Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/763

 PORTUGAL (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) 743 the first distinguished poet of his country, and excelled chiefly in pastoral strains, the favorite style throughout the peninsula at the time. Some of his eclogues were written and possibly published before the death of King Emanuel in 1521. Among the pastoral authors contem- porary with Ribeiro were Christovao Falcao and Sa de Miranda (died 1558), the latter a versatile writer, who, like some other poets of his country, wrote in both Portuguese and Cas- tilian ; he left pastorals, sonnets, hymns, songs, and two comedies, Os estrangeiros and Os Vi- Ihalpandios. Montemayor (died 1562), though a Portuguese, wrote much in Castilian, and ranks among the most illustrious reformers of Spanish poetry in the reign of Charles V. Another of the classical poets is Antonio Fer- reira (1528-'69), whose odes are little inferior to those of Horace, and whose sonnets- rival those of Petrarch in simplicity and correctness. Before the theatre existed in Spain, and when it was still in its infancy in Italy, he produced his Ines de Castro, a tragedy in the ancient Greek style. Other illustrious names in this age are those of Pedro de Caminha and Diego Bernardes, bucolic and elegiac poets ; Gil Vi- cente, at once eccentric and original in his dra- matic sketches ; Rodrigues Lobo, who left pas- toral romances and a historic epopoeia on Nuno Alvarez Pereira, the Portuguese Oid ; and Je- ronymo Cortereal, author of a noble and pa- thetic poem inspired by the misfortunes of Manoel de Souza and his consort Leonor de Sa. His " Siege of Diu " is less generally esteemed. During this period Portugal produced a great historian, Barros (1496-1570), whose Asia portugueza, in which he recounts the roman- tic story of the Portuguese conquests in the East, deservedly ranks for accuracy and sim- plicity among the classics of his time. The exploits of Vasco da Gama were related by Fernam Lopez de Oastanheda, in his history of the discovery of the Indies. Mendez Pinto, Galvao, and Francisco Alvarez published ac- counts of their travels and adventures, and Alfonso d' Albuquerque his " Commentaries." Camoens (1524-'79) is the most intensely na- tional of all the poets. His great epic, the "Lusiad," ranking at once among the ear- liest and most celebrated of modern Europe, weaves into the story of Vasco da Gama all that was chivalrous, beautiful, or noble in the traditions of his native land. Among the few defects more commonly criticised in the "Lu- siad " are the antique language in which it was written, its prolixity, and the absence of poet- ical artifice, ornament of diction, or brilliant imagery; but these faults are amply compen- sated for by ease and transparency of narra- tion, a freedom from all that might offend, re- markable familiarity of style, a certain charm of coloring, and especially by a pervasive lan- guor which perpetually reminds us of the for- tunes of the soldier poet. Camoens also left odes, hymns, elegies, and sonnets, in which last he emulates and often equals Petrarch in tenderness, grace, and classic correctness. In these minor compositions, as in his epic, he may be regarded as the principal model for all his countrymen to the present time. The dra- matist Gil Vicente (died 1557) was the disciple of the Spaniard Juan de la Encina. His autos differ little from the miracle plays and religious dramas of France and England of the same period. His comedies, tragi-comedies, farces, and pantomimes, published collectively in 1562, derive their merit rather from truthfulness of character and vivacity of dialogue than from fertility of invention. The Ulyssea, an epic on the foundation of Lisbon by Pereira de Castro (1571-1632), and the Malacca conquistada of Francisco de Sa de Menezes, rank high in the opinion of Portuguese critics. Bernardo de Brito (1569-1617) undertook a history of the kingdom, under the title of Monarchia lusi- tana ; but he began at the creation of the world, and death overtook him when he had just reached the conquest of the Arabs. The work was ably continued by Antonio Brandao (1584-1637). Manoel de Faria e Sousa (1590- 1649) once enjoyed a brilliant reputation, but the quantity and variety of his works, mainly sonnets and eclogues in Castilian, are more re- markable than their excellence. His prose pro- ductions comprise several histories. Antonio Barbosa Bacellar (1610-'63) introduced those amorous and melancholy soliloquies called sau- dades. Jacinto Freire de Andrade (1597-1657), a writer of burlesque poetry, was also admired for an elaborate and affected "Life of Joao de Castro " in prose. Jeronymo Bahia is notable as one of the many poets who chose for their theme the loves of Polyphemus and Galatea, a subject which Andrada burlesqued with much humor. The island of Madeira is the birth- place of Francisco de Vasconcellos, one of the most natural poets of the time. The Portu- guese drama in the 17th century was eclipsed by the splendid productions of the Spanish playrights, then so popular throughout the peninsula; the few genuine poets, such as Matto, Fragoso, Diamante, and Melo, wrote almost exclusively in Castilian ; and the only national productions of merit were farces, afterpieces, and zarzuelas, the best of which during a period of 60 years were collected by Coelho Rebello in his A musa entretenida de varios entremeses (Coimbra, 1658). The best religious productions of this period, mainly emanating from the cloister, embrace lives of saints and martyrs by Fray Luis de Souza and Joao de Lucena; the sermons of the Jesuit Antonio Vieira and of Fray Antonio Veio, both remarkable for purity and vigor of style ; and the touching Cartas portuguezas of the nun Marianna Alcoforado. A miscellaneous writer also arose in this epoch, Macedo, a priest, to whose astoundingly prolific pen are attributed 2,648 heroic poems and 110 odes, besides a host of essays; but nearly all are in Latin, Spanish, or Italian. During the first half of the 18th century Portuguese literature