greetings _Guarde-o Deus, Louvado seja nosso Senhor Jesu Christo_. If he sometimes sees the peasants as he would have them be rather than as they are, if his realism is subdued and gentle, his descriptions are at least truer than those of the naturalistic school. In _A Morgadinha dos Canaviaes_ (1868), another village chronicle of Minho, the winter life of the peasantry is described, the _consoada_ preceding ‘cock-crow mass’ on Christmas Eve, the _auto_ represented on a rough stage in the village on the Day of Kings, together with the inevitable missionaries, _beata_, enriched ‘Brazilian’, and electioneering intrigues. Some critics have seen a falling off in his last novel, _Os Fidalgos da Casa Mourisca_ (1871), written in the winter of 1869-70 at Madeira, whither he went in vain quest of health, but it is perfectly on a level with his previous work. There may be a slight tendency to exaggerate some of the characters, as there was in _A Morgadinha_, the contrast between Jorge and Mauricio may be too crude, the last scenes may be touched with melodrama, the style may have traces of the _francesismo_ which Castilho noticed in his first novel, the execution may be excessively minute--these were not new defects in his works. On the other hand, the ruined _fidalgo_ D. Luiz, his chaplain and agent Frei Januario, who scents a Liberal doctrine leagues away, the large-hearted peasants Anna do Vedor and Thomé da Povoa, are as interesting as Tio Vicente the herbalist or any of his previous characters, and the charming and accurate descriptions of the country that he loved so well show him at his best. This demure chronicler of quiet scenes, this specialist in the obvious, in his _romances lentos_, as he calls them--a Portuguese blend of Jane Austen, Enrique Gil, and Fernán Caballero: his delicacy is essentially feminine--achieved an originality which so often eludes those who most furiously pursue it. His _Poesias_ (1873), partly consisting of poems interspersed in his novels, have a quiet, intimate charm. A curious originality had been attained earlier by a young naval lieutenant, FRANCISCO MARIA BORDALLO (1821-61). When he published _Eugenio_ (1846) at Rio de Janeiro, and a second edition at Lisbon in 1854, it was claimed that this sea novel (_romance maritimo_) was the first of its kind to be written in Portuguese; but his use of naval technical terms and descriptions of the sea is perhaps too deliberate. His _Quadros maritimos_ appeared in _O Panorama_ in 1854.