Chapter XII: Book III (1)

FROM THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

The third period of Portuguese poetry and eloquence arises so imperceptibly out of the second, that no particular date, or remarkable event in Portuguese literature can be said to form a dividing point between them. The influence of the French taste on the Portuguese is the characteristic mark of the commencement of this last period. But even that influence never produced any thing like a revolution in the state of polite learning in Portugal. French taste worked its way into the language and the literature of the Portuguese, as tranquilly as into their manners. It therefore neither forcibly supplanted the old taste, nor caused any conflict of literary factions at all resembling that warfare, which arose between the Gallicists and the adherents of the old style in Spain. Thus the literature of Portugal, for the second time, asserted its peaceful character. As in the sixteenth century no Portuguese Boscan had to contend with an old romantic party, so in the eighteenth century there arose no Portuguese Luzan to uphold the French taste by methodical rules of art. There occurred, therefore, no violent reaction of old patriotism against Gallicism, like that experienced in Spanish literature. Under these circumstances an opportunity was at last afforded for the English taste also to operate quietly and imperceptibly on that of the Portuguese. The historian, however, who finds it necessary to fix on some particular point for the commencement of this last principal division of the history of Portuguese poetry and eloquence, is constrained to take his departure from the change of political relations, which has been the main cause of Portuguese cultivation and literature becoming, in the struggle between French and English tendencies, what they now are. Towards the close of the seventeenth century, those conflicting tendencies which have threatened the very existence of the kingdom of Portugal, first began to manifest themselves.

CHAP. I.

GENERAL HISTORY OF POETICAL AND RHETORICAL CULTIVATION IN PORTUGAL DURING THIS PERIOD.

_Total decay of Portuguese Literature towards the end of the Seventeenth Century._

In the year 1668, when the Spanish government again recognized the independence of the Portuguese monarchy, the difference between what that monarchy had been, and what it then was, became palpable. It appeared that even its new existence was not altogether assured by the peace with Spain. The flame of patriotism no longer glowed with its wonted ardour in Portuguese breasts; and the hope of re-conquering those territories in India of which the Dutch had obtained possession was extinguished. The gold and diamond mines, discovered in Brazil, offered, it is true, a compensation for the lost sources of oriental wealth. But the old spirit of national enterprise was no more, and the people, as well as the government, wanted energy and talent for the useful employment of treasures, from which the commercial policy of England well knew how to derive advantage. A general lethargy seemed to overspread the nation; and towards the close of the seventeenth century the effects of that lethargy became no less manifest in the depression of literature than in the decay of military and maritime power, of the finances, and of all the branches of national industry. On the breaking out of the war of the Spanish succession, the court of Lisbon inclined sometimes to the French, and sometimes to the English party; but while the government thus wavered, and was at a loss what to do, the nation seemed perfectly disposed to adopt the manners introduced from France, and French literature soon gained the same ascendancy in Portugal as in the rest of Europe. But the Portuguese were not, at that period, prepared to estimate the merits of French literature. Those who moved in the polite world learned to speak and read French, and to mutilate their mother tongue.[335] But only a few individuals of uncommon acquirements took pleasure in cultivating their literary taste after French models. The majority of the poets, or versifiers of Portugal were, properly speaking, entirely destitute of taste.

In taking a comprehensive view of the state of poetry and eloquence in Portugal, during the eighteenth century, it will be proper to follow the thread of the national annals; for the general history of this portion of Portuguese literature resolves into about as many sections as the number of the reigns into which the political history of the country is divided. The period was indeed now gone by in which the nation formed itself, rather than suffered itself to be formed by the government.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PORTUGUESE ACADEMY IN 1714.

During the forty-four years reign of John V. namely, from 1705 to 1750, there was no want of institutions, calculated to raise the nation to the point of elevation whence it had fallen. For the polite literature of Portugal a new era seemed to have commenced, when, in the year 1714, an _Academia Portugueza_, on the model of the French academy, was established under the presidency of so accomplished a man as the Count de Ericeyra. But we nowhere find an account of any advantage which the language and literature of Portugal derived from the labours of this academy; and the establishment was soon so completely neglected, that it is difficult to conjecture how and when it sank into decay.[336] Other academies on the Italian plan had their rise and decline without producing any beneficial results; while several Portuguese poets were satisfied with the honour of admission into the Italian academy of the Arcadians. The academy of history, founded at Lisbon in 1720, also promised to be useful to Portuguese eloquence, as well as to historical science; but in the end little or nothing was effected even by this institution. Besides, though the general character of the Portuguese, which had always been less fanatical than that of the Spaniards, appeared about this period to become somewhat more liberal in religious and ecclesiastical matters, that favourable symptom was merely a consequence of the friendly relations which Portugal was under the necessity of maintaining with England; and these relations seemed to place Portugal too much in a state of dependence, to be flattering to the national feeling, or to reanimate it by the diffusion of knowledge. The inquisition, too, continued to adopt the old precautions against all attempts at free-thinking, after the manner of Voltaire. It was, therefore, neither the spirit of the old nor of the new age, which, in the reign of John V. sometimes maintained the ancient forms in Portuguese poetry and eloquence, and sometimes endeavoured to introduce new ones. This fluctuation was merely the result of a feeble wavering between the old Portuguese, the French, and the Italian taste. The better poetry was, however, still to be found in the works of the authors, who remained faithful to the ancient manner.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE MARQUIS OF POMBAL.

The twenty-six years reign of Joseph Emanuel, from 1750 to 1777, proved more salutary for the Portuguese nation. The rigid despotism of the powerful Marquis de Pombal, who in the name of the king ruled with unlimited sway, left unpleasant recollections in the minds of a portion of the nation. Nevertheless the spirit of the higher nobility and of the ecclesiastics was not wholly subdued by his measures. In the dungeons which were filled with state prisoners, it is possible that some men of talent languished. But Pombal’s iron arm roused the slumbering nation. The despotic system of government adopted by this state reformer, who was, perhaps, only cruel from necessity, was an enlightening system, and his object was to restore the ancient glory of the Portuguese name. To literature he attached but little immediate importance. But he crippled the spiritual despotism, which held captive the last remnant of Portuguese energy. Europe is mainly indebted to him for the suppression of the order of the jesuits; and the Portuguese, in particular, have to thank him for that revived feeling of independence which soon penetrated into their literature. A taste for the fine arts, for philosophy, and literary cultivation, became fashionable in Portugal. The connexion with England proved, in some respects, advantageous to the new progress of Portuguese genius, and promoted literary improvement; for the Gallicists lost a considerable portion of their political ascendancy, when English literature began to be properly estimated in Portugal.

REVIVED SPIRIT OF LITERATURE--UTILITY OF THE PORTUGUESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES.

It was not until after the death of King Joseph Emanuel, that the change which had taken place in Portugal became fully manifest. Pombal’s institutions seemed indeed destined to be annihilated, when his enemies triumphed. But even the new degree of favour which the clergy enjoyed in the reign of the pious Queen Maria, had not the effect of stifling the revived spirit of improvement in Portugal. Young Portuguese travelled to several parts of Europe and carried back to their native country the fruits of modern cultivation. The Prince Regent loved and favoured literature. In the course of a few years the Royal Academy of Sciences at Lisbon did much to rouse the nation to new activity, and in particular to reconcile philosophic study with enlightened views of national interest. Had that excellent institution, especially as it existed under the judicious guidance of the Duke of Lofoens, been left undisturbed in the pursuit of its glorious and successful labours, the benefits produced to Portugal would have been more extensive and direct than those which most of the European academies have conferred on the countries to which they belong. The cosmopolite observer will, doubtless, be less interested in what the academy accomplished for polite literature, than in its zealous exertions for the encouragement of science, the diffusion of just and liberal ideas, and the consequent improvement of national industry and public prosperity. This institution was, however, of important service to polite literature. Prizes were offered for the best comedy and the best tragedy, to be written in the Portuguese language. It was endeavoured, through the influence of some of the academicians, to restore to due consideration the Portuguese classic writers of the sixteenth century, and also to re-introduce the language of that better period into literature, and the business of common life. Some volumes of academic transactions, which have in furtherance of this object been published since the year 1792, contain, in imitation of the French manner, essays purely literary, interspersed with articles on national history. This was, however, only a harmless blending of heterogeneous subjects; and the recollections of ancient times to which it gave birth, contributed to recall to Portuguese poetry and eloquence some portion of the old national spirit, from the revival of which the general interests of the country had every thing to expect[337].

CHAP. II.

HISTORY OF PORTUGUESE POETRY DURING THIS PERIOD.

THE CONDE DA ERICEYRA.

The first Portuguese poet remarkable for paying homage to the French taste, was the ingenious and meritorious Francisco Xavier de Menezes, Conde da Ericeyra, born in 1673. The family rank of this writer doubtless added to the celebrity of the talents by which he distinguished himself at an early period of life. This will account for the extraordinary circumstance, that while yet in the twentieth year of his age he was elected president of one of the academies which were founded in Lisbon, on the model of those of Italy. He is said to have spoken the Latin, Spanish, Italian and French languages with facility. He made, however, no progress in Greek. At an early age he translated Boileau’s Art of Poetry into Portuguese octaves; and from that period he maintained a friendly intercourse with the French critic. Literary and more particularly poetical studies continued to occupy him even during the Spanish war of succession, in which he made several campaigns. He rose in the Portuguese army to the rank of _mestre do campo_ (major general.) The consideration and influence which the Count da Ericeyra enjoyed in Portuguese literature, were rapidly augmented by the authority attached to the offices which he filled; for in the year 1714, he was appointed rector and secretary of the Portuguese academy which was then founded; and in the year 1721, co-director of the new academy of history. His literary reputation soon extended beyond the narrow limits of Portugal; and during the latter half of his life, he held a conspicuous place among the men of his age, whose talents had given them a general celebrity. He maintained a correspondence with learned foreigners both in the south and north of Europe. The Pope and the King of France bestowed on him particular marks of their esteem; and the transactions of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences were formally transmitted to him by that learned body. In his old age this diligent writer bestowed the greatest share of his attention on an epic poem, entitled, the _Henriqueida_, in which he endeavoured, as far as possible, to fulfil all the conditions of poetic art, according to the principles of the most celebrated critics. It would appear that he completed his task in the year 1738, and at the age of sixty-nine he enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing his work printed. He died two years afterwards. The number of his works, both in verse and prose, is considerable; and it seems that many of them still remain unprinted.[338]

The poetical works of the Count da Ericeyra, among which are several in the Spanish language, are distinguished by a degree of polish in which it is impossible not to recognise the disciple and admirer of Boileau. But this nobleman was not destined to mark an epoch in Portuguese poetry. To regard him as a mere Gallicist would be extremely unjust, and to rank him among poets in the highest and strictest sense of the term, would be to form an equally erroneous judgment of poetic art. Ericeyra certainly was not a slavish imitator of the French style. He endeavoured to form his talent by the study of all the works which he conceived fitted to serve as models whatever might be the language in which they were written; and this spirit of liberality in literary cultivation was a peculiarly estimable trait in his character. In the metrical structure, as well as in the style of his poems, he remained faithful to the forms and spirit of the old Portuguese national poetry, and to the school of the sixteenth century. But with all his plastic capabilities, he was wanting in creative fancy; and with all his endeavours to attain classic correctness, he did not avoid faults, which are readily pardoned in the works of the older Portuguese poets, in consideration of the poetic energy which is manifest in those very faults. In that poetic energy all the writings of the Count da Ericeyra are deficient. His imagination, which never of itself took a lofty flight, was much more inclined to enlarge artificially upon any pleasing subject, than to seize with inspiration and freely fashion a subject of its own; and the rules of French criticism doubtless contributed to allure him to the cultivated occasional style, as that style may justly be denominated, which, whenever the opportunity for an occasional poem offers, is always at the command of a writer possessing no common share of descriptive talent. Accordingly not a few occasional poems are to be found in the works of the Count da Ericeyra. In compliance with the old Portuguese custom, he sometimes made choice of the eclogue form, to record in a pleasing strain of verse, certain events which occurred in the Royal family. In this form, for example, he deplores, through the medium of shepherds and shepherdesses, the death of the Infante Dom Miguel, which took place in the year 1724. After what has already been said respecting other works of this kind, to dwell longer on the eclogues of the Count da Ericeyra would be a superfluous labour; but in the history of Portuguese poetry, the Henriqueida claims a more particular notice.[339]

The Henriqueida may unquestionably be called an epic poem with far more propriety than the _Condestabre de Portugal_ of Rodriguez Lobo.[340] It is the work of an industrious talent, which occasionally seizes, with happy effect, a poetic situation, and by poetic handling elevates a series of historical events, somewhat above the sphere of prosaic nature. But this tedious and laboured poem possesses no other merit. Neither in the invention, highly as it has been esteemed, nor in the execution, which is not wanting in incidental beauties, is there displayed any thing like the captivating energy of the epic poetry of Camoens; and even in correctness of ideas and images, Ericeyra’s Henriqueida is very deficient. The subject is patriotically chosen. Henry of Burgundy, the founder of the Portuguese monarchy, is the hero of the poem. The action is not destitute of intrinsic interest, and the epic unity belonging to it has been happily caught by Ericeyra. The poem is divided into twelve cantos. Henry of Burgundy, the son-in-law of Alphonso VI. King of Castile, receives the county of Portugal as a fief, but on condition of first conquering that dowry, and afterwards securing it by further conquests. At the commencement of the poem the prince is waging war against the Moorish King Muley; but there appears little probability of the conquest of Lisbon, which is still in the hands of the Moors. Henry is informed that a Portuguese sybil lives somewhere in the vicinity of the camp in a concealed cavern, which he determines to explore, and for that purpose withdraws unnoticed from his army. The rashness with which this purpose is executed, is more characteristic of a fool-hardy adventurer than of a hero destined to be the founder of a kingdom. After taking a desperate leap, he succeeds in discovering the cavern and its inhabitant, who proves to be a christian sybil. She reveals to him the secret of his destination, together with some facts relative to the future greatness of the nation. While he is engaged in collecting this prophetic information, his troops suppose him to be lost. The Moors attack; the Christians are giving way; but at the critical moment Henry arrives, and turns the tide of victory. This first event, by which the interest of the epic action becomes immediately attached to the hero of the poem, is succeeded by a series of single combats, sieges, and victories, interspersed with love adventures, and carried on until the taking of Lisbon, with which exploit the poem concludes. The distribution of the parts is managed with much art, so that the characters in which it is wished the reader should take an interest, appear one after the other in their proper lights. The situations, too, are for the most part well chosen. Prophetic dreams, and a certain portion of fairyism still impart to the tale the charm of the miraculous, even after the christian sybil has divulged the general influence of the celestial powers. But the Henriqueida is from the first to the last canto destitute of that poetic warmth and spirit, the absence of which cannot be supplied by the ablest descriptive talent, and without which poetic art degenerates into mere exercises of style; for the industriously ingenious author was deficient in energy and depth of natural feeling, as well as in purity of ideal feeling. In his _advertencias preliminares_, or theoretical introduction, Ericeyra declares that he has in a certain measure endeavoured to imitate all epic poets, and to imbibe a portion of the manner of each; but had he withheld this acknowledgment no reader acquainted with other epic poems, could have failed to recognise in the Henriqueida the styles of Homer, Virgil, Ariosto, Tasso, and progressively of Lucan, Silius Italicus, and Statius, but without ever discerning the animating spirit of genuine poetry. The tedious coldness which pervades the whole poem destroys the effect of those incidental beauties of style which it must be allowed to possess. The very first stanzas give birth to an unfavourable presage;[341] and to invoke the inspiration of the deity rather than the muses is but a frigid conceit.[342] Even the descriptive passages, in which Ericeyra displays most talent, are deteriorated by artificial traits which launch into the region of Portuguese Marinism, and betray all the coldness of study.[343] Sometimes these traits stand as abruptly forward as if they had been interpolated by a sonnetist of the seventeenth century; thus, in allusion to Henry of Burgundy’s descent into the sybil’s cave amidst the fury of the conflicting elements, it is said, that “the vivid flames of his heart dried up the waves, and set fire to the winds.”[344] When the assembled princes sit down to hear Henry relate what he has seen in the cave, it is said of the plumes of the military heroes, that “they wafted glorious deeds to heaven, and inscribed victories without the aid of letters.”[345] On another occasion, the author describes the effect of a violent shout of the storming troops, by saying, that “even the stones of the walls seemed touched by the cry, and had nearly disclosed the medals which their celebrated founders had buried beneath them.”[346] Among the poetic ornaments of Ericeyra’s narrative style, the picturesque comparisons are for the most part well conceived; but with all their truth they are deficient in poetic energy;[347] and sometimes, contrary to all expectation, they terminate quite in the Marinistic style.[348] The Henriqueida is tolerably free of mythological decoration. Still, however, Ericeyra could not altogether refrain from availing himself of an ornament which he considered so essential. He has, therefore, contrary to all prosaic probability, for the violation of which there is no adequate poetic motive, introduced a Moorish princess in the character of a secret adherent of the Greek mythology, and he has thus taken occasion to describe a whole gallery of gods and goddesses. At the conclusion of the poem, Ericeyra again summons all his powers of description, not entirely without success, but still without avoiding those faults into which his factitious enthusiasm had previously involved him.[349]

That such a poet as the Count da Ericeyra could, with all his praiseworthy endeavours, succeed in restoring the ancient glory of Portuguese poetry, or in giving a new direction to the poetic spirit of his nation, certainly was not to be expected. But in consequence of his labours it ceased to be taken for granted in Portugal, that the mines of the higher poetry were exhausted, and he contributed to encourage the idea of improvement in poetic cultivation. His name, therefore, deserves to be held in honourable recollection. What benefits he, as a theorist, sought to impart to the poetic art, shall be noticed in the next chapter.

CONTINUANCE OF CORRUPT TASTE IN PORTUGUESE POETRY.

BARROS PEREIRA--ALEXANDRE ANTONIO DE LIMA.

The age of the Count da Ericeyra presents, at its close, a resting point in the history of Portuguese poetry, which, if the numerical division of the years be not too rigidly insisted on, may form a boundary between the first and the second halves of the eighteenth century. It was solely during the latter half that a favourable change became obvious in the poetic cultivation of the Portuguese. In the former half only a few Portuguese poets of celebrity laboured to maintain a suitable connection between the new and the old eras.

Among those poets it is not meant to include Father Antonio de Lima Barros Pereira, who in the year 1720 published his spiritual and temporal works, under the title of _Floresta Apollinea_, (Apollinian Flower-garden). But this collection of miscellaneous poems ought to be mentioned, as it serves to prove that in the beginning of the eighteenth century the Spanish was the favourite dramatic language in Lisbon. Among the works of Barros Pereira, his _loas_, or allegorical preludes, are the most numerous, and are all written in Spanish. Barros Pereira also sought to distinguish himself by those poetic rhapsodies without plan or object, which were, both in Spain and Portugal, called _Sylvas_ (Forests.)

The _Rasgos Metricos_ (Metrical Fragments) of a writer, named Alexandre Antonio de Lima, which were printed in 1740, are likewise about equally divided between the Portuguese and Spanish languages. The title-page bears a dedication to St. Ann; and in the same spirit which dictated that kind of address, the author, who seems to have been of a sprightly humour, has mingled spiritual and temporal productions together; and he has sometimes made even pieces of the most sacred character vehicles for jokes, which, however, are meant to be pious after their own way.[350] This singular incongruity was still considered inoffensive by the Portuguese of that age. The miscellaneous poems of Antonio de Lima are chiefly of a comic character. But a foreigner who has never lived in Portugal will be unable to understand most of this writer’s epigrammatic conceits, as they all refer to particular customs and local relations.[351] Some of Antonio de Lima’s serious sonnets are by no means contemptible productions.[352] In satirical prose he attempted an imitation of Quevedo’s visions.

THE PORTUGUESE DRAMA IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

SPURIOUS DRAMAS CALLED OPERAS.

In the first half of the eighteenth century, a new, though not a happy turn, became perceptible in the dramatic poetry of the Portuguese. While the Spanish drama still supplied the place of a Portuguese national drama, the favour of the court of Lisbon was bestowed on the Italian opera. The general approbation which was soon extended to operatic performances of every description, led to the introduction on the Portuguese stage of a singular species of hybridous comedy. There was a wish to naturalize the Italian opera; but it is probable that few Portuguese singers were then capable of executing recitative; and it may also be presumed, that the Portuguese had heard of the little French operas, in which the characters speak and sing alternately. This, however, is certain, that the public of Lisbon had always a strong predilection for comic entertainments; and, it appears, that with the view of fully satisfying the popular taste, it was thought advisable to introduce the pomp of the serious Italian opera into the comic drama of Portugal. By what practical head this idea was suggested no Portuguese writer has thought fit to record. It seems not improbable that it had its origin in the speculation of a theatrical manager, who wished to venture on the experiment of amusing the public in a new way; and who, for that purpose, availed himself of the services of some obscure writer, who happened to have a talent for dramatic poetry. The first essays of this theatrical novelty were all anonymous. It is, however, likely, that the result greatly exceeded the expectation of the speculator. The scenic decorations, in which the new species of drama rivalled the Italian, the burlesque humour of the pieces themselves, the effects of music, both vocal and instrumental, captivated the great mass of the Lisbon public. The higher ranks of society too, and even the court, took an interest in these performances. New dramas in this spirit and style followed each other in rapid succession, more particularly during the ten years which elapsed between 1730 and 1740. But no poet, who had previously acquired reputation, appears to have devoted himself to this kind of composition; and the prolific dramatist, whose anonymous productions were so fortunate as to obtain the chief favour of the public, had probably at the time private reasons for wishing to remain unknown. He was a Jew, whose name, even after it was disclosed, was seldom mentioned, as the public, content with the antonomasia, still continued to call him _O Judeo_, (the Jew).[353]

The popularity of the new dramas soon became so great, that manuscript copies were eagerly procured for the purpose of private performance or reading. From these copies collections were printed, the increase of which fell still short of the public demand.[354] To none of the dramas contained in these collections is the name of an author affixed. In spirit and style they so closely resemble each other, that they may all be considered as the production of one individual. If at this period French taste had acquired any decided influence on Portuguese literature, such dramas, though they might, for the sake of incident, music, and decoration, have been tolerated on the stage, would never have been sought for in print. It is impossible to imagine a more rude combination of low jests, with romantic and miraculous events, partly taken from real history, and partly from the Greek and Roman mythology. Had this strange compound been the workmanship of cultivated as well as of inventive talent, then, indeed, might the grotesque medley have been rendered, by the ingenuity of composition, entertaining even to readers of cultivated taste. But in these confused jumbles, called comic operas, the composition is, in general, as inartificial as the wit intended to enliven them is dull. The lowest buffoonery is blended with singular adventures, tournaments, or ceremonies; and trivial airs and songs are successively introduced. Some can lay no claim to any merit of invention, either in arrangement of story or incidents, as is exemplified in a spectacle of this class called Don Quixote, which was represented in 1733. No fewer than thirty-six characters figure in this compilation from the master work of Cervantes, whose spirit is, however, banished from the composition. The _Esopaida ou Vida de Esopo_, (Æsopeid, or Life of Æsop) is one of these pieces which seems intended to be particularly comic. The first scene represents a fair at Athens with all its appropriate accompaniments. The philosopher Zeno appears with Æsop and two other slaves, all of whom he wishes to sell. Æsop soon distinguishes himself by coarse jests and endless quibbling.[355] Another philosopher, named Xanthus enters, accompanied by his disciples Periander and Ennius. He puts Æsop’s wit to the test, and purchases him.[356] The scene now changes. Filena, the daughter of Xanthus, confides the secrets of her heart to an old and ugly female slave, named Gerigonza. They are joined by Euripedes, the wife of the philosopher, who reprimands her daughter, and sings a silly scolding duet with her.[357] Æsop enters and again makes a display of his wit. Then follows a tender scene between Filena and her lover; Gerigonza becomes enamoured of Æsop; and the philosopher and his wife quarrel together, singing a duet of the most vulgar character. By a succession of scenes of this sort, the action is carried on through the first act. In the second act King Crœsus of Lydia arrives with an army to besiege Athens: and Themistocles appears on horse-back in the suite of Crœsus. The scene is now alternately in Athens and in the camp of Crœsus. Drums and fifes are kept in constant employment. Splendid pleasure gardens adorned with statues add to the pomp of the spectacle. But Æsop, whose puns and quibbles are inexhaustible, is always the hero of the piece. At last, after bringing about a peace between Crœsus, and the people of Athens, he is appointed governor of the city. Thus ends the Æsopeid, which might with more propriety be entitled the Buffooniad. Amidst this grotesque jumble, however, sparks of no common fancy are occasionally elicited; but the anonymous author seems to have been totally destitute of literary cultivation, and to have had no higher aim than to give a humorous colouring to the rudeness of his combinations. The rest of the Portuguese comic operas are, upon the whole, still more rude than the Æsopeid, though some are richer in the musical part of the composition, and possess grave or even pathetic airs and duets in the style of the serious Italian opera.

It might, at first sight, be supposed, that a nation which could be pleased by dramas of this kind, must be for ever excluded from the path of higher cultivation. In Lisbon, the Italian opera-house continued to be the real court theatre. But the Portuguese opera which stood like a spurious child beside the Italian, maintained its ground in spite of its parent. Had not the taste for this kind of dramatic entertainment prevailed down to the second half of the eighteenth century, a new edition of the Æsopeid, and other theatrical caricatures, would not have been published in 1787. The restoration of a truly noble style in Portuguese poetry, could not therefore be expected to derive its origin from the drama.

RESUMPTION OF AN IMPROVED STYLE IN PORTUGUESE POETRY.

MANOEL DA COSTA.

To obtain this object, it was, however, only necessary that a poet should arise, who, charmed by the renewed union of Portuguese and Italian poetry, might be induced to place himself under the tutelage of the early Italian poets. Thus would the Italian opera have rendered compensation for the evils to which it had given birth. A Brazilian, named Claudio Manoel da Costa, was one of the first writers who in this way contributed to reintroduce an elevated style into Portuguese poetry.[358] Born in the province of Minas Geraes, that part of Brazil where the chief object is the working of mines, he seems not to have been destined for the service of the muses. He indeed passed through a course of academic studies in Europe; but he himself states that during the five years which he spent at the university of Coimbra, no kind of poetry was there held in esteem, save that which was composed in the corrupt but fashionable style of the Portuguese Marinists. That young Da Costa, while at the university of Coimbra, should have applied himself to the study and imitation of the older Italian poets, and of Metastasio, was a circumstance peculiarly favourable to his improvement, while at the same time it afforded the first proof of his being destined to arrive at a point of purer cultivation than his contemporaries. He even ventured on the composition of Petrarchic sonnets in the Italian language, and in this attempt he was not unsuccessful. On his return to Brazil his poetic studies were continued in the region of gold and diamond treasures, to which he seems to have attached but little value; for he complains that amidst these mountains, no Arcadian stream awakes by its sweet murmur harmonious verse: and that the turbid waters of the brooks only serve to call to recollection the rapacious perseverance of the miners by whose labour they are discoloured. On his own poems he pronounces a remarkable judgment. He observes that he was too late in learning the rules of good taste from the Greeks, Italians and French; and that influenced by bad example, he sinned against principles, the justice of which he recognized. The perverted manner of the sonnetists of the seventeenth century is certainly here and there perceptible in the writings of Da Costa. But upon the whole, it may be said, that for nearly the space of a century, no Portuguese writer had so well succeeded in that kind of sonnet poetry, which most charmingly approximates to the style of Petrarch; and that in the other compositions of this Brazilian poet, the faults are counterbalanced by merits of the most pleasing kind. The sonnets included in the collection of his poetic works, amount to nearly a hundred; and among them are some in Italian, but none in the Spanish language. The style of these sonnets, nearly all of which have love for their subject, is, however, not altogether that of Petrarch. They possess a certain tone of poignancy, which betrays the spirit of modern times. Nevertheless, Da Costa’s style, alike free from exaggeration and fantastic ornaments, exhibits the truth of nature and of poetry so happily united with Petrarchic intensity of feeling, and expressed in language so elegant and unostentatious, that his sonnets may justly be numbered among the very best in Portuguese literature.[359] While perusing them, the reader cannot fail sometimes to fancy that he recognizes the simple tone of the old Portuguese lyric poetry, reflected by an Italian echo.[360] Though the influence of French taste was far less powerful than the Italian with Da Costa, it still had some effect on his poetry. It appears to have guided him in the choice of a metre for his _epicedios_, or elegies. These poems, however, are not composed in Alexandrines, but in iambics of five feet, without any complexity in the rhymes. This is a kind of verse which is frequently used by English writers; and yet Da Costa seems never to have turned his attention to English poetry. But though such verse was quite uncommon, similar measures had long before been known in Portugal, and perhaps Da Costa was not the first Portuguese poet who in this way attempted to approximate to the French style, as far as the diversity of the languages would, with propriety, permit the experiment to be carried. This dull style of rhyming, appears, however, always somewhat foreign and inharmonious in Portuguese poetry. In other respects, these _epicedios_ possess the merit of noble, inartificial, and pleasing expression; but they want the high charm of the author’s sonnets, and some of his other poetic compositions.[361] He himself appears to have attached most value to his twenty eclogues. They are indeed written with peculiar care, and are not destitute of beauty in some of their parts; but, like most Portuguese eclogues, they are either occasional poems in a bucolic dress, or partly lyric compositions, which, with the exception of pastoral names, exhibit no trace of bucolic character. The extraordinary predilection of the more ancient Portuguese for this species of pastoral poetry, had therefore descended from one generation to another, down to these latter times. One of Da Costa’s eclogues is dedicated to the prime minister, the Marquis of Pombal, or as he was then still called, the Count of Oeyras, with a warmth of feeling which seems to have been the genuine effusion of the poet’s heart. From an emphatic eulogy pronounced on that minister, it may be concluded that the Portuguese poets immediately and sensibly felt the beneficial effects of his administration, for the general encouragement of mental freedom was a part of Pombal’s system. The poet says of the statesman, that he reconciled innocence with genius, and recalled justice to the world.[362] Among Da Costa’s other poems, the most remarkable are his masterly imitations of canzonettas, cantatas, and other modern Italian poems for music, to which the opera has given birth. Nothing finer in this style of poetry is to be found even in the similar minor works of Metastasio. His _A’ Lyra Desprezo_ (Farewell to Poetry), and the _Palinodia_, which accompanies it, are alone sufficient to prove the perfect accordance of the Italian and Portuguese language with respect to the laws of musical poetry.[363] But still finer is another Farewell, entitled, _Fileno ä Nize, despedida_, which was probably composed by Da Costa on his return to America. Here the old romantic inexhaustibility in the poetic amplification of a favourite idea, sustained by a constantly recurring burthen, is united with all the magic of Metastasio’s versification.[364] In some poems of the same class which Da Costa composed in the Italian language, a certain degree of constraint is observable. But his Portuguese cantatas, spiritual as well as temporal, are not only free from that fault, but often bear the stamp of excellence.

PROGRESS OF PORTUGUESE POETRY IN THE LATTER PART OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.[365]

To make a detailed report of Portuguese poetry during the last thirty years of the eighteenth century, is a task which must be consigned to other writers. In this general history it is sufficient briefly to describe how the new spirit of Portuguese literature acquired, even on its poetic side, a marked influence, though it did not unfold itself with that energy which was necessary to reproduce the poetry of the sixteenth century under somewhat varied features. This period must not yet be extolled as the commencement of a second golden age of Portuguese poetry; but the poetic talent of the Portuguese has opened for itself a wider field; and fantastic rhyming no longer finds admirers among the educated class of readers. The Portuguese zealously endeavour to rival, in polite literature, as well as in science, those nations who have, or who seem to have outstripped them. But this rivalry is happily combined with a revived veneration for the poetry of the sixteenth century. Thus have the old national forms of Portuguese poetry been preserved for modern times; and the Portuguese drama alone seems doomed to be governed by French laws.

TRANSLATIONS.

In the first half of the last thirty years of the eighteenth century, the desire to cultivate a correct style in Portuguese poetry was fostered by new translations of some of the latin classics. The Odes of Horace were translated into Portuguese by Joaquim José da Costa e Sa;[366] the Satyres of Sulpitia by Antonio Luis de Azavedo;[367] Ovid’s Heroides by Miguel de Couto Guerreiro;[368] and the comedies of Terence by Leonel da Costa.[369] But it would appear that the Portuguese did not in their wish to become more intimately acquainted with genuine poetry, so happily commence the translation of the Greek poets. On the other hand, several French and English works obtained a suitable Portuguese dress. Telemachus appeared in the year 1770; and Young’s tragedies in 1788. A circumstance which cannot fail to excite surprize, at least in Germany, is that in the year 1791 there appeared a Portuguese translation of the Herman of Baron Shönaich, the most indifferent of all German epic compositions;[370] but Gessner’s Death of Abel also appeared in the Portuguese language in the year 1785.

TITLES OF SOME OF THE POEMS PRODUCED IN THIS PERIOD.

Among the best poems which appeared about this time in Portugal, may be classed, The Rebuilding of Lisbon, an epic composition, by Miguel Mauricio Ramalho;[371] Satires and Elegies, by Miguel do Couto Guerreiro;[372] the Dream, a heroic poem, by Luis Rafael Soyé;[373] the Triumph of Innocence, by José Anastasio da Costa e Sà;[374] Lusitania transformed by Alvares do Oriente;[375] Gaticanea, or the War between the Dogs and Cats, by Joaõ Jorge de Carvalho;[376] and some others.

GARÇAÕ.

More particular attention is due to the poetic works of Pedro Antonio Correa Garçaõ, which were written at an earlier period, but which were only first collected and published in the year 1778.[377] Since Ferreira flourished, no other Portuguese poet had so decidedly formed his taste by the imitation of Horace. Garçaõ, who for this reason is called the second Portuguese Horace, did not content himself as Ferreira had two hundred years before, with imitating in Portuguese verse, the intellectual elegance and sprightly philosophy of Horace’s odes, sermons and epistles; in the composition of his odes he endeavoured to introduce into Portuguese poetry verse constructed on the Horatian model. But, however distinctly the Portuguese language may without prejudice to its abrupt pronunciation be accentuated, and however readily it may, at first sight, seem to accommodate itself to the ancient metres, it is in reality as little subject to their laws as the Spanish and Italian; the reason plainly is, that the Portuguese, like all modern languages, is totally destitute of fixed syllabic quantity in monosyllabic words; and, that like the Spanish and Italian languages, it is not sufficiently rich in dactylic words to afford, in some degree, the means of concealing this deficiency. In most of his imitations of ancient verse Garçaõ has therefore merely strung together, in an unusual way, lines of long and short iambics. In his sapphic odes, as he calls them, the sapphic verse is not more obviously perceptible than in many older compositions of the same kind, into which rhyme is admitted.[378] Garçaõ endeavoured to make an approximation to alcaic verse by the employment of dactylic words.[379] But whatever objections may be urged against the metrical form of Garçaõ’s odes, they must be allowed to exhibit in their spirit and style proofs of a bold endeavour to soar above the eternal sameness of the sonnet and the eclogue. Of the spirit of Horatian philosophy, they present no deeper traces than the odes of Ferreira;[380] but they were well calculated to recall the Portuguese to the exercise of a sound and vigorous judgment in poetry. Garçaõ’s diction is worthy of a poet of the sixteenth century. Among the lyric works of this poet are a Pindaric ode with strophes, antistrophes and epodes;[381] and a dythirambic, the character of which is certainly somewhat frigid.[382] Had Garçaõ been a pedant, he would not have devoted so much labour on sonnets, and on canções and glosses in the old national forms. He was, however, by his turn of mind and cultivation better fitted to succeed in didactic satire and epistles in the manner of Horace; and in this respect he again resembles Ferreira. But his satires and epistles, which are among the best in modern literature, possess more of Horatian gaiety and airyness than the kindred works of Ferreira;[383] there is in their moral tendency occasionally something more social.[384]

Garçaõ also endeavoured to give a new direction to the dramatic poetry of Portugal. He did not possess sufficient dramatic invention to satisfy a public accustomed to all the extravagance of operatic and theatric pomp. But he exerted his utmost efforts to counteract the influence of that pomp, and of the general bad taste which seemed to have obtained a complete dominion over the national theatre. His theory, which will be further noticed in the next chapter, could only be promulgated within a narrow circle. As a dramatic poet, he first declared war against the rude opera taste, by writing a little comedy in the style of Terence, the title of which is:--_Theatro Novo, drama_, (The New Theatre, a drama). It is a mere dramatic trifle, with a very simple plot. An adventurer of fallen fortune conceives the idea of establishing a new theatre, in which speculation he is to be assisted by his two fair daughters and a rich Englishman, _Arthur Bigodes_, (a name formed from the English oath, “by God.”) He engages several other individuals in his scheme. Two love affairs, the one sincere and the other compulsory, impart comic interest and dramatic unity to the piece. The principal scene, to which the others merely serve as auxiliaries, is that in which each member of the dramatis personæ delivers a critical opinion respecting the kind of pieces which ought to be represented at the new theatre. But judicious and patriotic as the result of the deliberation might be, it was nevertheless very liable to be interpreted by the public of Lisbon to the prejudice of a reformer, who consigned the execution of his plan to a ruined adventurer. This was, however, the first step towards raising the dignity of Portuguese comedy, and restoring it to its former rank as a national drama. The Portuguese public was susceptible of patriotic sentiments, and Garçaõ understood how to touch the national feeling without having recourse to pedantry. Accordingly, he makes the manager of the new theatre, in a comic situation, say, that his beloved native country is not a little indebted to him for the trouble he has taken to rescue her from the abyss of ignorance in which she lay, miserable and infatuated, amidst wretched dramas.[385] He observes, that genuine comedy must again become the school of manners, as it had been to the ancients. In conclusion, he solemnly invokes the shades of Gil Vicente, Ferreira, and Saa de Miranda.[386] This little comedy is written in light and agreeable iambic verse, and is not destitute of dramatic spirit.

Another comedy by Garçaõ appears to have been intended as an example of the kind of character drama which the author wished to introduce on the Portuguese stage. It is called _Assemblea ou Partida_, (the Assembly or the Party).[387] This modern Gallo-Portuguese title denotes that the author intended it to be an elegant conversational piece, affording a picture of fashionable manners. It is called merely a drama, and is attributed to no particular species, because it consists of only one act, which indeed is a tolerably long one. Thus it is not entirely faithful to the plan of a regular comedy in the style of Terence. The satire of the piece is directed against that sort of ostentatious boasting, to realize which the finances of the fashionable braggadocio are not always adequate. The characters are well drawn. To accommodate the national taste in every way, Garçaõ has introduced into the piece some well written sonnets, and a half-comic cantata, which is set to music and performed at the party of a lady. This comedy exhibits no trace of any particular imitation of the French style. Garçaõ wished to reform the Portuguese drama on classic principles, but, as he himself on another occasion observes, he wished to effect the reformation with a due regard to modern times and manners, and consequently without any rigorous adoption of the ancient dramatic laws in their full extent.

THE ABBOT PAULINO.

The ingenious prelate, Paulino Cabral de Vasconcellos, Abbot of Jazente, who is commonly called merely the Abbot Paulino, deserves to be honourably distinguished among those Portuguese poets, who at the latter end of the eighteenth century reclaimed the national taste, and brought it under the rules of classic cultivation.[388] The collection of his poems, printed in the year 1786, consists of sonnets only; but without having read them, it is scarcely possible to conceive that this species of poetic composition should have acquired so many new charms towards the close of the eighteenth century. In this collection of two hundred and forty-five sonnets, which are probably selected from a still greater number of compositions of the same kind by the Abbot Paulino, there is scarcely one that can be pronounced dull or heavy; most of them display a peculiar union of clearness, lightness and elegance, with a tone of Horatian philosophy and irony. The study of French literature seems to have contributed to the singular cultivation of the Abbot Paulino. But the spirit of his poetry is by no means French. In one poetic glance he comprehended the various situations of real life, viewing them sometimes on the romantic, sometimes on the rural, and sometimes on the comic side; and the pictures of sentiment and reflection which he thus calls up, are compressed into the sonnet form in the most pleasing and natural manner. The best of Paulino’s sonnets are those which are conceived in a tone of elegant satire;[389] and some which, though apparently frivolous, occasionally remind the reader of Propertius.[390] The satire of this Portuguese poet, however, very seldom degenerates into grossness.

DONA CATHARINA DE SOUSA--HER TRAGEDY OF OSMIA.