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].