The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-05-31
SOME NEW BOOKS.


since, In 1893, Pope Alexander vi. par
celled out the New World discovered
or undiscovered, and the undiscovered
parts Of the Old, equally between the
two nationPlities OF the Iberian PENN
euls, giving to Spain nll that lay on
one side OF certain meridian and
go Portugal all that lay on the other.
The pontiflcal line was rather vague.
The final treaty between the two Pow
ers, made a year after the Issue OF
the papal bull drew Il $40 leagues
west OF Cape Verde Islands, and thus
by the eastward protrusion of South
America did Brazil come within the
Portuguese sphere of influence" alone
of all Americs. But Il was In Africa
and Asia that the bull gave Portugal
the exclusive right to operate for the
exploitation of the countries and the
conversion OF the heather. The divis-
ion entailed results visible on the map
of the world to this day. Portugal was
then, as now, of about NTH or the
total area Of the peninsula, though
indeed 1t was not Spain but only Cas-
tile that the Sovereign Pontlf had In
mind. Probably Portugal bore then
about the same ratio TO Spain in pop
ulntion as now. namely one-third. Yet
VI
OF all her outlying possessions and is
confined TO the peninsula and the Ca
naries and the Balearic Islands and
what she moro or less precariously
holds on the mainland Of North Africa,
the map OF the world In still dotted
with tho Portuguese possessions, all
dating from the actual Portuguese dis
coveries. Simply 10 look them up and
peruse their remote and outlandish
names Is 10 take lesson both in geog-
raphy and In history. The coast lines
Of the two oriental continents are
dotted with the trophies Of the expan-
sion Of little Portugal: Guinea. Angola,
st. Thome, Mozambique. Lorenzo Mar
uues, Goa, Timor and Macao are among
the strange yet familiar titles.
How It came about that these 40
scattered possessions became Portu-
guese Is one Of the interesting ques-
lions OF the history OF the Middle Ages
and of the Renaissance, rs the ques-
ton how they have remained Portu-
guese, or in the possession OF so weak
"A holder. Is one of the interesting ques-
tons of modern planetary politics"
Probably the authority upon the for
Tner question, for more readers than
any other. is John Fiske's Discovery
Of America" IN the Interesting and
well documented pages Il devotes to the
work OF Henry the Navigator" Many
of It's readers must have wished for
more elaborated work in which the
outlines to which Fiske's recital was
Ivy its conditions limited might be
iilled In with the shading necessary
20 make a complete picture.
Such a picture Is now furnished in
~ IL NJ Ds-fn %
Navigator. by J. i. OLIvErRA MARTINS
,E. p. Dutton & Coz. Though the
book has been published long enough
20 be accepted as a classic on Its sub
ject in Spain and Portugal. and to have
Teen cited as an authority by foreign
writers engaged upon any part Of its
rather multlfarious scheme, the pres
ent Is its first appearance IN English.
The translation Is clear and easy and
comes near to accounting for the pop
y,arfty the work has enjoyed among
those who could read II In its native
Portuguese. The nationality OF its
author goes. naturally. deeper than his
language, and expresses itself in va
rious rhetorical passages rather too
tropical for northern tastes. But 1t Is
nevertheless a philosophic as well as
q poetical history and everywhere bears
the marks Of patient and intelligent
investigation. As would be inferred
from the title. It IL a history OF the
age rather than OF the man, and thus
contains some surplusage for those
readers whose interest Is in the man
and his work rather than in the Por-
tugal of the fifteenth century. Neither
ia this production OF a Portuguese by
any means n bllndly hero worshlpping
production. In fact the Navigator is
by no means as much hero to his
compatriotic biographer as he has been
TO most OF his foreign biographers.
He was not sufficiently a Portuguese
patriot to satisfy the Portuguese pa
triot who writes about him. His alb
sorption in his idea of discovery and
conquest amounted to an obsession. as
such an idea always amounts with
such men. According to the biogra-
pher II not only led him to make de-
mands upon Portugal with which Por-
tugal could not comply, and to involve
his country In at least one almost over
wheming national disaster, but it led
him to neglect the affairs OF the State
in critical time in which every good
Portuguese. and particularly a prince
of the blood, owed to his country
everything which he possessed.
John Of Aviz. the father Of a num-
Der of remarkable sons, OF whom
Henry the Navigator, the third OF those
who grew to manhood. WIS born In
1894, had to wife an English woman
Phllippa, the daughter of Shake
speare's 'Old John of Gaunt, time
honored lancaster" Evidently she
had at least quite as much as the other
parent to do with the remarka beness
OF her children. John OF Aviz. as We
find by an anecdote or two. went in
much fear of her and might fairly
be described as a henpecked monarch
Her insistence upon sexual regularity
in the easy going Iberlan court, in
which sexual irregularity had pre-
vailed before her coming, made her the
terror of tho courtiers. There Is a
story here about one OF them who fell
In love with one Of the maids OF honor
and being ordered to marry her abb
scented himself. Being pursued he
took sanctuary behind a statue OF the
Virgin and chung to It 30 tightly that
his pursuers In their efforts to detach
him pulled down the sacred Image. lie
was burned at the stake next day, ap.
parently for sacrilege. which seems
rather hard measure, but at any rate
established the position OF the Queer