"I count it as a service that you wish for news of my health, and, thanks be to God, I am well in body as in other respects, though on the sea of this world one is constantly buffeted by its waves, especially as we are all on that plank since the first shipwreck, so that no one is safe until he reaches the true haven that cannot be seen except after this life, to which may it please God to conduct us when He thinks it time, for He is sailor and pilot, and without Him no man may enter there.... I have not a painting of myself that I can send you now; but, please God, you will see the original, some time, which will please you more."[62] [Footnote 62: The letter is printed in the _Ineditos_, vol. iii, p. 3. According to Meyrelles, there are two copies of it in MS. No. 495 of the Coimbra University Library.--Vide _Instituto_, vol. ix.] Herculano truly says of this epistle: "Had it been from one brother to another, the language could not well have been more affable and affectionate";[63] but, more than this, it proves that Portugal was ahead of most European nations of that age in possessing a King who could value the pen as highly as the sword. [Footnote 63: _Opusculos_, vol. v, p. 14. Lisbon, 1886.] Henceforth little or nothing is known of the life of Azurara, except from the certificates he issued in the course of his official duties. On May 25th, 1468, one of these documents was issued from the Torre do Tombo, and signed by a substitute, with the statement that the Chronicler was living at Alcacer, on the service and by command of the King. He probably returned to Lisbon to finish the _Chronica de D. Duarte de Menezes_ in the autumn of this year. On October 22nd, 1470, Azurara gave a certificate of the Charter of Moreyra. In their petition for the same, the inhabitants allege that their copy is so written, and in such Latin, that they cannot understand it; and they further wish to know how much of the present money they must pay for the three _mealhas_ mentioned in the original as payable for the carriage of bread and wine--a question which Azurara seems to have experienced some difficulty in answering.[64] [Footnote 64: Maço 7 de Foraes Antigos, No. 3. Torre do Tombo.] On April 20th, 1471, he issued a similar certificate to the dwellers in S. João de Rey.[65] In this same year took place Affonso's third African campaign, which resulted in the capture of Tangier, Arzila and Anafe. [Footnote 65: Maço 3 de Foraes Antigos, No. 5. Torre do Tombo.] On September 5th, 1472, in answer to a petition of the inhabitants of Cascaes, the Chronicler handed them a copy of the Charter of Cintra, in which district Cascaes is situate,[66] and on December 5th in the same year he issued copies of documents affecting the liberties of the Order of Christ and the _couto_, or "liberty", of Gordam.[67] [Footnote 66: Maço 1 de Foraes Antigos, No. 11. Torre do Tombo.]