Totally different from Quental’s was the genius of JOÃO DE DEUS (1830-96), the most natural Portuguese poet of the nineteenth century. Born at Messines in Algarve, he studied law at Coimbra, became a journalist, but did not come to live permanently at Lisbon until he was elected to represent Silves in the Chamber of Deputies in 1868. It is significant that many of his most perfect lyrics were contributed to provincial journals. They are written in the simple language of a peasant composing a quatrain. He sought his inspiration not in books or any of the rival schools of poetry but in his native soil and popular speech, and through him Portuguese poetry was renovated. His first published work, _A Lata_ (Coimbra, 1860), in _oitavas_, gives no measure of his genius, but some of his best poems, such as _A Vida_, were widely known before _Flores do Campo_ (1868) appeared, followed by _Ramo de Flores_ (1875), _Folhas Soltas_ (1876), and finally the collected edition, _Campo de Flores_ (1893). His last years were spent in advertising and perfecting his special method for teaching children to read. If ever poet was born, not made, it was João de Deus. He is at his best when he does not attempt thought or philosophy or even give rein to his satire. His verse, clear and light as a leaf, a cloud, a stream--its favourite metaphors--and entirely free from rhetorical effects, has a most spontaneous charm. Despite occasional defects, the use of lukewarm or unpoetical words, _objectos_, _chaile_, _affavel_, _bussola_, or such rhymes as _gotta_--_dou-t-a_, his work, which lacks the fire that more spacious times might have elicited, abounds in exquisite love lyrics. The popular inspiration is also evident in the _Peninsulares_ (1870) of JOSÉ SIMÕES DIAS (1844-99), many of whose poems are a mere string of _quadras_.