ftrife the fierce Erynnis fows;
The baleful ftrife from court diffention rofe.
With every charm adorn'd, and every grace,
That spreads its magic o'er the female face,
Twelve ladies fhined the courtly train among,
The first, the fairest of the courtly throng:
But envy's breath reviled their injured name,
And ftain'd the honour of their virgin fame.
Twelve youthful barons own'd the foul report,
The charge at firft, perhaps, a tale of sport.
Ah, base the sport that lightly dares defame
The facred honour of a lady's name!

S

What knighthood asks the proud accufers yield,
And dare the damsels' champions to the field.

In the original,

Là na grande Inglaterra, que de neve
Boreal fempre abunda.

"There

That is, "In illustrious England, always covered with northern fnow." Though the tranflator was willing to retain the manner of Homer, he thought it proper to correct the error in natural history fallen into by Camoëns. Fanfhaw feems to have been fenfible of the mistake of his author, and has given the following, uncountenanced by the Portuguese, in place of the eternal fnows afcribed to his country.

In merry England, which (from cliffs that stand
Like hills of fnow) once Albion's name did git.

s What knighthood afks the proud accufers yield,
And dare the damfels' champions to the field.

The translator, either by his own researches, or by his application to fome gentlemen who were moft likely to inform him, has not been able to discover the slightest veftige of this chivalrous adventure in any memoirs of the English history. It is probable, nevertheless, that however adorned with romantic ornament, it is not entirely without foundation in truth. Caftera, who unhappily does not cite his authority, gives the names of the twelve Portuguese champions; Alvaro Vaz d'Almada, afterwards count

d'Avranches

"There let the caufe, as honour wills, be tried, "And let the lance and ruthlefs fword decide."

The

d'Avranches in Normandy; another Alvaro d'Almada, furnamed the Juster, from his dexterity at that warlike exercife; Lopez Fernando Pacheco; Pedro Homen D'Acosta; Juan Augustin Pereyra; Luis Gonfalez de Malafay; the two brothers Alvaro and Rodrigo Mendez de Cerveyra; Ruy Gomez de Sylva; Soueyro d'Acofta, who gave his name to the river Acofta in Africa; Martin Lopez d'Azevedo; and Alvaro Gonfalez de Coutigno, furnamed Magricio. The names of the English champions and of the ladies, he confeffes are unknown, nor does hiftory pofitively explain the injury of which the dames complained. It must however, he adds, have been fuch as required the atonement of blood; il falloit qu'elle fûit fanglante, fince two fovereigns allowed to determine it by the sword. "Some critics, "fays Caftera, may perhaps condemn this epifode of Camoëns; but for "my part (he continues) I think the adventure of Olindo and Sophronia, in "Taffo, is much more to be blamed. The epifode of the Italian poet is totally << exuberant, il est tout-à-fait poftiche, whereas that of the Portuguese has a "direct relation to his propofed fubject; the wars of his country, a vast "field, in which he has admirably fucceeded, without prejudice to the first "rule of the epopœia, the unity of the action." To this may be added the fuffrage of Voltaire, who acknowledges that Camoëns artfully interweaves the hiftory of Portugal. And the feverest critic must allow that the episode related by Velofo, is happily introduced. To one who has ever been at sea, the scene must be particularly pleasing. The fleet is under fail, they plough the fmooth deep,

And o'er the decks cold breath'd the midnight wind.

All but the fecond watch are afleep in their warm pavilions; the second watch fit by the maft, fheltered from the chilly gale by a broad fail-cloth; fleep begins to overpower them, and they tell ftories to entertain one another. For beautiful picturesque fimplicity there is no fea-scene equal to this in the Odyffey or Æneid. And even the prejudice of a Scaliger muft have confeffed, that the romantic chivalrous narrative of Velofo,

With dangers threaten'd, let the tale infpire

The fcorn of danger, and the hero's fire

is better adapted to the circumftances of the speaker and his audience, than almost any of the long hiftories, which on all occafions, and fometimes in the heat of battle, the heroes of the Iliad relate to each other. Pope has been already cited, as giving his fanction to the fine effect of variety in the epic poem. The present inftance, which has a peculiar advantage, in agree

ably