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Of this formidable incantation, the third, fifth, and seventh lines, contained the command, "Be ye fascinated," varied slightly at each repetition. The short syllables in м and NG, were irresistible adjurations to the Devatas, or Astric powers invoked. But the "Kila," or "bolt of the spell, which clenched it, and upon which its whole force depended, was the difficult and mysterious formula in black letter; and, while all the rest might be uttered mentally, this must be pronounced aloud.

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The Kamatur Rakshas succeeded very well in pronouncing all the rest; but when he came to the " BOLT," he could not manage it at all, declaring emphatically to Maricha, that nothing but a sneezing camel could utter such a sound. Maricha was nonplussed for a moment; but, reflecting a little, he went to a bottle-bird's nest that hung from a tree adjoining the hermitage, and took out of it a little crystal casket called" Gogalgai," containing grains of a light, silvery powder, varying in bulk from the size of a cummin seed to that of a marble; this was "Kalabhasma," or magical Time-pow

der. It was composed of an equal quantity of condensed consciousness and duration; and its effect, when exploded, was to expand in time, and Occupy as large a portion thereof as

VOL. XLII.-NO. CCI.II.

was originally condensed in the grain; so that the act, word, or thought, proceeding when the explosion took place, though really occupying only a minute, seemed to him under whose nose the Time-powder was exploded, to endure a whole day, month, or nay, a whole lifetime, century, or age, according to the mass of the powder exploded. Maricha, putting a cat's-eye ring on his finger, threw one of the smallest grains upon the chafing-dish in front of the Kamatur Rakshas, at the same moment pouring from his Arghya, or ablution-vase, some water upon his bare head. The cat's-eye ring prevented the Rishi himself from being affected by the explosion, which was perfectly noiseless; but the effect upon the Rakshas was, to make him experience a three days' drenching of rain, which brought on a severe cold in the head, and set him sneezing violently, in the course of which he came to pronounce the important “Ex. PHNPHJ" with perfect ease, and thus became master of the Mantra, and consequently of the Mohan Astra. He now took leave of Maricha in high spirits; but, before doing so, took an opportunity, while the Rishi's back was turned for a moment, to dip his fingers into the crystal casket, and purloin one of the largest grains of Timepowder it contained. As, however, no evil act ever goes without retribution in the long run, he forgot all about the cat's-eye ring, which was necessary to the safe use of the magical powder; and thus his ungrateful theft, though proceeding only from his predominant love of fnn, was eventually punished.

As soon as he got home, he made instant preparations for a grand entertainment, to which he invited Ravan, his brother, Bibhishana, and all the grandees of the Titan court; and for this feast he caused to be slaughtered many of those very animals and birds whom the Rishi vainly imagined to have saved by conceding the Mohan Astra. So rarely does weak compliance, even with a good purpose, produce the intended result! As soon as the banquet had been concluded, and wine began to unlock the tongues of the assembly, and inspire each guest with a desire of telling some tale in which he himself was, of course, the hero, the Kamatur Rakshas, who had his Buddhist friar in attendance be

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hind him, with the chafing-dish, Asclepias leaves, and a vial of the Sankalp-odaka, or aqua mirabilis, all in readiness, took the opportunity of a break in the general conversation; and, fixing a steady eye, full of wicked meaning, upon Ravan, began, as it were, quite carelessly: "That reminds me, by the way, of what once happened to me in the time of my uncle, SarvaVarta. I remember Amuk coming up one day into the eastern sky chambers, and saying to Tamuk "The moment these fatal names were heard, a look of meaning passed round the circle of guests; and Ravan, catching the eyes of the principal chiefs - as in modern days the lady of the house telegraphs her fair guests, when about to rise and retire-got up from the seat of honour, his example being followed by all present, and said with grave courtesy, "Farewell, brave Kamatur-it is now late, and we all need rest; for there will be hard work with Hanuman and his monkeys to-morrow."

Before the King had finished these words, the Kamatur had mentally pronounced all the incantation but the 66 BOLT:" the white cloud of the asclepias leaf was curling over their heads; and the Kamatur, signalling to his friar to pour out the aqua mirabilis, sprinkled himself and the assembled guests, and finally uttered aloud the formidable "EI-PHNгHJ!" Ravan and his friends thought the Kamatur had merely got a fit of sneezing, and were going off under cover of the lucky diversion, as they thought it. But they were soon undeceived. From the moment that potent word was uttered, the spell took effect. None of them could stir hand, foot, or tongue. They could not even resume their seats; but each was transfixed and compelled to remain, like a silent statue, in the very attitude in which he had been surprised; while the Kamatur, glorying in this attainment of his long-deferred revenge, drew his seat coolly, so as to face them all at his ease, and then fixing his glittering eye upon them-like that other "Ancient Mariner"-began the oft-told tale of Amuk and Tamuk; and went on with a cruel deliberation, mocking the moral torture they were enduring, and prolonging their misery by occasional pauses. When he saw their rigid attention begin to slacken,

or any symptom of the force of the spell wearing out, he renewed its force by casting fresh leaves upon the chafingdish, and sprinkling the assembly anew with the miraculous water. Thus kept he them enchained till sunrise; and in addition to the physical pain of being retained so long in one attitude, their ears and minds were pounded incessantly through that long and woful night, by the ever-recurring names of Amuk and Tamuk-what they thought, and said, and did to each other. This purgatory was sufficient. He did not, on this occasion, resort to the Timepowder, not wishing to exhaust all his resources at once. But when the sun was just visible above the eastern hills, casting a last handful of leaves on the chafing-dish, and sprinkling them, for the last time, with the Sankalpodaka, so as to fix them there some time longer, he withdrew, with his friar, from the banquet-hall to his own private apartments.

Resentment was for some days the predominant feeling on the part of the Titans, who found themselves released about an hour after sunrise, and crawled home, half-dead with fatigue, and stupified with the torturing iteration of Amuk and Tamuk. After a few days' sore feeling, however, they came to view the whole matter in its true light, as a very capital and original piece of fun;

and became fonder than ever of the eccentric planner of such a truly Titanic joke.

It was agreed, at the same time, among all, to keep the events of that night, and the power of the Kamatur, a profound secret.

All who had suffered on that night listened ever after with the most perfect good breeding, and the most patient good nature, to the Kamatur's eternal and oft-repeated tales. As sure, however, as he tried them upon parties not in the secret, he was compelled to have recourse to the Mohan Astra; and every fresh exercise of this power was a new source of diversion to the Court.

Such was the eccentric Kamatur Rakshas, in whose castle on the seashore Ravan found himself in his dream, when he recovered from the insensibility produced by drinking the Amrita.

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THE career of the Portuguese poet who is the subject of our paper presents nothing of the romantic, such as characterises the lives of his predecessors, Bernardin Ribeyro,† Falcaô, and Macias. His existence was simply that of an amiable and accomplished man of letters, who loved tranquillity and retirement an existence monotonous, indeed, yet peaceful, contented, independent for the most part of its course, and clouded only at its close. Is not this as much as can possibly be said for human happiness?

The family name of our poet was simply "De Sá;" the surname of "Miranda," was an addition assumed by himself in his youth. His father, Gonzalo Mendes de Sá, had married a kinswoman, Philippa de Sá, daughter of Rodrigo Aires de Sá, and granddaughter of John Rodriguez de Sá, a man much celebrated in Portuguese history for the political and military services he rendered to King John I., when the latter disputed the crown of Portugal with John I., King of Castile, who had espoused Beatrix, only child of the deceased sovereign of Portugal, Ferdinand, and who claimed possession of that kingdom, in direct contradiction to its constitution, which had been jealously framed to guard the nation against the loss of its independence, by annexation to a foreign realm. At an early stage of the contest, John Rodriguez de Sá performed a most material achievement for the Portuguese antagonist of the Castilian King, by conquering for him the strong and important town of Guimaraens, in the province of Entre Douro e Minho, a conquest which was soon followed by the acquisition of the rest of that province, and which laid the foundation for the subsequent and rapid successes of John of Portugal.

The family of Sá, or De Sá, is noble; many of its members bore honourable

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offices at court and in the state, during the reigns of John II. of Portugal, and of his successor, Emmanuel. The Counts of Penaguido were the elder branch of the house; and in the Portuguese peerage we read of De Sá e Menezes, Marquis of Abrantes; De Sá e Mello Menezes, Viscount of Anadia; and De Sá Benavides, Viscount of Asseca. But though the name be honourable and honoured in its native chronicles, in English history it has borne a blemish in the person of Don Pantaleon de Sá, brother to the Portuguese ambassador in London during the protectorate of Cromwell. Pantaleon having taken some umbrage at an English gentleman, resolved on the revenge of a ruffian; and arming himself and a number of his servants, he went to the Exchange to look for his intended victim, but blinded by passion, he mistook another gentleman for the object of his wrath, and falling upon this unfortunate person, and mangling him with many wounds, put him to death in a most barbarous manner, his armed myrmidons preventing the interference of the horror-stricken spectators. After this foul deed, the assassin and his attendants took refuge from the enraged (and soon assembled) populace in the house of the Portuguese ambassador, who, relying on his privileges, endeavoured to protect his brother against the guard sent by Cromwell to arrest him, but in vain. The Protector firmly vindicated the offended laws of his country, and the criminal was executed as a common murderer on Tower Hill.

But to return to the subject of our memoir, Francisco de Sá (afterwards de Miranda), the son of Gonzalo and Philippa de Sá, was born in the celebrated collegiate city of Coimbra, on the 27th of October, 1495, the day on which Emmanuel, surnamed "the Great" and "the Fortunate," was

* See DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE for March, 1851.-No. CCXIX. DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE for April, 1852.-No. CCXXXII. 165 miles N.E. of Lisbon.

proclaimed King. In the family of Sá it was esteemed an auspicious omen for the young Francisco that he was born on that day; for the proclamation of Emmanuel was an occasion of great joy to the Portuguese, who had been apprehensive of a civil war for the succession; as the King, then just deceased, John II., having lost his only son, Alfonso, by a fall from his horse, had long seemed bent on nominating his illegitimate son, a young boy, as his heir and successor in the kingdom, to the prejudice of Emmanuel, the legal heir, cousin of the King, and brother of the Queen. But the proclamation of Emmanuel, setting all doubts at rest, was received with a burst of national rejoicing, in the midst of which Francisco de Sá entered the world.

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His native place, Coimbra, a city of high importance, was distinguished by the partiality of the Portuguese monarchs, who often made it their residence, in consequence of its possessing many advantages over Lisbon, in point of climate, scenery, and situation; and in the sixteenth century, at the period of young De Sa's boyhood, the University of Portugal was at Lisbon. It had fallen so low from want of funds, that the schools of Coimbra were in much better repute than those of the capital; and Gonzalo de Sá kept his son at home, to be educated under his own eye. To be a Professor of Jurisprudence was an object of ambition : in fact to be a Doctor of Laws was then a necessary step to the attainment of a respectable position in the State, and even in the Church; and De Sá, therefore, required his son to study the law. Francisco's natural inclination was strongly averse from the profession; and, in this respect, he resembled other celebrated poets. Ariosto complains in some of his verses that his father drove him to the study of the law, "not with spurs" (or ordinary stimulants), but with spits and lances,' or by coarse and painful means:

"Mio padre mi cacciò con spiedi e lancie,
Non che con aproni, a volger testi e chiose:
E m'occupo cinque anni in queste ciancie."

The inclinations of Tasso and Petrarch were similarly constrained; and

our own Milton addressed a Latin pcem to his father, entreating the latter not to compel him to renounce poetry for the clamorous bar, and "the ill-kept laws"

"Nec rapis ad leges, malè custoditaque gentis Jura, nec insulsis damnas clamoribus aures." But Astræa and the Muses are not necessarily enemies; there are shining examples to the contrary. Francisco de Sá was of a mild, docile, and affectionate disposition, and submitted wholly to his father's will, however repugnant to his own wishes; not merely yielding a dogged, forced obedience, and going mechanically through his studies; but with the sweetness of temper for which he was remarkable through life, he applied himself so assiduously to gratify his parent, that he not only obtained his degree of Doctor, but afterwards filled the chair of Professor of Jurisprudence, in which he gained applause by the excellence of his lectures. He solaced himself amid his grave occupations, by the more congenial study of poetry in the Latin, Greek, Spanish, and Italian languages; in the latter he particularly delighted. It was during the laborious period of his youth that he added to his patronymic the appellation of "De Miranda," by which he was ever after distinguished: it was derived from the little town of Miranda (called do Corvo, i. e., Miranda of the Raven), pleasantly situated on a hill, within the district belonging to Coimbra; and probably endeared to the young man's romantic feelings by some agreeable or tender associations.

We are not informed what age Sá de Miranda had attained when he lost his father; but, by comparing dates, it appears that he could not have been less than twenty-nine, or thirty: The death of his parent having released him from the necessity of remaining in a profession he disliked, he immediately abandoned the law, determined to gratify his long-thwarted desire for foreign travel. John III. was then on the throne, having succeeded Emmanuel in 1521. John, in his youth, had been strongly disinclined to any degree of study, but had been won to a better

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King Diniz established the University at Lisbon, 1290, and transferred it to Coimbra in 1308. His son, Alfonso IV., brought it back to Lisbon, and then again restored it to Coimbra, in 1354. It returned to Lisbon in the reign of Ferdinand, but was settled in Coimbra under John III.

frame of mind by his stepmother, Eleanor of Austria (Emmanuel's third wife); and he became a patron of letters, and particularly solicitous for the well-being of the University of Coimbra, which he re-transferred to that city from Lisbon, founded several new colleges, and procured, at his own expense, the most able professors, both foreign and native, to aid in its restoration. He was naturally anxious to retain at Coimbra, or at least in Portugal, a person who had already attained such celebrity as Sá de Miranda, to whom he made liberal offers, promising him a station more agreeable to him than Professor of Jurisprudence. But the poet's resolution was immovable; he declined the overtures of the monarch firmly, but respectfully, and set forth upon his travels.

It appears probable that Sá de Miranda's determination to go abroad was greatly strenghtened by the circumstance that his father, consulting his son's wishes quite as little in the choice of a wife as in that of a profession, had arranged for him a matrimonial contract with Donna Briolanjà (or Violante) de Azevedo, the wellportioned daughter of Francisco Machado de Azevedo, Lord of Louzaa, and of a district between the rivers Homem and Cavado, in the province of Tra os Montes. He had never seen his intended bride, but had learned from common report that she was not only extremely plain in person, but was also by no means young; a report not calculated to make him anxious for the fulfilment of the contract, so long as he could delay it; and especially as there is reason to believe that his affections had been placed upon another. He is described as of a most romantic and lover-like temperament; his air was deeply tinged with melancholy; often in company he would fall into profound abstraction, and tears would stream down his cheeks, of which he seemed unconscious, forgetful even that he was surrounded by observers. Among his poems are several outpourings of love which could not have been at any time addressed to Donna Briolanjà.

Sá de Miranda travelled first into Spain, and afterwards into Italy and Sicily, visiting Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, and Naples. During his sojourn abroad, he made himself thoroughly acquainted with Italian rhythm

and metres, and exercised himself in various kinds of poetical composition, but chiefly pastoral and lyric.

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On his return to Portugal, he made his mind to fulfil his long-neglected engagement with Donna Briolanjà de Azevedo, of whose many virtues he had heard from their mutual friends. Though fame depreciated her personal attractions, it gave her credit, and justly, for qualities of the heart and of the intellect of the highest order. Sá de Miranda presented himself for the first time before his betrothed, staff in hand; and is said to have accosted her in these strange words-" Chastise me, madam, with this staff, for having so long delayed my coming"-a speech of singular inelegance and bad taste for a man of refinement to make. It was adding affront to his previous neglect, to remind the lady of his tardiness. He seems to have been bewildered between the plain features and the amiable and intellectual expression_of Donna Briolanja's countenance. apologies, however, were taken in good part. The long-affianced couple were married; and notwithstanding the unpromising appearance of their engagement before its completion, their union was one of the most perfect conjugal happiness that has ever fallen to the lot of mortals. Donna Briolanja proved herself an intelligent and well-informed companion, an amiable woman, and an excellent and affectionate wife; and her husband became most devotedly and enduringly attached to her. They bad two sons- Gonzalo Mendes de Sa (who, when grown up, entered the Portuguese army), and Jeronymo de Sá de Azevedo.

His

Sa de Miranda was well known to fame, not only as a poet, but as a man of most amiable character; and John III., anxious for his society, gave him an appointment at Court; and, with his royal brother, the Cardinal Don Henry (who was ultimately King), showed him distinguished favour. His poems were greatly admired by the courtiers (following the royal example); and the author was himself held in general esteem, from the sweetness of his disposition, the mildness of his manners, the refinement of his mind, and the variety of his talents; while the pensive cast that characterised his aspect, added interest to the sentiments he inspired. He was a passionate lover of music, and an admirable per

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