7790.} 
joys while thou mayetft ; for thefe are the 
Jait of thy life. Terrible is the wrath of 
the king. 
Guards, bring hither Yaoona, and the 
youth who is feafting on her embraces, 
They are come naked, and in, bonds. 
Fear has not wholly quenched the plea- 
fure that {wam in their looks. 
Traitor! take up that zagay and fell 
thy miftrefs to the earth. The youth 
fhudders; he draws back, he covers his 
€ycs with his hand. ; 
The tender Yaoona beheld him with 
looks fweeter thanthe honey of {pring, 
wherein love fhone through her tears. 
The furious king fnatches up the 
heavy zagay, and hurls it with might. 
Yaoona is ftruck—fhe totters—her lovely 
eyes clote—the laft igh opens her ftiff- 
€ning lips. : 
The lover fhrieks with horror. It 
was his cry of death.- Another zagay 
has, pierced his fide. He falls upon the 
eorfe of Yaoona. 
Sleep together henceforth, ye unfortu- 
nate: fleep in peace in the filence of the 
tomb. 
ee 
2G 
“TERRIBLE Niang, why dof thou 
open my womb on an unlucky day? 
How {weet is the mother’s {mile when 
fhe leans over her new-born child. How 
cruel the hour when fhe muft caft him 
into the flood, and take away the life of 
her firft-born. Innocent creature—the 
day which thou feeft is unhappy ; it en- 
tails woe upon thy future life. I 
{pare thee, uglinefs fhall wither ‘thy 
eheeks burning fevers thal! fcorch thy 
veins; thou fhalt grow up in fuffering. 
The juice of the orange fhall nct be re- 
frefhing to thy lip; the hamattan ‘hall 
blaft the rice of thy planting; the fifth 
fhall fhun thy nets; the kifs of thy mif- 
tre{s fhall be cold and uncheering ; im- 
potence fhall purfue thee to her arms. 
Die, my fon, die once for all, to efcape 
a thoufand deaths. Niang—cruel necef- 
fity! Niang—terrible Niang! 
ee a 
ON THE PoETRY OF SPAIN AND 
PORTUGAL. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SPR ss ps | 
THAT the literature of Spain and 
Portugal is not attended to at pre- 
fent, when the ftores of Germaa ime- 
gination are open to us, is not, to be 
wondered at; but it is ftrange, that the 
fame negleét thould have prevailed in 
thofe earlier periods, when tranflations 
On the Poetry of Spain and Portugal. 
45% 
were fo common, fo ufeful, and fo ho- 
nourable. The beft Italian -poets were 
naturalized in England, during the reigns 
of Elizabeth and James; at that time, 
Spain was in the meridian of its glory, 
andit might have been imagined, that 
the fame of Lope de Vega would have 
reached this ifland. J believe, however, 
that, except Fanfhaw’s verfion of the 
Lufiad, no poetical tranflation, from ei- 
ther the Spanith er Portuguefe appeared 
in England, till the editor of ** The Re- 
Liques of Ancient Poetry,’ whofe tafte and 
genius equal his erudition, excited fome 
curiofity in the public mind by the beau- 
tiful ballad, *“Rro verde, Rio verde.” Mr. 
Mickle’s Lufiad, and Mr. Hayley’s 
account of the Araucana foon followed. 
The former of which has, perhaps, ex- 
ceeded’ the original; and the latter oc- 
cafioned regret in every reader, that the 
fketch has never been filled up. Here 
(I believe) our acquaintance with Spa- 
nifh and Portuguele poetry has ftopped. 
We have, indeed, often heard of Lope 
de Vega, and Mr. Hayley has mentioned 
the Ulyfies of Gabriel Peveira de Caftro, 
and’ the Malaca Conquiftada of Fran- 
cifco de Sa de Meneéaes, as two poems 
which the Portuguefe themfelves efteem 
only inferior to the Lufiad of their great 
Camoens; we have heard their names 
indeed, but with their merit, the Eng. 
lith reader is utterly unacquainted. 
It is my intention, Mr. Editor, in 
your future Numbers, to give fome ac- 
count of the beft Spanifh and Portuguefe 
poets, to analyze the plans of their moft 
efleemed works, and tranflate fuch fpe- 
cimens as, while they are brief enough to 
fuit your Magazine, may give fome idea 
of the genius, tafte, and manner of the 
authors. 
The profe writers of thefe countries 
(except. the great Cervantes) are. for 
obvious reafons, lefs valuable than their 
poets. Learning has never flourithed 
enough in either of the kingdoms, to 
form the tafte of the inhabitants; and 
genius and imagination will not atone for 
the want of tafte and erudition in a profe 
writer. it would be improper to pafs 
them over in filence ; but a brief notice 
avill be fufficient. : 
Spain and Portugal had reached the 
meridian of their glory, while the arts 
were yet in their infancy. Individual 
genius will be found then to have flou- 
rifhed moft when the community fhall 
have been moft flourifhing ; Athens was 
then moft glorious when Sophocles and 
Euripides fucceeded the aged ALfchylus , 
3M 2 ang 
