Hughes (T. M.)

An English poet who visited Madeira in 1845 and author of Ocean Flower, a poem in ten cantos, preceded by a brief historical and descriptive study of the island and an outline of Portuguese literature.

The poet Hughes is one of the few Englishmen who consider the story of Machim and Ana de Arfet as pure invention, 'probably originating from the intimate relations between Portugal and England... 'I would have liked not to delve into the touching fiction (of Machim); there are few fables as poetic as this legend I am dealing with: however, much to my regret, I only find the fragile basis of vague tradition; so that, lingering with careful investigations for three days in Machico, I did not find the slightest confirmatory trace of the reality of the case'.