"this manly indignation of the good Bishop against the impiety of religious persecution, made no impression on the mind of that bigotted Princess!"
— Mickle, William Julius [formerly William Meikle] (1734-1788)
Date
1776
Metaphor
"this manly indignation of the good Bishop against the impiety of religious persecution, made no impression on the mind of that bigotted Princess!"
Metaphor in Context
[back] We are now come to the conclusion of the fiction of the island of Venus, a fiction which is divided into three principal parts. In each of these the poetical merit is obvious, nor need we fear to assert that the happiness of our author, in uniting all these parts together in one great episode, would have excited the admiration of Longinus. The heroes of the Lusiad receive their reward in the island of Love. They are led to the palace of Thetis, where, during a divine feast, they hear the glorious victories and conquests of the heroes who are to succeed them in their Indian expedition, sung by a Syren; and the face of the globe itself, described by the Goddess, discovers the universe, and particularly the extent of the Eastern World, now given to Europe by the success of Gama. Neither in grandeur nor in happiness of completion may the Eneid or Odyssey be mentioned in comparison. The Iliad alone, in Epic conduct (as already observed) bears a strong resemblance. But however great in other views of poetical merit, the games at the funeral of Patroclus and the redemption of the body of Hector, considered as the interesting conclusion of a great whole, can never in propriety and grandeur be brought into competition with the admirable episode which concludes the Poem on the Discovery of India.
Soon after the appearance of the Lusiad, the language of Spain was also enriched with an heroic poem. The author of which has often imitated the Portuguese poet, particularly in the fiction of the globe of the world, which is shewed to Gama. In the Araucana, a globe surrounded with a radiant sphere, is also miraculously supported in the air; and on this an enchanter shews to the Spaniards the extent of their dominions in the new world. But Don Alonzo d'Arcilla is in this, as in every other part of his poem, greatly inferior to the poetical spirit of Camoens. Milton, whose poetical conduct in concluding the action of his Paradise Lost, as already pointed out, seems formed upon the Lusiad, appears to have had this passage particularly in his eye. For though the machinery of a visionary sphere was rather improper for the situation of his personages, he has nevertheless, though at the expence of an impossible supposition, given Adam a view of the terrestial globe. Michael sets the father of mankind on a mountain. ------ From whose top
The hemisphere of earth in clearest ken
Stretch'd out to th' amplest reach of prospect lay . . . . .
His eye might there command wherever stood
City of old or modern fame, the seat
Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls
Of Cambalu ------, &c.
On Europe thence and where Rome was to sway
The world ------
And even the mention of America seems copied by Milton, ------ in spirit perhaps he also saw
Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume,
And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat
Of Atabalipa, and yet unspoiled
Guiana, whose great city Geryon's sons
Call El Dorado ------
It must also be owned by the warmest admirer of the Paradise Lost, that the description of America in Camoens, Vedes a grande terra, que contina
Vai de Calisto ao seu contrario polo.
To farthest north that world enormous bends,
And cold beneath the southern pole-star ends--
Conveys a bolder and a grander idea than all the names enumerated by Milton.
Some short account of the Writers, whose authorities have been adduced in the course of these notes, may not now be improper. Fernando Lopez de Castagneda went to India on purpose to do honour to his countrymen, by enabling himself to record their actions and conquests in the East. As he was one of the first writers on that subject, his geography is often imperfect. This defect is remedied in the writings of John de Barros, who was particularly attentive to this head. But the two most eminent, as well as fullest, writers on the transactions of the Portuguese in the East, are Manuel de Faria y Sousa, knight of the order of Christ, and Hieronimus Osorius, bishop of Sylves. Faria, who wrote in Spanish, was a laborious enquirer, and is very full and circumstantial. With honest indignation he reprehends the rapine of commanders and the errors and unworthy resentments of kings. But he is often so dryly particular, that he may rather be called a journalist than an historian. And by this uninteresting minuteness, his style for the greatest part is rendered inelegant. The Bishop of Sylves, however, claims a different character. His latin is elegant, and his manly and sentimental manner entitles him to the name of Historian, even where a Livy, or a Tacitus, are mentioned. But a sentence from himself, unexpected in a Father of the communion of Rome, will characterise the liberality of his mind. Talking of the edict of king Emmanuel, which compelled the Jews to embrace Christianity, under severe persecution; Nec ex lege, nec ex religione factum . . . . . . . tibi assumas, says he, ut libertatem voluntatis impedias, et vincula mentibus effrenatis injicias? At id neque fieri potest, neque Christi sanctissimum numen approbat. Voluntarium enim sacrificium non vi malo coactum ab hominibus expetit: Neque vim mentibus inferri, sed voluntates ad studium veræ religionis allici & invitari jubet.
It is said, in the preface to Osorius, that his writings were highly esteemed by Queen Mary of England, wife of Philip II. What a pity is it, that this manly indignation of the good Bishop against the impiety of religious persecution, made no impression on the mind of that bigotted Princess!
Soon after the appearance of the Lusiad, the language of Spain was also enriched with an heroic poem. The author of which has often imitated the Portuguese poet, particularly in the fiction of the globe of the world, which is shewed to Gama. In the Araucana, a globe surrounded with a radiant sphere, is also miraculously supported in the air; and on this an enchanter shews to the Spaniards the extent of their dominions in the new world. But Don Alonzo d'Arcilla is in this, as in every other part of his poem, greatly inferior to the poetical spirit of Camoens. Milton, whose poetical conduct in concluding the action of his Paradise Lost, as already pointed out, seems formed upon the Lusiad, appears to have had this passage particularly in his eye. For though the machinery of a visionary sphere was rather improper for the situation of his personages, he has nevertheless, though at the expence of an impossible supposition, given Adam a view of the terrestial globe. Michael sets the father of mankind on a mountain. ------ From whose top
The hemisphere of earth in clearest ken
Stretch'd out to th' amplest reach of prospect lay . . . . .
His eye might there command wherever stood
City of old or modern fame, the seat
Of mightiest empire, from the destined walls
Of Cambalu ------, &c.
On Europe thence and where Rome was to sway
The world ------
And even the mention of America seems copied by Milton, ------ in spirit perhaps he also saw
Rich Mexico, the seat of Montezume,
And Cusco in Peru, the richer seat
Of Atabalipa, and yet unspoiled
Guiana, whose great city Geryon's sons
Call El Dorado ------
It must also be owned by the warmest admirer of the Paradise Lost, that the description of America in Camoens, Vedes a grande terra, que contina
Vai de Calisto ao seu contrario polo.
To farthest north that world enormous bends,
And cold beneath the southern pole-star ends--
Conveys a bolder and a grander idea than all the names enumerated by Milton.
Some short account of the Writers, whose authorities have been adduced in the course of these notes, may not now be improper. Fernando Lopez de Castagneda went to India on purpose to do honour to his countrymen, by enabling himself to record their actions and conquests in the East. As he was one of the first writers on that subject, his geography is often imperfect. This defect is remedied in the writings of John de Barros, who was particularly attentive to this head. But the two most eminent, as well as fullest, writers on the transactions of the Portuguese in the East, are Manuel de Faria y Sousa, knight of the order of Christ, and Hieronimus Osorius, bishop of Sylves. Faria, who wrote in Spanish, was a laborious enquirer, and is very full and circumstantial. With honest indignation he reprehends the rapine of commanders and the errors and unworthy resentments of kings. But he is often so dryly particular, that he may rather be called a journalist than an historian. And by this uninteresting minuteness, his style for the greatest part is rendered inelegant. The Bishop of Sylves, however, claims a different character. His latin is elegant, and his manly and sentimental manner entitles him to the name of Historian, even where a Livy, or a Tacitus, are mentioned. But a sentence from himself, unexpected in a Father of the communion of Rome, will characterise the liberality of his mind. Talking of the edict of king Emmanuel, which compelled the Jews to embrace Christianity, under severe persecution; Nec ex lege, nec ex religione factum . . . . . . . tibi assumas, says he, ut libertatem voluntatis impedias, et vincula mentibus effrenatis injicias? At id neque fieri potest, neque Christi sanctissimum numen approbat. Voluntarium enim sacrificium non vi malo coactum ab hominibus expetit: Neque vim mentibus inferri, sed voluntates ad studium veræ religionis allici & invitari jubet.
It is said, in the preface to Osorius, that his writings were highly esteemed by Queen Mary of England, wife of Philip II. What a pity is it, that this manly indignation of the good Bishop against the impiety of religious persecution, made no impression on the mind of that bigotted Princess!
Categories
Provenance
Searching "mind" and "impression" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
At least 6 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1770, 1776, 1777, 1794, 1798).
Text from The Lusiad; or, the Discovery of India. An Epic Poem. Translated from The Original Portuguese of Luís de Camões (Oxford: Printed by Jackson and Lister, and sold by Cadell, 1776). <Link to LION>
See also The First Book of the Lusiad, Published As a Specimen of a Translation of That Celebrated Epic Poem. By William Julius Mickle, Author of the Concubine, &c. (Oxford: printed by W. Jackson; and sold by Mess. Fletcher, Prince, and Bliss; T. and J. Merril in Cambridge; Cadell, Pearch, &c. London; and by Kincaid and Bell in Edinburgh, [1770?]).
Text from The Lusiad; or, the Discovery of India. An Epic Poem. Translated from The Original Portuguese of Luís de Camões (Oxford: Printed by Jackson and Lister, and sold by Cadell, 1776). <Link to LION>
See also The First Book of the Lusiad, Published As a Specimen of a Translation of That Celebrated Epic Poem. By William Julius Mickle, Author of the Concubine, &c. (Oxford: printed by W. Jackson; and sold by Mess. Fletcher, Prince, and Bliss; T. and J. Merril in Cambridge; Cadell, Pearch, &c. London; and by Kincaid and Bell in Edinburgh, [1770?]).
Date of Entry
05/15/2005
