Friend and lover, ah me! --Be God our shield!-- See the flower on the tree And fare afield. See the flower o’ the pine --Be God our shield!-- Saddle the colt so fine And fare afield. See the flower on the tree --Be God our shield!-- The bay horse fair to see And fare afield. Saddle the little bay --Be God our shield-- Hasten, my love, away, And fare afield. The horse so fair to see --Be God our shield!-- My friend, come speedily To fare afield. It was King Dinis’ affection for his illegitimate son, Dom Affonso Sanchez, also a poet, that brought trouble on the latter years of his reign. His eldest son and the heir to the throne, Affonso, jealous of the regard, the lands, and privileges bestowed upon Dom Affonso Sanchez, afraid perhaps that the King might devise a way of leaving him the throne, rose in rebellion in 1320 and advanced through Minho to Leiria and Coimbra, ravaging the country as he came. The King, now nearly sixty years old, set out against him and several engagements were fought: it was not till 1322 that Queen Isabel succeeded after strenuous exertions in bringing about peace. The reconciliation was but temporary. Dom Affonso Sanchez retired to Spain, but returned, and the Prince Affonso rose in arms again in 1323. Again Queen Isabel, going from one to the other, exerted herself to make peace. King Dinis, his anger now thoroughly roused, was not easily appeased. Finally he agreed to increase the Prince’s income, and, much against his will, to part once more from Dom Affonso Sanchez. Not many months after this settlement King Dinis fell ill at Lisbon, where he had been born, and which he made the real centre of his kingdom (his instinct unfailing in this as in other matters concerning the future greatness of his country). Prince Affonso was summoned from Leiria, and a sincere reconciliation followed. The Queen watched day and night by her husband’s bedside, and to her his last words were spoken when on January 7, 1325, one of the greatest of Portugal’s kings died. He was buried according to his wish in the Convent of São Dinis de Odivellas, which he had founded near Lisbon. Three hundred years after his death it was still the custom in Portuguese law-courts for a prayer to be said for his soul; and if we consider how far-reaching, how immense were the results of the measures taken by this strong-willed, wise, and energetic ruler, we may conclude that the custom might well be continued in the twentieth century. Humane and affable (_conversavel_, the quality of so many great men), he won the personal love of his people and gave them immediate prosperity, but he also, apparently, saw deep into the future. II NUN’ ALVAREZ (1360-1431) Mas quem podera dignamente contar os louvores deste virtuoso barom, cujas obras e discretos autos seemdo todos postos em escrito ocupariam gram parte deste livro?--FERNAM LOPEZ, _Cronica del Rei Dom Joam_.