He
Accepted The Latter, Because He Was Poor; But Refused The Government,
Saying That He Had Not Yet Deserved It.
After the expedition to
Suez[253], contained in the present chapter, he returned into Portugal,
and lived for some time in retirement in a country house near Cintra,
giving himself up entirely to study.
He was recalled from this retreat
by the advice of the infant Don Luys, and sent out governor-general to
India in 1545; where he died with the title of viceroy in 1548, when 48
years of age. We shall hereafter have occasion to speak farther of this
great man, who made himself illustrious in the second siege of Diu by
the forces of the king of Guzerat. In his life, written by Jacinto
Freire de Andrada, there is a particular account of this siege, with a
map to illustrate its operations. The author also treats of the
Discoveries, Government, Commerce, and affairs of the Portuguese in
India. This book was translated into English, and published in folio at
London in 1664.
[Footnote 253: De Faria in his Portuguese Asia, says that Don Juan went
up to Mount Sinai, where his son Don Alvaro was knighted. But this does
not appear in his journal. - Astl. I. 107. a.]
Such was the illustrious author of the following journal, which was
never published in Portuguese; but having been found, if we are rightly
informed, on board a Portuguese ship taken by the English, was
afterwards translated and published by Purchas. Purchas tells us that
the original was reported to have been purchased by Sir Walter Raleigh
for sixty pounds; that Sir Walter got it translated, and afterwards, as
he thinks, amended the diction and added many marginal notes. Purchas
himself reformed the style, but with caution as he had not the original
to consult, and abbreviated the whole, in which we hope he used equal
circumspection: For, as it stands in Purchas[254] it still is most
intolerably verbose, and at the same time scarcely intelligible in many
places; owing, we apprehend, to the translator being not thoroughly
acquainted with the meaning of the original, if not to the fault of the
abbreviator. These two inconveniences we have endeavoured to remedy the
best we could, and though we have not been always able to clear up the
sense, we presume to have succeeded for the most part; and by entirely
changing the language, except where the places were obscure, we have
made the journal more fit for being read, and we hope without doing it
any manner of injury[255].
[Footnote 254: Pilgrims, Vol. II. p. 1122, under the title of A
Rutter, or Journal, &c. from India to Suez, dedicated to the Infant Don
Luys. - Astl. I. 107. b.]
[Footnote 255: On the present occasion we have followed the example of
the Editor of Astleys Collection, having employed the original
abbreviated translation by Purchas modernized in the language and
endeavouring to elucidate obscurities; using as our assistance the
version in Astley.
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