of sentiment are deficient in novelty of idea and in genious simplicity.* PIRES DE REBELLO. Among the Portuguese chivalric romances, which were so assiduously read in the sixteenth century, may be numbered A Constante Florinda, (the Constant Florinda) of Gaspar Pires de Rebello, who was likewise the author of some short didactic novels, (novelas exemplares) which were published about the period at which Cervantes enriched Spanish literature with tales * Let, for example, the following verses be compared with similar passages in the works of Camoens and Rodriguez Lobo:— Faz o tempo hum breve ensayo Do bem, que em nacendo morre, E mostrame quanto corre Passa o bem, e o tempo assi, De hum, et doutro vivo ausente, E vejo, porque o perdi, O que meus olhos naõ vem, Mas hoje quam pouco dura! Faz o tempo o officio seu, E o bem no mal, a que venho, of a totally different standard, though bearing the same title.* Rebello entertained a very high opinion of the usefulness of his novels;t but his inventions are common place; and his unceasing display of mythological learning is as affected as are many of his similies and images.‡ • Rebello is sometimes called Rebelo, and sometimes Rabelo. And, in like manner, in his tales the names of Justin and Leonidas are occasionally written Gustino and Leonitas. The Constante Florinda has been frequently printed. The edition which I have before me was published so recently as the year 1722. There have also been several editions of Rebello's novels. In the preface he moralizes thus: Muytos servos há no Mundo, que sam servos do Mundo, os quais sò com elle tratam seus negocios, metidos em os bosques de cuydades mundanos, sustentando-se em os montes de pensamentos altivos: sem quererem tomar conselho com hum livro espiritual que lhes ensine o que devem fazer. Compadecido destes quis disfarçar exemplos, et moralidades com as roupas de historias humanas. Para que vindo buscar recreaçam, para o entendimento, em a elegancia das palavras, em o enredo das historias, em a curiosidade das sentenças, et em a liçaõ das fabulas, achem tambem e proveyto, que estam offerecendo, que he hum claro desengano das cousas do Mundo, et fiquem livres dos perigos, a que estaõ muy arriscados, cõ seus ruins conselhos. Thus, in describing melancholy, he with pompous gravity compares it to sea sickness : Assim como os que navegaõ sobre as ondas do mar que enjoande em hum navio, nem por se passarem a outro perdem a nauzea que os atormenta, porque nao nasce do lugar, senaõ dos ruins humores que em si trazem levantados. Assim os tristes, et affligidos ainda que mudem o lugar, nem por isso deyxa a fortuna de os perseguir ; porque nao lhes nascem os males do lugar que deyxaõ, se naõ da fortuna que contra elles anda levantada.-Part II. cap. 5. PROGRESS OF THE HISTORICAL ART. But the historical works which were written in the Portuguese language in the sixteenth century, are more important to the lover of literature, as well as the politician, than the other compositions in prose which have just been noticed. In Portugal, as well as in Spain, relations of real events had long been completely distinguished from romantic prose. But before the old chronicle style could become entirely obsolete, it was necessary that the old chronicle spirit should yield to the nobler spirit of historic art; and to this in that age, with all its great events, there was little inducement in Portugal. The ancient classic historians were, it is true, read and studied; but when Portuguese writers attempted to imitate them, they at most only succeeded in producing some resemblance to their force of description, and in a certain degree to their elegance of expression, but failed altogether in the arrangement of events according to the just idea of historical utility, and in the delicacy of the shades of an historical picture. Indeed the rude spirit of the chronicles seemed then to belong no less essentially to the narration of modern events, than the rhyme and the metres of romantic verse to modern poetry. He who felt himself called to be the historian of his native country, necessarily endeavoured to render himself no less intimate with the old chronicles than with classic anthors; and, if, fully imbued with his subject, he took up the thread of the narrative where an earlier chronicler had dropped it, he unconsciously fell into the style of that chronicler. Had fate transplanted for several years to Italy, and placed in a sphere of political and literary activity, a Portuguese possessing the talent and energy of Diego de Mendoza, he would probably, like that distinguished Spaniard, have there learned to compose an historical work according to justly conceived ideas of historical art, independently of the influence of the chronicles.* But in India, to which at that time all Portuguese subjects who wished to rise in the service of their country eagerly hastened, it was not to be expected that a historian could be formed. Still, however, the historical literature of the Portuguese of the sixteenth century, when considered with reference to its rhetorical character, possesses a degree of interest which the elegant compilations of later historians cannot excite. The men who at that memorable epoch, either from their own inclination, or as Cronistas in the service of the government, related the history of their native country, and more particularly of the Portuguese discoveries and conquests, were inspired with ardent national feeling, and that feeling they communicated to their works. Their narratives have character. The manner in which that character displays itself, is doubtless too prominent in cases in which the national interests come into conflict with claims of foreign powers. But an endeavour to preserve historical fidelity, is in general observable in the works of these writers. To confound them with the common chroniclers would be doing them great injustice. They earnestly endeavoured to introduce into their narratives * See preceding vol. p. 205. as much of the style of the ancient classics as could be united with the style of the chronicle; and the remote traces of that historical art in which they were deficient are to be recognized in their works. It was not so much their object to string facts together, as to combine remarkable events as far as they were able, under one practical point of view. JOAO DE BARROS. The events of India formed the favourite theme of many of the Portuguese Cronistas of the sixteenth century. At the head of these industrious writers stands Joao de Barros, whose name is not altogether unknown in literature, beyond the boundaries of his native land. In the early part of the sixteenth century he was distinguished by his talents and acquirements among the young men of rank, who were educated at the court of Emanuel the Great. At this period he seems to have applied himself with particular delight to the study of the Roman historians, and in particular of Livy. In his twenty-first year he produced a romance of chivalry. King Emanuel, who on reading this romance thought that he perceived in the youthful author a talent for historical composition, commissioned him to draw up an account of the oriental discoveries and conquests of the Portuguese. Barros immediately prepared for the commencement of his arduous task; the execution of which was, however, delayed for some time in consequence of the death of King Emanuel. But he was speedily solicited by King John III. not to relinquish his design, |