132 



Critical Survey of the Works of Lefjing. [Sept. I , 



uncle the Cardinal Henry. After llie 

 SiKiiiifli ufiirpiitioii began, a douht, 

 •>vliif.h had llio obvious piiipofc of unlct- 

 lliat, tlie allegiance of llic PortUi^ueze, 

 V'us tirit propaj^ated. Barbarous ages 

 abound with rci'iirrc6tion-heroes, wiili 

 men evoked from the fhades for fuditious 

 ]>urpofcs, ctiitmj'ul: ierris bt.llu wovenlex. 

 Thus the Wcllh rtfufcitated tiieir Artliur, 

 the Englilh tluiir Duke of York, the 

 French their .Toaii of Arc. Tiic ftory of 

 Sebaliian's prefcrvation originated in 

 I'erccra, one of the Azores. 



Twenty years elapfed before the re- 

 turn of this Sebaftian. According to his 

 own ftory, he was Itill in K;;ypt, and con- 

 fe(|nent!y within reach of European in- 

 telhgence, at the time of his uncle's 

 death. This was the proper period for 

 his return. iMortiricatioii may account 

 for fonic length of abfence, but not for 

 an abandoniitent of his Ration, when the 

 chance of refuniption came into jeo- 

 pardy. 



The fuccefs of thcPortugneze pretend- 

 ers, who were monks, and who therefore 

 found it convenient to aclviiowlediie a 

 temporary penitential refuleiice in a con- 

 vent, would naturally [)repare that moft 

 improbable portion of the new fiory 

 which defcribed Seballian as reiiding fo 

 loni; in a Georgian monafiery. A mo- 

 iiafiic tufie was never afciibed to Sebaf- 

 tian until the prior of Crato was a can- 

 didate lor the vacant fccpti'e. 



The apparition at Venice, a flatc hof- 

 tile to the Spaniards, rather than at 

 }lome, the natural afylmn of refu'it e Ca- 

 tholic jninces, is ill accounted for by the 

 ftransre robbery afcribed to this king's 

 attendants, wliich ought rather to have 

 prevented a man coming out of Sicily 

 from reaching the extremity of the Adri- 

 atic, than to have occai-Joned it. Home 

 inclined to the .S|)anilh intereli : Venice 

 wa-j the retreat of the refugee Portugueze. 

 On the fuppofition of impolture the place 

 oi anpearance is natural. 



'1 he \'tiietian Senate, being well dif- 

 pnffd to the revolutionary I'ortugtieze, 

 did exactly thai \x Inch was likclT to give 

 importance to this pretender, and to pre- 

 vent detection. They transferred him 

 notorioully to a llate-prifon ; they fwlVer- 

 ed theSpanilh AmbalVador and the King 

 of France to meddle abwit his comniit- 

 rnent ; but they never fuiVend a particle 

 fit evidence to tranfpire, and they care- 

 fully intercepted inveli'gation from lefs 

 partial (quarters. Suppole this Sehaltian 

 the true king, and his long detention by- 



comes inexplicable. That the Venetians 

 look an mtercit in bis fafety is clear from 

 their anger with the Duke of Tufcany for 

 his I'eizure. 'I'he contpiracy of Bedmar 

 was a retaliation for this plot. 



The pretended dialogue with the 

 Count of Lemos is not fupported by va- 

 lid tclriniony. On the contrary, the Ne- 

 apolitan examinations fo admittedly termi- 

 nated in the detection of impoflure, and 

 of his being a Calabri;in, that the felf» 

 created king was paraded on afs-back 

 through the Itreets, as if to court ^Tirioiis 

 conlronfation, in a place full of Spani- 

 ards who had vifited the Court of Portu- 

 gal. The real king would have been re- 

 moved fpeedily by an oftentatious execu- 

 tion : an impoftor only could be fafely 

 fentenced to the gallics, and prefervcd 

 ali\c for infpeciion, and made to relide 

 in the very neighbourhood of Portugal, 

 at Sail Lucar. 



But let us return to Lcfling's reviewal. 

 « * * **•«** 



" Impartiality — and what flionld move 

 a Cicrman to be partial in a Iliilorv of 

 Portugal r The queltion is plaulible : 

 yet the man who tends to be partial will 

 betray hunfelf even about indifterent 

 things : lie will intcrpofe his own judg- 

 ment where the reader might have been 

 left to decide for himfelf. Nor can I 

 admit that nothing occurs in Portugueze 

 hillory which might tem|)t a German to 

 be partial, were it! merely out of nation- 

 al it v. 



" For intlance, in defcribing the ef- 

 forts of King .lohn II. to encourage na- 

 V'.;ation, mention occurs of Martin Be- 

 henn, who rendered in that refjiett im- 

 portant fervices to Portugal. Now we 

 know that certain patriotic Nuremberg- 

 ors have maintained that he ought to be 

 called the true dilcoverer of the New 

 World. They repofc chieHy on the tef- 

 tiniony of llicciolus and of Benzonus. 

 The lormer gives us to underftand that 

 Beheim put Columbus on the fcent; and 

 the latter fays exjirclVIy, that Magellan 

 faw the Irruit now called after himfelf al- 

 ready laid down in a chart of Martin 

 Beheim. — ' IIiijus freti obfervatio Ma- 

 gellano tribnenda eft, nam reliquarum 

 navium prefe(^'ti fi-etum efte negabant, et 

 finum duntaxat ell'e cenfebant. Magel- 

 lanus tamen fretum ilKc cffe norat, quia, 

 Jif i'ertur, in charta marina adunctatunx 

 viderat, defcripta ah inligni rjuodam na«- 

 clero cui nomen ^lartinus Bohemus, 

 qiiam LutVtani;e Hex in fuo Mufaeo adfer-i- 

 vabat.'~j5c«cc7i!<s cle India Occidcnfati, 

 Sluven 



