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 been studied by few. With the exception of Camoens, even the names of the principal Portuguese authors are scarcely known to us. The greater novelty of the subject is therefore an advantage which this second volume possesses over the first. King Diniz of Portugal, a poet of the thirteenth century.... Deficiency with regard to historical romances---little influence of the cultivatiou of Latin verse on Portuguese lyric poetry 20 Early cultivation of historical prose in Portuguese literature.. Increase of Portuguese power, followed by the rapid develope- ment of the national poetry, at the commencement of the sixteenth century 33 OF THE PORTUGUESE DURING THE ABOVE PERIOD. Relation of Portuguese to Spanish poetry in the sixteenth and His Court in the Country 200 208 .... 209 217 223 |