Joyful their nets they leave and finny prey,
And crowding round the Lufians, point the way.
A herald now, by VASCO's high command

Sent to the monarch, treads the Indian ftrand;
The facred staff he bears, in gold he shines,

And tells his office by majestic figns.

As to and fro, recumbent to the gale,

The harvest waves along the yellow dale,

So

Voltaire, as the poetical merit of the Lufiad furpaffes that of the Henriade. And the critic in poetry must allow, that, to suppose the discovery of Gama, the completion of all the former endeavours to overthrow the great enemies of the true religion, gives a dignity to the poem, and an importance to the hero, fimilar to that which Voltaire, on the fame fuppofition, allows to the fubject of the Jerufalem of Taffo.

Having entered fo far into the hiftory of the crufades, it may not be improper to take a view of the happy confequences which flowed from them. “To these wild expeditions," fays Robertson, "the effect of superstition "or folly, we owe the first gleams of light which tended to dispel bar"barity and ignorance, and introduce any change in government or man66 ners." Conftantinople, at that time the feat of elegance, of arts and commerce, was the principal rendezvous of the European armies. The Greek writers of that age speak of the Latins as the most ignorant barbari. ans; the Latins, on the other hand, talk with astonishment of the grandeur, elegance, and commerce of Conftantinople. The most ftupid barbarians, when they have the opportunity of comparison, are fenfible of the fuperiority of civilized nations, and, by an acquaintance with them, begin to resemble their manners, and emulate their advantages. The fleets which attended the croffes introduced commerce, and the freedom of commercial cities into their mother countries. This, as Robertson observes, proved destructive to the feudal fyftem, which had now degenerated into the moft gloomy oppreffion, and introduced the plans of regular government. "This acqui"fition of liberty," fays the fanie most ingenious hiftorian, "made fuch a "happy change in the condition of all the members of communities, as ❝roufed them from that stupidity and inaction into which they had been "funk by the wretchednefs of their former ftate. The spirit of industry 're"vived, commerce became an object of attention, and began to flourish. "Population increased. Independence was established, and wealth flowed into cities which had long been the feat of poverty and oppreffion."

So round the herald prefs the wondering throng,
Recumbent waving as they pour along;

And much his manly port and strange attire,

And much his fair and ruddy hue admire :
When speeding through the crowd with eager hafte,
And honeft smiles, a fon of Afric preft:

Enrapt with joy the wondering herald hears
Caftilia's manly tongue falute his " ears.
What friendly angel from thy Tago's fhore
Has led thee hither? cries the joyful Moor.
Then hand in hand, the pledge of faith, conjoin'd,
Oh joy beyond the dream of hope to find,
To hear a kindred voice, the Lufian cried,
Beyond unmeasured gulphs and feas untry'd;
Untry'd before our daring keels explored

Our fearless way-Oh heaven, what tempefts roared,
While round the vast of Afric's fouthmoft land
Our eastward bowfprits fought the Indian strand!
Amazed, o'erpower'd, the friendly stranger stood;
A path now open'd through the boundless flood!

The

n

the berald bears

Caftilia's manly tongue falute his cars.

This is according to the truth of hiftory. While the meffenger, sent ashore by Gama, was borne here and there, and carried off his feet by the throng, who understood not a word of his language, he was accofted in Spanish by a Moorish merchant, a native of Tunis, who, according to Oforius, had been the chief person with whom king John II. had formerly contracted for military stores. He proved himself an honeft agent, and of infinite service to Gama, with whom he returned to Portugal, where, according to Faria, he died in the Chriftian communion. He was named Monzaida.

The hope of ages, and the dread despair,

Accomplish'd now, and conquer'd-stiff his hair
Rofe thrilling, while his labouring thoughts pursued
The dreadful courfe by GAMA's fate fubdued.
Homeward, with generous warmth o'erflow'd, he leads
The Lufian guest, and swift the feaft fucceeds:
The purple grape and golden fruitage smile;
And each choice viand of the Indian foil
Heapt o'er the board, the master's zeal declare;
The focial feaft the guest and mafter share;
The facred pledge of eaftern faith approved,
By wrath unalter'd, and by wrong unmoved.
Now to the fleet the joyful herald bends,
With earnest pace the heaven-fent friend attends :
Now down the river's sweepy ftream they glide,
And now their pinnace cuts the briny tide:
The Moor, with tranfport sparkling in his eyes,
The well-known make of GAMA's navy fpies,

The

• The facred pledge of eastern faith.-To eat together was in the Eaft looked upon as the inviolable pledge of protection. As a Perfian nobleman was one day walking in his garden, a wretch in the utmost terror proftrated himself before him, and implored to be protected from the rage of a multitude who were in pursuit of him, to take his life. The nobleman took a peach, eat part of it, and gave the reft to the fugitive, affuring him of safety. As they approached the house, they met a crowd who carried the murdered corfe of the nobleman's beloved fon. The incenfed populace demanded the murderer, who stood befide him, to be delivered to their fury. The father, though overwhelmed with grief and anger, replied, "We have eaten to "gether, and I will not betray him." He protected the murderer of his fon from the fury of his domeftics and neighbours, and in the might facilitated his escape.

The bending bowfprit, and the mast so tall,
The fides black frowning as a caftle wall,
The high-tower'd ftern, the lordly nodding prore,
And the broad standard slowly waving o'er

The anchor's moony fangs. The skiff he leaves,
Brave GAMA's deck his bounding step receives;
And, Hail, he cries: in transport GAMA fprung,
And round his neck with friendly welcome hung;
Enrapt so diftant o'er the dreadful main
To hear the mufic of the tongue of Spain.
And now beneath a painted fhade of state
Befide the Admiral the stranger fate:

Of India's clime, the natives, and the laws,
What monarch sways them, what religion awes?
Why from the tombs devoted to his fires
The fon fo far? the valiant chief inquires.
In act to speak the ftranger waives his hand,
The joyful crew in filent wonder ftand,
Each gently preffing on with greedy ear,

As erft the bending forests stoopt to hear
In Rhodope P, when Orpheus' heavenly strain,
Deplored his loft Eurydice in vain;

145

While

PIn Rhodope. The well-known fable of the descent of Orpheus to hell, and the second lofs of his wife, is thus explained: Aëdoneus, king of Thefprotia, whofe cruelty procured him the name of Pluto, tyrant of hell, having feized Eurydice, as she fied from his friend Aristæus, detained her as a captive. Orpheus having charmed the tyrant with his mufic, his wife was restored, on condition that he should not look upon her, till he had con ducted her out of Thefprotia. Orpheus, on his journey, forfeited the condition, and irrecoverably loft his spouse.

While with a mien that generous friendship won
From every heart, the ftranger thus begun:

Your glorious deeds, ye Lufians, well I know,
To neighbouring earth the vital air I owe ;
Yet though my faith the Koran's lore revere;
So taught my fires; my birth at proud Tangier,
An hoftile clime to Lifboa's awful name,

I glow enraptured o'er the Lufian fame;

Proud though your nation's warlike glories shine,
These proudest honours yield, O chief, to thine;
Beneath thy dread atchievements low they fall,
And India's fhore, discovered, crowns them all.
Won by your fame, by fond affection sway'd,
A friend I come, and offer friendship's aid.
As on my lips Caftilia's language glows,

So from my tongue the speech of India flows;
Mozaide my name, in India's court beloved,
For honeft deeds, but time shall speak, approved.
When India's monarch greets his court again,
For now the banquet on the tented plain
And fylvan chace his careless hours employ ;
When India's mighty lord, with wondering joy,

Shall

For now the banquet on the tented plain

And fylvan chace his careless hours employ;

The Great Mogul and other eastern fovereigns, attended with their courtiers, fpend annually fome months of the finest season in encampments in the field, in hunting parties, and military amufements.