History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature (Vol 2 of 2)

1 See the History of Spanish Literature, p. 12 and 17.

2 The Portuguese of former times never resigned the common denomination of Spaniards to the inhabitants of the Castilian monarchy. They invariably styled the Spaniards Castelhanos. Even in the late edition of the poems of Camões, that writer, who composed only a few trifles in Castilian verse, is distinguished by the title of Principe dos Poetas de Hespanha, (Prince of Spanish poets).

3 Detailed information concerning the settling of French knights in Portugal, under Henry of Burgundy, may be found in Manuel Faria y Sousa’s well known work:—Europa Portuguesa, v. i. p. 448.

4 See the History of Spanish Literature, p. 17.

5 Further information on this subject is contained in Manuel de Faria y Sousa’s Europa Portuguesa, vol. iii. p. 378, whence all these particulars are derived.

6 It is difficult to collect any sense from the words. Those who understand Portuguese may try their skill on the following specimen:—

The above fragment is contained in the Europa Portuguesa, vol. iii. p. 379.—Dieze has also printed it in his Remarks on Velasquez.

7 Two complete songs by Egaz Moniz are given in the work of Manuel de Faria y Sousa already mentioned, vol. iii. p. 380. One commences as follows:—

8 There is no poetry in the specimens quoted by Faria y Sousa. For example the following:—

9 See Barbosa Machado, article Dionis.

10 The changes which the name Alphonso undergoes in Spanish and Portuguese may mislead persons who are not intimate with those languages. In Spanish it is indiscriminately either Alfonso or Alonzo; the latter form, however, is chiefly used in common life. In Portuguese, from the natural tendency of that language to omit the letter l, the name is invariably pronounced and written Affonso.

11 This poem is given by Barbosa Machado, under the head D. Pedro I.—As it is written in the Castilian language, it would be out of place in a collection of specimens of Portuguese poetry. The Portuguese songs of Pedro I. are included in Garcia de Resende’s Cancioneiro.

12 The Spanish Don becomes Dom in Portuguese.

13 See the History of Spanish Literature, p. 49.

14 Manuel de Faria y Sousa has printed it in his Discurso de los Sonetos, prefixed to his Fuente Aganippe, that is to say, his poems, vol. i. The language and style of this sonnet are sufficiently ancient.

15 One of these sonnets is printed, as a specimen, in the before-mentioned Discurso de los Sonetos. There is in the antiquated diction a degree of precision which approximates to the style of the original:—

16 See Sarmiento’s Obras Posthumas, p. 323.

17 The Cronica do Condestabre de Portugal Nun Alvarez Pereyra, printed in gothic letters at Lisbon 1526, in folio, may serve for an example. That this chronicle was composed about the end of the fourteenth century is a fact which admits of no doubt. Though written quite in the dry style of the chronicles, yet the author seems to have had a vague idea of historical arrangement; and he sometimes aims at a certain degree of skill and eloquence in antithesis. Thus in the preface, which commences in the following manner:—

Antigamente foy costume fazerem memoria das cousas que se faziam, assi erradas, como dos valentes e nobres feitos; dos erros, porque dellos soubessem guardar, e dos valentes e nobres feitos, aos boõs fizessem cobiça a ver peras cousas semelhantes fazerem.

With this artificial commencement, the simplicity of the following passage forms a remarkable contrast:—

E por nom fazer longo prollego (prologo), farei aqui começo em este virtuoso Senhor, do qual veo o valente y muy virtuoso conde estabre Dom Nunalvaréz Pereyra. E assi dehi em diante siguiremos nossa historia.

18 See the preceding vol. p. 74.

19 Dieze, in his Remarks on Velasquez p. 105, has printed a commencing stanza of one of these songs, which presents no great merit, together with a translated passage from Argote de Molina’s Nobleza de Andalusìa.

20 Even Cervantes in his Journey to Parnassus, makes Mercury assign to Lusitania the supplying of Amores, in order to collect together the ingredients of romantic poetry.

21 What is stated by Barbosa Machado shews how highly Garcia de Resende was esteemed by his contemporaries.

22 Barbosa Machado likewise gives an account of this collection under the head D. Pedro I. p. 540, a place in which such a notice would scarcely be looked for.

23 This is expressly mentioned by the Spanish writer Sarmiento, who says:—El cancionero Portuguez contiene muchissimos mas poetas que el Castellano. Este contiene solos los del siglo xv. pero aquel contiene algunos del Siglo xiv.—Obras posth. p. 323.

24 It will soon be necessary to make this author the subject of a particular notice.

25 I have met with no notice of a Romanceiro distinguished from the Portuguese Cancioneiro by any remarkable number of narrative romances.

26 Dieze, in his Remarks on Velasquez, p. 76, has collected notices of the lives of those Portuguese who in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries distinguished themselves by the composition of latin verse.

27 According to the testimony of Barbosa Machado, Lopes wrote several chronicles; only one was however printed, a damaged copy of which I have now before me. It is entitled: Chronica d’El Rey D. Joaõ I. de boa memoria &c. composta por Fernam Lopes. Lisboa 1644. With Zurrara’s continuation it forms one thick folio volume. It is singular enough that in these old Portuguese chronicles, the word Rey (King) is always preceded by the Castilian article El, instead of the Portuguese O. Thus El Rey, united as if forming one word, has become in the official stile of Portugal the substitute for O Rey.

28 The following speech, which is short, and is not badly conceived, may be transcribed here entire as an interesting specimen of Portuguese prose of the fifteenth century. Nuno Alvarez, who commands the Portuguese army against the Castilians, whom his brothers have joined, thus addresses his companions in arms:—

Amigos, eu nam sey mais que diga do que vos jà tenho dito, però ainda vos quero responder a ìsso, que me dissestes. Quanto he o que dizeis: que os Castellanos sam muytos, et vem grandes Capitanes, et senhores com elles, tanto vos serà mayor honra, et louvor de serem por vós vencidos, ca jà muytas vezes aconteceo os poucos vencerem muytos, porque todo o vencimento he em Deos, et nam nos homens. Na outra cousa, em que duvidaes, segundo parece, que he a vinda de meus Irmaõs em sua companhia, a ìsso nam temais por nenhuma guisa, nem Deos quizesse tal, que nenhum por mim fosse enganado. Ca eu naõ os hey por meus Irmanos nesta parte, pois que vem por desviar a terra, que os gérou. E nam digo contra meus Irmaõs, mas em verdade vos juro, que ainda que ahi viesse meu Padre, eu seria contra elle, por serviço do Mestre meu senhor. E pera vós verdes que he assim, se a voz praz de em esta obra sermos todos companheiros; eu vos juro, et prometo, que eu seja o dianteiro ante a minha bandeira, et o primeiro que comece a pelejar, et assi podeis ver a vontade, que eu tenho contra meus Irmaõs neste feito. Mas, naõ embargo da vossa tençaõ ser todavia qual me dissestes, aquelles, que se quizerem hir pera suas casas, et lugares, vaõse com Deos, ea eis, et esses poucos de boõs Portugueses, que comigo vem, lhe entendo poer a praça.

29 Barbosa Machado’s article under the head “Bernardim Ribeyro,” is too short and unsatisfactory for a name so celebrated.

30 For example in the following stanzas:—

31 For example:—

32 The Spaniards cannot easily enter into the spirit of these verbal allusions in the Portuguese language; for the word which in Portuguese signifies a river, is in Spanish by the usual change in the penult syllable Ribera, and signifies a bank. The Portuguese Ribeira, or Ribeiro, is probably derived from Rivus; and the Spanish Ribera from Ripa.

33 For example:—

This fifth eclogue is, however, attributed to Ribeyro only by conjecture.

34 These eclogues form an appendix to the old as well as the new edition of the prose romance of Menina e Moça, which will soon be further noticed.

35 See the preceding vol. p. 113.

36 This very plain dealing effusion is as follows. It is without punctuation:—

37 They may be found in the appendix to the old and scarce edition of the tale Menina e Moça, (Lisboa, 1559, in 8.)

38 In the Cancionero de Romances, Amberes 1555, in 8vo. It is also to be found in the new as well as in the old edition of the Menina e Moça.

39 It commences thus:—

40 The new edition of the Menina e Moça, ou Saudades de Bernardim Ribeyro, published by one of the descendants of the poet, Lisboa 1785, in 8vo. is easier to read than the old edition, on account of the more regular punctuation. But the old and scarce edition, which, however, bears on the title page, the words de novo estampada, Lisboa 1559, in 8vo. contains, in an appendix, Ribeyro’s eclogues, and also a collection of old Portuguese poems by other authors.

41 She says:—

Escolhi para meu contentamento (se entre tristezas et saudades ha algum) virme viver a este monte, onde o lugar et mingoa da conversação da gente te fosse, como para meu cuidado cumpria: porque grande erro fora depois de tantos nojos, quantos eu com estes meus olhos, vi aventurarme ainda esperar do mundo o descanço, que elle nunca dè a ninguem. Estando eu aqui ló, taõ longe dè toda a outra gente, et de mim ainda mais longe; donde nam vejo senaõ serras de hum cabo, que se naõ mudaõ nunca, et do outro aguas do mar, que nunca estam quedas, onde cuidava eu jà que esquecia a desaventura, porque ella, et depois eu a todo poder que ambas pudemos naõ leixamos em mi nada em que pudesse nova magoa ter lugar; &c.

42 The following is the passage:—

Nam tardou muito que estando eu assi cuidando, sobre hum verde ramo que por sima da agua se estendia, se veyo pousar hum Rousinol, começou a cantar tam docemente que de todo me levou a pos si o meu sentido d’ouvir; et elle cada vez crecia mais em seus queixumes, que parecia que como cansada queria acabar, senaõ quando tornava como que começava. Entam (triste da avezinha) que estandose assi queixando nam sey como se cahio morte sobre aquella agua, cahindo por entre as ramas, muitas folhas cahiram tambem com ella; pareceo aquello sinal de pezar naquelle arvoredo de caso tam desestrado. Levava a pos si a agua, et as folhas a pos ella, et quizeraa eu hir tomar: mas polla corrente que alli fazia, et pelo mato que dali para baxo acerca do rio logo estava, prestasmente se alongou da vista; o coraçaõ me doco tanto entaõ em ver taõ asinha morto quem dantes taõ pouco havia que vira estar cantando, que naõ pude ter as lagrimas.

43 This passage may be regarded as a specimen of romantic didactic prose:—

Coitadas das mulheres que porque vem que as namoram os homens com obras cuidam que assi se devem elles tambem de namorar: et he muito pelo contrario, que aos homens namoramnos desdeis et presunçoens, apos huma brandura de olhos, asperesa muita de obras. Isto de seu natural lhes deve vir, porque sam rijos, que parece nam terem em muito senam o que trabalham muito. Nos outras boandas de nosso nacimento fazemos outra cousa: porem se elles com nosco entrassem a juizo, que razam mostrariam per si? Ca o amor que he senam vontade? Ella nam se dà, nem se toma por força, mas como quer que seja, ou pela desventura das mulheres, ou pela ventura dos homens.

44 The publisher of the new edition of the Menina e Moça (see note p. 33.) expressly states in his preface, that by recalling public attention to that work, he proposes to refute the censures which have been pronounced on the Portuguese language.

45 Egloga de Christovam Falcam, chamado Crisfal, annexed to the old edition of the Menina e Moça. See note page 33.

46

47

48

49 See the History of Spanish Literature, p. 210.

50 These verses bear the following superscription:—Carta do mesmo, estando preso, que mandoa a huma Senhora con que era casado a furto contra vontade de seus parentes &c.—This letter is also attached to the old edition of the Menina e Moça.

51 From the verb Esparecer, which is almost synonymous with the French Extravaguer, the term Esparça is probably derived.

52

53

54

55 The following for example:—

56 In illustration of this remark, the words cor, paço, povo, pay, may, por, ter, may be compared with the Spanish words color, palacio, pueblo, padre, madre, poner, tener, and similar comparisons may be made of a multitude of others. Let the reader also take into consideration the clipping pronunciation of o and a when these vowels terminate words in the Portuguese language. The Portuguese articles o and a, abbreviated from lo and la, together with the compounds formed from them, as no and na, instead of en lo and en la, must necessarily be offensive to the Spanish ear. It is singular, however, that the Portuguese language has a tendency to lengthen those particular words in which the Spanish cannot tolerate any further extension; for the Spanish Universidad, Magestad, &c. become in Portuguese Universidade, Magestade, and so forth.

57 It deserves, however, to be noticed, that of all the sister languages of Roman descent, the Portuguese alone has preserved, in its grammatical structure, a remarkable fragment of the ancient latin conjugation, namely, the pluperfect of the indicative, viz. fora, foras, fora, from fueram, fueras, fuerat. But this pluperfect has also the signification of a preterite of the subjunctive; and through the ambiguity, which thus arises, the value of this grammatical relic in the Portuguese language is in a great measure lost, notwithstanding that the connection may easily mark the proper sense. But how happens it that of all the languages claiming a Roman origin, the Portuguese, though in other respects remarkable for a certain simplicity of character, is, upon the whole, distinguished by the most numerous and subtle tenses in the conjugations of its verbs?

58 This trait of distinction between the Portuguese and Spanish national character is still noticed by travellers. The Portuguese is a bigot, like the Spaniard, but he is far less fanatical. The intercourse of trade in Lisbon, requires an external appearance of tolerance. If the English sailors refuse to take off their hats during the catholic processions in Portugal, the populace content themselves with exclaiming, “they are English heretics!” or uttering some other words of reproach.

59 See preceding vol. page 151.

60 See the preceding vol. p. 210.

61 All the notices extant respecting the life of this poet, are collected in the biographical memoir prefixed to the new edition of his Obras Lisb. 1784, 2 vols. 8vo. Dieze in his Remarks on Velasquez, has merely selected the article “Saa de Miranda,” from the works of Nicolas Antonio and Barbosa Machado.

62 He says in his third sonnet:—

63 In one of the introductory stanzas of his first Portuguese eclogue, he says, addressing the prince Dom Manoel:—

64 One of his sonnets commences at once with the description of this conflict:—

65 For example in the following charming sonnet, which even derives a peculiar air of simplicity from the recurrence of masculine rhymes:—

66 What a beautiful elegiac didactic picture is presented by the following sonnet on the setting sun:—