by Pisano, that the Chronicler began his studies relatively late in life, unless it be ascribed to his adoption of a military career at first, seems to show that he had passed his early years under a cloud, and that his father, from one cause or another, lacked the power to provide him with an education at the customary age. It is, however, impossible to proceed beyond conjectures, and since the matter cannot claim to be one of historical moment, we may leave it unsolved without much regret. [Footnote 45: _Terçeyro dodianna del Rey Dom Alfonso Quinto_, fol. 57. Torre do Tombo.] On June 14th, 1463, Azurara issued a certificate of documents in the Torre do Tombo relating to land of one D. Pedro de Castro,[46] while yet another proof of the influence he possessed with his royal master is afforded by two grants, dated respectively June 22nd and 23rd of the same year. By the first of these the office of Judge of Excise in the town of Almada was conferred on a certain Pero d'Almada, servant of Gomes Eannes, and the grant is expressed to be made at the latter's request. The second appoints the same individual Judge and Steward of the gold-diggers at Adiça, near that town.[47] [Footnote 46: The original of this certificate belongs to the famous novelist, Senhor Eça de Queiroz, whose wife claims descent from this de Castro. Doubtless others of the Chronicler's certificates, the contents--or at least the dates--of which would fill up some of the gaps in his biography, are in private hands, without any record of their issue remaining, either in the Torre do Tombo or elsewhere, as in the present case. Brandão mentions one such in his _Monarchia Lusitana_, Quinta parte, p. 177. Lisbon, 1650.] [Footnote 47: Liv. IX de _D. Affonso V_, fol. 94. Torre do Tombo.] The _Chronica de D. Pedro de Menezes_, which had been commenced by Azurara in or about the year 1458, was finished on St. John the Baptist's Eve, June 23rd, 1463, at his Commenda of Pinheiro Grande. It relates the history of Ceuta, from the capture of the city in 1415 until the death of D. Pedro de Menezes, the first governor, in 1437, and gives evidence of the author's progress in historical methods.[48] While it contains less moralising and more matter than any of his previous works, at the same time he appears surer of his own powers, and no longer feels the same need of supporting every remark by a citation. Of course this Chronicle has not as deep an interest for us as that of Guinea, but this is due to the subject, not to any shortcomings in the narrator, whose contemporaries were probably of a different opinion, for many of them looked askance at the voyages of discovery, though there were few that doubted the importance of the possession of Ceuta. [Footnote 48: Affonso V ordered Pisano to write the _Chronicle_ in Latin, as he had previously done with the Capture of Ceuta.--_Chronica do Conde D. Pedro de Menezes_, ch. 1. The MS. is now lost.]