called his Rimas, which, until of late years, were almost totally unknown in this country.

With respect to the Lusiad, after the able de fence of it by Mr Mickle, and the various and valuable information by which his version is preceded, it was originally intended to have inserted merely a slight sketch of the poem itself, and to have referred the reader to that work. The publication, however, of the splendid edition of this poem by Dom Joze Maria de Souza altered that intention; and it was thought right to give publicity to the Essay written by a personage who has done not less honour to the memory of Camoens than to himself, and to the Portuguese nation.

In the account of the Rimas recourse has been had to the elaborate work of Mr Bouterwek,* to whose book Mr Sismondit acknowledges himself to have been under considerable obligations; to the Commentaries of Faria e Sousa; to the Observations of Dom Joze Maria de Souza; and to those of many other authors.

The first who undertook to write the Life of Camoens was Manoel Severim de Faria, Precentor of the Church of Evora, and who, according to Ma

* Geschichte der Poesie und Beredsamkeit. Gottingen, 1801, &c.

+ De la Littérature du Midi de l'Europe. Paris, 1813.

noel de Faria e Sousa, bestowed much study and care in its composition; drawing his materials principally from the works of his author. This memoir was published in his "Discursos varios e politicos," printed at Evora by Manoel Carvalho in 1624.

Manoel de Faria e Sousa* regretted that it had fallen to the lot of Severim de Faria to publish this account of Camoens; as that circumstance had deprived him of the honour of being his earliest biographer, of which he had been very solicitous, having, at the time it appeared, completed a second copy in manuscript of his intended work. thanks Severim de Faria for the zeal and diligence with which he had executed his undertaking, and, observes, that adding his own labours to those already applied, he enters upon his narrative.

He

The Life of Camoens was twice written by Faria e Sousa. The first Memoir was printed with the Commentary on the Lusiad in 1639. Another, wherein some of the errors of the former are corrected and new information is given, appeared with his Commentary on the Rimas in 1685.

It is forborne to repeat here the severe sentence which has been pronounced upon the productions

The reader will please to notice, that although he will find the name of this Author frequently spelt Souza, it is believed the above is the proper mode of writing it.

both of Severim de Faria and Faria e Sousa by a late biographer of the poet; because, although they may have taken liberties with their author, and not have succeeded so happily as might have been wished by the admirers of Camoens, yet they may be thought to be entitled to our thanks for those records of him, which they have preserved and handed down to us.

The next life of any importance precedes the edition of the Lusiad published by Ignacio Garcez Ferreira. It is, like most of those sketches by which his works and translations are accompanied, short and unsatisfactory.

In this condition the biography of Camoens rested until the fame and memory of the bard were destined to receive the splendid and honourable testimonial by the publication, in the year 1817, of the edition of the Lusiad before alluded to. Had this magnificent work been printed in a language with which the English were conversant, it is more than probable, that although the present undertaking had for many years occupied the attention of its author, he would have considered his plan anticipated, and have given up the idea of prosecuting his enquiries; under the circumstances, however, in which that edition appeared, and from the information which has been subsequently obtained, he does not regret that his intention was not abandoned.

We have now to speak of the embellishments of the present work: no pains have been spared, and considerable expence has been incurred, to make them as worthy of notice as possible.

The portrait at the commencement of the first volume, is copied from the most authentic one known, and which is preserved in the volume of Severim de Faria. It is to Gaspar Severim de Faria, the nephew of that author, and Executor Mayor del Reino, that we are indebted for the preservation of the likeness of Camoens. Gaspar, we are informed by his uncle, had the portrait engraved on copper, and placed below it an elegant tribute of praise." In order that such reward, as an in"dividual might be permitted to give, might not "be wanting to his merit, my nephew Gaspar has "had engraved a portrait of the poet, which is "in my Varios Discursos, with an accompanying "inscription, and has made a brief notice of his "life, adding to it a Latin eulogium."

This portrait has been followed by several engravers, but with such licence of the Burine, that in

*The author has preferred giving this portrait as it appears in the volume of Severim de Faria, but with the arms brought down from the corner of the picture, and placed below the engraving. The portrait in the work of D. Joze Maria de Souza is from the same original, but has been altered for the purpose of giving more ease to the appearance of the figure.

many instances a very different character is given from that which is displayed in the original; and so careless have certain artists been, that in the prints in Faria e Sousa's Commentary on the Lusiad, and in Sir Richard Fanshaw's translation of that poem, Camoens appears blind of the wrong eye, from the plate having been reversed, a liberty too frequently taken by engravers. A fac simile of the portrait in Faria e Sousa's work, with the exception of the alteration as to the eye; another of the Commentator himself; one of a whole length figure of the poet, from the folio edition of 1720; and various wood cuts, will be found in the following pages.

The portrait of Donna Ignez de Castro is engraved from a print, in the "Retratos e Elogios dos Varoens e Donas que illustraram a nacaō Portugueza," concerning which the editors of that work have the following remark: "The most an"cient portrait, which we could discover and from "which our print is taken, remains in the house "of the most excellent Senhor the Conde de Re"dondo, where it is much esteemed. The pic"ture is not of great size; is of excellent gothic

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painting on board; and represents her features "so naturally, as to appear preferable to one sent "us from Alcobaça, copied from the figure on her "tomb. This also preserves the mode of dress at