d
siege to Almada, a fortress on a mountain near Lisbon, the garrison, in
the utmost distress for water, were obliged at times to make sallies to
the bottom of the hill in quest of it. Seventeen Portuguese thus
employed were one day attacked by four hundred of the enemy. They made a
brave defence, and effected a happy retreat into their
fortress.--CASTERA.

[530] _Far from the succour of the Lusian host._--When Alonzo V. took
Ceuta, Don Pedro de Menezes was the only officer in the army who was
willing to become governor of that fortress; which, on account of the
uncertainty of succour from Portugal, and the earnest desire of the
Moors to regain it, was deemed untenable. He gallantly defended his post
in two severe sieges.

[531] _That other earl._--He was the natural son of Don Pedro de
Menezes. Alonzo V. one day, having ridden out from Ceuta with a few
attendants, was attacked by a numerous party of the Moors, when De Vian,
and some others under him, at the expense of their own lives, purchased
the safe retreat of their sovereign.

[532] _Two brother-heroes shine._--The sons of John I. Don Pedro was
called the Ulysses of his age, on account both of his eloquence and his
voyages. He visited almost every court of Europe, but he principally
distinguished himself in Germany, where, under the standards of the
Emperor Sigismond, he signalized his valour in the war against the
Turks.--CASTERA.

[533] _The glorious Henry._--In pursuance of the reasons assigned in the
preface, the translator has here taken the liberty to make a
transposition in the order of his author. In Camoens, Don Pedro de
Menezes, and his son De Vian, conclude the description of the pictured
ensigns. Don Henry, the greatest man perhaps that ever Portugal
produced, has certainly the best title to close this procession of the
Lusian heroes. And, as he was the father of navigation, particularly of
the voyage of GAMA, to sum up the narrative with his encomium has even
some critical propriety.

These observations were suggested by the conduct of Camoens, whose
design, like that of Virgil, was to write a poem which might contain all
the triumphs of his country. As the shield of AEneas supplies what could
not be introduced in the vision of Elysium, so the ensigns of GAMA
complete the purpose of the third and fourth Lusiads. The use of that
long episode, the conversation with the King of Melinda, and its
connection with the subject, have been already observ