against Tasso, he proceeds to declaim concerning poetry in a series of paragraphs, which plainly shew that he was totally deficient in clearness of ideas on the subject. Six of these paragraphs, in immediate succession, commence with such phrases as the following:--“He understands nothing of the matter;” or more briefly, “he is a fool,” (_es necio_); or “he is an absolute fool (_es totalmente necio_) who supposes,” &c. or “it is a proof of perfect ignorance,” (_purissima ignorancia_); or “it is a proof of a total want of knowledge of poetry to assert,” &c. And yet after all these rude sallies against a party which perhaps did no more than earnestly resist his attacks on correctness of ideas and language, he comes at last merely to this conclusion, that a writer of great genius must not be restrained by trifles, and that in his poetry he need only avoid singularity, coarseness and unintelligibility. In a general history of literature any particular notice of these half true, but mainly trivial declamations, would be quite unnecessary, had not this author been for a considerable period revered as a critical oracle in Portugal.[277] The absurd conversion of the pastoral style into a mere poetic figure was among other faults of Portuguese poetry, methodically favoured and confirmed by the fallacious theories of Faria e Sousa. The earlier Portuguese poets who availed themselves of this inappropriate freedom merely followed a custom which had accidentally arisen. After transforming all sorts of occasional poems into eclogues, they at least endeavoured to give these factitious eclogues a pastoral character. But Faria e Sousa having formed a perverted judgment on pastoral poetry, proceeded in conformity with that judgment to exhibit various kinds of completely disfigured eclogues. In his treatise on his own pastoral poems, he theoretically praises himself for never having attempted any species of poetic composition on which he did not confer some novelty. He was accordingly less scrupulous than the eclogue writers who had preceded him, in introducing into such poems characters from the great and polite world. It seems with him to be sufficient that the scene shall always be in the country. He composed, however, a few eclogues in the true spirit and style of pastoral life. He likewise endeavoured to introduce into pastoral poetry more of action and interesting incident than is usually exhibited in that species of composition, so that in this respect some of his eclogues are brought into comparison with serious comedies. According to these and similar principles, Faria e Sousa distinguished his love eclogues (_eglogas amorosas_,) from hunting eclogues (_venatorias_), sea-faring eclogues (_maritimas_), properly pastoral or rather rustic eclogues (_rusticas_), funeral eclogues (_funebres_), and other modifications of similar description. In pursuance of his theory he recognized even arbitrator eclogues (_arbitrarias_), monastic eclogues (_monasticos_),