[137]Mr. Adamson says, that "The sonnet does not allude to any particular situation but certainly the line
Eu crendo que o lugar me defendia,
alludes to its being a church, which, as is well known, is in Catholic counties, where young ladies are so much shut up, a usual place for falling in love.—Lope de Vega alludes to this circumstance and the similarity between the loves of Petrarch and Camoens—
El culto celestial se celebrava
Del mayor Viernes en la Iglesia pia,
Quando por Laura Franco se encendia,
y Liso por Natercia se inflamava.
Liso and Natercia were the anagrams which Camoens framed of his own and his lady's Christian name—his own, Luis, being frequently spelt Lois.
[138]Soneto 25.
[139]Lord Strangford's translation is not literal, but it retains all the feeling of the original, and is very beautiful:—
"Till lovers' tears at parting cease to flow,
Nor sundered hearts by strong despair be torn,
So long recorded be that April morn
When gleams of joy were dashed with showers of woe.
Scarce had the purpling east began to glow,
Of mournful men, it saw me most forlorn;
Saw those hard pangs by gentle bosom borne,
(The hardest, sure, that gentle bosoms know!)
But oh, it saw love's charming secret told
By tears fast dropping from celestial eyes,
By sobs of grief, and by such piteous sighs
As e'en might turn th' infernal caverns cold
And make the guilty deem their sufferings ease,
Their torments luxury—compared to these!"
[140]These verses are peculiarly beautiful in the original. The translation, though flowing, does not embody the ideas of the Portuguese with exactitude, or with equal energy of expression.
[141]While Camoens was in Africa his father sailed to India, and died at Goa on his arrival. Is it not possible that Simon Vaz, instead of being in Africa, was in Lisbon, as indeed seems certain, as he was surety for his son; and that his projected voyage caused Luis to entertain the design of going to India also, though hopes of preferment induced him rather to wish to sail with the viceroy than on board his father's vessel. But the invitation of his youthful friend, the reluctance he felt to give up every hope of seeing dona Caterina again, made him prefer an expedition to Africa. Simon Vaz died on his arrival at Goa, but voyages in those days were long and uncertain: and when Luis actually sailed for India, he probably had not heard of his father's fate, and went out with the intention of joining him.