Crisfal and Maria,[46] particularly towards the close.[47] The poet throws a veil of mystery over the subsequent fate of Crisfal, and does not choose to hint whether the hapless shepherd survives. A nymph who has heard his complaints inscribes them on a poplar, in order, as it is said, that they may grow with the tree to a height beyond the reach of vulgar ideas.[48] So delicate a winding up of the story would not have entered into the imagination of every amatory bard. Portugal may therefore be regarded as the true native land of romantic pastoral poetry, which, however, about the same period flourished in Italy, where it assumed more cultivated forms, particularly after Sanazzaro had written; but in Portugal alone was it properly national. Two Portuguese writers, Saa de Miranda and Montemayor transferred this style of poetry to Spanish literature.[49] Among the works of Falcam, there is a kind of poetic epistle, if it may be so called; but he wrote no didactic epistles. This poetic epistle is in fact merely a lyric romance, which the author has addressed to his mistress in the form of a letter, when, as the superscription expressly mentions, he had secretly married her contrary to the will of her parents; an act for which he incurred the penalty of five years imprisonment. From his prison he addressed verses to his lady.[50] Thus it also appears that this Portuguese poet, who afterwards discharged, probably with honour to himself, the duties of admiral and governor, wished to make the same romantic principles the basis of his conduct and his writings. OTHER ANCIENT LYRIC POEMS.