Antonio Jose Da Silva

SILVA, ANTONIO JOSE DA ('705—'739), Portuguese dramatist, was born at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but came to Por tugal with his parents at the age of eight. The parents belonged to a French family which had emigrated to escape the Inquisi tion. Antonio was sent to study at Coimbra, and, while still a student, was arrested with his mother. Both were tortured, but Antonio abjured his errors, and his mother figured as a penitent in an auto-da-fe. He completed his studies and joined his father in practice as an advocate at Lisbon. He married a cousin whose parents had been burnt by the Inquisition, while she also had been exiled for her religion. On Oct. 5, 1739, husband and wife were imprisoned for "judaizing," having been denounced by the Inqui sition. On Oct. 18 Antonio was strangled, and his body burnt in an auto-da-fe; on that same day one of his popular operettas was given at a Lisbon theatre.

His dramatic works, which were produced at the Bairro Alto theatre between 1733 and 1738, include the following comedies, all played by marionettes :—D. Quixote ( I 733 ) Esopaida Os Encantos de Medea (1735) , Amphitriao (May 1736), Laby rintho de Greta (November 1736), Guerras do Alecrim e Man gerona (carnival of 1737), As V ariedades de Proteo (May '737) and Precipicio de Faetonte 1738). Slight as these sketches are they show considerable dramatic talent and an Aristophanic wit. The characters are well drawn and the dialogue full of comic strength, the scenes knit together and the plot skilfully worked out. Moreover Silva possessed a knowledge of stage craft, and if he had lived, he might have emancipated the drama in Portugal from its dependence on foreign writers ; but the triple licence of the Palace, the Ordinary and the Inquisition, which a play required, crippled spontaneity and freedom. Even so,

he showed some boldness in exposing types of the prevailing charlatanism and follies, though his liberty of speech is far less than that of Gil Vicente (q.v.). His comedies give a truthful and interesting picture of 18th century society, especially his best comedy, the Alecrim e Mangerona, in which he treats of the fidalgo pobre, a type fixed by Gil Vicente and Francisco Manoel de Mello (q.v.).

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

His plays were published in the first two volumes of a collection entitled Theatro comico portuguez, which went through at least five editions in the 18th century, while the Alecrim e Mange rona appeared separately in some seven editions. This comedy and the D. Quixote have been reprinted in a critical edition with a life of Silva by Dr. Mendes dos Remedios (Coimbra, 1905). Ferdinand Denis, in his Chefs-d'oeuvre du theatre portugais (pp. Paris, 1823), prints liberal extracts, with a French translation, from the Vida de D. Quixote.

See Dr. Theophilo Braga, Historia do theatro portuguez; a baixa comedic e a opera (Oporto, 1871) ; F. Wolf, Dom Antonio Jose da Silva (Vienna, 186o) ; Ernest David, Les Operas du juif Antonio Jose da Silva, 1705-1739 (Paris, 188o) ; Oliveira Lima, Aspectos de litteratura colonial Brazileira (Leipzig, 1896) ; Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. xi. p. 341; G. A. Kohnt, "Bibliography of Works relating to Antonio Jose da Silva and Bibliography of Don Antonio's Corn positions" in the Publ. Am. Jew. Hist. Soc. No. 4, p. I81 ; idem, "Martyrs of the Inquisition in South America," ib. p. 135 ; M. Griin wald, "Jose da Silva" in Monatsschrift (188o), xxix. p. 241.