Page:Lusitania illustrata- notices on the history, antiquities, literature, etc., of Portugal. Literary department. Part I. Selection of sonnets, with biographical sketches of the authors (IA lusitaniaillustr00adam 0).pdf/138

viii manesque Composition of Vasco de Lobeira, brought out the as yet uncultivated Romances of his country.

The Portuguese Language, from its natural suavity of idiom and its melancholy softness, is peculiarly adapted to pastoral poetry; and of these qualities Ribeiro greatly availed himself, being certainly one of the best of the elder bards and writers. What he wanted in the sublime was amply made up for in the sweetness and softness in which he breathed what in Portugal are termed “Saudades”; (we have no corresponding word in English) of which Saudades he was the true relator. Their allurements he had felt and therefore knew full well how to pourtray them.

It is not however with these poets, that we have at present to occupy our attention, we must go to a period before them, when those antient pieces were produced which we are now about to describe; and which have either been preserved in the Cancioneiros, in which we find the productions of some of the Royal Family and Nobles of Portugal; or have descended as traditions and been saved by recitations.

The earliest poetry of Portugal consisted of Trovas, popular Romances, Xacaras or Chacras and Solaos; distinctions upon which the Senhor de Almeida-Garrett, a most accomplished scholar and one who has given most attention to the subject, does not feel himself competent to decide. We may however consider