in plaintive elegy. Among the elegies of this kind which he composed, several deserve only to be re

Mar brando, sereno ar, campo cheiroso,
Foge a Tristeza, o Prazer folto voa,
O dia mais dourado, e vagaroso.

Tecendo as Graças vaõ nova coroa

De Myrtho á mãy, ao filho mil Spritos.
O fogo resplandece, a aljaba soa.

Mil versos, e mil vozes, e mil gritos

Todos de doce amor, e de brandura,

Huns s'ouvem, huns nos troncos ficam escritos.

Ali soberba vem a Fermosura,

Apôs ella a Affeiçaõ cega, e cativa.

Quanto huma mais chorosa, outra mais dura.
Ah manda Amor assi: assi quer que viva
Contente a triste, do que seu Deos manda,
De seja inda mais dor, pena mais viva.
Mas quanto o moço encruece, a mãy abranda,
Ella a peçonha, e o fogo lhe tempéra:
Assi senhora de mil almas anda.

Ali o Engano em seu mal cego espera

Hum' hora doce : ali o Encolhimento

Sem causa de si mesmo desespera.

Aos olhos vem atádo a Peusamento,

Nao voa a mais qu'ao qu'ali tem presente,
E em tanto mal, tudo he contentamento.

E riso, em festa corre a léda gente,

Tras o fermoso fogo, em que sempr'arde,
Cada hum, quanto mais arde, mais contente.
Manda Venus ao Sol menham, e tarde

Que seus crespos cabellos loure, e estenda,
Qu'em vir s'apresse, qu'em se tornar tarde.
Ao brando Norte, que assopre, e defenda
Do ardor da sesta a branda companhia,
Em quanto alçam de Myrtho fresca tenda,

garded as occasional poems on the death of distinguished persons. Others are properly epistles, abounding in moral reflexions and observations on the uncertainty of human affairs, but wanting in that tone of tender melancholy which is essential to the true plaintive elegy.* A few free translations from the Greek of

Corre por toda parte clara, e fria

Agoa: cae doce sombra do alto Louro,
Canta toda ave canto d'alegria.

Ella a neve descobre, e solta o ouro:

Banham-na as Graças na mais clara fonte;
Aparece d'Amor rico thesouro.

Caem mil flores da dourada fronte,

Arde d'Amor o bosque, arda a altra serra,
Aos olhos reverdece o campo, e o monte.
Despende Amor seus tiros, nenhum erra,
Mil de baixo metal, algum do fino,

Fica de seus despojos chea a terra.

Vencida d'huma molher, e d'hum minino.

The didactic epistolary character appears in the following passage, from the elegy on Luis Fernandez de Vasconcellos, which is, in other respects, exceedingly beautiful :

Naõ frias sombras, naõ os brandos leitos

Altos spritos provam: que ociosos

Se gastam, e como em cinza estaõ desfeitos.
Melhor comprados foram, mais custosos
Aquelles nomes altos, que inda soam,
Dos que virtude, e esforço fez famosos.

Inda entre nós de boca em boca voam

De tanto tempo já os spritos puros:
Inda de verdes folhas se coroam.
Por duras armas, por trabalhos duros

Varios costumes, varias gentes vendo
Tornáram inda erguer fermosos muros.

Moschus and Anacreon are annexed to this collection

of elegies.

Ferreira's eclogues possess little poetic merit; and, excellent as is the diction, the style is not sufficiently bucolick. Ferreira was no less susceptible than Saa de Miranda of the philosophic enjoyment of a country life and the beauties of rural nature; but an ideal pastoral world was foreign to the scope of his genius, and bucolick simplicity was not at all reconcilable with his taste, which invariably inclined him to masculine reflexion, clothed in a tone of didactic seriousness. He would not, therefore, had he even possessed the natural requisites for pastoral poetry, have been disposed to prefer that style as the poetic form for occasional compositions, however agreeable it might be to the individuals of the royal family to have their festivals poetically illustrated by such contributions to the general gallantry of the court.

Ferreira's epistles occupy the chief portion of the first volume of his poems; and they are, upon the whole, entitled to the first rank in the poet's works. It is worthy of remark, that these epistles retain the old title of Cartas instead of that of Epistolas, notwithstanding Ferreira's predilection for latinity in his choice of words. But they differ in so many various ways from the poetic Cartas of Saa de Miranda, that they, may be regarded as the first productions of their kind in Portuguese literature. Their contents evidently

Hora a furia do bravo mar rompendo,

Hora os lançava a sorte á praya imiga
Quanto móres perigos, mais vencendo.

shew that they were all written when the poet had attained the age of maturity. At that period he resided at court, and from his practical philosophy, for which he was partly indebted to his literary studies, he deduced the maxims which daily received confirmation from the events of real life. Yet the more he was tied to the great world, the more valuable did retirement appear to him. The natural nobleness of his turn of mind was constantly at variance with the manners and characters of the persons by whom he was surrounded. In this state of feeling he wrote his epistles. They are for the most part addressed to men of the first rank, with whom Ferreira was more or less intimate, and among whose names appear those of the most celebrated poets who laboured in common with him for the classic improvement of the national taste. The didactic poems addressed by Ferreira to these men are nearly all in the same strain. The delicacy of the didactic tone of Horace was not to be attained by a poet who had to open the first path for the restoration of classical style in a country in which the old romantic character in poetry, and the scholastic theological spirit in philosophy, were only beginning to yield to the influence of a more liberal cultivation. Neither was Ferreira, with all his elegance, sufficiently cultivated for that Horatian gaiety, which frequently rises to

sportiveness, and jests with the very precepts it inculcates. The characteristics of his philosophy are dignified gravity and sound judgment, unalloyed by any thing like pedantry or pretension. But the philosophic medium through which he viewed the vicissitudes of

fortune and the follies of mankind, partook more of religious austerity than of epicurean pleasantry; and notwithstanding his general correctness in epistolary composition, even in that respect, he falls, like almost every other modern poet, far short of the energetic precision of the Horatian style. As an epistolary poet, therefore, Ferreira is no more a Portuguese Horace than the two Argensolas are Horaces in Spanish literature.* But the sound judgment and noble feeling, which may be said to form the moral soul of these poems, are expressed in that natural, unostentatious, pleasing and varied manner, which belongs to the true spirit of the didactic epistle; and the poet's fancy has scattered as many flowers on the path of ornate wisdom, as are necessary to distinguish it from the high road of moralizing prose. Patriotism and zeal for the national greatness of Portugal give a peculiar colouring to these epistles. In the spirit of this feeling Ferreira extols the union of Portuguese military glory, with the improvement of manners and the cultivation of the understanding; and with regard to cultivation, according to models, he says-one should seek to "excel others in what is best, and only in other respects to imitate." He zealously exhorts his friend Andrade

*See History of Spanish Literature, page 392.

† O nosso bom Joam tambem guiado

De seu sprito, viva em ti seguro,
E nos mais, de quem he bem conselhado.
Abrasan-se castellos, cae o muro

Cansam forças, e braços, e ardidezas.
No bom conselho só está o bom seguro.