PREFACE. FOR much of the valuable information which the following History of Portuguese Literature contains, the author acknowledges himself to be indebted to the communications of a learned Portuguese, with whom he became acquainted after the materials he had previously collected were arranged for publication. M. Bouterwek originally intended to comprise what he had to say, on Portuguese literature, in a brief sketch, which was to form a supplement to the preceding volume; but the assistance of his literary friend enabled him to make the present volume a suitable companion to his history of the sister literature of the Peninsula. In England commercial interests may have induced many persons to make themselves acquainted with the language of Portugal, but the literature of that country has hitherto |