Outros queriam que me valesse do estrepito de vozes novas, a que chamam Cultura, deixando a estrada limpa, por caminhos fragosos, et trocando com estimaçam pueril, o que he melhor, pelo que mais se usa. Mas como nam determiney lisongear a gostos estragados, quiz antes com a singeleza da verdade servir ao applauso dos melhores, que à fama popular, et errada.
[332] Escreverei a vida de Dom Joaõ de Castro, varaõ ainda mayor que seu nome, mayor que suas victorias; cujas noticias saõ hoje no Oriente, de pays a filhos, hum livro successivo, conservandose a fama de suas obras sempre viva; et nòs ajudaremos o pregaõ universal de sua gloria cõ este pequeno brádo: porque duraõ as memorias menos nas tradiçoens, que nos escritos.
[333] One passage must be quoted as a specimen of Portuguese classical prose: it relates to the conquest of an Indian garrison.
Entràraõ os nossos de envolta com os Mouros a Cidade, onde os miseraveis se detinhaõ presos do amor, et lagrimas das mulheres, et filhos, que acompanhavaõ ja com piedade inutil, mais como testimanhas de seu sangue, que defensores d’elle; taes houve, que abraçadas com os maridos se deixavaõ trespassar de nossas lanças, inventando os miseraveis nova dor, como remedio novo; dos nossos soldados, huns as roubavaõ, outras as defendiaõ; quaes seguiaõ os affectos do tempo, que os da natureza. Algumas d’estas mulheres com desesperado amor se metiaõ por entre as esquadras armadas a buscar os seus mortos, mostrando animo para perder as vidas; lastimosas nas feridas alheas, sem lastima nas suas.
[334] The following is the commencement of a speech of Coge Cofar to the Turkish soldiers, who had followed him to India.
Companheiros, et amigos, nam vos ensinarey a temer, nem a desprezar esses poucos Portugueses, que d’entro d’aquelles muros estais vendo encerrados, porque nã chegaõ a ser mais que homens, inda que saõ soldados. Em todo o Oriente atègora os acompanhou, ou servio a fortuna, et a fama das primeiras victorias lhes facilitou as outras. Com hum limitado poder fazem guerra ao mundo, nam podendo naturalmente durar hum Imperio sem forças, sustentado na opiniaõ, ou fraqueza dos que lhes saõ sugeitos. Apenas tem quinhentos homens naquella fortaleza, os mais d’elles soldados de presidio, que sempre custumaõ ser os pobres, ou os inuteis; por terra naõ podem ter soccorro, os do màr lhes tem cerrado o inverno.
[335] A good account of the mode in which the Portuguese language was disfigured by the introduction of French words and phrases, may be found in the fourth volume of the Memorias de Litteratura Portugueza, (Lisb. 1793,) in a treatise by Antonio de Naves Pereira, on the language of the best Portuguese writers of the sixteenth century. These Memorias must, in the course of the present work, be more particularly noticed.
[336] Even a learned Portuguese, well acquainted with the literature of his country, of whom I made enquiries respecting the fate of the Academia Portugueza, could give me no further information than that the institution was no longer in existence.
[337] The Memorias da Academia Real das Sciencias de Lisboa, in which that academy exhibits its labours for the advancement of knowledge, more particularly of the mathematical and physical sciences, are totally distinct from the Memorias de Litteratura Portugueza, which have been published by that academy since the year 1792. These last Memorias consist partly of philological and critical treatises on the Portuguese language and literature, and partly investigations relating to the ancient history and constitution of Portugal. The singular union of two departments so essentially distinct, arose out of the French idea of littérature, which had been adopted in Portugal. The worthy members of the academy well might, as indeed they intimately did, find it difficult to determine what was to be called literature. To reconcile all opinions, therefore, they included under that title national history. Germans, however, are by no means entitled to make this mistake, a subject of reproach, while they continue to employ the comprehensive word literature to designate merely the knowledge of books.—I have seen as yet only six volumes of the Memorias de Litteratura Portugueza. The sixth was published in the year 1796.
[338] Barbosa Machado, in his dictionary of learned men, gives a catalogue of the writings of the Count da Ericeyra, including those which remained unprinted up to the year 1747. None of these unprinted works have, it seems, been submitted to the press since that period, though they comprise a whole collection of the minor Obras Poeticas of the author, together with several prose works, on subjects of general utility; as for example, a Methodo dos Estudos (Plan of Study.)