Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/764

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PORTUGAL (LANGUAGE AND LITEEATUEE) was strongly impregnated with the French style of the period of Louis XIV. and Louis XV., and Portugal was flooded with trans- lations or imitations of the masterpieces of that epoch. Francisco Xavier de Menezes, count of Ericeira (1678-1748), sang the ex- ploits of Henry of Burgundy in his Henri- queida, a dull epic in imitation of Voltaire's Pucelle, and translated Boileau's Art poe- tique; while the Lutrin of the latter is almost parodied by Diniz da Cruz in his Asperso- rium. The comedies of Moliere and the tra- gedies of Voltaire were extensively imitated, but no original work of merit was produced during this whole period. Some excellent compilations appeared, the most remarkable of which was the Bibliotheca lusitana of Diego Barbosa Machado (1682-1770), comprising the lives of all the Portuguese writers of eminence down to the middle of the 18th century. Another compilation, A Lusitania illustrada, embraces the best fugitive compositions of the time, mostly sonnets. Pedro Antonio Cor- rea Garcao (1735-'75) wrote several comedies in imitation of Terence, and was associated with Diniz da Cruz e Silva, Manoel Nicolem Es- teves Negrao, Francisco Jos6 Freire, and Do- mingos dos Reis Quita, as founder of the Arca- dian academy in Lisbon (1756), subsequently re- placed by the royal academy of sciences. The countess Vimeiro produced in 1788 Osmia, the only genuine tragedy in the language. Araujo de Azevedo translated Dryden, Gay, and some other English poets. Francisco Manoel do Nas- cimento (1734-1829) was noted for the dignity and boldness of his lyric verses ; and Manoel Barbosa du Boccage (died 1805 or 1806) was chiefly known as a lyrical poet, under the pseu- donyme of Elmano, and as the founder of the Elmanist school, strongly identified with that of the Gongoristas in Spain. Besides these, the chief authors of the early part of the present century are Francisco Diaz Gomez, Francisco Cardoso, Alvarez de Robriga, Xavier de Matos, Valladares, Tolentino de Almeida ; Antonio de Castilho, a translator from the English ; Garret, a poet, romancist, and dramatist ; Herculano de Carvalho, a patriotic and religious poet; Mouzinho de Albuquerque, a statesman and the author of georgics ; Agostinho de Macedo, who reformed the " Lusiad " in an epic entitled Orients, and whose romantic poem A Medi- tagao inaugurated the renaissance of Portu- guese literature; and Almeida Garret, author of Camoens, an epic in 10 cantos (1825). Lyr- ical poesy at the present time is represented by Joao de Lemos, Castilho, and Antonio Serpa ; the drama by Mende Real, Jos6 Freira de Ser- pa, and Alexandro Herculano, which last, with Rebello de Silva, is the most popular historian and author of historical romances; while in the domain of science the names of Oliveira Piraental, Carlos Ribeiro, Thomas de Carva- lho, Jose Lourenco da Luz, and Souza Pinto enjoy a well merited reputation in Europe. To the Jesuits are due the earliest efforts to introduce literary culture into Brazil, through the medium of religious dramas, many of which were written in Portuguese and Indian. But the productions of the Portuguese colonists were for a long time mainly servile imitations of Portuguese and Spanish originals. In the first half of the 18th century Brazil began to have a genuine national literature, and several literary societies were organized, especially in Bahia, then the viceroyal seat and the most flourishing city in the colony. Among the best known Brazilian writers of this period are men- tioned Joao Brito de Lima (1671-1742), who left the Cezaria, an epic of 1,300 octaves in praise of the viceroy Cezar de Menezes, a cel- ebrated friend and protector of letters; and Gonzalo Soares da Franca, like the former a member of the academy Dos Esquecidos. The first well written history of Brazil belongs like- wise to this epoch, and is due to the pen of Sebastiao da Rocha Pitta. After the transfer of the viceregal residence to Rio de Janeiro in the second half of the 18th century, the study and cultivation of letters took, with the ac- cretion of this new centre, a still higher flight than before; and from 1756 down to the pres- ent time literature in Brazil has made much more rapid progress than in the mother coun- try. Three epic poets of note appeared in the 18th century: Jose Basilio da Gama (1740- '95), whose principal work is his Uruguay, in which he describes the united crusades of the Spaniards and Portuguese against the Para- guayan Indians ; Jose de Santa Rita Duram or Durao (1737-'83), an Augustinian hermit, au- thor of Caramuru, an epic on the discovery of Bahia; and Jose Francisco Cardoso, who composed a heroic poem in Latin, which was translated into Portuguese by Barbosa du Boc- cage. These productions, however, in com- mon with all the others of the same period, were to a great degree of Portuguese inspira- tion, the authors themselves having for the most part completed their education at the uni- versity of Coimbra. The character of the lyri- cal muse was still less national than that of the epopee, thanks to the influence of the pseu- do-classic French style, no less sensibly felt in Brazil than in the mother country. The most distinguished lyrical poets of that time were Claudio Manoel da Costa (1729-'89); Thomas Antonio Gonzaga, better known as Dirceu (1744-1809), born in Oporto; Manoel Ignacio da Silva Alvarenga, and Alvarenga Peixoto, all of the Minas school. Among the many distinguished pulpit orators of Brazil may be mentioned Francisco Jose de Carvalho, also known by the pseudonyme of Francisco do Monte Alverne (1784-1858), whose efforts toward the culture and refinement of the lan- guage were only equalled by those of Mar i anno Jos? Pereira da Fonseca, marquis of Marica (1773-1848), the author of Maximas, pensa- mentos e refiexdes, and the lexicographer An- tonio de Moraes e Silva, best known by his Diccionario de lingua portugueza, and his His-