PORTUGUESE 



PORTULACE^B 



341 



with the growth of her maritime and commercial 

 prosperity. The Cancioneiro Geral ( 1516 ) of Garcia 

 de Resende (1470-1554), which gives a general 

 summary and extracts of the Portuguese poets of 

 the later half of the 15th and beginning of the 

 16th century, is the first evidence of the change, 

 which is most strongly exemplified in the dramas 

 of Gil Vicente (1470-1536), and in the pastorals 

 and eclogues of Ribeiro (c. 1500) and SA de Miranda 

 (1495-1558; q.v. ), whose dramatic imitations of 

 Horace and Terence mark the transition period be- 

 tween the mediaeval lyrical ami the later classical 

 style. These first attempts at the drama were fol- 

 lowed by Antonio de Ferreira's ( 1528-69) Ignez de 

 Castro, the oldest, and still the finest, Portuguese 

 tragedy. But the classical school, whose chief 

 cultivators were the courtiers of Lisbon and the 

 professors of Coimbra, found little favour among 

 the people at large, whose enthusiasm and patriot- 

 ism were deeply stirred by the discoveries and 

 conquests of the nation in Asia, Africa, and 

 America. The national pride and glory found 

 expression in the works of Portugal's one really 

 great poet, Camoens (1524-80; q.v.), who, in The 

 Lusiads (1572), struck out a new path in the 

 domain of epic poetry ; while his numerous son- 

 nets, his songs, his dramas, and other poetic 

 productions exhibit a versatility of genius and 

 graceful tenderness which place him in the fore- 

 most rank of European poets. Next after Camoens 

 come the epic poets Cdrte-Real ( 1540-93), Mousinlio 

 de Quebedo, F. de Andrade ( 1540-1614), Pereira de 

 Castro (1571-1632), and Sii de Menezes(died 1664). 

 To the same period lielongs the dramatist Ferreira 

 de Vasconcellos (died 1585). 



With Camoens the language and poetry of 

 Portugal reached the culminating point of their 

 development. During the dominion of Spain the 

 Portuguese so far lost all feeling of national 

 independence that they at length renounced their 

 native tongue, and adopted the language of their 

 rulers. With the restoration of political independ- 

 ence, under the sway of the House of Braganza, 

 a reaction took place; bnt the 17th and 18th cen- 

 turies produced few Portuguese writers who attained 

 more than an ephemeral and purely local reputa- 

 tion bombast, or slavish imitation of Spanish 

 and Italian writers, being the predominant charac- 

 teristics of the Portuguese school of light literature. 

 Some good historical writers belong, however, to 

 this period, as Jacinto Freire de Andrade (1597- 

 1657), whose life of Joao de Castro, Viceroy of 

 India, still holds its place as a monument of classical 

 Portuguese prose ; the great Indian missionary, 

 the Jesuit Father Antonio Vieira (1608-97), 

 whose sermons and letters are regarded as models 

 of style and diction; De Barros (1496-1570), the 

 historian of The Cnnqur.it of the Indies ; Da Faria 

 e Sousa (1590-1649), De Brito (1569-1617), and 

 Brandao (1584-1637), who wrote Monarrhin f.ii.ii- 

 f'ntit; A. de Resende (1498-1573) ; and F. X. de 

 Menezes (1673-1743). During the 18th century 

 French literary canons and models were slavishly 

 followed by most Portuguese writers of verse, of 

 whom the best known is Da Craz e Silva ( 1731- 

 1800). But in the beginning of the 19th century 

 Portuguese poetry was partially elevated from its 

 previous low grade by two men, who, although 

 they professed to observe a strictly classical style, 

 possessed a delicacy of taste, and a genial creative 

 power, which saved them from falling into the 

 absurdities that had generally characterised the 

 school in Portugal. The elder of these, F. M. do 

 Nascimento (1734-1819), although specially noted 

 aft an elegant lyric poet, deserves notice for his 

 graceful miscellanies ; while Manoel du Bocage 

 (1766-1806), his less cultivated rival and contem- 

 porary, must be regarded as the most original and 



truly national of the modern poets of Portugal. 

 His sonnets rank as the finest in the language, 

 and these, with his numerous idylls, epigrams, and 

 occasional poems, composed in various styles and 

 modes of versification, have had a host of imitators, 

 among the best of whom are the dramatist, J. B. 

 Gomes (died 1803); De Macedo (1761-1831), the 

 epic poet; and the satirist, T. da Almeida (1741- 

 1811). The best of the recent Portuguese poets 

 are A. de Castilho ( 1800-75 ) and D'Almeida Garrett 

 (1799-1854). The last named was the most versa- 

 tile and popular writer of his time in Portugal. 

 Next to them come Herculano (1810-79), who is 

 also one of Portugal's best historians ; Da Silva 

 Mendes Leal ; De Lemos, founder of the Coimbra 

 school ; Palmeirim, De Passes, De Deus, Braga, 

 and Do Quental. Other modem writers who 

 deserve mention are the historians Da Luz Soriano 

 and Latino Coelho ; Branco and Biester, play- 

 wrights; the novelists Rebello da Silva (who ranks 

 after Herculano as a scientific historian) and De 

 Queiroz ; and Lobo (1763-1844), as a general man 

 of letters. Portuguese literature is also cultivated 

 in Brazil, and, of late years, with considerable in- 

 dependence and success. The principal names in 

 poetry are F. V. Barlx>za, De Barros, Da Cunha 

 Barboza, A. T. de Macedo, Goncalves Diaz, Porto- 

 Alegre, M. de Macedo, Teixeira e Souza, and 

 Magelhaens, the most national of them all ; in 

 history, Varnhagen, author of the Historia Geral 

 de Brazil, and P. da Silva, author of the Brazilian 

 Plutarch ; and the epigrammatist Fonseca. 



See T. Braga' s Hittoria da LMeratura Porlugueza ( 14 

 voU. 1870-80), hU Curio (1886) and UsAntologia. (1876); 

 F. da Silva and Acanha'a Diccionario Bibliograjico 

 Portuffuez (12 vols. 1858-85); Bouterwek, History of 

 Spanish and Portttyuese Literature (Lond. 1823); and 

 French works by P. da Silva ( 1800 ) and Loigeau ( 1885;). 



Portimalote, a Spanish seaport 8 miles NW. 

 of Bilbao, with a lofty swing-ferry ; pop. 3500. 



Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia), a 

 remarkable genus in the class Co3lenterata, in the 

 sub class Siphono- 

 phora. It is common 

 in tropical seas, float- 

 ing on the surface 

 with an inflated 

 brightly coloured 

 bladder, sometimes 

 6 inches in length, 

 and with a pendent 

 colony of individuals, 

 among which there 

 is no little division 

 of labour. Most im- 

 portant are the nutri- 

 tive and reproduc- 

 tive meml>ers, and 

 long stinging ten- 

 tacles which stream 

 for several feet into 

 the water. The sting- 

 ing power, normally 

 iiM-il in benumbing 

 the small animals on 

 which the floating 

 colony feeds, is sufli- 

 cient to cause in- 

 tense irritation in 

 those who incautiously test it. The Physalia floats 

 for the most part passively, and is occasionally 

 driven to British coasts. An allied genus, Rhizo- 

 physa, is even more remarkable, with a large float 

 and long stem. 



Portulacea", or PORTULACACEJE, a natural 

 order of exogenous plants, nearly allied to Caryo- 

 phyllaceee. The species are not very numerous; 



Physalia utriculus. 



