MONTEMAYOR.
From Camoens, whose name now becomes a waymark for the whole domain of Portuguese poetry, the historian of that poetry cannot properly revert to the classic school of Ferreira, without previously reviving the recollection of Jorge de Montemayor, who was a contemporary of Camoens and Ferreira. The history of the life and writings of this excellent poet, belongs indeed rather to the literature of Spain than to that of Portugal.[181] But the spirit of the pastoral romance of Diana, by which Montemayor gained immortal fame, is in fact the spirit of Portuguese poetry transfused into the Spanish language. Without being an imitator of Ribeyro,[182] Montemayor followed in the same path with the same kind of susceptibility to impressions. But the cultivated delicacy of his feeling, and the romantic enthusiasm of his imagination, rendered him the first poet who enlarged and dignified the plain antiquated form of the Portuguese pastoral romance. He renewed and riveted the old link of connection between the Spanish and the Portuguese poetry. Had he confined himself to writing in his native tongue, he would probably have been succeeded by a Portuguese Gil Polo;[183] and the romantic pastoral poetry of the Portuguese would then have remained single in its kind. But Montemayor composed verses in the Portuguese language only for the sake of variety, and not with the view of extending the sphere of Portuguese poetry.[184]