All my hopes I place in the
hands of Your Highness and of the Queen. I commend myself to you
both that you may make my affairs [_cousas_] great, since I make my
end in the affairs of your service and for them deserve to be
rewarded. And as for my pensions, which I have won for the greater
part, as Your Highness knows, I kiss your hands for them for my
son. Written at sea on the sixth day of December, 1515.'

_In Albuquerque's own handwriting_:--

'Done by the servant of Your Highness,

'AFONSO D ALBOQUERQUE.'[9]

[Footnote 9: This letter is translated from the original text
preserved in the Torre del Tombo, or Archives of Portugal, printed in
the _Cartas de Albuquerque_, vol. i. pp. 380, 381. The version given
in the _Commentaries_, vol. iv. pp. 195, 196 is much shortened.]

It is satisfactory to know that the King complied with the dying wish
of the great Governor. Albuquerque's illegitimate son, Braz de
Albuquerque, was recognised at Court and married to a rich heiress,
Dona Maria de Noronha, daughter of the first Count of Linhares; he
was granted a pension of 300,000 reis (about 66 pounds) a year; and
his name was changed by royal command to Affonso. He proved himself
worthy of his father, became Controller of the Household of King
{141} John III, and President of the Senate of Lisbon, but posterity
is chiefly grateful to him for having compiled the _Commentaries_ of
his great father's deeds. King Emmanuel quickly regretted his
unworthy treatment of his faithful servant, and in 1516, before the
news of his death had reached Lisbon, he sent out orders that while
Lopo Soares de Albergaria was to be Governor of Calicut, Cochin and
Malacca, Albuquerque was to command in the Indian and Arabian Seas,
with power to draw on all the resources of India for a final campaign
in the Red Sea. This news, however, never reached the great captain,
and the commission was not signed until after his death.

The details of the death of Affonso de Albuquerque are best told in
the brief words of the _Commentaries_.

'At this time he had become so weak that he could not stand, ever
desiring Our Lord to take him to Goa, and there do with him as
should be best for His service; and when the ship was yet distant
three or four leagues from the bar, he ordered them to summon Frei
Domingos, the Vicar-General, and Master Affonso, the physician. And
as he was so weak that he could not eat anything, h