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Abstract

The essay published here contains detailed information on the first North American novel, entitled Adventures of Alonso, containing some striking anecdotes of the Prime Minister of Portugal, by Mr. Digges of Warburton in Maryland. The novel was published anonymously in London in 1775. A copy in the New York Public Library is marked by an autograph explaining that the "prime minister" was marquis Pombel Sebastian Jose de Carvalho e Mello, a well know Portuguese politician of the I8th century. The author, born in 1741s tudied in England, traded in Spain and Portugal, corresponded with the most prominent American politicians and was even imprisoned in Dublin. He died in America in 1821. Diggess work presents the dramatic adventures of Alonso (resembling the fate of Robinson Crusoe) and the tragic history of his love. One notices the influence of such writers as D. Defoe, |]. Swift and T. Smollett. The novel also contains a lot of information about numerous countries, especially Portugal. It was first studied in the U. S. in 1938.