[18] Portuguese spelling is a vexed and vexing question, complicated by the positive dislike of the Portuguese for uniformity (the same word may be found spelt in two ways on the same page both in modern and ancient books; the same person will spell his name Manoel and Manuel). In proper names their owners’ spelling has been retained, although no one now writes Prince Henry the Navigator’s name as he wrote it: Anrique. Thus Mello (modern Melo); Nunez (13th c.), Nunes (19th c.); Bernardez (16th c.), Bernardes (17th-18th c.). The late Dr. Gonçalves Vianna himself adopted the form Gonçalvez Viana. In quoting ancient Portuguese texts the only alteration made has been occasionally to replace _y_ and _u_ by _i_ and _v_. [19] _Este desejo (de sempre ver e ouvir cousas nouas) he moor que nas outras nações na gente Lusitana._ André de Burgos, _Ao prudente leitor_ (_Relaçam_, Evora, 1557). It is displayed in their fondness for foreign customs, for the Spanish language, for India to the neglect of Portugal, the description of epic deeds rather than of ordinary life, high-flown language as opposed to the common speech (_da praça_), &c. Antonio Prestes calls the Portuguese _estranho no natural, natural no estranjeiro_. [20] In Spain it has had fervent admirers, notably Gracián. More recently Juan Valera spoke of it as _riquísima_, and Menéndez y Pelayo explored this wealth. [21] F. Denis, _Résumé_ (1826), p. xx. [22] Wilhelm Storck, _Luis de Camoens’ Sämmtliche Werke_, Bd. I (1880). [23] Dorothy Osborne to Sir William Temple. [24] For a good instance of this _descuido portugues_ see Manuel Pereira de Novaes, _Anacrisis Historial_ (a history of the city of Oporto in Spanish), vol. i (1912), _Preámbulo_, p. xvii. It is lamented by the editors of the _Cancioneiro Geral_ (1516) and _Fenix Renascida_ (1716). [25] Portuguese literature begins for most Portuguese with Camões and Barros, and its most charming and original part thus escapes them. Cf. F. Dias Gomes, _Obras Poeticas_ (1799), p. 143: Camões ‘without whom there would have been no Portuguese poetry’; and ibid., p. 310: Barros ‘prepared the beautiful style for our epic writers’. Faria e Sousa’s homely phrase as to the effect of Camões on preceding poets (_echólos todos a rodar_) was unfortunately true.