Pont du Roi, and at once becomes navigable for rafts. At Montréjeau it receives on the left the Neste, and encountering at this point the vast plateau of Lannemezan is forced to turn abruptly east, flowing in a wide curve to Toulouse. At Saint Martory it gives off the irrigation canal of that name. At this point the Garonne enters a fertile plain, and supplies the motive power to several mills. It is joined on the right by various streams fed by the snows of the Pyrenees. Such are the Salat, at whose confluence river navigation proper begins, and the Arize and the Ariège (both names signifying “river”). From Toulouse the Garonne flows to the north-west, now skirting the northern border of the plateau of Lannemezan which here drains into it, the principal streams being the Save, the Gers and the Baïse. On its right hand the Garonne is swelled by its two chief tributaries, the Tarn, near Moissac, and the Lot, below Agen; farther down it is joined by the Drot (or Dropt), and on the left by the Ciron. Between Toulouse and Castets, 3312 m. above Bordeaux, and the highest point to which ordinary spring-tides ascend, the river is accompanied at a distance of from a 12 to 3 m. by the so-called “lateral canal” of the Garonne, constructed in 1838–1856. This canal is about 120 m. long, or 133 m. including its branches, one of which runs off at right angles to Montauban on the Tarn. From Toulouse to Agen the main canal follows the right bank of the Garonne, crossing the Tarn on an aqueduct at Moissac, while another magnificent aqueduct of twenty-three arches carries it at Agen from the right to the left bank of the river. It has a fall of 420 ft. and over fifty locks, and is navigable for vessels having the maximum dimensions of 9812 ft. length, 19 ft. breadth and 612 ft. draught. The carrying trade upon it is chiefly in agricultural produce and provisions, building materials, wood and industrial products. At Toulouse the canal connects with the Canal du Midi, which runs to the Mediterranean. After passing Castets the Garonne begins to widen out considerably, and from being 160 yds. broad at Agen increases to about 650 yds. at Bordeaux, its great commercial port. From here it flows with ever increasing width between two flat shores to the Bec d’Ambès (1512 m.), where, after a course of 357 m., it unites with the Dordogne to form the vast estuary known as the Gironde. The triangular peninsula lying between these two great tidal rivers is called Entre-deux-mers (“between two seas”) and is famous for its wines. The drainage area of the Garonne is nearly 33,000 sq. m. Floods are of common occurrence, and descend very suddenly. The most disastrous occurred in 1875, 1856 and in 1770, when the flood level at Castets attained the record height of 4212 ft. above low-water mark.
GARRET (from the O. Fr. garite, modern guérite, a
watch-tower, connected ultimately with “guard” and “ward”),
properly a small look-out tower built on a wall, and hence the
name given to a room on the top storey of a building, the sloping
ceiling of which is formed by the roof.
GARRETT, JOÃO BAPTISTA DA SILVA LEITÃO DE
ALMEIDA, Visconde de Almeida-Garrett (1799–1854),
perhaps the greatest Portuguese poet since Camoens, was of
Irish descent. Born in Oporto, his parents moved to the Quinta
do Castello at Gaya when he was five years old. The French
invasion of Portugal drove the family to the Azores, and Garrett
made his first studies at Angra, beginning to versify at an early
age under the influence of his uncle, a poet of the school of
Bocage. Going to the university of Coimbra in 1816, he soon
earned notoriety by the precocity of his talents and his fervent
Liberalism, and there he gained his first oratorical and literary
successes. His tragedy Lucrecia was played there in February
1819, and during this period he also wrote Merope as well as a
great part of Cato, all these plays belonging to the so-called
classical school. Leaving Coimbra with a law degree, he
proceeded to Lisbon, and on the 11th of November 1822 married
D. Luiza Midosi; but the alliance proved unhappy and a formal
separation took place in 1839.
The reactionary movement against the Radical revolution of 1820 reached its height in 1823, and Garrett had to leave Portugal by order of the Absolutist ministry then in power, and went to England. He became acquainted with the masterpieces of the English and German romantic movements during his stay abroad.
Imbued with the spirit of nationality, he wrote in 1824 at Havre the poem “Camões,” which destroyed the influence of the worn-out classical and Arcadian rhymers, and in the following year composed the patriotic poem “D. Branca,” or “The Conquest of the Algarve.” He was permitted to return to Portugal in 1826, and thereupon devoted himself to journalism. With the publication of O Portuguez, he raised the tone of the press, exhibiting an elevation of ideas and moderation of language then unknown in political controversy, and he introduced the “feuilleton.” But his defence of Liberal principles brought him three months’ imprisonment, and when D. Miguel was proclaimed absolute king on the 3rd of May 1828, Garrett had again to leave the country. In London, where he sought refuge, he continued his adhesion to romanticism by publishing Adozinda and Bernal-Francez, expansions of old folk-poems, which met with the warmest praise from Southey and were translated by Adamson. He spent the next three years in and about Birmingham, Warwick and London, engaged in writing poetry and political pamphlets, and by these and by his periodicals he did much to unite the Portuguese émigrés and to keep up their spirit amid their sufferings in a foreign land. Learning that an expedition was being organized in France for the liberation of Portugal, Garrett raised funds and joined the forces under D. Pedro as a volunteer. Sailing in February 1832, he disembarked at Terceira, whence he passed to S. Miguel, then the seat of the Liberal government. Here he became a co-operator with the statesman Mousinho da Silveira, and assisted him in drafting those laws which were to revolutionize the whole framework of Portuguese society, this important work being done far from books and without pecuniary reward. In his spare time he wrote some of the beautiful lyrics afterwards collected into Flores sem Fructo. He took part in the expedition that landed at the Mindello on the 8th of July 1832, and in the occupation of Oporto. Early in the siege he sketched out, under the influence of Walter Scott, the historical romance Arco de Sant’ Anna, descriptive of the city in the reign of D. Pedro I.; and, in addition, he organized the Home and Foreign offices under the marquis of Palmella, drafted many important royal decrees, and prepared the criminal and commercial codes. In the following November he was despatched as secretary to the marquis on a diplomatic mission to foreign courts, which involved him in much personal hardship. In the next year the capture of Lisbon enabled him to return home, and he was charged to prepare a scheme for the reform of public instruction.
In 1834–1835 he served as consul-general and chargé d’affaires at Brussels, representing Portugal with distinction under most difficult circumstances, for which he received no thanks and little pay. When he got back, the government employed him to draw up a proposal for the construction of a national theatre and for a conservatoire of dramatic art, of which he became the head. He instituted prizes for the best plays, himself revising nearly all that were produced, and a school of dramatists and actors arose under his influence. To give them models, he proceeded to write a series of prose dramas, choosing his subjects from Portuguese history. He began in 1838 with the Auto de Gil Vicente, considering that the first step towards the recreation of the Portuguese drama was to revive the memory of its founder, and he followed this up in 1842 by the Alfageme de Santarem, dealing with the Holy Constable, and in 1843 by Frei Luiz de Sousa, one of the few great tragedies of the 19th century, a work as intensely national as The Lusiads. The story, which in part is historically true, and has the merit of being simple, like the action, is briefly as follows. D. João de Portugal, who was supposed to have died at the battle of Alcacer, returns, years afterwards, to find his wife married to Manoel de Sousa and the mother of a daughter by him, named Maria. Thereupon the pair separate and enter religion, and Manoel becomes the famous chronicler, Frei Luiz de Sousa (q.v.). The characters live and move, especially Telmo, the old servant, who would never believe in the death of his former master D. João, and the consumptive
