Impressed with an exalted notion of the _divine right_ of Kings, he would not hear that authority questioned; though indeed, he prized absolute power, for the sake of being enabled by it to succour and to bless others. Too keenly alive to the impressions made by his tutors, some thirst for distinction as a warlike King, insensibly mixed with this laudable motive: religious prejudices united to stimulate him; and the voice of glory resounding from the depths of time, at once invited and commanded him to seize a crown of imperishable structure. His head was soon filled by visions of future greatness, and his heart fired with holy zeal: he meditated the conquest and the conversion of half the globe. To conquer from the mere mania for dominion, was abhorrent even to him who felt that war would hereafter be his element; but when he associated with the idea of conquest, the prospect of rescuing whole nations from “the shadow of death,” from Mahometanism or Paganism, he gave way to military enthusiasm, and daily fired his fancy with plans of heroic enterprize. Every thing with Sebastian was a passion: his friendships, his love for his people; nay, his religion itself; they were each, so many internal fires which sometimes blazed out, and desolated instead of cherishing. But as it is said, that the most fertile regions are to be found in the neighbourhood of volcanos, so the finest qualities were connected in Sebastian’s nature, with a dangerous ardour. He would at any time have sacrificed his crown, his life, or what is dearer than life--his tenderest ties, “for the sake of adding one pulse breadth to Christendom;” he would have denied himself any gratification, if he believed it reprehensible in itself, or injurious to another; he was at all times, and in all things, superior to _self_: his faults therefore, were the sole product of the age he lived in, and the education he had received; had he been born two centuries later, how different might have been his character, how different his fate! Embellished by many fine qualities, it was not wonderful that Sebastian, though tinctured with imperiousness and impatience, should be generally idolized: his people knew him only as a benefactor, and they were not wise enough to foresee the evils which the rashness of his disposition might produce. Amongst the nobility, he lived with the freedom of gay and ingenuous youth, trusting to the influence of his peculiar conduct for the preservation of their respect. He shared their amusements and other exercises, and without a single rebuke, purified their grosser habits, by his temperate example. The spirit of Sebastian needed no effort to rise superior to every debasing pleasure.