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[257] This unfortunate lady, Donna Inez de Castro, was the daughter of a
Castilian gentleman, who had taken refuge in the court of Portugal. Her
beauty and accomplishments attracted the regard of Don Pedro, the king's
eldest son, a prince of a brave and noble disposition. La Neufville, Le
Clede, and other historians, assert that she was privately married to
the prince ere she had any share in his bed. Nor was his conjugal
fidelity less remarkable than the ardour of his passion. Afraid,
however, of his father's resentment, the severity of whose temper he
knew, his intercourse with Donna Inez passed at the court as an intrigue
of gallantry. On the accession of Don Pedro the Cruel to the throne of
Castile many of the disgusted nobility were kindly received by Don
Pedro, through the interest of his beloved Inez. The favour shown to
these Castilians gave great uneasiness to the politicians. A thousand
evils were foreseen from the prince's attachment to his Castilian
mistress: even the murder of his children by his deceased spouse, the
princess Constantia, was surmised; and the enemies of Donna Inez,
finding the king willing to listen, omitted no opportunity to increase
his resentment against the unfortunate lady. The prince was about his
twenty-eighth year when his amour with his beloved Inez commenced.

[258]

_Ad coelum tendens ardentia lumina frustra,
Lumina nam teneras arcebant vincula palmas. _

VIRG. AEn. ii.


[259] Romulus and Remus, who were said to have been suckled by a
wolf. --_Ed.
_

[260] It has been observed by some critics, that Milton on every
occasion is fond of expressing his admiration of music, particularly of
the song of the nightingale, and the full woodland choir. If in the same
manner we are to judge of the favourite taste of Homer, we shall find it
of a less delicate kind. He is continually describing the feast, the
huge chine, the savoury viands on the glowing coals, and the foaming
bowl. The ruling passion of Camoens is also strongly marked in his
writings. One may venture to affirm, that there is no poem of equal
length that abounds with so many impassioned encomiums on the fair sex
as the Lusiad. The genius of Camoens seems never so pleased as when he
is painting the variety of female charms; he feels all the magic of
their allurements, and riots in his descriptions of the happiness and
miseries attendant on the passion of love. As he wrote from his
feelings, these parts of his works have been particularly honoured with
the attention of the world.

[261] To give the character of Alphonso IV. will throw light on this
inhuman transaction. He was an undutiful son, an unnatural brother, and
a cruel father, a great and fortunate warrior, diligent in the execution
of the laws, and a Macchiavellian politician. His maxim was that of the
Jesuits; so that a contemplated good might be attained, he cared not how
villainous might be the means employed. When the enemies of Inez had
persuaded him that her death was necessary to the welfare of the state,
he took a journey to Coimbra, that he might see the lady, when the
prince, his son, was absent on a hunting party. Donna Inez, with her
children, threw herself at his feet. The king was moved with the
distress of the beautiful suppliant, when his three counsellors, Alvaro
Gonsalez, Diego Lopez Pacheco, and Pedro Coello, reproaching him for his
disregard to the state, he relapsed to his former resolution. She was
then dragged from his presence, and brutally murdered by the hands of
his three counsellors, who immediately returned to the king with their
daggers reeking with the innocent blood of his daughter-in-law. Alonzo,
says La Neufville, avowed the horrid assassination, as if he had done
nothing of which he ought to be ashamed.