History of Spanish and Portuguese Literature (Vol 2 of 2)

Note 315 — CHAP. III. HISTORY OF PORTUGUESE POETRY AND ELOQUENCE, FROM THE LATTER YEARS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY UNTIL TOWARDS THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH.

Thomasina Ross translation

Such humorous descriptions as the following, occur not unfrequently in Bahia’s long romances of travels:—

As mininas dos meus olhos Choravaõ como mininas Pedaços d’alma, que entaõ De cantaro parecia. Perlas netas naõ choravaõ, Que como saõ taõ tenrinhas, Inda naõ tem perlas netas, A penas tem perlas filhas. Dava-me a agua pela barba, E creyo se affogaria, O meu rosto, se o meu rosto Naõ nadára com bexigas. Mas a fim, que o dia, e hora Da jornada me esquecia, Porque sobre ingenium tardum Sou tambem memoria infirma; &c.

Return to CHAP. III. HISTORY OF PORTUGUESE POETRY AND ELOQUENCE, FROM THE LATTER YEARS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY UNTIL TOWARDS THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH.