riage,
but was refused. The Spaniards treated him no less unfavourably, for
they also rejected his proposals for one of the daughters of Philip II.
Our author considers these refusals as the punishment of Don Sebastian's
excessive attachment to the chase; but this is only a consequence of the
prejudice with which he viewed the amusements of his prince. The truth
is, these princesses were refused for political reasons, and not with
any regard to the manner in which he filled up his moments of leisure."

Thus Castera, who, with the same spirit of sagacity, starts and answers
the following objections: "But here is a difficulty: Camoens wrote
during the life of Don Sebastian, but the circumstance he relates (the
return of GAMA) happened several years before, under the reign of
Emmanuel. How, therefore, could he say that Cupid then saw Don Sebastian
at the chase, when that prince was not then born? The answer is easy:
Cupid, in the allegory of this work, represents the love of God, the
Holy Spirit, who is God himself. Now the Divinity admits of no
distinction of time; one glance of his eye beholds the past, the
present, and the future; everything is present before him."

This defence of the fiction of Actaeon is not more absurd than useless.
The free and bold spirit of poetry, and in particular the nature of
allegory, defend it. The poet might easily have said, that Cupid
_foresaw_; but had he said so his satire had been much less genteel. As
the sentiments of Castera on this passage are extremely characteristic
of French ideas, another note from him will perhaps be agreeable.
"Several Portuguese writers have remarked," says he, "that the wish--

'Of these lov'd dogs that now his passions sway,
Ah! may he never fall the hapless prey!'

Had in it an air of prophecy; and fate, in effect, seemed careful to
accomplish it, in making the presaged woes to fall upon Don Sebastian.
If he did not fall a prey to his pack of hounds, we may, however, say
that he was devoured by his favourites, who misled his youth and his
great soul. But at any rate our poet has carried the similitude too far.
It was certainly injurious to Don Sebastian, who nevertheless had the
bounty not only not to punish this audacity, but to reward the just
eulogies which the author had bestowed on him in other places. As much
as the indiscretion of Camoens ought to surprise us, as much ought we to
admire the generosity of his master."

This foppery, t