ALMEIDA - GARRETT, al-mfi'e-da-giir-retf, Jo- 10 BAPTISTA DE SILVA BMX°, VISCOUNT D' (1709-1854). A distinguished Portuguese states man and author, leader of the romantic move ment in his country, and its most important poet of the nineteenth century. Ile was born at Oporto and died at Lisbon. After a boyhood spent in the Azores. under the tutelage of a highly gifted uncle, Bishop of Angra, he attended the University of Coimbra, and there imbibed the revolutionary ideas which led him to partici pate in the revolt of 1820, and three years later resulted in his expatriation. Hitherto, his writ ings, such as the dramas Merope and Curio, and the didactic poem on painting, 0 Retrato de Venus, reflected the spirit of French classicism and the native "Arcadian" school. In England and France. however, he came under the influ ence of Scott and the French romanticists, and this influence is reflected in his epic, Camiies (1825), the burden of which is the poet's longing for his bmile; and in his equally well known Dona Branca (1826), a long poem. half epic. half lyric, and aimed especially against monastic life. Ile returned to Portugal in 1826, and suf fered a brief imprisonment owing to some politi cal articles. Two years later lie was again forced to seek safety in exile: but when, in 1832, Dom Pedro returned from Brazil for the purpose of contesting the throne with his brother, Dom Mi guel. Almeida-Garrett joined his forces. and after the victory of 1833 was rewarded with a place in the cabinet as minister of the interior. His life
henceforth was one of remarkable activity. As a member of the national Cortes, he showed him self an uncompromising supporter of democratic principles, and instituted many reforms. lie in terested himself especially in the founding of a national theatre and a conservatory of dramatic art, and wrote a long series of prose dramas, the central figure in each ease being some typical national character, such as Auto de Gil Ficonto (1838), D. Filippa do l'ilhena (1-10), and Frei Lutz, de Sousa (1844). One of his most impor tant contributions to literature is his Roman (-rim (1851-53), a collection of thirty-two early Portuguese ballads and romances, the text of he freely restored and emended. His last work is a poem, Folltas ealtidas (•Fallen Leaves"), a dramatic record of a love that came in the autumn of life. which for pathos and emo tional power is hardly equaled in Portuguese literature. An edition of his collected works appeared after his death (Lisbon, 1854-77). The best biography is that of Gomes de Amorim, Garrett, Jlemnorias biographicas, 3 volumes (Lis bon, 1881-88).
ALMELO, 51'inA-15'. A town in the Nether lands, 19 miles by rail northeast of Deventer (Slap: Netherlands, E 2). The town possesses a church with the family vault of the Von Becht eren, whose fine castle is also here, and manu factures linen and cotton goods. Pop., 18S9, S354; 1900, 10,018.