Such were those Portuguese of old, persistent, brave, proud, magnificent. And something of their spirit survives in the Portugal of to-day, ready to reappear at a crisis—more of it, perhaps, than is generally imagined.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Antonio Coelho Gasco in his Conquista, Antiguidade e Nobreza da mui insigne e inclita Cidade de Coimbra (Lisboa, 1805) drew the following rash picture of her from an ancient portrait at Coimbra: “This very saintly lady was of gigantic frame and very stout, very white and very red, with a long face and large serene green eyes, nose rather low with wide nostrils, head long and beautiful.”
[2] Isabel Fernandez, Barbara Fernandez, and Isabel Madeira. Later heroines at home were Isabel Pereira in the defence of Ouguella against the Spanish in 1644 and Elena Perez in the similar siege of Monção in 1656.
[3] The Portuguese accounts of these discoveries are most vivid and minute, a fascinating introduction to the geography of what is now largely part of the British Empire.
[4] Garcia da Orta introduces him with the words “The Devil entered into a Portuguese.”
Contents
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| [I] | |
| [King Dinis] | [1] |
| [II] | |
| [Nun’ Alvarez] | [17] |
| [III] | |
| [Prince Henry the Navigator] | [47] |
| [IV] | |
| [Vasco da Gama] | [61] |
| [V] | |
| [Duarte Pacheco Pereira] | [79] |
| [VI] | |
| [Affonso de Albuquerque] | [103] |
| [VII] | |
| [Dom João de Castro] | [127] |
List of Illustrations
| FACING PAGE | |
|---|---|
| [NUN’ ALVAREZ] | [Frontispiece] |
| From the earliest (1526) edition of the Cronica. | |
| [PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR] | [49] |
| [VASCO DA GAMA] | [63] |
| [AFFONSO DE ALBUQUERQUE] | [105] |
| From Gaspar Correa, Lendas da India, frontispiece to vol. ii. pt. 1. | |
| [JOÃO DE CASTRO] | [129] |