ifying influence
came into his life in the shape of a real affection for the two
beautiful daughters of D. Antonio Bersane Leite, which drew from him
verses of true feeling mixed with regrets for the past. He would have
married the younger lady, D. Anna Perpetua (Analia), but excesses had
ruined his health. In 1801 his poetical rivalry with Macedo became more
acute and personal, and ended by drawing from Bocage a stinging
extempore poem, _Pena de Taliao_, which remains a monument to his powers
of invective. In 1804 the malady from which he suffered increased, and
the approach of death inspired some beautiful sonnets, including one
directed to D. Maria (_Marcia_), elder sister of Analia, who visited and
consoled him. He became reconciled to his enemies, and breathed his last
on the 21st of December 1805. His end recalled that of Camoens, for he
expired in poverty on the eve of the French invasion, while the singer
of the _Lusiads_ just failed to see the occupation of Portugal by the
duke of Alva's army. The gulf that divides the life and achievements of
these two poets is accounted for, less by difference of talent and
temperament than by their environment, and it gives an accurate measure
of the decline of Portugal in the two centuries that separate 1580 from
1805.

To Beckford, Bocage was "a powerful genius," and Link was struck by his
nervous expression, harmonious versification and the fire of his poetry.
He employed every variety of lyric and made his mark in all. His
roundels are good, his epigrams witty, his satires rigorous and
searching, his odes often full of nobility, but his fame must rest on
his sonnets, which almost rival those of Camoens in power, elevation of
thought and tender melancholy, though they lack the latter's scholarly
refinement of phrasing. So dazzled were contemporary critics by his
brilliant and inspired extemporizations that they ignored Bocage's
licentiousness, and overlooked the slightness of his creative output and
the artificial character of most of his poetry. In 1871 a monument was
erected to the poet in the chief square of Setubal, and the centenary of
his death was kept there with much circumstance in 1905.

The best editions of his collected works are those of I.F. da Silva,
with a biographical and literary study by Rebello da Silva, in 6 vols.
(Lisbon, 1853), and of Dr Theophilo Braga, in 8 vols. (Oporto,
1875-1876). See also I.F. da Silva _Diccionario Bibliographico
P