had no doubt been part of his education to write conventionally in the Provençal manner, but his skill in versification, remarkable even in an age in which Portuguese poetry had attained exceptional proficiency in technique, would have availed him, or at least us, little had he not also possessed an instinct for popular themes, perhaps directly encouraged by Alfonso X. The _Declaratio_ placed by Guiraut Riquier of Narbonne on the lips of that king in 1275 marked the coming asphyxia of Provençal poetry, for it showed the tendency to take the _jogral_[97] away from tavern and open air and to cut off his poetry from the life of the people. It was owing to the personal encouragement of Dinis that the waning star of both Provençal and indigenous poetry continued to shine in Portugal for another half-century. The grandson of Alfonso X was the last hope of the _trobadores_ and _jograes_ of the Peninsula. From Leon and Castille and Aragon they came to reap an aftermath of song and _panos_ at his Court, and after his death remained silent or unpaid (C. V. 708). The poems of King Dinis are not only more numerous but far more various than those of any other _trobador_, with the exception of Alfonso X, and it may perhaps be doubted whether they are all the work of his own hand. In poetry’s old age he might well wish to collect specimens of various kinds for his _Livro de Trovas_. But many of the 138 poems[98] that we possess under his name are undoubtedly his, and display a characteristic force and sincerity as well as true poetic delicacy and power. Among them are some colourless _cantigas de amor_ and others more individual in tone, _pastorelas_ (C. V. 102, 137, 150), _cantigas de amigo_ (more Provençal than Portuguese in their spirit of vigorous reproach are C. V. 186: _Amigo fals’ e desleal_, and C. V, 198: _Ai fals’ amigo e sen lealdade_), a jingle worthy of the _Cantigas de Santa Maria_ (C. V. 136), a poem in 8.8.4.8 metre (C. V. 131), _atafiindas_ (e. g. C. V. 130), a _mordobre_ in _querer_ (C. V. 113, _Quix ben, amigos, e quer’ e querrei Ũa molher que me quis e quer mal E querrá_), and _cossantes_ of an unmistakably popular flavour: _Ay flores, ay flores do verde pino_ (C. V. 171), two _albas_ (C. V. 170, 172), C. V. 168, 169, with their refrains _louçana_ and _ai madre, moiro d’amor_, C. V. 173 with its quaint charm: _Vede-la frol do pinho--Valha Deus_, and the _bailada-cossante_ (C. V. 195: _Mia madre velida, Voum’ a la bailia Do amor_). If the king wrote these _cossantes_ he must be reckoned not only as a musical and skilful versifier but as a great poet. And certainly, at least, his _graciosas e dulces palavras_ well earned him the reputation of being not only the best king but the best poet of his time in the Peninsula.