Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/664

658 CAMMFST CAMOENS ( AinilN, or Kiimiiiiti, a town of Pomerania, Prussia, on the Dievenow, near the Baltic sea, 37 m. N. of Stettin; pop. in 1871, 5,261. It is the seat of a female normal school and a hos- pital. The chief occupation of the inhabitants ; is distillation and fishing. The bishopric of Caramin was suppressed in 1648, but the chap- ter continued down to 1812. CAMMERHOFF, John Frederick, one of the first bishops of the Moravian church in America, born near Magdeburg, Germany, July 28, 1721, died at Bethlehem, Penn., April 28, 1751. He came to America in 1746 as assistant to the presiding bishop of the Moravian church. Bethlehem was at this time the centre of mis- sionary operations among the Indians, in which he was notably active. He won the confidence of the natives, especially of the Delawares and the Six Nations, and in 1748 he was formally adopted by the Oneidas as a member of their tribe. In 1750 he attended an Iroquois council at Onondaga, N. Y., travelling by canoes up the Susquehanna for 13 days, and thence on foot through the mountain region of southern New York for a fortnight more. This journey broke down his constitution, and he died soon after his return to Bethlehem. CA9IOENS (Port. CAMOES), Lnlz de, a Portuguese poet, born in Lisbon in 1524, died there in 1579. His father was a sea captain, and was ship- wrecked in 1552 on the coast of Goa. The son commenced his studies in 1538 at the uni- versity of Coimbra, which he left with a high literary reputation ; . but a passion which he conceived for a lady of the court, Catarina de Atayde, blighted his prospects in the very commencement of his career. The lady's family discountenanced his suit ; and the king, John III., himself supposed to have been in love with the young lady, banished him from the capital. Catarina could not bear the sepa- ration from her lover, and died of a broken heart. He survived her about 30 years, but never married. In his despair at her loss he joined the Portuguese expedition against Morocco, and lost one of his eyes, which dis- figured him for life. On his return to Lisbon in 1552 he was disappointed in his expectation of employment at court, and in the following year proceeded to Goa. There he gave offence to the authorities by a satirical poem, Dis- parates na India, in which he says of the Portu- guese officeholders in India, " Honor and self- interest are never found in the same sack " (Pois Jionra e proveito nao cabe num saco). He was banished to Macao, where he received the appointment of provedor dot defunctos (admin- istrator of the effects of the deceased), and the small salary connected with this office was suf- ficient for his support. The great discoveries which had disclosed to Portugal the Cape of Good Hope and the key to the Indies, the stir- ring conflicts with the Moors, the efforts of missionaries to Christianize, while explorers strove to colonize, and, above all, the general impetus which at this time pervaded Europe, exerted a powerful influence upon the ardent imagination of Camoens. He resolved to do for Portugal what Homer had done for Greece, and wrote his " Lusiad " (Os Lvsiadat), so called after the mythological hero Lusus, who, in company with Ulysses, is said to have visited Portugal and founded the city of Lisbon under the name of Ulyssipolis. This great epic was completed by Camoens during his stay in Macao, where a grotto is still pointed out to which the poet frequently resorted to write. In 1561 he received permission to return to Goa. But here one calamity after another be- fell him. First stripped of everything he pos- sessed by a shipwreck, he was thrown into prison for debt immediately alter his arrival, and detained till 1509, when he returned to Lisbon, where the rest of his life was spent in poverty. King Sebastian granted him a pen- sion of 15,000 reis (equivalent to $21) a year; and even this pittance was subsequently with- held. For some time he was supported by a Javanese servant, Antonio, who collected alms for him during the night and nursed him du- ring the day ; and afterward he was removed to the hospital, where he died. After his death he was called the Apollo Portvguez, Camoes o Grande, a monument was erected to his mem- ory, and medals were struck in his honor. His " Lusiad " was translated into foreign lan- guages, and warmly praised by both Tasso and Lope de Vega. Tieck founded a novel upon the poet's death (Tod des Bichten); Miinch-Bel- linghausen (Friedrich Halm)adrama, Camoens; and Portuguese and foreigners still flock to the Lusiad grotto at Macao. Besides the " Lusiad," he wrote sonnets, which are devoted to love, chiefly to his love for Catarina, to the celebra- tion of virtue, and to friendship. The sonnets written shortly before his death breathe the purest imagination. The most celebrated of his Redondilhas is that suggested to him by his escape from shipwreck. He also wrote Canfaos on the model of Petrarch's Canzoni, odes, sex- tinas, elegies, stanzas composed in ottava rima, eclogues, and three comedies : El Key Seleuco, founded upon the anecdote of the king who resigns his wife, Stratonice, to his son An- tiochus; Filedemo; and Os AmpMtryoes, his most valuable contribution to the Portuguese stage. His fame, however, rests upon his " Lu- siad." Patriotism is the leading sentiment of this national poem, which abounds in pictu- resque descriptions of storms and scenery, and in pathetic allusions to Portugal's influence in extending the area of Christendom. The most remarkable passages are those referring to the tragic end of Inez de Castro, and to Adamas- tor, the mythological ruler of the sea, who uses his supreme influence for the purpose of stop- ping the progress of Vasco da Gama. The first edition of the " Lusiad " appeared in 1572. A magnificent edition was published by Didot in 1817. His complete works were edited by Barreto Feio nnd Monteiro (Hamburg, 1834). The best English translation is that of Mickle