Portuguese literature
sketches and recollections in prose. Nearly fifty years before his
death the romantic school in Portugal had received a severe shock, and
the fact that long romantic poems continued to appear is proof how deep
its roots had penetrated.
FOOTNOTES:
[655] His _Romanceiro_ published in 3 vols. (1843, 51) contains poems
of national themes drawn from popular songs and traditions, written by
himself (as
[656] The name of the first Earl of Desmond (cr. 1328) was Maurice
fitzThomas (†135) not Gerald, Gerod, Gerott, Garrett, or Garrt (see
Lord Walter FitzGerald, _Notes on the FitzGeralds of Ireland_). The
forms Garret and Gareth existed in Catalonia in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries, e. g. the Catalan poet Bernardo Garret, born at
Barcelona, who wrote in Italian and became known as Chariteo (_c._
1450-_c._ 1512).
[657] Amorim, _Memorias_, i. 28.
[658] Of _O Magriço_, a still longer epic, only fragments remain; it
went down in manuscript in the _Amelia_, sunk by the Miguelists off the
Portuguese coast.
[659] Preface to 4th ed. (1845) of _Catão_.
[660] The ‘tyranny’ of the day was that of General Beresford. Some
scenes of _Catão_ (derived from the _Cato_ (1713) of Addison), of which
a Portuguese version by Manuel de Figueiredo (_Theatro_, vol. viii)
had appeared in Garrett’s boyhood, were directed against this English
despot. A few years later Garrett learned to enjoy English society, as
his Anglophobe biographer, Amorim, admits.
[661] Published in 1841.
[662] Written ten years earlier.
[663] These two plays were published in vol. vii of his _Obras_ (1847)
with _D. Philippa de Vilhena_.
[664] A contemporary novel, _Helena_ (1871), remained unfinished at his
death.
[665] It was, however, no sudden decision. As early as 1851 he wrote,
in a letter to Garrett, ‘... _me ver entre quatro serras com algumas
geiras de terra proprias, umas botas grossas e um chapeu de Braga,
bello ideal de todas as minhas ambições mundanas_’.
[666] The second edition with additional poems was entitled _Poesias_
(1850).
[667] _Cronica, poema, lenda ou o que quer que seja_, he says.
[668] The late Dr. Gonçalvez Viana considered Herculano ‘the most
vernacular, scrupulous and perfect writer of the nineteenth century’
(_Palestras Filolójicas_, 1910, p. 116).
[669] _O Alliciador_ (1859), _O Astrologo_ (1860).
[670] The last novel to appear in Rebello da Silva’s lifetime was _A
Casa dos Phantasmas_ (1865). _De Noite todos os gatos são pardos_ was
published posthumously.
[671] After Camillo, as he is always called in Portugal, had been
created Visconde de Corrêa Botelho in 1885, his descent was traced back
to Fruela, son of Pelayo.
[672] That is, a year before the novel _Memorias de um Doudo_ (1849) by
Antonio Pedro Lopes de Mendonça (1826-65).
[673] Cf. also _Carlota Angela_ (1858), _O que fazem mulheres_ (1858),
_Annos de Prosa_ (1863), _O Sangue_ (1868), _Estrellas Propicias_
(1863), _Estrellas Funestas_ (1869).
[674] e. g. _Lagrimas Abençoadas_ (1857), _Carlota Angela_ (1858), _O
Santo da Montanha_ (1865), _A Engeitada_ (1866), _O Judeu_ (2 vols.,
1866), _O Regicida_ (1874), _A Filha do Regicida_ (1875).
[675] That it is not impeccable such a phrase as _confortar o palacio_
(_O Livro Negro do Padre Diniz_, 1896 ed., p. 135) well shows.
[676] M. A. Vaz de Carvalho, _Serões no Campo_ (1877), p. 171.
[677] Part 2 is entitled _A Festa de Maio_ (two cantos).
[678] Written in 1830.
[679] This ‘collection of contemporary poems’ contains verses of
considerable merit. Of some 200 poems by twenty-one poets twenty-eight
are by João de Lemos, thirty by José Freire de Serpa Pimentel
(1814-70), second Visconde de Gouvêa, author of _Solaos_ (1839),
thirty-four by Antonio Xavier Rodrigues Cordeiro (1819-1900), and
thirty-six by Augusto José Gonçalves Lima (1823-67), who reprinted his
contributions in _Murmurios_ (1851). A similar collection of verse was
_A Grinalda_ (Porto, 1857).
§ 2
_The Reaction and After_
It was in 1865 that Castilho, the acknowledged high-priest of literary
aspirants, wrote a long letter which was published as introduction (pp.
181-243) to Pinheiro Chagas’ _O Poema da Mocidade_ (1865), in which he
deprecated the pretentious affectations of the younger poets. For while
Castilho was dispensing his patronage to the acolytes of romanticism
a new school of writers had grown up at Coimbra, who refused to know
Joseph. They turned to Germany as well as to France, professed to
replace sentiment by science, and in the name of philosophy chafed
unphilosophically at the old commonplaces and unrealities. Castilho
stood not only for romanticism but for the classical style of the
eighteenth century, and in some respects the secession from his school
may be described as the revolt of the Philistine against Filinto.
Anthero de Quental now voiced the cause against the aged Castilho’s
preface in an article entitled _Bom Senso e Bom Gosto_ (1865). For
the next few months it rained pamphlets.[680] Snr. Julio de Castilho,
subsequently second Visconde de Castilho (1840-1919), and author of
many well-known works, including the drama _D. Ignez de Castro_ (1875)
and the eight volumes of _Lisboa Antiga_ (1879-90), took up the cudgels
on behalf of his father. The high principles at stake, good sense and
good taste, were sometimes forgotten in personal bitterness; a duel was
even fought between Quental and Ramalho Ortigão, in which both the poet
and his critic were happily spared to literature.
But romanticism in Portugal has nine lives, and raised its head at
intervals during the second half of the century. In the domain of
history JOAQUIM PEDRO DE OLIVEIRA MARTINS (1845-94) always remained
more than half a romantic. His life explains the character of his
historical writings. Born at Lisbon, obliged to work for a living when
he was barely fifteen, he succeeded at the same time in educating
himself, supported his mother and her younger children, married before
he was twenty-five, had published a dozen works before he was forty,
was elected deputy for Viana do Castello in 1886, became Minister of
Finance in 1892, and died in his fiftieth year. A career so meteoric
could scarcely give scope for that scrupulous research, that careful
sifting of evidence which modern ideas associate with the work of the
historian; and Oliveira Martins as historian embraced not only the
whole of Portuguese but the whole of Iberian history, and that of
Greece and Rome to boot. But even had he had more time, the result
would only have been more subjects treated, not a different treatment.
His whole idea of history was coloured with romance, his work impetuous
and personal as that of a lyric poet. His first book, the historical
novel _Phebus Moniz_ (1867), passed almost unnoticed. After several
pamphlets, appeared his first historical work, _O Hellenismo e a
Civilisação Christã_ (1878), and then in marvellous rapidity the
_Historia da Civilisação Iberica_ (1879), _Historia de Portugal_
(1879), _Elementos de Anthropologia_ (1880), _Portugal Contemporaneo_
(1881), and a further succession of historical works ending with the
_Historia da Republica Romana_ (1885). Although politics now occupied
much of his time he continued to publish, and wisely emphasized
the biographical side of his work, of which _Os Filhos de D. João
I_ (1891) and _A Vida de Nun’ Alvares_ (1893) are not the least
valuable part. _O Principe Perfeito_ (1896), dealing with King João
II, appeared posthumously and incomplete. A master of psychology
and impressionistic character-sketching, all his work is a gallery
of pictures--and especially of portraits--from Afonso Henriquez to
Herculano, which reveal the artist as well as his subjects. His style,
nervous, coloured, insinuating, is a swift and supple implement for his
exceptional power of skilfully summarizing a person or a period. He
is capable of vulgarity (as in the account of Queen Philippa and the
frequent use of colloquialisms perfectly unbefitting the dignity of
history) but not of dullness. He uses and abuses epigram and metaphor,
and is not free from the pompous rhetorical antitheses of Victor Hugo
(e.g. _De Cid transformou-se em Wallenstein_), till the reader suspects
him of being ready at all times to sacrifice truth to a phrase. Yet it
is surprising, considering the circumstances of his life and the extent
of his work, how often he bases his history, if not on documents, on
the work of reliable earlier historians, Portuguese and foreign. If
he fills in the gaps with pure romance or an uncritical use of texts
(for instance, in _A Vida de Nun’ Alvares_ he incorporates as authentic
those charming ‘letters of Nun’ Alvarez’ which a mere glance at their
style shows to be apocryphal) these are but the poet’s arabesques,
the main structure is often sound enough. Were there no other history
of Portugal it might be necessary to consider his work not only
fascinating but dangerous, nor would _Portugal Contemporaneo_ alone
convey an impartial or complete idea of Portuguese history in the first
two-thirds of the nineteenth century. We may deny him the title of
great historian, we cannot deny him a foremost place in the literature
of the century as a writer of brilliant intellect and feverish energy
and a powerful re-constructor of characters and scenes in their
picturesqueness and their passions.
The work of MANUEL PINHEIRO CHAGAS (1842-95), poet, playwright, critic,
novelist, historian, was even more abundant and for the most part
of a more popular character and more commonplace. He is also more
Portuguese, and his works deserve to be read if only for their pure and
easily flowing style. Many of his novels are historical. _A Corte de D.
João V_ (1867) has an account of an _outeiro_[681] in which figures the
_Camões do Rocio_ as the poet Caetano José da Silva Souto-Maior (_c._
1695-1739) was called. The subject of the earlier novel _Tristezas á
beira-mar_ (1866) is that which Amorim in his _A Abnegação_ derived
from an English novel, but is here more naturally treated. _A Mascara
Velha_ (continued in _O Juramento da Duqueza_) appeared in 1873. _As
Duas Flores de Sangue_ (1875) is concerned with revolution in France
and at Naples. _A Flor Secca_ (1866) treats of more everyday scenes
and contains some amusing if rather obvious character-sketches, as
the old servant Maria do Rosario (a rustic Juliana), or the devout and
vixenish old maid D. Antonia. His _Novelas Historicas_ (1869) contains
six historical tales dealing with Afonso I, Nun’ Alvarez, Prince Henry
the Navigator, King Sebastian, Pombal, and the French Revolution. His
_Historia de Portugal_ (8 vols., 1867), begun on a plan originally laid
down by Ferdinand Denis, contains lengthy and frequent quotations from
previous historians but is coloured by later political ideas. The two
shorter works _Historia alegre de Portugal_ (1880) and _Portugueses
illustres_ (1869) are admirably suited for their purpose--to interest
the people in the history and heroes of their country.
The chief work of the able and industrious critic and historian JOSÉ
MARIA LATINO COELHO (1825-91) was his _Historia Politica e Militar de
Portugal desde os fins do seculo XVIII até 1814_ (3 vols., 1874-91).
ANTONIO COSTA LOBO (1840-1913), editor of the instructive _Memorias
de um Soldado da India_, in his _Historia da Sociedade em Portugal no
seculo XV_ (1904) began a meticulous and well thought-out study of an
earlier period of Portuguese history. JOSÉ RAMOS COELHO (1832-1914)
is chiefly known for his elaborate romantic biography of the brother
of King João V: _Historia do Infante D. Duarte_ (2 vols., 1889, 90).
Dr. HENRIQUE DA GAMA BARROS (born in 1833) in the invaluable _Historia