On a general comparison of the treasures of the polite learning of Spain with the poetry and eloquence of Portugal, there will appear on the Spanish side a balance of literary riches, but not of genius and cultivation. The heroic romances, the satire of Cervantes, and the dramatic poetry of the Spaniards, still preponderate, though the epic poem of Camoens, and all the beautiful and singular productions of Portuguese pastoral poetry be weighed in the opposite scale. The greater number of the old Portuguese lyric poets, does not, as to intrinsic value, raise the Portuguese lyric poetry above the Spanish. The dramatic works of Gil Vicente, which are completely thrown into shade by those of Lope de Vega and Calderon, would still be eclipsed, did they even possess the riper cultivation of the few dramas of Saa da Miranda, Ferreira, and Vasconcellos; which, however, is again more than counterbalanced by the dramatic energy and lofty poetry of the works of Moreto, Antonio de Solis, and other Spanish authors. But in a general view of the poetic genius of both nations, it would be wrong to overlook the different extent of the territories to which the two languages belong, or to forget that in the style of romantic pastoral poetry, which shines so brilliantly in Spanish literature, the Portuguese instructed the Spaniards, and never were excelled by them. Generally speaking it may be said, that in no earnest literary competition between the Portuguese and the Spaniards, have the former ever suffered themselves to be outdone by the latter. Accidental circumstances, not want of energy, prevented the Portuguese from keeping pace with the Spaniards in dramatic poetry; and under these circumstances no serious competition could arise. In the cultivation of modern eloquence both nations have at last advanced to nearly the same degree of improvement.
Portuguese poetry is no less national than the Spanish. The tendency to orientalism, with which the Spaniards have been so frequently reproached, was, in like manner, a characteristic of the poetic genius of the Portuguese, until the general influence of French taste produced a remarkable change in manners and in literature. To form a just estimate of the works of Saa de Miranda, Camoens, Rodriguez Lobo, and the other principal Portuguese poets, it is not the Greek or Latin, and by no means the French rule of criticism, which ought to be made the measure of poetic excellence. From a right understanding of what really constitutes natural and ideal poetry, is derived the only true principle whereby the judgment ought here to be guided in forming its decision. Keeping this principle in view, attention must be paid to local circumstances, which, whenever ancient or modern poetry has arisen out of the poetic perception of nature and human life, rather than out of reading, or philosophic and critical abstractions, give to the poetic creations of the mind the true impress of reality;—and, amidst realities, the poets of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries lived. These poets sufficiently satisfied their contemporaries and their age, but they had no wish to recommend themselves to posterity by a theoretically cultivated and universal style of poetry. Their poetic world is, accordingly, something more than a mere imaginary world; and what they only wrote to please themselves and their contemporaries, must increase in value with every succeeding century; because the circumstances under which such a style of poetry could arise, are gradually becoming more and more rare.
END OF VOL. II.
AND OF THE HISTORY OF PORTUGUESE LITERATURE.
E. Justins, Printer, 41, Brick Lane, Whitechapel.
ERRATA VOLUME II.
| Page | 103, l. 2 from the top, for farcas read farças. |
| 110, l. 3 from the top, for rareshow read rareeshow. | |
| 115, l. 3 from the top, for prediliction read predilection. | |
| 120, l. 1 first note, for a ode read an ode. | |
| 134, l. 7 from the top, for opening Ferreira’s tragedy Ferreira’s tragedy. | |
| 164, l. 2 of the note,for hrone read throne. | |
| 165, l. 7 from the top,for the poetic survey read this poetic survey. | |
| 199, l. 11 from the top, for redondillas read redondilhas. | |
| 211, l. 7 from the top, espistles read epistles. | |
| 233, l. 10 from the top, for exercisesd read exercised. | |
| 252, l. 6 from the top, for remaind read remained. | |
| 302, l. 14 from the top, for stile read style. | |
| 313, l. 2 from the bottom of the second note, for he read the. | |
| 318, l. 6 from the bottom, for a more natural dignified read a more natural and dignified. | |
| 324, l. 10 from the bottom, for antithesis read antitheses. |