A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 2 | Page 6

brunt of the enemy, he called out to him in a cowardly manner to flee, as God fought against them. But William bravely answered, "God forbid that my father's son should flee from the face of a Saracen." Earl Robert turned out of the fight, and fled away, thinking to escape from death or captivity by the swiftness of his horse; and taking the river Thafnis[6], sank through the weight of his armour, and was drowned. On the flight of Earl Robert, the French troops lost heart, and began to give ground: But William Longespee, bearing up manfully against the whole force of the enemy, stood firm as long as he was able, slaying and wounding many of the Saracens. At length, his horse being killed, and his legs maimed, he fell to the ground; yet he continued to mangle their legs and feet, till at last he was slain with many wounds, being finally stoned to death by the Saracens. After his death, the Saracens set upon the remainder of the army, which they had surrounded on every side, and destroyed them all, so that scarce a single man remained alive. Of the whole, only two templars, one hospitaller, and one common soldier escaped, to bring the melancholy tidings to the king of France. Thus by the imprudent and foolish rashness of Earl Robert, the French troops were utterly discomfited, and the valiant English knight overpowered and slain, to the grief of all the Christians, and the glory of the Saracens; and, as it afterwards fell out, to the entire ruin of the whole French army.
[1] Hakluyt, I. 70.
[2] Hakluyt dates this expedition in the 32d year of the reign of Henry III. of England. He mentions, in a former passage, I. p. 59. that the same Earl of Salisbury, accompanied Richard Earl of Cornwall, in the 23d year of the same kings reign into Syria against the Saracens, with many other English of note, where they performed good service against the unbelievers, but gives no relation of particulars.--E.
[3] The meaning of this term of reproach does not appear; unless, from some after circumstances, it may have proceeded from their horses having long tails, while those of the French were dockt.--E.
[4] Probably Aboukir.--E.
[5] St John d'Acre.--E.
[6] This is probably meant for that branch of the Nile which they had previously crossed on their way to Mansor.--E.
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CHAP. XXI.
_Discovery of Madeira_[1].
Although the Era of modern discovery certainly commenced under the auspicious direction of Don Henry of Portugal, who first conceived and executed the sublime idea of extending the knowledge and commerce of the globe, by a judicious series of maritime, expeditions expressly for the purpose of discovery; yet as Madeira is said to have been visited, and the Canaries were actually discovered and settled before that era, it appears necessary to give a previous account of these discoveries, before proceeding to the second part of this work.
Several authors have left accounts of the real or pretended original discovery of this island of Madeira, all of whom concur in asserting that it was first discovered by an Englishman. Juan de Barros, the Livy of Portugal, mentions it briefly in the first decade of his Asia. The history of this discovery was written in Latin, by Doctor Manoel Clemente, and dedicated to Pope Clement V. Manoel Tome composed a Latin poem on the subject, which he intitled Insulana. Antonio Galvano mentions it in a treatise of discoveries, made chiefly by the Spaniards and Portuguese previously to the year 1550[2]. Manoel de Faria y Sousa, the illustrious commentator of Camoens, cites Galvano in illustration of the fifth stanza in the fifth book of the immortal Lusiad, and likewise gives an account of this discovery in his Portuguese Asia. But the earliest and most complete relation of this discovery was composed by Francisco Alcaforado, who was esquire to Don Henry the infant or prince of Portugal, the first great promoter of maritime discoveries, and to whom he presented his work. No person was more capable of giving an exact account of that singular event than Alcaforado, as he was one of those who assisted in making the second discovery. His work was first published in Portuguese by Don Francisco Manoel, and was afterwards published in French at Paris in 1671[3]. From this French edition the following account is extracted, because the original Portuguese has not come to our knowledge, neither can we say when that was printed; but as the anonymous French translator remarked, that "Don Francisco keeps the original MS. with great care," it may be concluded, that the Portuguese impression did not long precede the French translation. The French translator acknowledges that he has altered the style, which was extremely florid and poetical, and has expunged several useless and