Having arrived on the bar of Goa, which he called his Land of Promise, he expired on the 16th of December, 1515, in the sixty-third year of his age, retaining his senses to the last, and dying as became a good Christian.  Alfonso de Albuquerque was second son to Gonzalo de Albuquerque lord of Villaverde, by Donna Leonora de Menezes, daughter of Alvaro Gonzalez de Atayde, first count of Atouguia.  He had been master of the horse to King John the Second.  He was of moderate stature, having a fair and pleasing countenance, with a venerable beard reaching below his girdle to which he wore it knotted.  When angry his looks were terrible; but when pleased his manners were merry, pleasant, and witty.  He was buried in a chapel which he built near the gate of the city of Goa, dedicated to Our Lady of the Mountain, but, after a long resistance from the inhabitants of Goa, his bones were transferred to the church of Our Lady of Grace at Lisbon.

The dominion of the Portuguese in India was founded by three great men, Duarte Pacheco, Francisco de Almeyda, and Alfonso de Albuquerque; after whom scarcely was there a single successor who did not decline from their great character, having either a mixture of timidity with their valour, or of covetousness with their moderation, in which the vices predominated.  In gaining this Indian crown, Pacheco alone acted with that fiery heat which melted the arms and riches of the zamorin; only Almeyda could have filed and polished it, by his own and his sons sword, bringing it into form by humbling the pride of the Egyptian Soldan while Albuquerque gave a finish to its ornaments, by adorning it with three precious jewels, Goa, Malacca and Ormuz[138].

[Footnote 138:  Portuguese Asia, II. vii.  This rhetorical flourish by De Faria, gives a specimen of what was perhaps considered fine writing in those days; but it strongly marks the important services of Albuquerque, and is therefore here inserted.—­E.]

SECTION VI.

Portuguese Transactions in India, under several governors, from the close of 1515, to the year 1526.

While the great Alfonso de Albuquerque was drawing towards the last period of his life, Manuel, as if he had foreseen that event, sent out Don Lope Soarez de Albergaria to succeed him in the government, with a fleet of 13 ships, carrying a force of 1500 soldiers, many of whom were gentlemen by birth, and still more so by their actions.  Among them was Duarte Galvam, a person of learning and judgment, who was sent ambassador to Abyssinia with considerable presents, some for Prester John, and some for the church.  On his arrival at Cochin, the new governor offended many by the reservedness of his carriage and manners, and became particularly disagreeable to the rajah, who had been accustomed to the discreet and easy civility of Albuquerque.  Don Garcia de Noronha took charge of the homeward