ed among the
Moors. Don Fernand is to this day esteemed as a saint and martyr in
Portugal, and his memory is commemorated on the fifth of June. King
Edward reigned only five years and a month. He was the most eloquent man
in his dominions, spoke and wrote Latin elegantly, was author of several
books, one on horsemanship, in which art he excelled. He was brave in
the field, active in business, and rendered his country infinite service
by reducing the laws to a regular code. He was knight of the Order of
the Garter, which honour was conferred upon him by his cousin, Henry V.
of England. In one instance he gave great offence to the superstitious
populace. He despised the advice of a Jew astrologer, who entreated him
to delay his coronation because the stars that day were unfavourable. To
this the misfortune of Tangier was ascribed, and the people were always
on the alarm, as if some terrible disaster were impending over them.

[310] The Moors.

[311] When Henry IV. of Castile died, he declared that the infanta
Joanna, was his heiress, in preference to his sister, Donna Isabella,
married to Don Ferdinand, son to the King of Arragon. In hopes to attain
the kingdom of Castile, Don Alonzo, king of Portugal, obtained a
dispensation from the pope to marry his niece, Donna Joanna. After a
bloody war, the ambitious views of Alonzo and his courtiers were
defeated.

[312] The Pyrenees which separate France from Spain.--_Ed._

[313] The Prince of Portugal.

[314] Julius Caesar.

[315] Naples.

[316] Parthenope was one of the Syrens. Enraged because she could not
allure Ulysses, she threw herself into the sea. Her corpse was thrown
ashore, and buried where Naples now stands.

[317] The coast of Alexandria.

[318] Among the Christians of Abyssinia.

[319] Sandy, the French sable = sand.--_Ed._

[320] The Nabathean mountains; so named from Nabaoth, the son of
Ishmael.

[321] _Beyond where Trajan._--The Emperor Trajan extended the bounds of
the Roman Empire in the East far beyond any of his predecessors. His
conquests reached to the river Tigris, near which stood the city of
Ctesiphon, which he subdued. The Roman historians boasted that India was
entirely conquered by him; but they could only mean Arabia Felix.--Vid.
Dion. Cass. Euseb. Chron. p. 206.

[322] _Qui mores hominum multorum vidit._--HOR.

[323] Emmanuel was cousin to the late king, John II. and grandson to
king Edward, son of John I.

[324] The river Indus