68 COSMOS. 



elegiac idyllic element unfortunately predominated too long in 

 the literature of the Spaniards arid Italians. It required all 

 the freshness of delineation which characterized the adven- 

 tures of Cervantes's Knight of La Mancha to atone ibr the 

 Galatea of the same author. Pastoral romance, however it 

 may be ennobled by the beauty of language and tenderness of 

 sentiment manifested in the works of the above-named great 

 writers, must, from its very nature, remain cold and weari- 

 some, like the allegorical and artificial productions of the Mid- 

 dle Ages. Individuality of observation can alone lead to a 

 truthful representation of nature ; thus it is supposed that the 

 finest descriptive stanzas in the GerusaJemma Liberata* may 

 be traced to impressions derived from the poet's recollection 

 of the beautiful scenery of Sorrento by which he was sur- 

 rounded. 



The power of stamping descriptions of nature with the im- 

 press of faithful individuality, which springs from actual ob- 

 servation, is most richly displayed in the great national epic 

 of Portuguese literature. It seems as if a perfumed Eastern 

 air breathed throughout this poem, which was written under 

 a tropical sky in the rocky grotto near Macao, and in the Mo- 

 luccas. Although I would not venture to assume that my 

 opinion could serve as a confirmation of the bold expression 

 of Friedrich Schlegel, that " the Lusiad of Camoens far sur- 

 passes Ariosto in richness of color and luxuriance of fancy,"! 

 I may be permitted to add, as an observer of nature, that in 

 the descriptive portions of the work, the enthusiasm of the 

 poet, the ornaments of diction, and the sweet tones of melan- 

 choly never impede the accurate representation of physical 

 phenomena, but rather, as is always the case where art draws 

 from a pure source, heighten the animated impression of the 

 greatness and truth of the delineations. Camoens abounds in 

 illimitable descriptions of the never-ceasing connection between 

 the air and sea between the varying form of the cloudy can- 

 opy, its meteorological processes, and the different conditions 



* Tasso, canto xvi., stanze 9-16. 



t See Friedrich Schlegel's Sdmmfl. Werke, bd. ii., B. 96; and on the 

 disturbing mythological dualism, and the mixture of antique fable with 

 Christian contemplations, see bd. x., s. 54. Camoens has tried, ia 

 stanzas 82-84, which have not met with sufficient admiration, to justi- 

 fy^Kmythological dualism. Tethys avows, in a naive manner, but in 

 uispired by the noblest conception of poetry, that she herself, 

 Saturn, Jupiter, and all the host of gods, are vain fables, created by the 

 blind delusion of mortals, and serving only to lend a charm to song 

 A Sancta Providencia que em Jupiter aqui se representa." 



