CAMOENS. 59 



centre of motion, we have in the description of the globe, 

 a review of all the countries then known, and of their 

 productions. ( 94 ) Even the "land of the Holy Cross/' 

 (Brazil), is named, and the coasts which Magellan discovered 

 " by the act, but not by the loyalty of a son of Lusitania." 



When I before extolled Camoens as especially a marine 

 painter, it was to indicate that the aspect of nature on the 

 land seems to have attracted him less vividly. Sismondi 

 has remarked with justice, that the whole poem contains 

 absolutely no trace of graphical description of the vegetation 

 of the tropics, and its peculiar physiognomy and forms. 

 He only notices the spices and other productions which have 

 commercial value. The episode of the magic island ( 95 ) does, 

 indeed, present a charming landscape picture, but, as befits 

 an " Una de Venus/' the vegetation consists of " fragrant 

 myrtles, citrons, lemon trees, and' pomegranates /' all 

 belonging to the climates of South Europe. In the 

 writings of the great discoverer of the new world, we find 

 far greater delight in the forests of the coasts seen by him, 

 and far more attention to the forms of the vegetable 

 kingdom ; but it should be remarked, that Columbus, writing 

 the journal of his voyage, records in it the living impressions 

 of each day. The epic of Camoens, on the other hand, is 

 written to celebrate the great achievements of the Portuguese. 

 To have borrowed from native languages uncouth names of 

 plants, and to have interwoven them in the descriptions of 

 landscapes forming the background to the actors in his 

 narrative, might have appeared but little attractive to the 

 poet accustomed to harmonious sounds. 



By the side of the knightly form of Camoens has often 

 been placed the equally romantic one of a Spanish warrior 



VOL. II. F 



