Omniana/Volume 2/Busaco

by Robert Southey

243. Busaco.

Busaco is become a memorable name in British History. The place itself has long been well known in Portugal, because the bare-footed Carmelites have what, in Carmelite language, is called a desart, there. In the early ages of Monachism, men became anchorites after their own fashion. Hermits were then described in the Rule of S. Benedict, (cap. 1,) as men "who not by a novitial fervour of devotion, but by long probation in a monastical kind of life, have learnt by the comfort and encouragement of others to fight against the Devil, and being well armed, secure now without the help of any, are able, by God's assistance, to fight hand to hand against the vices of the flesh, and evil cogitations; and so proceed from the fraternal army to the single combat of the wilderness." Qui non conversionis fervore novicio, sed monasterii probatione diuturnâ, didicerunt contra diabolum multorum solatio jam docti pugnare, & bene instructi fraternâ ex acie ad singularem pugnam eremi, securi jam sine consolatione alterius, sola manu vel brachio, contra vitia carnis vel cogitationum, Deo auxiliante, sufficiunt pugnare.

But in later ages, when discipline was found as necessary for monks as for soldiers, a few reformers established institutions in their respective orders, by which the advantages of the eremetical life might be combined with the obedience and consequent security of the cænobite. St. Romuald was the most eminent of these reformers. The Carmelites would probably deny that they followed his example, and trace up their institution directly to Elijah. This question is of little moment at present. They had their desarts also, and the regular establishment seems to have been one for every province. There were six Carmelite provinces in the Peninsula, and each had it's desart, except the province of Portugal, where in the early part of the 17th century they were about to establish one at Cintra, having obtained all the necessary licenses for that purpose. But though Cintra would have been in all natural respects just such a situation as the fathers would have chosen, it was too near the court, and they anticipated with a prudent dread the frequent interruption which would be occasioned by the concourse of visitors. It happened at this time that two of the fraternity, travelling from Aveyro to Coimbra; and conversing upon this matter, fell in with an old man, who said, that if they wanted a good situation for a desart, he would shew them one. Accordingly he led them to the Serra de Busaco; "here is the place, (said he,) here the convent should be, and the garden yonder, and water may be brought there from the fountain of S. Sylvester. By putting this story into the ordinary stile of monastic history, and saying that the man appeared to them on their road, and disappeared, after he had said what he wished to say, the reader was prepared for the conclusion which the fathers drew, that he was either an angel, or the Patriarch St. Joseph, who is an especial friend to the order. As it happened to be about night-fail, they slept upon the spot, and having reported their tale in a proper manner to their superiors, Busaco was preferred to Cintra, and a grant of the land obtained from D. Joam Manoel, the Bishop of Coimbra. This was in 1628.

Carvalho describes the desart as being nearly four miles in circumference, and walled in. Within this circuit are various chapels; the cells of the fathers are round the church, each having its garden and its water-course for the cultivation of flowers, which is their only recreation. The Content resembles the well known Cork Convent at Cintra; but it is upon a larger scale, and the scenery perhaps more impressive: cork is every where used instead of wood, on account of the dampness of the situation. But the Carmelites of Busaco continued till a very late period to practise austerities, of which there have been probably no instances upon the Serra de Cintra since Fray Honorio was taken out of his den to be laid in his grave, . . the more commodious, as well as capacious, of the two apartments. In the midst of the refectory stood a large cross, against which the Fathers, each in turn, as be finished his meal, stood up, with extended arms, in the posture of crucifixion, to mortify the flesh after the regale which it had taken. Three or four of the community generally ate upon their knees, with a cross upon their shoulders, a cilice bandage across the eyes, a bit in the mouth, and sometimes a saddle upon the back, in token that they had become as beasts, because of the sins which they had committed while leading a secular life.

A part of this desart is so laid out, as to represent the different scenes of the Passion, from the agony in the garden to the crucifixion. The Father who obtains permission to visit these stations, sets out bare-headed and bare-footed, with his hands tied behind him, and a rope round his neck, and when he comes to Pilate's Palace he is crowned with thorns, and the Cross placed on his shoulders.

What has been said thus far of Busaco, would in this country only provoke the mirth of the scorner, and the pity of the wise. In Portugal, however, such practises are regarded with far other feelings, and the Fathers of Busaco have been called the worthy successors of the Hilarions and Maccariuses, . . the most perfect ideals of perfection; angels in their actions, and men only in appearance; human Seraphim, the white flock of the Thisbite of Mount Carmel.

En la quietud venturosa
Desta suave aspereza,
Del Thesbita del Carmelo
El rebaño se apacienta:
Aquel candido rebaño,
En cuja hermosa pureza
El soberano Pastor
Sus bellos ojos deleita;
Los Serafines humanos
Hijos de la sacra Reyna,
Restauracion del Carmelo,
Ymitacion de Theresa:
Los successores de Elias
De Religion en la essencia,
En la castidad solene,
La obediencia y la pobriza

Aquellos que resuscitan,
Mientras los cielos penetran,
De Hilariones y Mucharios
La oracion y penitencia;
Los que de la perfeccion
Son perfectissima idea,
Angeles en las acciones
Homrbes solo en la apariencia.

Thus Doña Bernarda Ferreira describes them in her Soledades de Buçaco, a poem, which for the perception of the beauties of nature, and the natural feeling that it displays, entitles the authoress to a higher rank among the poets of Spain than she would have deserved by her greater work, the Hespaña Libertada. In spite of the conceits, which according to the fashion of the age, were probably deemed its finest parts, and in spite of its Manichæan notions of piety, it is a poem to be read with pleasure, and which entitles its authoress to be remembered with respect. One passage I shall quote as exceedingly beautiful. She describes a father taking possession of a vacant hermitage, and the birds, she says, perch upon his head and shoulders, to welcome him, for they had been the companions of his predecessor, and come to seek at his hands their customary portion.

Vaxia la halla de todo,
Pero de Dios toda llena;
Compone sus pobres libros,
Barre contento la puerta.
Ya sobre el buxan las aves,
Y bolando le festejan,
Que del antecessor suyo
Solian set compañeras.
A buscar su porcion vienen,
Que tambien el no les niega,
Y unas le cubren los ombros,
Otras, manos y cabeza.
Alli los corcillos mansos
Le van a dar obediencia,
Y como a pedir limosna
Su portal humildes cercan
Con aquella soledad
El principiante se alegra,
Que hablando con Dios no siente
De los hombres ya la ausencia.

This is, no doubt, a faithful picture. Man had contrived to convert this place into a Purgatory for himself, but as far as man was concerned, it was for animals a perfect Eden.

Nadie puede entrar a caza,
En estos bosques sombrios,
Ni pescar en sus estanques,
Y arroyuelos cristalinos.

D. Bernarda's poem is divided into twenty short parts, or sections. A few smaller pieces follow, upon the same subject. Some are in Portugueze, one in Italian, two in Latin rhymes: one of these I shall transcribe. The book which contains them is exceedingly rare, even in Portugal, and however the classical reader may smile at the barbarism of the metre, and at the latinity, he will consider them as no unpleasing specimens of the attainments of a Portugueze lady of noble family, and high rank, in the early part of the 17th century.

Salve mons sacratus,
Surculus Carmeli,
Firma basis Cœli,
Cœlo coronatus;
Hospitium divinum,
Fertilis Eremus,
Puradisi nemus
Mundo peregrinum.
Jam tua Crux sancta
Dat novos fulgores,
Novos dat nitores
Tam cœlestis plantoœ
Tui sacri fontes
Jubilis scaturiunt,
Gaudia parturiunt
Ipsi eiati montes.
Tua prata pollent
Ostentando rasas,
Rosas gratiosas
Quæ de ominus olent.
Super rupes tuas,
Garrulantes aves
Cantitant suaves
Cantilenas suas.
Inter ipsas plantas,
Frondibus ornatas
Relinquit captatas
Amor almas sanctas.
Vive plures annos
Feliciter vive,

Ipsis saxis scribe
Nostras Lusitanos.

The other is in a different metre, and somewhat in the brocade fashion of Gongora. One stanza will sufficiently exemplify it.

Aperiente Aurora
Fenestras spaciosas orientis,
Quando diligens Flora
Conspergit unda fluvii currentis
Prata, et cristalo fontis
Currum ostendit genitor Phaetontis.

The Catholic visits Busaco for the sake of the indulgencies which are to be obtained there by ascending on his knees the eight and twenty steps of its Scala Cœli. Henceforth Lord Wellington's victory will frequently lead an Englishman there, and the beauty of the place would probably well repay the pilgrimage. There are four springs within the walls, one of them ornamented at the expence of Count D. Joam de Mello, Bishop of Coimbra, with grottos, fountain jets, and fantastic stone-work, less unpleasing, however, in a country where the value of water is so great, and the sound so peculiarly grateful, than they would be in our own. The Portugueze writers describe these ornaments with delight. The water, which is called the Fonte Fria, or Cold Spring, is supposed to possess great virtues. The highest point of the Serra is within the limits of the Desart, from hence there is a most extensive command of prospect Cardoso says in the Diccionario Geografico, that to the east the Serra de Castello Rodrigo may be distinguished, which is thirty leagues off; the Serra de Minde is seen to the south, that of Grijo to the North, fifteen leagues distant; westward is the mouth of the Mondego and the coast. On this point a large wooden cross was erected, by Francisco Pereira de Miranda, some time before the Carmelites settled here: it had acquired some celebrity, and the Fathers therefore dedicated their establishment to this cross, which gave name to the convent, and was in the place of a Patron Saint to it^[1].

This cross was destroyed by lightning^[2] in 1645; and the rocks about it are said to have been splintered in an extraordinary manner. The Rector of Coimbra, Manoel Saldanha, erected one of stone in its place, at a great expence. First he made a huge foundation work of masonry, about five and twenty feet^[3] high, which he whitened, that it might be visible at a greater distance, and surrounded with battlements, in the manner of a mural crown, because it was the summit, or crown, of the mountain. Upon this five steps were raised, and upon this the pedestal. The foot of the cross, (which was hewn out of one stone,) was in girth as much as a man could clasp: its height was twenty palms,.. about fourteen^[4] feet. More than three thousand cart-loads of stone were employed in this work: they were chiefly brought from the ruins of the Monastery of St. Euphemia, which was near at hand.

The first cedars which were planted in Portugal^[5] are said to have been in the little garden belonging to St. Joseph's Hermitage in this Desart. Cardoso says that Grisley the Botanist found upon this Serra almost every plant which Laguna has described in his Commentary upon Dioscorides: he speaks of it also as abounding with flowers.

1. Desta Cruz tomou o nome aquelle sitio, e se começou a chamar Santa Cruz de Busaco, e ficou sendo o Orago do Mosteyro que os Padres aly edificaram. Benedictina Lusitana, T. 2, P. 284. We have no word in our language which will apply equally to a Patron Saint or a Wooden Cross.
2. D. Bernarda has a poem upon the Effectos del rayo espantoso que cayo en Buçaco el ano de 1630. The woods, it seems, were set on fire by lightning. This the poetess ascribes, after the manner of poets, to the Devil, who convokes a council, and details his causes of complaint against the Carmelites.

   Danme guerra en toda parte
   Estes mis perseguidores
   Inermes ganan ciudades,
   Humildes allanan montes.
   Que no solo se contentan
   Con vivir entre los hombres,
   Mas havitan como fieras,
   Los duros riseos y robles.

   Part of his complaint against them is for their services in Great Britain and Ireland.

   Por Anglias y por Hybernias
   Van a buscar ocasiones
   De combatir la heregia,
   Que rinde a sus pies errores.

3. De altura de trinta atê quarenta palmos. The palmo is 85/8 inches.
4. Fr. Leam de St. Thomas says that a croso of Carabuca was set in it on the top, as a protection against lightning. I do not understand the word.
5. Benedictina Lusitana, T. 2, P. 283.