MELLO, or MELO, FRANCISCO MA NOEL DE ( 161 1-66) . A Portuguese poet and historian, born at. Lisbon of a noble family, and there trained by the .Tesnits. lie became an army officer, first serving with the Spanish fleet, and then in the Portuguese service when his na tive country asserted its independence. Despite his loyalty, lie was imprisoned by order of John IV., and„ after an incarceration that lasted from 1644 to 1653, lie was banished to 'Brazil. There he remained six years, until the death of the monarch permitted his return to Portugal. Mello is one of the best Portuguese poets of the seventeenth century, commendably free from most of the mannerisms of the time. Ilis numerous po etical compositions, collected under the title of Mums de .lIe?odino, fall into two divisions, of which the first comprises his Spanish verse, and the second—bearing the sub-title of As scgundas tres niusas- his Portuguese pt•ents. These latter reveal him as a true poet and are not without popular and patriotic elements. Of AleBo's other
works in Portuguese may be mentioned certain prose compositions: the Hospital dose Lett mas, n dialogue containing much sound literary criti cism; the /fia/ogos apologies; and the Carta de (mill dr casados (1651 1 , in which the author gives a picture of Portuguese family life of the period. Net the least meritorious of Alello's productions is the historical work, II isturia vie los morim len separaci(m, y queerer dr Totalling (1645), ychivh is in Spanish. An historical treatise it) Portuguese is the Epanaphorgs de raria historic port ugurza (1660). Consult : the °bras mot ri ms de I). Fronrisro Manor/ and his ()bras in general (Lyons, 1665) : the Pithily° preinliz in the 11 usas, and also separately in 1676 (cf. T. Braga's essay on it in his Thrill ro Port lignez tin scrub 1S70.71) P. (Masks, Voyages (run rritigue (Paris'.1869) : Branca in the edition of the Carta dr gala dr casudos (Oporto, 1873