424 
I know this lady only by fome middling 
poems, and fhould not have thought her 
hiftory entitled to much regard, were it 
not that {he draws from a peculiar and 
refpeciable fource.the unpublified Me- 
moirs of Gomez Vafconcellos de Figue- 
redo. Of this map it is well known 
that he and his brother were among the 
mott taithiul adherents of Don Antonio. 
But how came thefe memoirs to the 
hands of Madame de Saintonge ?—She 
was his grand-daughter. It fome alliow- 
ances are to be made for the loquacity 
of a Frenchwoman, much confidence 
may be placed in her opportunities of 
information. Allow me then to put 
down a few particulars inferred from this 
volume, which here and there feem to 
rectify or complete the ftatements of 
Gebauer. 
Firft, a word or two concerning the 
partiality of Madame de Saintenge. The 
legitimate birth of Don Antonio is with 
her paft a doubt. According to her, 
the father, Duke Louis of Beja, expreli- 
ly acknowledged in bis will that the 
mother had been really, though private- 
ly, married to him. Yet the adds, that 
Don Antonio, untill his return from 
Africa, always fuppofed himielf to be 
enly a natural fon of Duke Louis. If 
this be true, the other cannot. Duke 
Louis died in 1555, thirteen years before 
Antonio’s return from Africa. Can the 
will of his father have been unknown to 
him for thirteen years? In a word, this 
circumftance is falfe. Louis may have 
made Don Antonio his fole heir; but 
that proves little in favour of-a legiti- 
mate birth. Had this eireunfiance been 
attefied in the will, the friends of Don 
Antonio would not have found fo much 
effort neceflary to make out a pedigree. 
What this female hiftorian fays of the 
death of Cardmal Henry, proves full 
more ftrengly ber thoughtle{s partiality. 
The cardinal died m tis 6Sth year; and 
fhe fays herfelf: F/ etazt wviewx et ufé, 
een devait etre ufjez pour faire juger 
gwil nwirait pas lom. Why not itop 
there? Why infinuate, betides his age 
and his decrepitude, another canfe of 
death? Yet the fays outmght, Quedques 
Aijioriens difent, que Philippe trouva -la 
fecret. de Vempecher de languir. 
fhe but named one fuch hiftorian, this 
might be excufable. Gebaner has not 
ebierved the imputation any where: I 
fear, Madame de Saintonge muft incur 
the reproach of inventing it. 
This dves her no honour :—it does 
mot therefore follow that fhe no where. 
Critical Survey of Lefing’s Works. 
Had _ 
[June ft, 
fpeaks the truth. She may moft fecurely¥ 
be trufted for what relpects the brother 
of her grandfather; and this Mr. Ge- 
bauer might have uted in the following 
patiage: “ In the Azores, efpecially in 
Tercera, a ramour had been fpread that 
King Sebaftian had not been killed, and 
would {oon be reficred to his fubjects. 
Afterwards, when Antonio informed 
thofe of Tercera of the death of Henry, 
and of his elevation, they were coutent; 
and although they learnt-from their, de- 
puties the defeat of Antonio at Alcan- 
tara, and his fight, they remained m 
allegiance to their expected fovereign: 
efpecially as Cyprian®* of Figueredo, a 
fteady adherent of Antonio; encouraged 
this expectation; and as Pedro Valdes 
and his Spaniards had failed m an at- 
, tempt. at invafion.” Here Mr. Gebauer 
is, contrary to his cuftom, very coneie ; 
and, what is rare with bim, quotes no 
voucher. At leaft, he might have wrutted 
Madame de Saintonge tor the chriftian 
name of Figueredo, the brother of her 
grandfather. She calls bim Seipio, not 
Cyprian. He was, fhe fays, governor of 
Tercera, and had declared for Antonio, 
without liftening to the offers made him 
by the King of Spain, through the 
Princefs of Eboli Ray Gomez. Philip 
II. was therefore indifpofed againft him, 
aud confifcated all his eftates im Pertu- 
eal. But the expedition .ntrufted to 
Pedro Valdes was not the only one he 
rendered fruitlefs. Waldes, or (as Ma- | 
dame de Saintonge lefs correétly calls 
him) Balde, was an. opinionated man, 
and thought victory could not efcape him; 
but, like fuch people, when put to the 
proof he maintained but poorly the ho- 
nour of his nation. -He was. wholly 
routed, and returned with difgrace and 
confulion to Portugal. Philip had him 
taken into cuftody, and charged him 
with an. attack contrary to, erders; fo 
that all the intereft of his fnends was 
requifite to intercept punifhment. The 
year after, a fecond attempt was made 
on Tercera, with ttll worfe fuccets. Of 
this Mr. Gebauer appears to know no= ~ 
thing; but Madame de Saintonge relates 
it thus: ‘Tre governor Figueredo had fo 
few foldiers left, that-a lefs refolute man 
than he would rather have thought of an 
advantageous capitulation, than of a de- 
fence. But nothing could fhake ‘his re- 
folution, and he thought of a tratagem 
which fucceeded. He got a number of 
Ss au Be Bh ee ee 
* This man feems to have invented the 
fable of Sebaftian’s being alive. 
oxch . 
