CH. 1. PORTUGUESE OCCUPATION. 7 



Tangier are not flattering to the self-love of the two 

 nations of Europe that have had most to do with it. 



In 1437 the Portuguese, who then held Ceuta, attacked 

 the town, but their army was defeated under the walls, 

 and they were forced to conclude an ignominious peace. 

 The terms included the cession of Ceuta to the Moors, 

 and the delivery as a hostage of Dom Fernando, the 

 king's brother. The other stipulations not having been 

 executed, the victors threw Dom Fernando into prison at 

 Fez, and when he died in captivity hung up his body by 

 the heels over the city walls.' 



The fortune of war was changed in 1471 when the 

 Portuguese took Tangier and several of the towns on the 

 Atlantic coast, and the Moorish Sultan was forced to pay 

 tribute to King Emanuel. Under less vigorous guidance, 

 the Portuguese were unable to retain their ascendancy, 

 but they kept possession of Tangier till, after nearly two 

 centuries, it was, by a secret treaty, ceded to England as 

 part of the dowry of Catharine of Braganza on her mar- 

 riage with Charles II. When the brave Governor Dom 

 Fernando de Menezes received the information, he en- 

 treated the Queen Eegent to spare him the grief of seeing 

 the city made over to the enemies of the Catholic faith. 

 Her answer was the offer of a Marquisate if he obeyed, 

 and dismissal from her service if he persisted in resist- 

 ing her will. He chose the latter, threw up his command, 

 and devoted the rest of his life to writing a history of the 

 city. The English Coiurt set great store by the new ac- 

 quisition, believing, as the Earl of Sandwich said, that 

 if it were walled and fortified with brass it would yet 

 repay the cost. But English policy was then at its lowest 

 ebb, and neither vigour nor intelligence directed any 

 branch of our affairs. The English settlers sent out were 

 an ill-conditioned rabble, ignorant of the country, its 



' This episode forms the subject of Calderon's noble play — El 

 Preii/yipe Costairte. 



