CAM 



,301 



CAM 





1.1 III. 



Camero. not adopt their peculiar notions, met in arms at San- 

 quhar, and published a declaration or testimony, in 

 which they disowned the king's right to the crown 

 and government of Scotland, and protested against 

 the succession of James, on account of their popery 

 and breach of covenant to God and the church. Mr 

 Richard Cameron wrote a vindication of this paper, 

 and a keen and lengthened controversy took place. 

 The rejection of the royal authority, thus broadly 

 and boldly avowed, is that part of their conduct, 

 which has given the chief handle to the opponents 

 and enemies of the Cameronians. Even some of their 

 own number were dissatisfied with the language of 

 the Sanquhar Declaration ; and afterwards they a- 

 tneudrd and explained certain parts of it, while they 

 defended it in general, in their Informaiory Vindica- 

 tion, drawn up bv Mr Renwick in 1687. Besides 

 that declaration, Mr Cameron and about thirty others 

 composed and subscribed a bond for their mutual de- 

 fence. Very soon after this, the rencounter at Airs- 

 moss happened, when the Cameronians were defeat- 

 ed, and Cameron and many more killed. In the 

 course of the year, those who had been made pri- 

 soners in that engagement were executed as traitors. 

 And a very strict search was made for the followers 

 of Cameron throughout the country, some of whom 

 were taken, and put to death for their non-conformi- 

 ty and rebellion. For a long while these unfortu- 

 nate people were the objects of persecution and ven- 

 geance. No pity was shewn to age or sex to cha- 

 racter or condition ; and government seemed resolved 

 to demonstrate to the world, that they did not in 

 any measure deserve the allegiance which they so ri- 

 gidly demanded, and for withdrawing which the Ca- 

 meronians were so severely punished. It is unneces- 

 sary to give an account of the sufferings' which they 

 endured, from the resentment and cruelty of their 

 rulers. In 1686, there were some divisions among 

 them. A considerable number disapproved of the 

 violence of Mr Renwick, who was now at the head 

 of the party ; and not only separated from them, but 

 published testimonies against some of their proceed- 

 ings. The great point of difference seems to have 

 been, that the former would not unite with such of 

 the suffering Presbyterians as did not go all lengths 

 with them, while the latter acted OH more liberal 

 principles, and were for associating with all who held 

 the same general sentiments, and were in the same 

 distressful circumstances. It was on this occasion 

 that the Informatory Vindication was drawn up. In 

 1688, Mr Renwick, who appears to have been a 

 pious worthy man, was seized, tried, and executed 

 at Edinburgh. He died in the avowal of those doc- 

 trines, respecting the authority of the king, which 

 he had hitherto maintained. He was the last who 

 suffered publicly for the cause of religion. The re- 

 volution put an end to the calamities of the Camero- 

 nians, as it put an end to arbitrary sway, and to per- 

 secution for conscience saki-. The Cameronians still 

 exist as a distinct sect ; but they are as inconsider- 

 able in numbers, as they are decent and peaceable in 

 'their deportment. See Wodrow's History of the 



Suffering* of the Church of Scotland ; Hind Itt Camillui, 

 Loose ; and Burnct's History of hit onm Tim ft. fr) 



CAMILLUS. S..-1- ROME. 



CAMOENS, LUIK DE, the epic poet of For- 

 tugal, was born at Lisbon in 1517. His family was 

 of considerable note, and originally Spanish. His 

 misfortunes began early in life. In his infancy, his 

 father, Simon Vaz de Camoens, commander of a ves- 

 sel, was shipwrecked at Goa, where, with his life, 

 the greater part of hia fortune was lost. His mo- 

 ther, however, provided for his education at the 

 university of Coimbra ; where, in spite of Voltaire's 

 rash assertion, that his youth was spent in idleness 

 and ignorance, it appears from his works that he 

 must have imbibed the matter as well as the spirit of 

 classical learning. When he left the university, he 

 appeared at the court of Lisbon, and mixed in its 

 fashionable intrigues ; but his personal beauty, his 

 ardour and accomplishments, are supposed to have 

 tempted him to amours above his rank, for he was 

 banished from court ; and as he has ascribed, in his 

 poetry, the misfortunes of that period of his life to 

 love, he is conjectured, like Ovid, to have cherished 

 the passion too ambitiously. 



He retired from court to his mother's house at San- 

 tarene, where he began his poem on the discovery of 

 India, but quitted his retirement to join an expedition 

 which sailed from Portugalagainst Ceuta, in Africa. In 

 a naval engagement with the Moors in the Straits of 

 Gibraltar, he lost an eye, but distinguished his bra- 

 very so much in this and other actions, that he was 

 recalled to court. From thence he was chaced once 

 more by the characteristic jealousy of his country- 

 men, who still dreaded poetic gallantry amongst the 

 court ladies, though his countenance had been so 

 sadly marred. 



In 1553, he sailed to India, with a resolution ne- 

 ver to return, and little foreseeing the evils that were 

 to shake that resolution. 



When he arrived in India, an expedition was ready 

 to sail to avenge the King of Cochin on the King 

 of Pimenta. Without any rest on shore, he joined 

 this armament, and in the conquest of the ALagada 

 islands, displayed his usual bravery, not forgetting 

 his duty as a poet, to celebrate the victory. 



In the year following, he attended Manuel de Vas- 

 concello in an expedition to the Red Sea. " Here," 

 says Faria,* " as Camoens had no use for his sword, 

 he employed his pen." Nor was his activity confined 

 to the fleet or camp. He visited Mount Felix, and 

 the adjacent inhospitable regions of Africa, which 

 he so strongly pictures in the Lusiad, and in one of 

 his little pieces, where he laments the absence of his 

 mistress. When he returned to Goa, he had tran- 

 quillity to resume his great poem, but imprudently 

 he slept out of the epic sfain to indulge in satirizing 

 the viceroy Francisco Baretto, by whom he was ba- 

 nished to China. Even in exile, however, he still 

 found friends, and his talents made him useful. He 

 was appointed commissary of the estates of the de- 

 funct in the island of Macao, where he continued 

 for several years, proceeding with his Lusiad, and 



Quoted by Mickle. 



