ans at the end of
his life, and the share he is said to have taken in their disputations,
make the hypothesis a likely one, but he made his own choice and
preferred a lay life. We have very little verse of his Coimbra time, but
it seems that he began in the Italian manner, following the new
classical school of Sa de Miranda (q.v.), and that, though attached to
the popular muse and well acquainted with the national songs and
romances, legends and lore, his poetry in the old style (_medida velha_)
is mostly of later date. An exception may perhaps be found in his _Auto_
after the manner of Gil Vicente (q.v.), _The Amphitryons_, a Portuguese
adaptation from Plautus which was very well received. At the age of
eighteen Camoens left Coimbra, bidding adieu to the old city in verses
breathing the most tender _saudade_. Lisbon, which impressed Cervantes
so much as to draw from him a classic description in the novel _Persiles
y Sigismunda_, made an even greater impression on the youthful Camoens,
and the _Lusiads_ are full of eulogistic epithets on the city and the
Tagus.

Arriving in 1543, it has been conjectured that he became tutor to D.
Antonio de Noronha, son of the great noble D. Francisco de Noronha,
count of Linhares, who had lately returned from a French embassy to his
palace at Xabregas. The poet's birth and talents admitted him to the
society of men like D. Constantine de Braganza, the duke of Aveiro, the
marquis of Cascaes, the count of Redondo, D. Manoel de Portugal and D.
Goncalo da Silveira, son of the count of Sortelha, who died a Christian
martyr in Monomotapa. At Xabregas Camoens must have met Francisco de
Moraes (q.v.), who had served as secretary to the count of Linhares on
his embassy, and there he probably read the MS. of _Palmeirim_; this
would explain the origin of two of his roundels which are clearly
founded on passages in the romance. Camoens had had a youthful love
affair in Coimbra, but on Good Friday of the year 1544 he experienced
the passion of his life. On that day in some Lisbon church he caught
sight of D. Catherina de Ataide (daughter of D. Antonio de Lima, high
chamberlain to the infant D. Duarte), who had recently become a
lady-in-waiting to the queen. This young girl, the Nathercia of his
after songs, counted then some thirteen years, and was destined to be
his Beatrice. To see more of her, he persuaded the count of Linhares to
introduce him to the court, where his poetical gifts and culture