The Portuguese, like the Spanish, to which it bears a strong resemblance, is one of the modern forms of the Romance language, which in the middle ages imperceptibly took the place of the Latin. It may be traced as far back as the 11th century, in which began likewise the existence of Portugal as an independent state; but the first attempts to cultivate and refine it were not made until the 13th century; and it was only in the 16th, the golden age of Portuguese literature, that it was permanently fixed in its present form. During the domination of the Moors the language of that people prevailed throughout the country, and was generally spoken by the higher classes; and the words borrowed from the Arabic and other eastern sources, and still in use, are probably not less numerous in the Portuguese than in the Spanish. The Portuguese bears a strong affinity to the Galician, and is readily understood by the Gallegos; and it is softer, sweeter, and more fluent than the Spanish. Sismondi felicitously called it "a boneless Oastilian." The Spaniards call it a language of flowers; and a modern Portuguese writer, Francisco Dias, styles it the eldest daughter of the Latin, while it is called by Hallam the soft and voluptuous dialect.

The pronunciation partakes of the character both of the French and of the Spanish, and is very difficult for foreigners; but it is unobstructed by those gutturals and harsh aspirates which the Spanish inherited from the Arabic. There are in Portuguese five double consonants, called prolacdes: ch, like the English sh, save in words of Greek origin, where it is sounded as k; Ih (liquid I), like li in Julia; nh, corresponding to the French liquid gn, and the English ni in pinion; ph, as in the English; and rr, occurring only between vowels, and having a stronger and rougher sound than the single r, but not the aspiration characteristic of the Spanish rr. The j is mostly pronounced as in French (zh), as is also the g when followed by e or i. C before e or i, and c before a, o, or m, have the hard sound of s. 8 between two vowels has the soft sound of z. X has four sounds: that of the English sh, as in paixdo, passion; that of s hard, as in extendo, extending, duplex, duplex; that of z, as in ex-acto, exact; and that of the English x, as in sexo, sex, convexo, convex. Final z has the hissing sound of s, as in perdiz, partridge.

Among the vowels, the e is remarkable as having three sounds, two of which correspond respectively to the long and short sounds of the Spanish e, while the third partakes of the nature of the so-called mute e of the French. The o has likewise a long and a short sound, resembling those of the same vowel in English. The most remarkable features of Portuguese orthography and orthoepy are the five nasal vowels d, e, i, o, u (of which, however, only d and o are now commonly used in writing), sometimes also written without the tilde (~) when it is replaced by m or n after the vowel. But in these combinations, which are respectively pronounced nearly as the English ang, eng, ing, owng, oong, the vowels do not lose, as in the corresponding French combinations, their own natural sound. In such words as sdda and tepo, the tilde marks the omission of the letters n (sonda) and m (tempo). There are but two written accents, the circumflex (^) and the acute ('). The grammar, resembling those of the Spanish and French, is in general simple, the only peculiarity requiring particular notice being the inflections of the infinitive mood of the verb, which, besides the ordinary impersonal form, has a personal form governed by a noun or pronoun: thus, amar, to love; o eu amar, I to love, or my loving; o tu amares, thou to love, or thy loving.

The Latin words which form the basis of the Portuguese have in some instances undergone greater changes than in any other modern tongue. Some radical letters are almost always omitted, the consonants I and n being most frequently dropped: thus, Lat. dolor, Port. dor; Lat. ponere, Port, por; Lat. populus, Port, povo; Lat. ille, ilia, Port, o, a; Lat. pater, Port, pai or pae. But many Latin words have been retained literally, and others have suffered only a slight alteration; asforca from furca, goloso from gulosus, ouro from aurum, digo from dico, amigo from amicus, chamar from clamare, peito from pectus, etc. Of Portuguese grammars may be mentioned Constancy's Grammatica analytica da lingua portu-gueza (Paris, 1831), and Nouvelle grammaire portugaise (1832); Vieyra's " Grammar of the Portuguese Language" (13th ed., revised by Henriquez, London, 1869); and Grauert's " New Method for Learning the Portuguese Language" (New York, 1863). There are dictionaries by Da Costa and Sa (Portuguese, French, and Latin, Lisbon, 1794), Da Cunha (French and Portuguese, Lisbon, 1811), Vieyra (English and Portuguese, new ed., Lisbon, 1860), and Jose de Lacerda (Portuguese-English and English-Portuguese, Lisbon, 1866). - Portuguese literature comprises few works of any note except poems and histories.

The earliest compositions on record are contained in a collection of lyrical poems in the amatory style of the troubadours, preserved in the college of nobles in Lisbon, of which 25 copies were published by Lord Stuart of Rothesay (Paris, 1823). These ancient songs, some of which are translations from Provencal, are referred to the beginning of the 13th century. But Bouterwek mentions fragments from poets of the 12th century, Goncalo Henriques and Egaz Moniz Coe-lho, courtiers of Alfonso I. During the 13th and 14th centuries the poetic art was fostered by several princes, such as King Dionysius, his natural son Alfonso Sanches, Alfonso IV., Pedro I., and the infante Dom Pedro, son of John I. and author of some amatory poems, included in Resende's Gancioneiro (1516). At the same time the romances of chivalry had been diligently cultivated, especially by Vasco de Lobeira, the reputed author of " Amadis de Gaul," derived, as some have thought, but upon insufficient evidence, from a French metrical composition. During the 15th century, which has been called the heroic age of Portugal, prose compositions became both numerous and important.

Fernando Lopez, the Portuguese Froissart, Gomez Eannes de Azu-rara, another chronicler, and Alfonso V., who wrote a treatise on the art of war and a little work on astronomy, are among the most noteworthy names of this period. King Edward (died 1438) composed a treatise Be Bono Re-gimine Justitim; and Damiao de Goes is known as the author of Be Moribus AEthiopum and a chronicle of King Emanuel. Among the few specimens of noble prose in the Portuguese language, one of the earliest is the Menina e Moca of Ribeiro, a pastoral romance in a chaste and pleasing style, much of the charm of which, however, is marred by obscure allusions to events in the author's life. Ribeiro was also the first distinguished poet of his country, and excelled chiefly in pastoral strains, the favorite style throughout the peninsula at the time. Some of his eclogues were written and possibly published before the death of King Emanuel in 1521. Among the pastoral authors contemporary with Ribeiro were Christovao Falcao and Sa de Miranda (died 1558), the latter a versatile writer, who, like some other poets of his country, wrote in both Portuguese and Cas-tilian; he left pastorals, sonnets, hymns, songs, and two comedies, Os estrangeiros and Os Vi-Ihalpandios. Montemayor (died 1562), though a Portuguese, wrote much in Castilian, and ranks among the most illustrious reformers of Spanish poetry in the reign of Charles V. Another of the classical poets is Antonio Fer-reira (1528-'69), whose odes are little inferior to those of Horace, and whose sonnets rival those of Petrarch in simplicity and correctness.

Before the theatre existed in Spain, and when it was still in its infancy in Italy, he produced his Ines de Castro, a tragedy in the ancient Greek style. Other illustrious names in this age are those of Pedro de Caminha and Diego Bernardes, bucolic and elegiac poets; Gil Vicente, at once eccentric and original in his dramatic sketches; Rodrigues Lobo, who left pastoral romances and a historic epopoeia on Nuno Alvarez Pereira, the Portuguese Cid; and Je-ronymo Cortereal, author of a noble and pathetic poem inspired by the misfortunes of Manoel de Souza and his consort Leonor de Sa. His " Siege of Diu" is less generally esteemed. During this period Portugal produced a great historian, Barros (1496-1570), whose Asia portugueza, in which he recounts the romantic story of the Portuguese conquests in the East, deservedly ranks for accuracy and simplicity among the classics of his time. The exploits of Vasco da Gama were related by Fernam Lopez de Oastanheda, in his history of the discovery of the Indies. Mendez Pinto, Galvao, and Francisco Alvarez published accounts of their travels and adventures, and Alfonso d'Albuquerque his " Commentaries." Camoens (1524-'79) is the most intensely national of all the poets.

His great epic, the "Lusiad," ranking at once among the earliest and most celebrated of modern Europe, weaves into the story of Vasco da Gama all that was chivalrous, beautiful, or noble in the traditions of his native land. Among the few defects more commonly criticised in the " Lu-siad " are the antique language in which it was written, its prolixity, and the absence of poetical artifice, ornament of diction, or brilliant imagery; but these faults are amply compensated for by ease and transparency of narration, a freedom from all that might offend, remarkable familiarity of style, a certain charm of coloring, and especially by a pervasive languor which perpetually reminds us of the fortunes of the soldier poet. Camoens also left odes, hymns, elegies, and sonnets, in which last he emulates and often equals Petrarch in tenderness, grace, and classic correctness. In these minor compositions, as in his epic, he may be regarded as the principal model for all his countrymen to the present time. The dramatist Gil Vicente (died 1557) was the disciple of the Spaniard Juan de la Encina. His autos differ little from the miracle plays and religious dramas of France and England of the same period.

His comedies, tragi-comedies, farces, and pantomimes, published collectively in 1562, derive their merit rather from truthfulness of character and vivacity of dialogue than from fertility of invention. The Ulyssea, an epic on the foundation of Lisbon by Pereira de Castro (1571-1632), and the Malacca conquistada of Francisco de Sa y Menezes, rank high in the opinion of Portuguese critics. Bernardo de Brito (1569-1617) undertook a history of the kingdom, under the title of Monarchia lusi-tana; but he began at the creation of the world, and death overtook him when he had just reached the conquest of the Arabs. The work was ably continued by Antonio Brandao (1584-1637). Manoel de Faria e Sousa (1590-1649) once enjoyed a brilliant reputation, but the quantity and variety of his works, mainly sonnets and eclogues in Castilian, are more remarkable than their excellence. His prose productions comprise several histories. Antonio Barbosa Bacellar (1610-'63) introduced those amorous and melancholy soliloquies called sau-dades. Jacinto Freire de Andrada (1597-1657), a writer of burlesque poetry, was also admired for an elaborate and affected " Life of Joao de Castro " in prose.

Jeronymo Bahia is notable as one of the many poets who chose for their theme the loves of Polyphemus and Galatea, a subject which Andrada burlesqued with much humor. The island of Madeira is the birthplace of Francisco de Vasconcellos, one of the most natural poets of the time. The Portuguese drama in the 17th century was eclipsed by the splendid productions of the Spanish playrights, then so popular throughout the peninsula; the few genuine poets, such as Matto, Fragoso, Diamante, and Melo, wrote almost exclusively in Castilian; and the only national productions of merit were farces, afterpieces, and zarzuelas, the best of which during a period of 60 years were collected by Coelho Rebello in his A musa entretenida de varios entremeses (Coimbra, 1658). The best religious productions of this period, mainly emanating from the cloister, embrace lives of saints and martyrs by Fray Luis de Souza and Joao de Lucena; the sermons of the Jesuit Antonio Vieira and of Fray Antonio Veio, both remarkable for purity and vigor of style; and the touching Cartas portuguezas of the nun Marianna Alcofarrada. A miscellaneous writer also arose in this epoch, Macedo, a priest, to whose astoundingly prolific pen are attributed 2,648 heroic poems and 110 odes, besides a host of essays; but nearly all are in Latin, Spanish, or Italian. During the first half of the 18th century Portuguese literature was strongly impregnated with the French style of the period of Louis XIV. and Louis XV., and Portugal was flooded with translations or imitations of the masterpieces of that epoch.

Francisco Xavier de Menezes, count of Ericeira (1673-1743), sang the exploits of Henry of Burgundy in his Henri-queida, a dull epic in imitation of Voltaire's Pucelle, and translated Boileau's Art poe-tique; while the Lutrin of the latter is almost parodied by Diniz da Cruz in his Asperso-rium. The comedies of Moliere and the tragedies of Voltaire were extensively imitated, but no original work of merit was produced during this whole period. Some excellent compilations appeared, the most remarkable of which was the Bibliotheca lusitana of Diego Barbosa Machado (1682-1770), comprising the lives of all the Portuguese writers of eminence down to the middle of the 18th century. Another compilation, A Lusitania illustrada, embraces the best fugitive compositions of the time, mostly sonnets. Pedro Antonio Cor-rea Garcao (1735-75) wrote several comedies in imitation of Terence, and was associated with Diniz da Cruz, Silva, Manoel Mcolem Es-teves Negrao, Francisco Jose Freire, and Do-mingos dos Reis Guita, as founder of the Arcadian academy in Lisbon (1756), subsequently replaced by the royal academy of sciences. The countess Vimeiro produced in 1788 Osmia, the only genuine tragedy in the language. Araujo de Azevedo translated Dryden, Gay, and some other English poets.

Francisco Manoel do Nas-cimento (1734-1829) was noted for the dignity and boldness of his lyric verses; and Manoel Barbosa du Boccage (died 1805 or 1806) was chiefly known as a lyrical poet, under the pseu-donyme of Elmano, and as the founder of the Elmanist school, strongly identified with that of the Gongoristas in Spain. Besides these, the chief authors of the early part of the present century are Francisco Diaz Gomez, Francisco Cardoso, Alvarez de Robriga, Xavier de Matos, Valladares, Tolentino de Almeida; Antonio de Castilho, a translator from the English; Garret, a poet, romancist, and dramatist; Herculano de Carvalho, a patriotic and religious poet; Mouzinho de Albuquerque, a statesman and the author of georgics; Agostinho de Macedo, who reformed the " Lusiad " in an epic entitled 0 Oriente, and whose romantic poem A Medi-tacdo inaugurated the renaissance of Portuguese literature; and Almeida Garret, author of Camoens, an epic in 10 cantos (1825). Lyrical poesy at the present time is represented by Joao de Lemos, Castilho, and Antonio Serpa; the drama by Mende Real, Jose Freira de Serpa, and Alexandro Herculano, which last, with Rebello de Silva, is the most popular historian and author of historical romances; while in the domain of science the names of Oliveira Pimental, Carlos Ribeiro, Thomas de Carvalho, Jose Lourenco da Luz, and Souza Pinto enjoy a well merited reputation in Europe. - To the Jesuits are due the earliest efforts to introduce literary culture into Brazil, through the medium of religious dramas, many of which were written in Portuguese and Indian. Hut the productions of the Portuguese colonists were for a long time mainly servile imitations of Portuguese and Spanish originals.

In the first half of the 18th century Brazil began to have a genuine national literature, and several literary societies were organized, especially in Bahia, then the viceroyal seat and the most flourishing city in the colony. Among the best known Brazilian writers of this period are mentioned Joao Brito de Lima (1671-1742), who left the Cezaria, an epic of 1,300 octaves in praise of the viceroy Cezar de Menezes, a celebrated friend and protector of letters; and Gonzalo Soares da Franca, like the former a member of the academy Dos Esquecidos. The first well written history of Brazil belongs likewise to this epoch, and is due to the pen of Sebastiao da Rocha Pitta. After the transfer of the viceregal residence to Rio de Janeiro in the second half of the 18th century, the study and cultivation of letters took, with the accretion of this new centre, a still higher flight than before; and from 1756 down to the present time literature in Brazil has made much more rapid progress than in the mother country.

Three epic poets of note appeared in the 18th century: Jose Basilio da Gama (1740-'95), whose principal work is his Uruguay, in which he describes the united crusades of the Spaniards and Portuguese against the Paraguayan Indians; Jose de Santa Rita Duram or Durao (1737-83), an Augustinian hermit, author of Caramuru, an epic on the discovery of Bahia; and Jose Francisco Cardoso, who composed a heroic poem in Latin, which was translated into Portuguese by Barbosa du Boccage. These productions, however, in common with all the others of the same period, were to a great degree of Portuguese inspiration, the authors themselves having for the most part completed their education at the university of Coimbra. The character of the lyrical muse was still less national than that of the epopee, thanks to the influence of the pseudo-classic French style, no less sensibly felt in Brazil than in the mother country. The most distinguished lyrical poets of that time were Claudio Manoel da Costa (1729-'89); Thomas Antonio Gonzaga, better known as Dirceu (1744-1809), born in Oporto; Manoel Ignacio de Silva Alvarenga, and Alvarenga Peixoto, all of the Minas school.

Among the many distinguished pulpit orators of Brazil may be mentioned Francisco Jose de Carvalho, also known by the pseudonyme of Francisco do Monte Alverne (1784-1858), whose efforts toward the culture and refinement of the language were only equalled by those of Marianno Jose Pereira da Fonseca, marquis of Marica (1773-1848), the author of Maximas, pensa-mentos e reflexdes, and the lexicographer Antonio de Moraes e Silva, best known by his Diccionario de lingua portugueza, and his Historia de Portugal, translated from the English. The 19th century has so far been marked by the inauguration of the drama and of works of fiction in Brazil, the first by the tragedies of Domingos Jose Goncalves de Magalhaes, Antonio Jose ou o Poeta e a inquisicao, and Olgiato (1838-'9); and the second by Caetano Lopes de Moura's translations of some of the best works of Marmontel, Mme. de Genlis, Chateaubriand, Scott, and Cooper, and Goethe's Werther. Other novelists are Joaquim Manoel de Macedo, Antonio Goncalves Teixeira e Sou-za, and Norberto de Souza Silva. But principal among the works whose fame has reached beyond the limits of the empire is Fr. Adolpho de Yarnhagen's Ristoria geral do Brazil, alike remarkable for perspicuity of style and purity of diction.