The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1874-12-12

for himself. The heavens had a new glory and
now. how beautifully the face of nature shone
for him How glowing were dear Alamquer's
rustic charms"!- How he sang of the floral
banks;
In may eircuit gentle TAgus flows,
springing from Cuenca's mountain region q"
And how he trod his humble chamber floor
with the elastic step, and ~exnltant movement of
one, who has discovered a priceless jewel worth
the gucrdOn of a kingdom worth all other
worths worth the redemption Of a soul and
only revealed to his enraptured gaze, to his dis
corning heart!
THE GUIDING STAR.
But love must always advance it can never go
backward and it maintains its steady course, if
true, under all DISCUSSES, reserves, or teints, until
victory or overwhelming defeat decides the issue.
And so, Camoens could not be content with
dreams and hopes in the humble chamber, in the
Mouraria quarter of Lisbon nor with the beau
ties Of the rich landscape, that adorns the Tagus
food, when FURNISHED with the glories of the
sun Of Portugal. No, this was not enough there
was no warmth nor glory in landscape or sun
shine, which had no soul in it for him. He
sought his radiance and vision of beauty In the
night, when uninspired men and nature rcpose !;
he sought the vicinity of a easement, not to pry
within the sacred enclosure of which il was an
opening but to ramble furtively near it, in the
hope that some glimmering taper light would
assure him Of q presence that was his worship
and inspiration and that its kindly little fame
might possibly reveal to him some slight glimpse
of a fair face, whose halo of beauty and purity
were the positive nourishment of his newly
awakened soul. His sun thus shone when the
light of day was gone. Or was not his sun a
star, a star of heart inspiring, everlasting hope /;
that life with him could neyermore be mean,
or tame, or base but henceforth fraught with
heroic purpose, and ever more to be worthy of
innocence and virtue to be worthy of Heaven?
LABoRING FOR LOVE.
Camoens had all the fears and timidities, as
well az herOisms OF an earnest, truthful, and gen.
erous nature. True love banished all pride and
eoneeit, and made him difident, where a selfish
passion would have made another bold. He felt
that sense of unworthiness that springs from a
character Of true worth. He forgot himsel in
another ones life. To him it was moro blessed
to give than to receive. More satisfying to his
nature to sacrifice than to receive worship. He
sought to give all he had to one, whose presence,
graced by nature, religion and honor, gave to
him the blessedness and hope of a new and bet
ter life. 1t was little that he had, but he sought
to give il all:-all his time (and he had little else
besides) in writing words of immortal verse, or in
searching almost inaccessible places for rare
plants and blooms, that he might offer them to
her, as he would diamonds or gold, to give her a
joy, that no one else could give. He rejoiced in
would have been happy in a slavery that blessed
her life. And of this he gives us assurance in
some stanzas;
aTrabalhos descansariao
Sc para vs tTabalhasse" &c.
Work is rest,-and labor ease,
When tits thee, 1 toll to please;
Aud fortunes Dinon rich in gold,
Why should J seek base luere's lure'
Or why ambition's strife endurei
Since maiden, thou wilt kindly take
The offerings that my heart doth make.
Ti@e would, on, SO gently gently glide ;, mid,
Gould / throughout LIES variety,
Forever toll for love and thee!
MoDEsTY OF THE HEROIC HEART.
He was not presumptuous to aspire now in his
obscure days, to try to win his saint and aristo-
cratic beauty away from the circle that sur
rounded her with culture and opulenee and grace.
He hoped to carve his way into a region of glory
before he spoke for her but now ho only dared
to worship from afar. He was meek in those
days he, the bitter and bloody foe of the warlike
Moors he, the bold adventurer in the floods of
India he, the ardent poet of Lustania, he was
gentle now as a child, and thus he sang:
"Eu viva de lagrimas izento," &c. III
My life is free from bitter tears;
Nor do / feel Temorseful fears,
That break upon the peace Of those,
Mine is meek love, that never rose
In passion hurtful TO the fair,
For whom ! never dreamt a snare.
seek tue love with honor's brow,
With voice Of tinih, as ] do now.
LOVE WILL OUT.
A true passion, if mutually entertained, how
ever checked and controlled by prudential con-
sideration cannot long remain hidden from obsery-
alton. The hopes, however modest, of our poet
could not be shrouded forever, especially when
thew prompted him to watch and surround with
adoring attentions a jealously guarded object of
the highest prize and prominence. He like a
difdent hero hoped to hide his love and smother
within his own bosom his fondness until the
Iabors and the heroisms of years should prove his
value in other eyes as we'll as in hers. But the
III ohaorhiD1 N sSiOn h0waver much controlled IL
too often and sadly unconscious of the watchful
scrutiny of those who have an interest, or who
take a pleasure in thwarting an attachment.
Love has more enemies than friends as the
ministers of evil seem more abundant than those
who minister unto peace and good will. To
poison love, or the currents that run towards
affection, is far more common, than to cherish q
true and generous thing. Alas, that there should
be more zest in a bitter word and a broken hope,
than in the joys Of loving kindness to one another!
Experience and duty sometimes advise wisely
and kindly the willfulness of the heart but more
usually the course of affection is interrupted by
the serpent hiss of SANDER, that hates the peace
of an earthly paradise. In this case the eyes of
q priest watched our innocence in the palace
and a virgins ~trustful confession to a supposed
divine guardian of earthly secrets betrayed her
tender hopes, which had been awakened by the
faithful, unsel6sh, and resolute devotion of the
poet (; and they were betrayed to those who would
only seek to know them in order to desolate them
B~ANIsHXENT. THE VICTORY OF LIES.
The proud brother Antonio de Ataide, the fa-
yored courtier at the Palace, Ses led to suspect
that his sister Caterina felt a deep interest in the
adyenturer Camoens. (2) He and the Church and
the Court had a high alliance for the young lady.
II might not reach the height of her heart, but
what matter if it advanced a policy. The brother
found some confirmation of his suspicious in in
tercepsed missives that passed the portals OF the
Palace. And as he and his relatives did not wish
10 have q proud name identified with any gossip
in connection with an obscure interloper, they did
1. Sonnet Of CamOens in the collection Of Sousa- IL 5 found
among Lord Strangford's translations but what Lord Byron
observes in respect TO this writer, E" that what he has given TO
the world as the songs Of CamOens are no more To be found IN
The original Portuguese than in The songs OF Solomon" Is partly
true IN this instance. His version Of IL begins thus:
aFrcm sorrow free. aud tears, and dull despair
- / Hv'd con,ented in a sweet repose
I needed not the happier star Of those
Whose amorous wfes achievd each conquered fair