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And who this awful chief? aloud exclaims
The wondering regent, o'er the field he flames
In dazzling steel, where'er he bends his courfe
The battle finks beneath his headlong force;
Against his troops, though few the numerous foes
In vain their fpears and towery walls oppose.
With fmoaking blood his armour sprinkled o'er,
High to the knees his courfer paws in gore;
O'er crowns and blood-ftain'd ensigns scatter'd round
He rides; his courfer's brazen hoofs refound.
In that great chief, the fecond GAMA cries,

h

The first Alonzo strikes thy wondering eyes.

From Lufus' realm the pagan Moors he drove;
Heaven, whom he loved, bestow'd on him fuch love,
Beneath him, bleeding of its mortal wound,

The Moorish ftrength lay proftrate on the ground.
Nor Ammon's fon, nor greater Julius dared

With troops fo few, with hosts fo numerous warr'd:
Nor lefs fhall fame the fubject heroes own:
Behold that hoary warrior's rageful frown!
On his young pupil's flight his burning 1 eyes
He darts, and, Turn thy flying hoft, he cries,

Back

h The firft Alonzo- -King of Portugal. See p. 105, &c. vol. i. i On his young pupil's flight.- "Some indeed, most writers say, that the queen (of whom fee p. 100. vol. i.) advancing with her army towards Guimaraez, the king, without waiting till his governor joined him, engaged them and was routed: but that afterwards the remains of his army being joined by the troops under the command of Egaz Munitz, engaged the army of the queen a fecond time, and gained a complete victory." Univ. Hift.

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Back to the field-The veteran and the boy

Back to the field exult with furious joy:

Their ranks mow'd down, the boastful foe recedes,
The vanquish'd triumph, and the victor bleeds.
Again that mirror of unfhaken faith,

k

Egaz behold, a chief self-doom'd to death.
Beneath Caftilia's fword his monarch lay;
Homage he vow'd his helpless king should pay;
His haughty king relieved, the treaty fpurns,
With conscious pride the noble Egaz burns;
His comely spouse and infant race he leads,
Himself the fame, in fentenced felon's weeds;
Around their necks the knotted halters bound,
With naked feet they tread the flinty ground;
And proftrate now before Caftilia's throne
Their offer'd lives their monarch's pride atone.
Ah, Rome! no more thy generous conful boaft,
Whose lorn fubmission saved his ruin'd hoft:

No father's woes affail'd his stedfast mind;

The dearest ties the Lufian chief resign'd.

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There, by the stream, a town befieged behold, The Moorish tents the flatter'd walls infold.

vol. i.

Fierce

Egaz behold, a chief self-doom'd to death. See the same story, p. 102.

1 Ab, Rome! no more thy generous conful boaft-Sc. Posthumus, who, overpowered by the Samnites, fubmitted to the indignity of paffing under the yoke or gallows.

Fierce as the lion from the covert fprings,

When hunger gives his rage the whirlwind's wings;
From ambush, lo, the valiant Fuaz pours,

And whelms in fudden rout th' aftonish'd Moors.

The Moorish king in captive chains hem sends;
And low at Lisboa's throne the royal captive bends.
Fuaz again the artist's skill displays;

Far o'er the ocean fhine his enfigns rays:

In crackling flames the Moorish galleys fly,

And the red blaze ascends the blushing sky :
O'er Avila's high fteep the flames afpire,

And wrap the forests in a sheet of fire:

There seem the waves beneath the prows to boil;

And distant far around for many a mile

The glaffy deep reflects the ruddy blaze;

Far on the edge the yellow light decays,

And blends with hovering blackness. Great and dread

Thus fhone the day when first the combat bled,
The first our heroes battled on the main,

The glorious prelude of our naval reign,

Which now the waves beyond the burning zone,

And northern Greenland's froft-bound billows own.

Again

The Moorish king. -The Alcaydes, or tributary governors under the Miramolin or Emperor of Morocco, are often by the Spanish and Portuguese writers ftiled kings. He who was furprised and taken prisoner by Don Fuaz Roupinho was named Gama. Fuaz, after having gained the first naval victory of the Portuguese, also experienced their first defeat. With one and twenty fail he attacked fifty-four large gallies of the Moors. Brandan, which had lately furnished him with trophies, now supplied him with a tomb.

The fea, fays

Again behold brave Fuaz dares the fight!

O'erpower'd he finks beneath the Moorish might;
Smiling in death the martyr-hero lies,

Aud lo, his foul triumphant mounts the skies.
Here now behold, in warlike pomp pourtray'd,
A foreign navy brings the pious" aid.

1

Lo, marching from the decks the squadrons fpread,
Strange their attire, their afpect firm and dread.
The holy cross their enfigns bold display,
To Salem's aid they plough'd the watery way;
Yet first, the cause the fame, on Tago's fhore
They dye their maiden fwords in pagan gore.
Proud ftood the Moor on Lifboa's warlike towers;
From Lisboa's walls they drive the Moorish powers?
Amid the thickest of the glorious fight,

Lo, Henry falls, a gallant German knight,
A ́martyr falls: That holy tomb behold,

There waives the bloffom'd palm the boughs of gold:

O'er Henry's grave the facred plant arofe,

And from the leaves, heaven's gift, gay health redundant flows.

Aloft,

n Aforeign navy brings the pious aid-A navy of crufaders, moftly English. See p. 109. vol. i.

And from the leaves- -This legend is mentioned by fome ancient Por tuguese chronicles. Homer would have availed himself, as Camoëns has done, of a tradition fo enthufiaftical, and characteristic of the age. Henry was a native of Bonneville near Cologn. His tomb, fays Castera, is still to be feen in the monaftery of St. Vincent, but without the palm.

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Aloft, unfurl; the valiant Paulus cries;
Instant new wars on new-fpread enfigns rife.
In robes of white behold a priest P advance!
His fword in fplinters fmites the Moorish lance:
Arronchez won revenges Lira's fall:

And lo, on fair Savilia's batter'd wall,

How boldly calm amid the crashing spears,
That hero-form the Lufian ftandard rears.
There bleeds the war on fair Vandalia's plain:
Lo, rushing through the Moors o'er hills of flain
The hero rides, and proves by genuine claim
The fon of Egas 9, and his worth the fame.
Pierced by his dart the standard bearer dies;
Beneath his feet the Moorish standard lies:
High o'er the field, behold the glorious blaze!
The victor-youth the Lufian flag displays.
Lo, while the moon through midnight azure rides,
From the high wall adown his spear-ftaff glides
The dauntless Gerrald: in his left he bears
Two watchmens' heads, his right the faulchion rears:

The

P In robes of white behold a priest advance." Theotonius, prior of the "regulars of St. Auguftine of Conymbra. Some ancient chronicles relate "this circumftance as mentioned by Camoëns. Modern writers affert, that "he never quitted his breviary." Caftera.

The fon of Egas-He was named Mem Moniz, and was fon of Egas Moniz, celebrated for the furrender of himself and family to the king of Caftile, as already mentioned.

The dauntless Gerrald-" He was a man of rank, who, in order to avoid the legal punishment to which feveral crimes rendered him obnoxious, put himfelf

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