On a general comparison of the treasures of the polite learning of Spain with the poetry and eloquence of Portugal, there will appear on the Spanish side a balance of literary riches, but not of genius and cultivation. The heroic romances, the satire of Cervantes, and the dramatic poetry of the Spaniards, still preponderate, though the epic poem of Camoens, and all the beautiful and singular productions of Portuguese pastoral poetry be weighed in the opposite scale. The greater number of the old Portuguese lyric poets, does not, as to intrinsic value, raise the Portuguese lyric poetry above the Spanish. The dramatic works of Gil Vicente, which are completely thrown into shade by those of Lope de Vega and Calderon, would still be eclipsed, did they even possess the riper cultivation of the few dramas of Saa da Miranda, Ferreira, and Vasconcellos; which, however, is again more than counterbalanced by the dramatic energy and lofty poetry of the works of Moreto, Antonio de Solis, and other Spanish authors. But in a general view of the poetic genius of both nations, it would be wrong to overlook the different extent of the territories to which the two languages belong, or to forget that in the style of romantic pastoral poetry, which shines so brilliantly in Spanish literature, the Portuguese instructed the Spaniards, and never were excelled by them. Generally speaking it may be said, that in no earnest literary competition between the Portuguese and the Spaniards, have the former ever suffered themselves to be outdone by the latter. Accidental circumstances, not want of energy, prevented the Portuguese from keeping pace with the Spaniards in dramatic poetry; and under these circumstances no serious competition could arise. In the cultivation of modern eloquence both nations have at last advanced to nearly the same degree of improvement.