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 ^ALEXANDER 
 FRASERrTYTIER 
 
 LORD WGDD- 
 HOUSELEE^ 
 
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 STACK ANNEX 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 ALEXANDER FRASER TYTLER, LORD WOODHOUSELEE, 
 author of the present essay on Translation, and of various 
 works on Universal and on Local History, was one of that 
 Edinburgh circle which was revolving when Sir Walter 
 Scott was a young probationer. Tytler was born at Edin- 
 burgh, October 15, 1747, went to the High School there, 
 and after two years at Kensington, under Elphinston 
 Dr. Johnson's Elphinston entered Edinburgh University 
 (where he afterwards became Professor of Universal 
 History). He seems to have been Elphinston's favourite 
 pupil, and to have particularly gratified his master, " the 
 celebrated Dr. Jortin " too, by his Latin verse. 
 
 In 1770 he was called to the bar ; in 1776 married a 
 wife ; in 1790 was appointed Judge-Advocate of Scotland ; 
 in 1792 became the master of Woodhouselee on the death 
 of his father. Ten years later he was raised to the bench 
 of the court of session, with his father's title Lord Wood- 
 houselee. But the law was only the professional back- 
 ground to his other avocation of literature. Like his 
 father, something of a personage at the Royal Society of 
 Edinburgh, it was before its members that he read the 
 papers which were afterwards cast into the present work. 
 In them we have all that is still valid of his very consider- 
 able literary labours. Before it appeared, his effect on 
 his younger contemporaries in Edinburgh had already 
 been very marked if we may judge by Lockhart. His 
 encouragement undoubtedly helped to speed Scott on his 
 way, especially into that German romantic region out of 
 which a new Gothic breath was breathed on the Scottish 
 thistle. 
 
 It was in 1790 that Tytler read in the Royal Society
 
 viii Introduction 
 
 his papers on Translation, and they were soon after 
 published, without his name. Hardly had the work seen 
 the light, than it led to a critical correspondence with 
 Dr. Campbell, then Principal of Marischal College, 
 Aberdeen. Dr. Campbell had at some time previous 
 to this published his Translations of the Gospels, to 
 which he had prefixed some observations upon the 
 principles of translation. When Ty tier's anonymous work 
 appeared he was led to express some suspicion that the 
 author might have borrowed from his Dissertation, with- 
 out acknowledging the obligation. Thereupon Tytler 
 instantly wrote to Dr. Campbell, acknowledging himself 
 to be the author, and assuring him that the coincidence, 
 such as it was, " was purely accidental, and that the name 
 of Dr. Campbell's work had never reached him until his 
 own had been composed. . . . There seems to me no 
 wonder," he continued, " that two persons, moderately 
 conversant in critical occupations, sitting down professedly 
 to investigate the principles of this art, should hit upon 
 the same principles, when in fact there are none other to 
 hit upon, and the truth of these is acknowledged at their 
 first enunciation. But in truth, the merit of this little 
 essay (if it has any) does not, in my opinion, lie in these 
 particulars. It lies in the establishment of those various 
 subordinate rules and precepts which apply to the nicer 
 parts and difficulties of the art of translation ; in deducing 
 those rules and precepts which carry not their own 
 authority in gremto, from the general principles which 
 are of acknowledged truth, and in proving and illustrating 
 them by examples." 
 
 Tytler has here put his finger on one of the critical 
 good services rendered by his book. But it has a further 
 value now, and one that he could not quite foresee it was 
 going to have. The essay is an admirably typical disser- 
 tation on the classic art of poetic translation, and of literary 
 style, as the eighteenth century understood it ; and even 
 where it accepts Pope's Homer or Melmoth's Cicero in a
 
 Introduction ix 
 
 way that is impossible to us now, the test that is applied, 
 and the difference between that test and our own, will 
 be found, if not convincing, extremely suggestive. In 
 fact, Tytler, while not a great critic, was a charming 
 dilettante, and a man of exceeding taste ; and something 
 of that grace which he is said to have had personally 
 is to be found lingering in these pages. Reading them, 
 one learns as much by dissenting from some of his 
 judgments as by subscribing to others. Woodhouselee, 
 Lord Cockburn said, was not a Tusculum, but it was 
 a country-house with a fine tradition of culture, and its 
 quondam master was a delightful host, with whom it was 
 a memorable experience to spend an evening discussing 
 the Don Quixote of Motteux and of Smollett, or how to 
 capture the aroma of Virgil in an English medium, in 
 the era before the Scottish prose Homer had changed the 
 literary perspective north of the Tweed. It is sometimes 
 said that the real art of poetic translation is still to seek ; 
 yet one of its most effective demonstrators was certainly 
 Alexander Fraser Tytler, who died in 1814. 
 
 The following is his list of works : 
 
 Piscatory Eclogues, with other Poetical Miscellanies of 
 Phinehas Fletcher, illustrated with notes, critical and ex- 
 planatory, 1771 ; The Decisions of the Court of Sessions, from 
 its first Institution to the present Time, etc. (supplementary 
 volume to Lord Kames's " Dictionary of Decisions"), 1778 ; Plan 
 and Outline of a Course of Lectures on Universal History, 
 Ancient and Modern (delivered at Edinburgh), 1782 ; Elements 
 of General History, Ancient and Modern (with table of 
 Chronology and a comparative view of Ancient and Modern 
 Geography), 2 vols., 1801. A third volume was added by 
 E. Nares, being a continuation to death of George III., 1822 ; 
 further editions continued to be issued with continuations, and 
 the work was finally brought down to the present time, and 
 edited by G. Bell, 1875 ; separate editions have appeared of the 
 ancient and modern tarts, and an abridged edition in 1809 by
 
 x Introduction 
 
 T. D. Hincks. To Vols. I. and II. (1788, 1790) of the Trans- 
 actions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Tytler contributed 
 History of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Life of Lord- 
 President Dundas, and An Account of some Extraordinary 
 Structures on the Tops of Hills in the Highlands, etc. ; to 
 Vol. V., Remarks on a Mixed Species of Evidence in Matters of 
 History, 1805 ; A Life of Sir John Gregory, prefixed to an 
 edition of the latter's works, 1788; Essay on the Principles of 
 Translations, 1791, 1797; Third Edition, with additions and 
 alterations, 1813; Translation of Schiller's "The Robbers," 1 792; 
 A Critical Examination of Mr. Whitaker's Course of Hannibal 
 over the Alps, 1 798 ; A Dissertation on Final Causes, with a 
 Life of Dr. Derham, in edition of the latter's works, 1798; 
 Ireland Profiting by Example, or the Question Considered 
 whether Scotland has Gained or Lost by the Union, 1799; 
 Essay on Military Law and the Practice of Courts-Martial, 1800; 
 Remarks on the Writings and Genius of Ramsay (preface to 
 edition of works), 1800, 1851, 1866; Memoirs of the Life and 
 Writings of the Hon. Henry Home, Lord Kames, 1807, 1814; 
 Essay on the Life and Character of Petrarch, with Translation 
 of Seven Sonnets, 1784 ; An Historical and Critical Essay on 
 the Life and Character of Petrarch, with a Translation of a few 
 of his Sonnets (including the above pamphlet and the dissertation 
 mentioned above in Vol. V. of Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin.), 1812 ; 
 Consideration of the Present Political State of India, etc., 1815, 
 1816. Tytler contributed to the " Mirror," 1779-80, and to the 
 " Lounger," 1785-6. 
 
 Life of Tytler, by Rev. Archibald Alison, Trans. Roy. Soc. 
 Edin.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction I 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Description of a good Translation General Rules 
 
 flowing from that description .... 7 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 First General Rule : A Translation should give a 
 complete transcript of the ideas of the original 
 work Knowledge of the language of the original, 
 and acquaintance with the subject Examples of 
 imperfect transfusion of the sense of the original 
 What ought to be the conduct of a Translator 
 where the sense is ambiguous . . . .10 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Whether it is allowable for a Translator to add to 
 or retrench the ideas of the original Examples 
 of the use and abuse of this liberty ... 22 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Of the freedom allowed in poetical Translation 
 Progress of poetical Translation in England 
 B. Jonson, Holiday, May, Sandys, Fanshaw, 
 Dryden Roscommon's Essay on Translated 
 Verse Pope's Homer 35
 
 xii Contents 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Second general Rule : The style and manner of 
 writing in a Translation should be of the same 
 character with that of the Original Translations 
 of the Scriptures Of Homer, &c. A just 
 Taste requisite for the discernment of the 
 Characters of Style and Manner Examples of 
 failure in this particular ; The grave exchanged 
 for the formal ; the elevated for the bombast ; 
 the lively for the petulant ; the simple for the 
 childish Hobbes, L'Estrange, Echard, &c. . 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Examples of a good Taste in poetical Translation- 
 Bourne's Translations from Mallet and from 
 Prior The Duke de Nivernois, from Horace 
 Dr. Jortin, from Simonides Imitation of the 
 same by the Archbishop of York Mr. Webb, 
 from the Anthologia Hughes, from Claudian 
 Fragments of the Greek Dramatists by Mr. 
 Cumberland So 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Limitation of the rule regarding the Imitation of 
 Style This Imitation must be regulated by the 
 Genius of Languages The Latin admits of a 
 greater brevity of Expression than the English ; 
 as does the French The Latin and Greek allow 
 of greater Inversions than the English, and admit 
 more freely of Ellipsis 96 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Whether a Poem can be well Translated into 
 Prose? 107
 
 Contents xiii 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Third general Rule : A Translation should have 
 all the ease of original composition Extreme 
 difficulty in the observance of this rule Con- 
 trasted instances of success and failure Of the 
 necessity of sacrificing one rule to another . .112 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 It is less difficult to attain the ease of original 
 composition in poetical, than in Prose Trans- 
 lation Lyric Poetry admits- of the greatest 
 liberty of Translation Examples distinguishing 
 Paraphrase from Translation, from Dryden, 
 Lowth, Fontenelle, Prior, Anguillara, Hughes . 123 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Of the Translation of Idiomatic Phrases Examples 
 from Cotton, Echard, Sterne Injudicious use of 
 Idioms in the Translation, which do not corre- 
 spond with the age or country of the Original 
 Idiomatic Phrases sometimes incapable of 
 Translation 135 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Difficulty of translating Don Quixote, from its 
 Idiomatic Phraseology Of the best Translations 
 of that Romance Comparison of the Translation 
 by Motteux with that by Smollett . . .150 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Other Characteristics of Composition which render 
 Translation difficult Antiquated Terms New 
 Terms Verba Ardentia Simplicity of Thought 
 and Expression In Prose In Poetry Naivete
 
 xiv Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 in the latter Chaulieu Parnelle La Fontaine 
 Series of Minute Distinctions marked by 
 characteristic Terms Strada Florid Style, and 
 vague expression Pliny's Natural History . 176 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Of Burlesque Translation Travesty and Parody 
 Scarron's Virgile Travesti Another species of 
 Ludicrous Translation 197 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 The genius of the Translator should be akin to that 
 of the original author The best Translators 
 have shone in original composition of the same 
 species with that which they have translated Of 
 Voltaire's Translations from Shakespeare Of 
 the peculiar character of the wit of Voltaire 
 His Translation from Hudibras Excellent 
 anonymous French Translation of Hudibras 
 Translation of Rabelais by Urquhart and 
 Motteux 204 
 
 Appendix 225 
 
 Index . 231
 
 ESSAY ON THE 
 PRINCIPLES OF TRANSLATION 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 THERE is perhaps no department of literature 
 which has been less the object of cultivation, 
 than the Art of Translating. Even among the 
 ancients, who seem to have had a very just idea 
 of its importance, and who have accordingly 
 ranked it among the most useful branches of 
 literary education, we meet with no attempt to 
 unfold the principles of this art, or to reduce it to 
 rules. In the works of Quinctilian, of Cicero, 
 and of the Younger Pliny, we find many passages 
 which prove that these authors had made trans- 
 lation their peculiar study ; and, conscious them- 
 selves of its utility, they have strongly recom- 
 mended the practice of it, as essential towards 
 the formation both of a good writer and an 
 accomplished orator. 1 Kut it is much to be 
 
 1 Vertere Grasca in Latinum, veteres nostri oratores 
 optimum judicabant. Id se Lucius Crassus, in illis Ci- 
 ceronis de oratore libris, dicit factitasse. Id Cicero fua 
 ipse persona frequentissim^ praecipit. Quin etiam libros 
 Platonis atque Xenophontis edidit, hoc genere translates. 
 Id Messake placuit, multaeque sunt ab eo scriptae ad hunc 
 modum orationes (Quinctil. Inst. Oral. 1. 10, c. 5). 
 
 Utile imprimis, ut multi praecipiunt, vel ex Graeco in 
 
 B
 
 2 Essay on the 
 
 regretted, that they who were so eminently well 
 qualified to furnish instruction in the art itself, 
 have contributed little more to its advancement 
 than by some general recommendations of its 
 importance. If indeed time had spared to us any 
 complete or finished specimens of translation 
 from the hand of those great masters, it had been 
 some compensation for the want of actual pre- 
 cepts, to have been able to have deduced them 
 ourselves from those exquisite models. But of 
 ancient translations the fragments that remain 
 are so inconsiderable, and so much mutilated, 
 that we can scarcely derive from them any 
 advantage. 1 
 
 To the moderns the art of translation is of 
 greater importance than it was to the ancients, in 
 the same proportion that the great mass of 
 ancient and of modern literature, accumulated up 
 to the present times, bears to the general stock 
 of learning in the most enlightened periods of 
 antiquity. But it is a singular consideration, 
 that under the daily experience of the advantages 
 of good translations, in opening to us all the 
 
 Latinum, vel ex Latino vertere in Graecum : quo genere 
 exercitationis, proprietas splendorque verborum, copia 
 figurarum, vis explicandi, praeterea imitatione optimorum, 
 similia inveniendi facultas paratur : simul quae legentem 
 fefellissent, transferentem fugere non possunt (Plin. Epist. 
 1. 7, ep. 7). 
 
 1 There remain of Cicero's translations some frag- 
 ments of the (Economics of Xenophon, the Timceus of 
 Plato, and part of a poetical version of the Phenomena of 
 Aratus.
 
 Principles of Translation 3 
 
 stores of ancient knowledge, and creating a free 
 intercourse of science and of literature between 
 all modern nations, there should have been so 
 little done towards the improvement of the art 
 itself, by investigating its laws, or unfolding its 
 principles. Unless a very short essay, published 
 by M. D'Alembert, in his Melanges de Litterature, 
 cCHistoire, &c. as introductory to his translations 
 of some pieces of Tacitus, and some remarks on 
 translation by the Abbe" Batteux, in his Principes 
 de la Litterature, I have met with nothing that 
 has been written professedly upon the subject. 1 
 
 1 When the first edition of this Essay was published, 
 the Author had not seen Dr. Campbell's new translation of 
 the Gospels, a most elaborate and learned work, in one of 
 the preliminary dissertations to which, that ingenious 
 writer has treated professedly " Of the chief things to be 
 attended to in translating." The general laws of the art 
 as briefly laid down in the first part of that dissertation are 
 individually the same with those contained in this Essay ; 
 a circumstance which, independently of that satisfaction 
 which always arises from finding our opinions warranted 
 by the concurring judgement of persons of distinguished 
 ingenuity and taste, affords a strong presumption that 
 those opinions are founded in nature and in common 
 sense. Another work on the same subject had likewise 
 escaped the Author's observation when he first published 
 this Essay ; an elegant poem on translation, by Mr. 
 Francklin, the ingenious translator of Sophocles and 
 Lucian. It is, however, rather an apology of the art, and 
 a vindication of its just rank in the scale of literature, than 
 a didactic work explanatory of its principles. But above 
 all, the Author has to regret, that, in spite of his most dili- 
 gent research, he has never yet been fortunate enough to 
 meet with the work of a celebrated writer, professedly on 
 the subject of translation, the treatise of M. Huet, Bishop 
 of Avranches, De Optimo genere interpretandi ; of whose 
 doctrines, however, he has some knowledge, from a pretty
 
 4 Essay on the 
 
 The observations of M. D'Alembert, though 
 extremely judicious, are too general to be con- 
 sidered as rules, or even principles of the art ; 
 and the remarks of the Abbe Batteux are em- 
 ployed chiefly on what may be termed the 
 Philosophy of Grammar, and seem to have for 
 their principal object the ascertainment of the 
 analogy that one language bears to another, or 
 the pointing out of those circumstances of con- 
 struction and arrangement in which languages 
 either agree with, or differ from each other. 1 
 
 While such has been our ignorance of the 
 principles of this art, it is not at all wonderful, 
 that amidst the numberless translations which 
 every day appear, both of the works of the 
 ancients and moderns, there should be so few 
 that are possessed of real merit. The utility of 
 
 full extract of his work in the Dictionnaire Encyclopedique 
 de Grammaire et Litterature, article Traduction. 
 
 1 Founding upon this principle, which he has by no 
 means proved, That the arrangement of the Greek and 
 Latin languages is the order of nature, and that the 
 modern tongues ought never to deviate from that order, 
 but for the sake of sense, perspicuity, or harmony ; he 
 proceeds to lay down such rules as the following : That 
 the periods of the translation .should accord in all their 
 parts with those of the original that their order, and 
 even their length, should be the same that all con- 
 junctions should be scrupulously preserved, as being the 
 joints or articulations of the members that all adverbs 
 should be ranged next to the verb, &c. It may be con- 
 fidently asserted, that the Translator who shall endeavour 
 to conform himself to these rules, even with the licence 
 allowed of sacrificing to sense, perspicuity, and harmony, 
 will produce, on the whole, a very sorry composition, which 
 will be far from reflecting a just picture of his original.
 
 Principles of Translation 5 
 
 translations is universally felt, and therefore 
 there is a continual demand for them. But this 
 very circumstance has thrown the practice of 
 translation into mean and mercenary hands. It 
 is a profession which, it is generally believed, 
 may be exercised with a very small portion of 
 genius or abilities. 1 " It seems to me," says 
 Dryden, " that the true reason why we have so 
 few versions that are tolerable, is, because there 
 are so few who have all the talents requisite for 
 translation, and that there is so little praise and 
 small encouragement for so considerable a part 
 of learning " (Pref. to Ovid's Epistles}. 
 
 It must be owned, at the same time, that there 
 have been, and that there are men of genius 
 among the moderns who have vindicated the 
 dignity of this art so ill-appreciated, and who 
 have furnished us with excellent translations, 
 both of the ancient classics, and of the pro- 
 ductions of foreign writers of our own and of 
 former ages. These works lay open a great field 
 of useful criticism ; and from them it is certainly 
 possible to draw the principles of that art which 
 has never yet been methodised, and to establish 
 
 1 Such is our pride, our folly, or our fate, 
 That few, but such as cannot write, translate. 
 
 Denham to Sir R. Fansha-w. 
 
 hands impure dispense 
 The sacred streams of ancient eloquence ; 
 Pedants assume the task for scholars fit, 
 And blockheads rise interpreters of wit. 
 
 Translation by Francklin.
 
 6 Principles of Translation 
 
 its rules and precepts. Towards this purpose, 
 even the worst translations would have their 
 utility, as in such a critical exercise, it would be 
 equally necessary to illustrate defects as to 
 exemplify perfections. 
 
 An attempt of this kind forms the subject of 
 the following Essay, in which the Author solicits 
 indulgence, both for the imperfections of his 
 treatise, and perhaps for some errors of opinion. 
 His apology for the first, is, that he does not 
 pretend to exhaust the subject, or to treat it in 
 all its amplitude, but only to point out the 
 general principles of the art ; and for the last, 
 that in matters where the ultimate appeal is to 
 Taste, it is almost impossible to be secure of the 
 solidity of our opinions, when the criterion of 
 their truth is so very uncertain.
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF A GOOD TRANSLATION 
 GENERAL RULES FLOWING FROM THAT 
 DESCRIPTION 
 
 IF it were possible accurately to define, or, 
 perhaps more properly, to describe what is 
 meant by a good Translation, it is evident that 
 a considerable progress would be made towards 
 establishing the Rules of the Art ; for these 
 Rules would flow naturally from that definition 
 or description. But there is no subject of 
 criticism where there has been so much differ- 
 ence of opinion. If the genius and character of 
 all languages were the same, it would be an easy 
 task to translate from one into another ; nor 
 would anything more be requisite on the part of 
 the translator, than fidelity and attention. But 
 as the genius and character of languages is 
 confessedly very different, it has hence become 
 a common opinion, that it is the duty of a 
 translator to attend only to the sense and spirit 
 of his original, to make himself perfectly master 
 of his author's ideas, and to communicate them 
 in those expressions which he judges to be best 
 suited to convey them. It has, on the other 
 hand, been maintained, that, in order to con- 
 stitute a perfect translation, it is not only 
 7
 
 8 Essay on the 
 
 requisite that the ideas and sentiments of the 
 original author should be conveyed, but likewise 
 his style and manner of writing, which, it is 
 supposed, cannot be done without a strict 
 attention to the arrangement of his sentences, 
 and even to their order and construction. 1 
 According to the former idea of translation, 
 it is allowable to improve and to embellish ; 
 according to the latter, it is necessary to preserve 
 even blemishes and defects ; and to these must, 
 likewise be superadded the harshness that must 
 attend every copy in which the artist scrupulously 
 studies to imitate the minutest lines or traces of 
 his original. 
 
 As these two opinions form opposite extremes, 
 it is not improbable that the point of perfection 
 should be found between the two. I would 
 therefore describe a good translation to be, That, 
 in which the merit of the original work is so 
 completely transfused into another language, as 
 to be as distinctly apprehended, and as strongly 
 
 1 Batteux de la Construction Oratoire, par. 2, ch. 4. 
 Such likewise appears to be the opinion of M. Huet : 
 " Optimum ergo ilium esse dico interpretandi modum, 
 quum auctoris sentenlice primum, deinde ipsis etiam, si ita 
 fert utriusque linguce facultas, -verbis arctissime adhceret 
 interpret, et natrium postremo auctoris characterem, quoad 
 ejus fieri potest, adumbrat ; idque unum studet, ut nulla 
 cum detractione imminutum, nullo additamento auctum, 
 sed integrum, suique omni ex parte simillimum, perquam 
 fideliter exhibeat. Universe ergo verbum, de verbo ex- 
 primendum, et vocum etiam collocationem retinendam esse 
 pronuncio, id modo per linguce qua utitur interpres facul- 
 tatem liceat n (Huet de Interpretatione, lib. i).
 
 Principles of Translation 9 
 
 felt, by a native of the country to which that 
 language belongs, as it is by those who speak the 
 language of the original work. 
 
 Now, supposing this description to be a just 
 one, which I think it is, let us examine what are 
 the laws of translation which may be deduced 
 from it. 
 
 It will follow, 
 
 I. That the Translation should give a com- 
 plete transcript of the ideas of the original work. 
 
 II. That the style and manner of writing 
 should be of the same character with that of the 
 original. 
 
 III. That the Translation should have all the 
 ease of original composition. 
 
 Under each of these general laws of transla- 
 tion, are comprehended a variety of subordinate 
 precepts, which I shall notice in their order, and 
 which, as well as the general laws, I shall 
 endeavour to prove, and to illustrate by 
 examples.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 FIRST GENERAL RULE A TRANSLATION 
 SHOULD GIVE A COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT 
 OF THE IDEAS OF THE ORIGINAL WORK- 
 KNOWLEDGE OF THE LANGUAGE OF THE 
 ORIGINAL, AND ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE 
 SUBJECT EXAMPLES OF IMPERFECT TRANS- 
 FUSION OF THE SENSE OF THE ORIGINAL 
 WHAT OUGHT TO BE THE CONDUCT OF 
 A TRANSLATOR WHERE THE SENSE IS 
 AMBIGUOUS 
 
 IN order that a translator may be enabled to 
 give a complete transcript of the ideas of the 
 original work, it is indispensably necessary, 
 that he should have a perfect knowledge of the 
 language of the original, and a competent 
 acquaintance with the subject of which it treats. 
 If he is deficient in either of these requisites, he 
 can never be certain of thoroughly comprehend- 
 ing the sense of his author. M. Folard is allowed 
 to have been a great master of the art of war. 
 He undertook to translate Polybius, and to 
 give a commentary illustrating the ancient 
 Tactic, and the practice of the Greeks and 
 Romans in the attack and defence of fortified 
 places. In this commentary, he endeavours to 
 10
 
 Principles of Translation 1 1 
 
 shew, from the words of his author, and of other 
 ancient writers, that the Greek and Roman 
 engineers knew and practised almost every 
 operation known to the moderns ; and that, in 
 particular, the mode of approach by parallels 
 and trenches, was perfectly familiar to them, 
 and in continual use. Unfortunately M. Folard 
 had but a very slender knowledge of the Greek 
 language, and was obliged to study his author 
 through the medium of a translation, executed 
 by a Benedictine monk, 1 who was entirely 
 ignorant of the art of war. M. Guischardt, a 
 great military genius, and a thorough master of 
 the Greek language, has shewn, that the work 
 of Folard contains many capital misrepresenta- 
 tions of the sense of his author, in his account of 
 the most important battles and sieges, and has 
 demonstrated, that the complicated system 
 formed by this writer of the ancient art of war, 
 has no support from any of the ancient authors 
 fairly interpreted. 2 
 
 The extreme difficulty of translating from the 
 works of the ancients, is most discernible to 
 those who are best acquainted with the ancient 
 languages. It is but a small part of the genius 
 and powers of a language which is to be learnt 
 from dictionaries and grammars. There are 
 innumerable niceties, not only of construction 
 and of idiom, but even in the signification of 
 
 1 Dom Vincent Thuillier. 
 
 2 Memoires militaires de M. Guischardt.
 
 12 Essay on the 
 
 words, which are discovered only by much 
 reading, and critical attention. 
 
 A very learned author, and acute critic, 1 has, 
 in treating " of the causes of the differences in 
 languages," remarked, that a principal difficulty 
 in the art of translating arises from this circum- 
 stance, " that there are certain words in every 
 language which but imperfectly correspond to 
 any of the words of other languages." Of this 
 kind, he observes, are most of the terms relating 
 to morals, to the passions, to matters of senti- 
 ment, or to the objects of the reflex and internal 
 senses. Thus the Greek words apfTrj, o-co^poo-w?/, 
 eAeoy, have not their sense precisely and perfectly 
 conveyed by the Latin words virtus, temperantia, 
 misencordia, and still less by the English words, 
 virtue, temperance, mercy. The Latin word virtus 
 is frequently synonymous to valour, a sense 
 which it never bears in English. Temperantia, 
 in Latin, implies moderation in every desire, 
 and is defined by Cicero, Moderatio cupiditatum 
 rationi obediens? The English word temperance, 
 in its ordinary use, is limited to moderation in 
 eating and drinking. 
 
 Observe 
 
 The rule of not too much, by Temperance taught, 
 In what thou eat'st and drink'st. 
 
 Par. Lost, b. u. 
 
 1 Dr. George Campbell, Preliminary Dissertations to a 
 new Translation of the Gospels. 
 
 2 Cic. de Fin. 1. 2.
 
 Principles of Translation 13 
 
 It is true, that Spenser has used the term in its 
 more extensive signification. 
 
 He calm'd his wrath with goodly temperance, 
 
 But no modern prose-writer authorises such 
 extension of its meaning. 
 
 The following passage is quoted by the 
 ingenious writer above mentioned, to shew, in 
 the strongest manner, the extreme difficulty of 
 apprehending the precise import of words of 
 this order in dead languages : "ALgritudo est 
 opinio recens mali present is, in quo demit ti con- 
 trahique animo rectum esse videatur. sEgritudini 
 subjiciuntur angor, mceror, dolor, luctus, cerumna, 
 afflictatio : angor est cegritudo premens, m&ror 
 cegritudo flebilis, cerumna cegritudo laboriosa, 
 dolor cegritudo crucians, afflictatio cegritudo cum 
 vexatione corporis, luctus cegritudo ex ejus qui 
 earns fuerat, interitu acerbo" * " Let any one," 
 says D'Alembert, "examine this passage with 
 attention, and say honestly, whether, if he had 
 not known of it, he would have had any idea of 
 those nice shades of signification here marked, 
 and whether he would not have been much 
 embarrassed, had he been writing a dictionary, 
 to distinguish, with accuracy, the words cegritudo, 
 mceror, dolor, angor, luctus, cerumna, afflictatio? 
 
 The fragments of Varro, de Lingua Latina, the 
 treatises of Festus and of Nonius, the Origines 
 of Isidorus Hispalensis, the work of Ausonius 
 1 Cic, Tusc, Qucest. 1. 4,
 
 14 Essay on the 
 
 Popma, de Differentiis Verborum, the -Synonymes 
 of the Abbe" Girard, and a short essay by Dr. 
 Hill l on " the utility of defining synonymous 
 terms," will furnish numberless instances of those 
 very delicate shades of distinction in the signifi- 
 cation of words, which nothing but the most 
 intimate acquaintance with a language can teach ; 
 but without the knowledge of which distinctions 
 in the original, and an equal power of discrimina- 
 tion of the corresponding terms of his own 
 language, no translator can be said to possess 
 the primary requisites for the task he undertakes. 
 
 But a translator, thoroughly master of the 
 language, and competently acquainted with the 
 subject, may yet fail to give a complete tran- 
 script of the ideas of his original author. 
 
 M. D'Alembert has favoured the public with 
 some admirable translations from Tacitus ; and 
 it must be acknowledged, that he possessed every 
 qualification requisite for the task he undertook. 
 If, in the course of the following observations, I 
 may have occasion to criticise any part of his 
 writings, or those of other authors of equal 
 celebrity, I avail myself of the just sentiment of 
 M. Duclos, " On peut toujours relever les defauts 
 des grands hommes, et peut-etre sont ils les se'uls 
 qui en soientdignes, et dont la critique soit utile " 
 (Duclos, Pref. de FHist. de Louis XL}. 
 
 Tacitus, in describing the conduct of Piso 
 upon the death of Germanicus, says : Pisonem 
 1 Trans, of Royal Soc. of Edin. vol. 3.
 
 Principles of Translation 15 
 
 interim apud Coum insulam nuncius adseguitur, 
 excessisse Germanicum (Tacit. An. lib. 2, c. 75). 
 This passage is thus translated by M. D'Alem- 
 bert, " Pison apprend, dans 1'isle de Cos, la mort 
 de Germanicus." In translating this passage, it 
 is evident that M. D'Alembert has not given the 
 complete sense of the original. The sense of 
 Tacitus is, that Piso was overtaken on his voyage 
 homeward, at the Isle of Cos, by a messenger, 
 who informed him that Germanicus was dead. 
 According to the French translator, we under- 
 stand simply, that when Piso arrived at the Isle of 
 Cos, he was informed that Germanicus was dead. 
 We do not learn from this, that a messenger had 
 followed him on his voyage to bring him this 
 intelligence. The fact was, that Piso purposely 
 lingered on his voyage homeward, expecting this 
 very messenger who here overtook him. But, 
 by M. D'Alembert's version it might be under- 
 stood, that Germanicus had died in the island of 
 Cos, and that Piso was informed of his death by 
 the islanders immediately on his arrival. The 
 passage is thus translated, with perfect precision, 
 by D'Ablancourt : " Cependant Pison apprend 
 la nouvelle de cette mort par un courier expres, 
 qui 1'atteignit en 1'isle de Cos." 
 
 After Piso had received intelligence of the 
 death of Germanicus, he deliberated whether to 
 proceed on his voyage to Rome, or to return 
 immediately to Syria, and there put himself at 
 the head of the legions. His son advised the
 
 1 6 Essay on the 
 
 former measure ; but his friend Domitius Celer 
 argued warmly for his return to the province, 
 and urged, that all difficulties would give way to 
 him, if he had once the command of the army, 
 and had increased his force by new levies. At 
 si teneat exercitum, augeat vires, multa qua pro- 
 videri non possunt in melius casura (An. 1. 2, c. 
 77). This M. D'Alembert has translated, " Mais 
 que s'il savoit se rendre redoutable a la tete des 
 troupes, le hazard ameneroit des circonstances 
 heureuses et imprevues." In the original passage, 
 Domitius advises Piso to adopt two distinct 
 measures ; the first, to obtain the command of 
 the army, and the second, to increase his force by 
 new levies. These two distinct measures are 
 confounded together by the translator, nor is the 
 sense of either of them accurately given ; for 
 from the expression, " se rendre redoutable a la 
 tete des troupes," we may understand, that Piso 
 already had the command of the troops, and that 
 all that was requisite, was to render himself 
 formidable in that station, which he might do in 
 various other ways than by increasing the levies. 
 Tacitus, speaking of the means by which 
 Augustus obtained an absolute ascendency over 
 all ranks in the state, says, Cum cceteri nobilium, 
 quanto quis servitio promptior, opibus et honoribus 
 extollerentur (An. 1. I, c. 2). This D'Alembert 
 has translated, " Le reste des nobles trouvoit 
 dans les richesses et dans les honneurs la recom- 
 pense de 1'esclavage." Here the translator has
 
 Principles of Translation 17 
 
 but half expressed the meaning of his author, 
 which is, that " the rest of the nobility were 
 exalted to riches and honours, in proportion as 
 Augustus found in them an aptitude and dis- 
 position to servitude : " or, as it is well trans- 
 lated by Mr. Murphy, " The leading men were 
 raised to wealth and honours, in proportion 
 to the alacrity with which they courted the 
 yoke." ! 
 
 Cicero, in a letter to the Proconsul Philippus 
 says, Quod si Rome? te vidissem, coramque gratias 
 egissem, quod tibi L. Egnatius familiarissimus 
 meus absens, L. Oppius prczsens curcz fuisset. 
 This passage is thus translated by Mr. Mehnoth : 
 " If I were in Rome, I should have waited upon 
 you for this purpose in person, and in order like- 
 wise to make my acknowledgements to you for 
 your favours to my friends Egnatius and Oppius." 
 Here the sense is not completely rendered, as 
 there is an omission of the meaning of the words 
 absens and prcesens. 
 
 Where the sense of an author is doubtful, and 
 where more than one meaning can be given to 
 the same passage or expression, (which, by the 
 way, is always a defect in composition), the 
 translator is called upon to exercise his judge- 
 ment, and to select that meaning which is most 
 consonant to the train of thought in the whole 
 
 1 The excellent translation of Tacitus by Mr. Murphy 
 had not appeared when the first edition of this Essay was 
 published.
 
 1 8 Essay on the 
 
 passage, or to the author's usual mode of think- 
 ing, and of expressing himself. To imitate the 
 obscurity or ambiguity of the original, is a fault ; 
 and it is still a greater, to give more than one 
 meaning, as D'Alembert has done in the begin- 
 ning of the Preface of Tacitus, The original runs 
 thus : Urbem Romam a principio Reges habuere. 
 Libertatem et consulatum L. Brutus instituit. 
 Dictaturce ad tempus sumebantur : neque Decem- 
 viralis potestas ultra biennium^ neque Tribunorum 
 militum consulare jus diu valuit. The ambiguous 
 sentence is, Dictaturtz ad tempus sumebantur ; 
 which may signify either " Dictators were chosen 
 for a limited time," or " Dictators were chosen 
 on particular occasions or emergencies." D'Al- 
 embert saw this ambiguity ; but how did he 
 remove the difficulty? Not by exercising his 
 judgement in determining between the two 
 different meanings, but by giving them both in 
 his translation. " On creoit au besoin des dicta- 
 teurs passagers." Now, this double sense it was 
 impossible that Tacitus should ever have in- 
 tended to convey by the words ad tempus : and 
 between the two meanings of which the words 
 are susceptible, a very little critical judgement 
 was requisite to decide. I know not that ad 
 tempus is ever used in the sense of " for the 
 occasion, or emergency." If this had been the 
 author's meaning, he would probably have used 
 either the words ad occasionem, or pro re nata. 
 But even allowing the phrase to be susceptible
 
 Principles of Translation 19 
 
 of this meaning, 1 it is not the meaning which 
 Tacitus chose to give it in this passage. That 
 the author meant that the Dictator was created 
 for a limited time, is, I think, evident from the sen- 
 tence immediately following, which is connected 
 by the copulative neque with the preceding : 
 Dictaturce ad tempus sumebantur : neque Decem- 
 viralis potestas ultra biennium valuit : "The 
 office of Dictator was instituted for a limited 
 time : nor did the power of the Decemvirs sub- 
 sist beyond two years." 
 
 M. D'Alembert's translation of the concluding 
 sentence of this chapter is censurable on the 
 same account. Tacitus says, Sed veteris populi 
 Romani prospera vel adversa, claris scriptoribus 
 memorata sunt ; temporibusque Augusti dicendis 
 non defuere decora ingenia, donee gliscente adu- 
 latione deterrerentur . Tiberii, Caiique, et Claudii, 
 ac Neronis res,florentibus ipsis, ob metum falsa : 
 postquam occiderant, recentibus odiis composites 
 sunt. Inde consilium mihi pauca de Augusta, et 
 extrema tradere : mox Tiberii principatum, et 
 cetera, sine ira et studio, quorum causas procul 
 habeo. Thus translated by D'Alembert : " Des 
 auteurs illustres ont fait connoitre la gloire et les 
 malheurs de 1'ancienne republique ; 1'histoire 
 
 1 Mr. Gordon has translated the words ad tempus, " in 
 pressing emergencies;" and Mr. Murphy, "in sudden 
 emergencies only." This sense is, therefore, probably 
 warranted by good authorities. But it is evidently not 
 the sense of the author in this passage, as the context 
 sufficiently indicates.
 
 2O Essay on the 
 
 meme d'Auguste a ete ecrite par de grands ge"nies, 
 jusqu'aux terns ou la necessite de flatter les con- 
 damna au silence. La crainte menagea tant 
 qu'ils vecurent, Tibere, Caius, Claude, et Neron ; 
 des qu'ils ne furent plus, la haine toute recente 
 les dechira. J'ecrirai done en peu de mots la fin 
 du regne d'Auguste, puis celui de Tibere, et les 
 suivans ; sans fiel etsans bassesse : mon caractere 
 m'en eloigne, et les terns m'en dispensent." In 
 the last part of this passage, the translator has 
 given two different meanings to the same clause, 
 sine ira et studio, quorum catisas procul habeo, to 
 which the author certainly meant to annex only 
 one meaning ; and that, as I think, a different 
 one from either of those expressed by the trans- 
 lator. To be clearly understood, I must give my 
 own version of the whole passage. " The history 
 of the ancient republic of Rome, both in its 
 prosperous and in its adverse days, has been 
 recorded by eminent authors : Even the reign of 
 Augustus has been happily delineated, down to 
 those times when the prevailing spirit of adula- 
 tion put to silence every ingenuous writer. The 
 annals of Tiberius, of Caligula, of Claudius, and 
 of Nero, written while they were alive, were 
 falsified from terror ; as were those histories 
 composed after their death, from hatred to their 
 recent memories. For this reason, I have re- 
 solved to attempt a short delineation of the latter 
 part of the reign of Augustus ; and afterwards 
 that of Tiberius, and of the succeeding princes ;
 
 Principles of Translation 21 
 
 conscious of perfect impartiality, as, from the 
 remoteness of the events, I have no motive, 
 either of odium or adulation." In the last clause 
 of this sentence, I believe I have given the true 
 version of sine ira et studio, quorum causas procul 
 Jiabeo : But if this be the true meaning of the 
 author, M. D'Alembert has given two different 
 meanings to the same sentence, and neither of 
 them the true one : " sans fiel et sans bassesse : 
 mon caractere m'en eloigne, et les terns m'en 
 dispensent." According to the French translator, 
 the historian pays a compliment first to his own 
 character, and secondly, to the character of the 
 times ; both of which he makes the pledges of 
 his impartiality : but it is perfectly clear that 
 Tacitus neither meant the one compliment nor 
 the other ; but intended simply to say, that the 
 remoteness of the events which he proposed to 
 record, precluded every motive either of un- 
 favourable prejudice or of adulation.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 WHETHER IT IS ALLOWABLE FOR A TRANS- 
 LATOR TO ADD TO OR RETRENCH THE IDEAS 
 OF THE ORIGINAL. EXAMPLES OF THE USE 
 AND ABUSE OF THIS LIBERTY 
 
 IF it is necessary that a translator should give 
 a complete transcript of the ideas of the original 
 work, it becomes a question, whether it is allow- 
 able in any case to add to the ideas of the 
 original what may appear to give greater force 
 or illustration ; or to take from them what may 
 seem to weaken them from redundancy. To 
 give a general answer to this question, I would 
 say, that this liberty may be used, but with 
 the greatest caution. It must be further ob- 
 served, that the superadded idea shall have the 
 most necessary connection with the original 
 thought, and actually increase its force. And, 
 on the other hand, that whenever an idea is cut 
 off by the translator, it must be only such as is 
 an accessory, and not a principal in the clause 
 or sentence. It must likewise be confessedly 
 redundant, so that its retrenchment shall not 
 impair or weaken the original thought. Under 
 these limitations, a translator may exercise his 
 judgement, and assume to himself, in so far, 
 the character of an original writer.
 
 Principles of Translation 23 
 
 It will be allowed, that in the following in- 
 stance the translator, the elegant Vincent Bourne, 
 has added a very beautiful idea, which, while it 
 has a most natural connection with the original 
 thought, greatly heightens its energy and ten- 
 derness. The two following stanzas are a part 
 of the fine ballad of Colin and Lucy, by Tickell. 
 
 To-morrow in the church to wed, 
 
 Impatient both prepare ; 
 But know, fond maid, and know, false man, 
 
 That Lucy will be there. 
 
 There bear my corse, ye comrades, bear, 
 
 The bridegroom blithe to meet, 
 He in his wedding-trim so gay, 
 
 I in my winding-sheet. 
 
 Thus translated by Bourne : 
 
 Jungere eras d extras dextram properatis uterque, 
 
 Et tarde interea creditis ire diem. 
 Credula quin virgo, juvenis quin perfide, uterque 
 
 Scite, quod et pacti Lucia testis erit. 
 
 Exangue, oh ! illuc, comites, deferte cadaver, 
 Qua semel, oh ! iterum congrediamur, ait ; 
 
 Vestibus ornatus sponsalibus ille, caputque 
 Ipsa sepulchrali vincta, pedesque stola. 
 
 In this translation, which is altogether ex- 
 cellent, it is evident, that there is one most 
 beautiful idea superadded by Bourne, in the line 
 Qua semel, oh ! &c. ; which wonderfully improves 
 upon the original thought. In the original, the
 
 24 Essay on the 
 
 speaker, deeply impressed with the sense of her 
 wrongs, has no other idea than to overwhelm 
 her perjured lover with remorse at the moment 
 of his approaching nuptials. In the translation, 
 amidst this prevalent idea, the speaker all at 
 once gives way to an involuntary burst of ten- 
 derness and affection, " Oh, let us meet once 
 more, and for the last time ! " Seme/, oh ! iterum 
 congrediamur, ait. It was only a man of ex- 
 quisite feeling, who was capable of thus improving 
 on so fine an original. 1 
 
 Achilles (in the first book of the Iliad], won 
 by the persuasion of Minerva, resolves, though 
 indignantly, to give up Briseis, and Patroclus is 
 commanded to deliver her to the heralds of 
 Agamemnon : 
 
 fis <f>a.TO- Xlarpo/cXos Se <iAw tireTrelOeO eratpar 
 E/c 8' dyaye KAtcriT/s Bptcr^iSa KaXXnraprjov, 
 AWKC 8' ayt.iv TO> 8' cams irr/v -rrapa vyas A^aicov 
 'H 8' aeKOva-' dyiia TOUTI yvvrj Kiev. 
 
 Ilias, A. 345. 
 
 " Thus he spoke. But Patroclus was obedient to 
 his dear friend. He brought out the beautiful 
 Briseis from the tent, and gave her to be carried 
 away. They returned to the ships of the 
 Greeks ; but she unwillingly went, along with 
 her attendants." 
 
 1 There is a French translation of this ballad by Le 
 Mierre, which, though not in all respects equal to that of 
 Bourne, has yet a great deal of the tender simplicity of 
 the original. See a few stanzas in the Appendix, No. I.
 
 Principles of Translation 25 
 
 Patroclus now th' unwilling Beauty brought ; 
 She in soft sorrows, and in pensive thought, 
 Past silent, as the heralds held her hand, 
 And oft looKd back, slow moving o'er the strand. 
 
 POPE. 
 
 The ideas contained in the three last lines are 
 not indeed expressed in the original, but they 
 are implied in the word aeKouo-a ; for she who 
 goes unwillingly, will move slowly, and oft look 
 back. The amplification highly improves the 
 effect of the picture. It may be incidentally 
 remarked, that the pause in the third line, Past 
 silent, is admirably characteristic of the slow and 
 hesitating motion which it describes. 
 
 In the poetical version of the 13/th Psalm, by 
 Arthur Johnston, a composition of classical 
 elegance, there are several examples of ideas 
 superadded by the translator, intimately con- 
 nected with the original thoughts, and greatly 
 heightening their energy and beauty. 
 
 Urbe procul Solymae, fusi Babylonis ad undas 
 
 Flevimus, et lachrymse fluminis instar erant : 
 Sacra Sion toties animo totiesque recursans, 
 
 Materiem lachrymis pnebuit usque novis. 
 Desuetas saliceta lyras, et muta ferebant 
 
 Nablia, servili non temeranda manu. 
 Qui patria exegit, patriam qui submit, hostis 
 
 Pendula captives sumere plectra jubet : 
 Imperat et laetos, mediis in fletibus, hymnos, 
 
 Quosque Sion cecinit, nunc taciturna ! modos. 
 Ergone pacta Deo peregrinse barbita genti 
 
 Fas erit, et sacras prostituisse lyras ?
 
 26 Essay on the 
 
 Ante meo, Solyme, quam tu de pectore cedas, 
 
 Nesciat Hebrseam tangere dextra chelyn. 
 Te nisi tollat ovans unam super omnia, lingua 
 
 Faucibus hagrescat sidere tacta meis. 
 Ne tibi noxa recens, scelerum Deus ultor ! Idumes 
 
 Excidat, et Solymis perniciosa dies : 
 Vertite, clamabant, fundo jam vertite templum, 
 
 Tectaque montanis jam habitanda fens. 
 Te quoque pcena manet, Babylon ! quibus astra lacessis 
 
 Culmina mox fient, quod premis, aequa solo : 
 Felicem, qui clade pari data damna rependet, 
 
 Et feret ul trices in tua tecta faces ! 
 Felicem, quisquis scopulis illidet acutis 
 
 Dulcia materno pignora rapta sinu ! 
 
 I pass over the superadded idea in the second 
 line, lachrymce fluminis instar erant, because, 
 bordering on the hyperbole, it derogates, in some 
 degree, from the chaste simplicity of the original. 
 To the simple fact, " We hanged our harps on 
 the willows in the midst thereof," which is most 
 poetically conveyed by Desuetas saliceta lyras, et 
 muta ferebant nablia, is superadded all the 
 force of sentiment in that beautiful expression, 
 which so strongly paints the mixed emotions of 
 a proud mind under the influence of poignant 
 grief, heightened by shame, servilinon temeranda 
 manu. So likewise in the following stanza there 
 is the noblest improvement of the sense of the 
 original. 
 
 Imperat et laetos, mediis in fletibus, hymnos, 
 Quosque Sion cecinit, nunc taciturna ! modos. 
 
 The reflection on the melancholy silence that
 
 Principles of Translation 27 
 
 now reigned on that sacred hill, "once vocal 
 with their songs," is an additional thought, the 
 force of which is better felt than it can be 
 conveyed by words. 
 
 An ordinary translator sinks under the energy 
 of his original : the man of genius frequently 
 rises above it. Horace, arraigning the abuse of 
 riches, makes the plain and honest Ofellus thus re- 
 monstrate with a wealthy Epicure (Sat. 2, b. 2). 
 
 Cur eget indignus quisquam te divite ? 
 
 A question to the energy of which it was not 
 easy to add, but which has received the most 
 spirited improvement from Mr. Pope : 
 
 How dar'st thou let one worthy man be poor ? 
 
 An improvement is sometimes very happily 
 made, by substituting figure and metaphor to 
 simple sentiment ; as in the following example, 
 from Mr. Mason's excellent translation of Du 
 Fresnoy's Art of Painting. In the original, 
 the poet, treating of the merits of the antique 
 statues, says : 
 
 queis posterior nil protulit aetas 
 Condignum, et non inferius longe, arte modoque. 
 
 This is a simple fact, in the perusal of which 
 the reader is struck with nothing else but the 
 truth of the assertion. Mark how in the trans- 
 lation the same truth is conveyed in one of the 
 finest figures of poetry :
 
 28 Essay on the 
 
 with reluctant gaze 
 
 To these the genius of succeeding days 
 Looks dazzled up, and, as their glories spread, 
 Hides in his mantle his diminish'd head. 
 
 In the two following lines, Horace inculcates 
 a striking moral truth ; but the figure in which 
 it is conveyed has nothing of dignity : 
 
 Pallida mors sequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas 
 Regumque turres. 
 
 Malherbe has given to the same sentiment a 
 high portion of tenderness, and even sublimity : 
 
 Le pauvre en sa cabane, ou le chaume le couvre, 
 
 Est sujet a ses loix ; 
 Et la garde qui veille aux barrieres du Louvre, 
 
 N'en defend pas nos rois. 1 
 
 Cicero writes thus to Trebatius, Ep. ad fam. 
 lib. 7, ep. 17 : Tanquam enim syngrapkain ad 
 Imperatorem, non epistolam attulisses, sic pecunid 
 ablatd domum redire properabas : nee tibi in 
 mentem veniebat, eos ipsos qui cum syngraphis 
 venissent Alexandriam, nullum adhuc nummuui 
 auferre potuisse. The passage is thus translated 
 by Melmoth, b. 2, 1. 12: "One would have 
 imagined indeed, you had carried a bill of 
 exchange upon Caesar, instead of a letter of 
 recommendation : As you seemed to think you 
 
 1 From the modern allusion, barrieres du Louvre, this 
 passage, strictly speaking, falls under the description of 
 imitation, rather than of translation. See postea, ch. xi.
 
 Principles of Translation 29 
 
 had nothing more to do, than to receive your 
 money, and to hasten home again. But money, 
 my friend, is not so easily acquired ; and I 
 could name some of our acquaintance, who have 
 been obliged to travel as far as Alexandria in 
 pursuit of it, without having yet been able to 
 obtain even their just demands." The ex- 
 pressions, " money, my friend, is not so easily 
 acquired" and "/ could name some of our 
 acquaintance" are not to be found in the 
 original ; but they have an obvious connection 
 with the ideas of the original : they increase 
 their force, while, at the same time, they give 
 ease and spirit to the whole passage. 
 
 I question much if a licence so unbounded 
 as the following is justifiable, on the principle 
 of giving either ease or spirit to the original. 
 
 In Lucian's Dialogue Timon, Gnathonides, 
 after being beaten by Timon, says to him, 
 
 Aci <iAoo-Ko>)U.//,wv (TV ye' oAA.a TTOV TO (rv/j.7ro(Tiov ; 
 a>s KO.LVOV TL GUI acr/m rwv veoSiSaKTWv BiOvpap-ftuiv T^KU) 
 
 " You were always fond of a joke but where 
 is the banquet ? for I have brought you a new 
 dithyrambic song, which I have lately learned." 
 
 In Dryden's Lncian, "translated by several 
 eminent hands," this passage is thus translated : 
 " Ah ! Lord, Sir, I see you keep up your old 
 merry humour still ; you love dearly to rally 
 and break a jest. Well, but have you got a
 
 30 Essay on the 
 
 noble supper for us, and plenty of delicious 
 inspiring claret ? Hark ye, Timon, I've got a 
 virgin-song for ye, just new composed, and 
 smells of the gamut : 'Twill make your heart 
 dance within you, old boy. A very pretty she- 
 player, I vow to Gad, that I have an interest in, 
 taught it me this morning." 
 
 There is both ease and spirit in this transla- 
 tion ; but the licence which the translator has 
 assumed, of superadding to the ideas of the 
 original, is beyond all bounds. 
 
 An equal degree of judgement is requisite 
 when the translator assumes the liberty of 
 retrenching the ideas of the original. 
 
 After the fatal horse had been admitted with- 
 in the walls of Troy, Virgil thus describes the 
 coming on of that night which was to witness 
 the destruction of the city : 
 
 Vertitur interea c&lum, et ruit oceano nox, 
 Involvens umbra magnd terramque polumque, 
 Myrmidonumque dolos. 
 
 The principal effect attributed to the night 
 in this description, and certainly the most 
 interesting, is its concealment of the treachery 
 of the Greeks. Add to this, the beauty which 
 the picture acquires from this association of 
 natural with moral effects. How inexcusable 
 then must Mr. Dryden appear, who, in his 
 translation, has suppressed the Myrmidonumque 
 dolos altogether ?
 
 Principles of Translation 31 
 
 Mean time the rapid heav'ns roll'd down the light, 
 And on the shaded ocean rush'd the night : 
 Our men secure, &c. 
 
 Ogilby, with less of the spirit of poetry, has 
 done more justice to the original : 
 
 Meanwhile night rose from sea, whose spreading 
 
 shade 
 Hides heaven and earth, and plots the Grecians laid. 
 
 Mr. Pope, in his translation of the Iliad, has, 
 in the parting scene between Hector and Andro- 
 mache (vi. 466), omitted a particular respecting 
 the dress of the nurse, which he thought an 
 impropriety in the picture. Homer says, 
 
 At^ O 6 7TCUS TT/DOS KO\TTOV ei5eOVOlO Tl6r)Vr)S 
 
 "The boy crying, threw himself back into the 
 arms of his nurse, whose waist was elegantly 
 girt." Mr. Pope, who has suppressed the 
 epithet descriptive of the waist, has incurred on 
 that account the censure of Mr. Melmoth, who 
 says, " He has not touched the picture with that 
 delicacy of pencil which graces the original, as 
 he has entirely lost the beauty of one of the 
 figures. Though the hero and his son were de- 
 signed to' draw our principal attention, Homer 
 intended likewise that we should cast a glance 
 towards the nurse " (Fitzosborne 's Letters, 1. 43). 
 If this was Homer's intention, he has, in my 
 opinion, shewn less good taste in this instance
 
 32 Essay on the 
 
 than his translator, who has, I think with much 
 propriety, left out the compliment to the nurse's 
 waist altogether. And this liberty of the trans- 
 lator was perfectly allowable ; for Homer's 
 epithets are often nothing more than mere 
 expletives, or additional designations of his per- 
 sons. They are always, it is true, significant of 
 some principal attribute of the person ; but they 
 are often applied by the poet in circumstances 
 where the mention of that attribute is quite 
 preposterous. It would shew very little judge- 
 ment in a translator, who should honour Patro- 
 clus with the epithet of godlike, while he is 
 blowing the fire to roast an ox ; or bestow on 
 Agamemnon the designation of King of many 
 nations, while he is helping Ajax to a large 
 piece of the chine. 
 
 It were to be wished that Mr. Melmoth, who 
 is certainly one of the best of the English 
 translators, had always been equally scrupulous 
 in retrenching the ideas of his author. Cicero 
 thus superscribes one of his letters : M. T. C. 
 Terentice, et Pater suavissimce filice Tulliolce, 
 Cicero inatri et sorori S. D, (Ep. Fam. 1. 14, ep. 
 18). And another in this manner: Tnlliits 
 Terentice, et Pater Tnlliolce, duabus animis suis, 
 et Cicero Matri optima, suavissimce sorori (lib. 
 14, ep. 14). Why are these addresses entirely 
 sunk in the translation, and a naked title poorly 
 substituted for them, "To Terentia and Tullia," 
 and "To the same"? The addresses to these
 
 Principles of Translation 33 
 
 letters give them their highest value, as they 
 mark the warmth of the author's heart, and the 
 strength of his conjugal and paternal affections. 
 
 In one of Pliny's Epistles, speaking of Regu- 
 lus, he says, Ut ipse mi hi dixerit quum consuleret, 
 quam citb sestertium sexcenties impleturus esset, 
 invenisse se exta duplicata, quibus portendi millies 
 et ducenties habiturum (Plin. Ep. 1. 2, ep. 20). 
 Thus translated by Melmoth, "That he once 
 told me, upon consulting the omens, to know 
 how soon he should be worth sixty millions of 
 sesterces, he found them so favourable to him 
 as to portend that he should possess double 
 that sum." Here a material part of the original 
 idea is omitted ; no less than that very cir- 
 cumstance upon which the omen turned, viz., 
 that the entrails of the victim were double. 
 
 Analogous to this liberty of adding to or 
 retrenching from the ideas of the original, is the 
 liberty which a translator may take of correcting 
 what appears to him a careless or inaccurate 
 expression of the original, where that inaccuracy 
 seems materially to affect the sense. Tacitus 
 says, when Tiberius was entreated to take upon 
 him the government of the empire, Ille varie 
 disserebat, de magnitudine imperil, sud modestid 
 (An. 1. i, c. u). Here the word modestid is 
 improperly applied. The author could not 
 mean to say, that Tiberius discoursed to the 
 people about his own modesty. He wished 
 that his discourse should seem to proceed from 
 
 D
 
 34 Principles of Translation 
 
 modesty ; but he did not talk to them about his 
 modesty. D'Alembert saw this impropriety, 
 and he has therefore well translated the passage : 
 " II re"pondit par des discours generaux sur son 
 peu de talent, et sur la grandeur de 1'empire." 
 
 A similar impropriety, not indeed affecting 
 the sense, but offending against the dignity of 
 the narrative, occurs in that passage where 
 Tacitus relates, that Augustus, in the decline 
 of life, after the death of Drusus, appointed his 
 son Germanicusto the command of eight legions 
 on the Rhine, At, kercule, Germanicum Druso 
 ortum octo apud Rhenum legionibus imposuit 
 (An. 1. I, c. 3). There was no occasion here for 
 the historian swearing ; and though, to render 
 the passage with strict fidelity, an English 
 translator must have said, " Augustus, Egad, 
 gave Germanicus the son of Drusus the com- 
 mand of eight legions on the Rhine," we cannot 
 hesitate to say, that the simple fact is better 
 announced without such embellishment.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 OF THE FREEDOM ALLOWED IN POETICAL 
 TRANSLATION. PROGRESS OF POETICAL 
 TRANSLATION IN ENGLAND. B. JONSON, 
 HOLIDAY, SANDYS, FANSHAW, DRYDEN. 
 ROSCOMMON'S ESSAY ON TRANSLATED 
 VERSE. POPE'S HOMER. 
 
 IN the preceding chapter, in treating of the 
 liberty assumed by translators, of adding to, or 
 retrenching from the ideas of the original, several 
 examples have been given, where that liberty 
 has been assumed with propriety both in prose 
 composition and in poetry. In the latter, it is 
 more peculiarly allowable. " I conceive it," says 
 Sir John Denham, " a vulgar error in translating 
 poets, to affect being fidus interpres. Let that 
 care be with them who deal in matters of fact or 
 matters of faith ; but whosoever aims at it in 
 poetry, as he attempts what is not required, so 
 shall he never perform what he attempts ; for it is 
 not his business alone to translate language into 
 language, but poesie into poesie ; and poesie is of 
 so subtle a spirit, that in pouring out of one 
 language into another, it will all evaporate ; and 
 if a new spirit is not added in the transfusion, 
 there will remain nothing but a caput mortuum " 
 (Denham's Preface to the second book of Virgil's 
 AZneid). 
 
 35
 
 36 Essay on the 
 
 In poetical translation, the English writers of 
 the 1 6th, and the greatest part of the i/th 
 century, seem to have had no other care than 
 (in Denham's phrase) to translate language into 
 language, and to have placed their whole merit 
 in presenting a literal and servile transcript of 
 their original. 
 
 Ben Jonson, in his translation of Horace's 
 Art of Poetry, has paid no attention to the 
 judicious precept of the very poem he was 
 translating : 
 
 Nee verbum verbo curabis reddere, fidus 
 Interpres. 
 
 Witness the following specimens, which will 
 strongly illustrate Denham's judicious observa- 
 tions. 
 
 Mortalia facta peribunt ; 
 Nedum sermonum stet honos et gratia vivax. 
 Multa renascentur quae jam cecidere, cadentque 
 Quae nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus, 
 Quern penes arbitrium est et jus et norma loquendi. 
 
 De Art. Poet. 
 
 All mortal deeds 
 
 Shall perish ; so far off it is the state 
 Or grace of speech should hope a lasting date. 
 Much phrase that now is dead shall be reviv'd, 
 And much shall die that now is nobly liv'd, 
 If custom please, at whose disposing will 
 The power and rule of speaking resteth still. 
 
 B. JONSON.
 
 Principles of Translation 37 
 
 Inter dum tamen et vocem Comcedia tollit, 
 
 Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore, 
 
 Et Tragicus plerumque dolet sermone pedestri. 
 
 Telephus et Peleus, cum pauper et exul uterque, 
 
 Projicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba, 
 
 Si curat cor spectantis tetigisse querela. 
 
 De Art. Poet. 
 
 Yet sometime doth the Comedy excite, 
 Her voice, and angry Chremes chafes outright, 
 With swelling throat, and oft the tragic wight 
 Complains in humble phrase. Both Telephus 
 And Peleus, if they seek to heart-strike us, 
 That are spectators, with their misery, 
 When they are poor and banish'd must throw by 
 Their bombard-phrase, and foot-and-half-foot words. 
 
 B. JONSON. 
 
 So, in B. Jonson's translations from the Odes 
 and Epodes of Horace, besides the most servile 
 adherence to the words, even the measure of the 
 original is imitated. 
 
 Non me Lucrina juverint conchylia, 
 
 Magisve rhombus, aut scari, 
 Si quos Eois intonata fluctibus 
 
 Hyems ad hoc vertat mare : 
 Non Afra avis descendat in ventrem meum, 
 
 Non attagen lonicus 
 Jucundior, quam lecta de pinguissimis 
 
 Oliva ramis arborum; 
 Aut herba lapathi prata amantis, et gravi 
 
 Malvae salubres corpori. 
 
 HOR. Epod. 2. 
 
 Not Lucrine oysters I could then more prize, 
 Nor turbot, nor bright golden eyes ;
 
 38 Essay on the 
 
 If with east floods the winter troubled much 
 
 Into our seas send any such : 
 The Ionian god-wit, nor the ginny-hen 
 
 Could not go down my belly then 
 More sweet than olives that new-gathered be, 
 
 From fattest branches of the tree, 
 Or the herb sorrel that loves meadows still, 
 
 Or mallows loosing bodies ill. 
 
 B. JONSON. 
 
 Of the same character for rigid fidelity, is the 
 translation of Juvenal by Holiday, a writer of 
 great learning, and even of critical acuteness, as 
 the excellent commentary on his author fully 
 shews. 
 
 Omnibus in terris qua sunt a Gadibus usque 
 Auroram et Gangem, pauci dignoscere possunt 
 Vera bona, atque illis multum diver sa, remota 
 Erroris nebula. Quid enim ratione timemus, 
 Aut cupimus ? quid tarn dextro pede condpis, ut te 
 Conatus non poeniteat, votique peracti. 
 Evertere domos tolas optantibus ipsis 
 Diifaciles. 
 
 Juv. Sat. 10. 
 
 In all the world which between Cadiz lies 
 And eastern Ganges, few there are so wise 
 To know true good from feign'd, without all mist 
 Of Error. For by Reason's rule what is^t 
 We fear or wish ? What is't we e'er begun 
 With foot so right, but we dislik'd it done ? 
 Whole houses th' easie gods have overthrown 
 At their fond prayers that did the houses own. 
 
 HOLIDAY'S Juvenal. 
 
 There were, however, even in that age, some 
 writers who manifested a better taste in poetical
 
 Principles of Translation 39 
 
 translation. May, in his translation of Lucan's 
 Pharsalia, and Sandys, in his Metamorphoses of 
 Ovid, while they strictly adhered to the sense of 
 their authors, and generally rendered line for line, 
 have given to their versions both an ease of 
 expression and a harmony of numbers, which 
 approach them very near to original composition. 
 The reason is, they have disdained to confine 
 themselves to a literal interpretation, but have 
 everywhere adapted their expression to the 
 idiom of the language in which they wrote. 
 
 The following passage will give no unfavour- 
 able idea of the style and manner of May. In 
 the ninth book of the Pharsalia, Caesar, when in 
 Asia, is led from curiosity to visit the plain of 
 Troy : 
 
 Here fruitless trees, old oaks with putrefy'd 
 And sapless roots, the Trojan houses hide, 
 And temples of their Gods : all Troy's o'erspread 
 With bushes thick, her ruines ruined. 
 He sees the bridall grove Anchises lodg'd ; 
 Hesione's rock ; the cave where Paris judg'd ; 
 Where nymph Oenone play'd ; the place so fam'd 
 For Ganymedes' rape ; each stone is nam'd. 
 A little gliding stream, which Xanthus was, 
 Unknown he past, and in the lofty grass 
 Securely trode ; a Phrygian straight forbid 
 Him tread on Hector's dust ! (with ruins hid, 
 The stone retain'd no sacred memory.) 
 Respect you not great Hector's tomb, quoth he ! 
 O great and sacred work of poesy, 
 That free'st from fate, and giv'st eternity 
 To mortal wights ! But, Caesar, envy not 
 Their living names, if Roman Muses aught
 
 4o Essay on the 
 
 May promise thee, while Homer's honoured 
 By future times, shall thou, and I, be read : 
 No age shall us with darke oblivion staine, 
 "Rut our Pharsalia ever shall remain. 
 
 MAY'S Lucan, b. 9. 
 
 Jam silvae steriles, et putres robore trunci 
 Assaraci pressere domos, et templa deorum 
 Jam lassa radice tenent ; ac tota teguntur 
 Pergama dumetis ; etiam periere ruinae. 
 Aspicit Hesiones scopulos, silvasque latentes 
 Anchisae thalamos ; quo judex sederit antro ; 
 Unde puer raptus coelo ; quo vertice Nais 
 Luserit Oenone : nullum est sine nomine saxum. 
 Inscius in sicco serpentem pulvere rivum 
 Transierat, qui Xanthus erat ; securus in alto 
 Gramine ponebat gressus : Phryx incola manes 
 Hectoreos calcare vetat : discussa jacebant 
 Saxa, nee ullius faciem servantia sacri : 
 Hectoreas, monstrator ait, non respicis aras ? 
 O sacer, et magnus vatum labor ; omnia fato 
 Eripis, et populis donas mortalibus gevum ! 
 Invidia sacrge, Caesar, ne tangere famae : 
 Nam siquid Latiis fas est promittere Musis, 
 Quantum Smyrnei durabunt vatis honores, 
 Venturi me teque legent : Pharsalia nostra 
 Vivet, et a nullo tenebris damnabitur aevo. 
 
 Pharsal. 1. 9. 
 
 Independently of the excellence of the above 
 translation, in completely conveying the sense, 
 the force, arid spirit of the original, it possesses 
 one beauty which the more modern English 
 poets have entirely neglected, or rather purposely 
 banished from their versification in rhyme; I 
 mean the varied harmony of the measure, which 
 arises from changing the place of the pauses.
 
 Principles of Translation 41 
 
 In the modern heroic rhyme, the pause is almost 
 invariably found at the end of a couplet. In the 
 older poetry, the sense is continued from one 
 couplet to another, and closes in various parts 
 of the line, according to the poet's choice, and 
 the completion of his meaning : 
 
 A little gliding stream, which Xanthus was, 
 Unknown he past and in the lofty grass 
 Securely trode a Phrygian straight forbid 
 Him tread on Hector's dust with ruins hid, 
 The stone retain'd no sacred memory. 
 
 He must be greatly deficient in a musical ear, 
 who does not prefer the varied harmony of the 
 above lines to the uniform return of sound, and 
 chiming measure of the following : 
 
 Here all that does of Xanthus stream remain, 
 Creeps a small brook along the dusty plain. 
 While careless and securely on they pass, 
 The Phrygian guide forbids to press the grass ; 
 This place, he said, for ever sacred keep, 
 For here the sacred bones of Hector sleep : 
 Then warns him to observe, where rudely cast, 
 Disjointed stones lay broken and defac'd. 
 
 ROWE'S Lucan. 
 
 Yet the Pharsalia by Rowe is, on the whole, 
 one of the best of the modern translations of the 
 classics. Though sometimes diffuse and para- 
 phrastical, it is in general faithful to the sense of 
 the original ; the language is animated, the verse 
 correct and melodious ; and when we consider 
 the extent of the work, it is not unjustly
 
 42 Essay on the 
 
 characterised by Dr. Johnson, as "one of the 
 greatest productions of English poetry." 
 
 Of similar character to the versification of 
 May, though sometimes more harsh in its 
 structure, is the poetry of Sandys : 
 
 There's no Alcyone ! none, none ! she died 
 Together with her Ceyx. Silent be 
 All sounds of comfort. These, these eyes did see 
 My shipwrack't Lord. I knew him ; and my hands 
 Thrust forth t' have held him : but no mortal bands 
 Could force his stay. A ghost ! yet manifest, 
 My husband's ghost : which, Oh, but ill express'd 
 His forme and beautie, late divinely rare ! 
 Now pale and naked, with yet dropping haire : 
 Here stood the miserable ! in this place : 
 Here, here ! (and sought his aerie steps to trace). 
 
 SANDYS' Ovid, b. n. 
 
 Nulla est Alcyone, nulla est, ait : occidit una 
 Cum Ceyce suo ; solantia tollite verba : 
 Naufragus interiit ; vidi agnovique, manusque 
 Ad discedentem, cupiens retinere, tetendi. 
 Umbra fuit : sed et umbra tamen manifesta, virique 
 Vera met: non tile quidem, si queen's, habebat 
 Assuetos vultus, nee quo prius ore nitebat. 
 Pallentem, nudumque, et adhuc humente capillo^ 
 Infelix vidi : stetit hoc miserabilis ipso 
 Ecce loco : (et queer it vestigia siqua super sin f). 
 
 Me tarn. 1. n. 
 
 In the above example, the solantia tollite 
 verba is translated with peculiar felicity, " Silent 
 be all sounds of comfort ; " as are these words, 
 Nee quo prius ore nitebat, " Which, oh ! but ill 
 express'd his forme and beautie." " No mortal 
 bands could force his stay," has no strictly cor-
 
 Principles of Translation 43 
 
 responding sentiment in the original. It is a 
 happy amplification ; which shews that Sandys 
 knew what freedom was allowed to a poetical 
 translator, and could avail himself of it. 
 
 From the time of Sandys, who published his 
 translation of the Metamorphoses of Ovid in 
 1626, there does not appear to have been much 
 improvement in the art of translating poetry till 
 the age of Dryden : l for though Sir John Den- 
 ham has thought proper to pay a high compli- 
 ment to Fanshaw on his translation of the 
 Pastor Fido, terming him the inventor of " a 
 new and nobler way" 2 of translation, we find 
 nothing in that performance which should intitle 
 it to more praise than the Metamorphoses by 
 Sandys, and the Pharsalia by May. 3 
 
 1 In the poetical works of Milton, we find many noble 
 imitations of detached passages of the ancient classics ; 
 but there is nothing that can be termed a translation, 
 unless an English version of Horace's Ode to Pyrrha; 
 which it is probable the author meant as a whimsical ex- 
 periment of the effect of a strict conformity in English 
 both to the expression and measure of the Latin. See 
 this singular composition in the Appendix, No. 2. 
 
 That servile path thou nobly dost decline, 
 Of tracing word by word, and line by line. 
 A new and nobler way thou dost pursue, 
 To make translations and translators too : 
 They but preserve the ashes, thou the flame ; 
 True to his sense, but truer to his fame. 
 
 DENHAM to Sir R. FANSHAW. 
 
 3 One of the best passages of Fanshaw's translation of 
 the Pastor Fido, is the celebrated apostrophe to the 
 spring
 
 44 Essay on the 
 
 But it was to Dryden that poetical translation 
 owed a complete emancipation from her fetters ; 
 and exulting in her new liberty, the danger now 
 was, that she should run into the extreme of 
 licentiousness. The followers of Dryden saw 
 
 Spring, the year's youth, fair mother of new flowers, 
 
 New leaves, new loves, drawn by the -winged hours, 
 
 Thou art return'd ; but the felicity 
 
 Thou brought'st me last is not return'd with thee. 
 
 Thou art return'd ; but nought returns with thee, 
 
 Save my lost joy's regretful memory. 
 
 Thou art the self-same thing thou wert before, 
 
 As fair and jocund : but I am no more 
 
 The thing I was, so gracious in her sight, 
 
 Who is heaverfs masterpiece and earth's delight. 
 
 O bitter sweets of love ! far worse it is 
 
 To lose than never to have tasted bliss. 
 
 O Primavera gioventu del anno, 
 
 Bella madre di fiori, 
 
 D'herbe novelle, e di novelli amori : 
 
 Tu torni ben, ma teco, 
 
 Non tornano i sereni, 
 
 E fortunati di de le mie gioie ! 
 
 Tu torni ben, tu torni, 
 
 Ma teco altro non torna 
 
 Che del perduto mio caro tesoro 
 
 La rimembranza misera e dolente. 
 
 Tu quella se' tu quella, 
 
 Ch'eri pur dianzi vezzosa e bella. 
 
 Ma non son io gia quel ch'un tempo fui, 
 
 Si caro a gli occhi altrui. 
 
 O dolcezze amarissime d'amore ! 
 
 Quanto 6 piu duro perdervi, che mai 
 
 Non v'haver 6 provate, 6 possedute ! 
 
 Pastor Fido, act 3, sc. I. 
 
 In those parts of the English version which are marked 
 in Italics, there is some attempt towards a freedom of 
 translation ; but it is a freedom of which Sandys and May 
 had long before given many happier specimens.
 
 Principles of Translation 45 
 
 nothing so much to be emulated in his transla- 
 tions as the ease of his poetry : Fidelity was but 
 a secondary object, and translation for a while 
 was considered as synonymous with paraphrase. 
 A judicious spirit of criticism was now wanting 
 to prescribe bounds to this increasing licence, 
 and to determine to what precise degree a 
 poetical translator might assume to himself the 
 character of an original writer. In that de- 
 sign, Roscommon wrote his Essay on Trans- 
 lated Verse ; in which, in general, he has shewn 
 great critical judgement; but proceeding, as all 
 reformers, with rigour, he has, amidst many 
 excellent precepts on the subject, laid down one 
 rule, which every true poet (and such only 
 should attempt to translate a poet) must con- 
 sider as a very prejudicial restraint. After 
 judiciously recommending to the translator, first 
 to possess himself of the sense and meaning of 
 his author, and then to imitate his manner and 
 style, he thus prescribes a general rule, 
 
 Your author always will the best advise ; 
 Fall when he falls, and when he rises, rise. 
 
 Far from adopting the former part of this 
 maxim, I conceive it to be the duty of a poetical 
 translator, never to suffer his original to fall. 
 He must maintain with him a perpetual contest 
 of genius ; he must attend him in his highest 
 flights, and soar, if he can, beyond him : and 
 when he perceives, at any time, a diminution of
 
 46 Essay on the 
 
 his powers, when he sees a drooping wing, he 
 must raise him on his own pinions. 1 Homer 
 has been judged by the best critics to fall at 
 times beneath himself, and to offend, by intro- 
 ducing low images and puerile allusions. Yet 
 how admirably is this defect veiled over, or 
 altogether removed, by his translator Pope. In 
 the beginning of the eighth book of the Iliad, 
 Jupiter is introduced in great majesty, calling a 
 council of the gods, and giving them a solemn 
 charge to observe a strict neutrality between the 
 Greeks and Trojans : 
 
 'Bus fjifv KpoKOTreTrXos c/aSvaTo Tracrav CTT' ai'av 
 Zeus Se Ottov dyopijv Trot^craTO repTTtKepauvos, 
 
 'A/CpOTttTTJ KOpV(f>f) TTO/VuSeipaSoS OuAu/ATTOlO' 
 
 AUTOS Se &(}>' dyopeue, Ofol 8' a/xa iravres a/couov 
 
 " Aurora with her saffron robe had spread re- 
 
 1 I am happy to find this opinion, for which I have 
 been blamed by some critics, supported by so respectable 
 an authority as that of M. Delille ; whose translation of 
 the Georgics of Virgil, though censurable, (as I shall 
 remark) in a few particulars, is, on the whole, a very fine 
 performance : "II faut etre quelquefois superieur a son 
 original, precisement parce qu'on lui est tres-inferieur." 
 Delille Disc. Prelim, a la Trad, ties Georgiques. Of the 
 same opinion is the elegant author of the poem on 
 Translation. 
 
 Unless an author like a mistress warms. 
 
 How shall we hide his faults, or taste his charms ? 
 
 How all his modest, latent beauties find ; 
 
 How trace each lovelier feature of the mind ; 
 
 Soften each blemish, and each grace improve, 
 
 And treat him with the dignity of love ? 
 
 FRANCKLIN.
 
 Principles of Translation 47 
 
 turning light upon the world, when Jove delight- 
 ing-in-thunder summoned a council of the gods 
 upon the highest point of the many-headed 
 Olympus ; and while he thus harangued, all the 
 immortals listened with deep attention." This 
 is a very solemn opening ; but the expectation of 
 the reader is miserably disappointed by the 
 harangue itself, of which I shall give a literal 
 translation. 
 
 fJifv, Trvres T eo, Traara re 
 O(f)p eiTra), TO. /j.e @v/j,b<; evi 
 
 rts ovv 6rj\.f.ia 6f.o<s Toye, /J.r)Te TIS apcnqv 
 Toj StaKepcrai lfj.bv TTOS - aXX' a/j.a Travres 
 ', o(f>pa ra^tcrTa TeXeur^o'w raSe epya. 
 Ov 8' av eywv aTrdvevOe 6fu)V IBeXovra 
 EA^ovr, 77 Tpweo-crtv apyyefj 
 nA^yei9 ov Kara KOCT/JLOV eXeucreTai 
 H /x,tv eAatv pc'^ca es Tdprapov ^ 
 T^Xe yuaX', ^t jBiiOio-rov VTTO x6ovo<s eo-rt 
 *Ev6a crtS^peiat re TrvXat KCU ^aXKeos 0^869, 
 Tdcrcrov fvtpff 'At'Seco, ocrov oupai/os ecrr' O.TTO 
 FvuicreT' 7ret6 , ocrov efyu ^ewv Ka.pruiTO<s 
 Et 8' aye, Treipr/a-ao-^e 6eot, IVa etSere Travres, 
 2iipv]v VpWfarjY e^ ovpavoOev Kpefj.dcra.vTes' 
 ITavres 8' edirTe<r6e Oeol, Travai re OeawaC 
 'AXX' OVK av epva-aiT e ovpavoOev TreSibvSe 
 Z^v' VTraroj/ fj.-rjcrTwp' ovS' et yaaXa TroXXa KCI/I.OITC. 
 'AXX' ore 877 /cat eyw Trp6<f>p<av eOeXoifJH, epvcrcrai, 
 Avr?} Kev yatjy epvcrat/x, , aur^ re Oo-Xdcrcrrj' 
 p.ev Kev eireira Trepl piov OiiXvp-iroio 
 
 '' TO. 8e K' avre fj-errjopa iravra yeVotro* 
 Totrcrov cyw Trept T' et/xt 6e<av, Trepi r et/x' a 
 
 " Hear me, all ye gods and goddesses, whilst I 
 declare to you the dictates of my inmost heart.
 
 48 Essay on the 
 
 Let neither male nor female of the gods attempt 
 to controvert what I shall say ; but let all sub- 
 missively assent, that I may speedily accomplish 
 my undertakings : for whoever of you shall be 
 found withdrawing to give aid either to the 
 Trojans or Greeks, shall return to Olympus 
 marked with dishonourable wounds ; or else I 
 will seize him and hurl him down to gloomy 
 Tartarus, where there is a deep dungeon under 
 the earth, with gates of iron, and a threshold 
 of brass, as far below hell, as the earth is be- 
 low the heavens. Then he will know how 
 much stronger I am than all the other gods. 
 But come now, and make trial, that ye may all 
 be convinced. Suspend a golden chain from 
 heaven, and hang all by one end of it, with your 
 whole weight, gods and goddesses together : 
 you will never pull down from the heaven to the 
 earth, Jupiter, the supreme counsellor, though 
 you should strain with your utmost force. But 
 when I chuse to pull, I will raise you all, with 
 the earth and sea together, and fastening the 
 chain to the top of Olympus, will keep you all 
 suspended at it. So much am I superior both 
 to gods and men." 
 
 It must be owned, that this speech is far 
 beneath the dignity of the Thunderer; that 
 the braggart vaunting in the beginning of it 
 is nauseous ; and that a mean and ludicrous 
 picture is presented, by the whole group of 
 gods and goddesses pulling at one end of
 
 Principles of Translation 49 
 
 a chain, and Jupiter at the other. To veil 
 these defects in a translation was difficult ; l but 
 to give any degree of dignity to this speech 
 required certainly most uncommon powers. 
 Yet I am much mistaken, if Mr. Pope has 
 not done so. I shall take the passage from 
 the beginning: 
 
 Aurora now, fair daughter of the dawn, 
 Sprinkled with rosy light the dewy lawn, 
 
 1 Witness the attempt of a translator of no ordinary 
 
 ability. 
 
 Pulchra mari, crocea surgens in veste, per omnes 
 Fundebat sese terras Aurora : deoruni 
 Summo concilium coelo regnator habebat. 
 Cuncta silent : Solio ex alto sic Jupiter orsus. 
 
 Hue aures cuncti, mentesque advertite vestras, 
 Dique Deaeque, loquar dum quae fert corde voluntas, 
 Dicta probate omnes ; neve hinc praecidere quisquam 
 Speret posse aliquid, seu mas seu fcemina. Siquis 
 Auxilio veniens, dura inter praelia, Troas 
 Juverit, aut Danaos, fcede remeabit Olympum 
 Saucius : arreptumve obscura in Tartara longe 
 Demittam ipse manu jaciens ; immane barathrum 
 Alte ubi sub terram vasto descendit hiatu, 
 Orcum infra, quantum jacet infra sidera tellus : 
 ALrt solum, aeterno ferri stant robore portae. 
 Quam cunctis melior sim Dis, turn denique discet. 
 Quin agite, atque meas jam nunc cognoscite vires, 
 Ingentem heic auro e solido religate catenam, 
 Deinde manus cuncti validas adhibete, trahentes 
 Ad terram : non ulla fuat vis tanta, laborque, 
 Ccelesti qui sede Jovem deducere possit. 
 Ast ego vos, terramque et magni ccerula ponti 
 Stagna traham, dextra attollens, et vertice Olympi 
 Suspendam : vacuo pendebunt acre cuncta. 
 Tantum supra homines mea vis, et numina supra est. 
 
 Ilias Lat. vers. express, a Raym. Cunighio, Rom. 1776. 
 
 E
 
 50 Essay on the 
 
 When Jove conven'd the senate of the skies, 
 Where high Olympus' cloudy tops arise. 
 The fire of Gods his awful silence broke, 
 The heavens attentive, trembled as he spoke. 
 
 Celestial states, immortal gods ! give ear ; 
 Hear our decree, and reverence what ye hear ; 
 The fix'd decree, which not all heaven can move ; 
 Thou, fate ! fulfil it ; and, ye powers ! approve ! 
 What God but enters yon forbidden field, 
 Who yields assistance, or but wills to yield, 
 Back to the skies with shame he shall be driven, 
 Gash'd with dishonest wounds, the scorn of Heaven ; 
 Or far, oh far, from steep Olympus thrown, 
 Low in the dark Tartarean gulph shall groan ; 
 With burning chains fix'd to the brazen floors, 
 And lock'd by hell's inexorable doors ; 
 As deep beneath th' infernal centre hurl'd, 
 As from that centre to th' ethereal world. 
 Let him who tempts me dread those dire abodes ; 
 And know th' Almighty is the God of gods. 
 League all your forces then, ye powr's above, 
 Join all, and try th' omnipotence of Jove : 
 Let down our golden everlasting chain, 
 Whose strong embrace holds Heav'n, and Earth, 
 
 and Main : 
 
 Strive all, of mortal and immortal birth, 
 To drag, by this, the Thunderer down to earth : 
 Ye strive in vain ! If I but stretch this hand, 
 I heave the gods, the ocean, and the land ; 
 I fix the chain to great Olympus' height, 
 And the vast world hangs trembling in my sight ! 
 For such I reign, unbounded and above ; 
 And such are men and gods, compar'd to Jove ! l 
 
 It would be endless to point out all the 
 
 . 1 See a translation of this passage by Hobbes, in the 
 true spirit of the Bathos. Appendix, No. III.
 
 Principles of Translation 51 
 
 instances in which Mr. Pope has improved 
 both upon the thought and expression of 
 his original. We find frequently in Homer, 
 amidst the most striking beauties, some circum- 
 stances introduced which diminish the merit of 
 the thought or of the description. In such 
 instances, the good taste of the translator 
 invariably covers the defect of the original, 
 and often converts it into an additional beauty. 
 Thus, in the simile in the beginning of the 
 third book, there is one circumstance which 
 offends against good taste. 
 
 Eur' o/oeos K0pv<j>i)(ri NOTOS /care^evcv o/ 
 HoLp.<Tw ovrl (friXrjv, K\TTTrj Se TC VVKTOS a/mvw, 
 Tocrcrov TIS T' CTriAevcrcrei, ocrov T CTTI Xaav 
 'Os apa TWV VTTO Trovcri /covwcraAos wpvvT 
 ' //.aAa 8'w/ca 8ieirpr)(r(rov TreSt'oio. 
 
 "As when the south wind pours a thick 
 cloud upon the tops of the mountains, whose 
 shade is unpleasant to the shepherds, but 
 more commodious to the thief than the night 
 itself, and when the gloom is so intense, 
 that one cannot see farther than he can throw 
 a stone : So rose the dust under the feet of 
 the Greeks marching silently to battle." 
 
 With what superior taste has the translator 
 heightened this simile, and exchanged the 
 offending circumstance for a beauty. The 
 fault is in the third line ; TOO-O-OV TIS T e7riA.eu<nrei, 
 &c., which is a mean idea, compared with
 
 52 Essay on the 
 
 that which Mr. Pope has substituted in its 
 stead : 
 
 Thus from his shaggy wings when Eurus sheds 
 A night of vapours round the mountain-heads, 
 Swift-gliding mists the dusky fields invade, 
 To thieves more grateful than the midnight shade ; 
 While scarce the swains their feeding flocks survey, 
 Lost and confus'd amidst the thicken'd day : 
 So wrapt in gath'ring dust the Grecian train, 
 A moving cloud, swept on and hid the plain. 
 
 In the ninth book of the Iliad, where Phoenix 
 reminds Achilles of the care he had taken of him 
 while an infant, one circumstance extremely mean, 
 and even disgusting, is found in the original. 
 
 ore 877 CT'CTT /AOtcriv eya yovracrcrt /ca^wras, 
 O\l/ov T' acrai/u Trporafjuav, KCU oivov tTrwr^wv. 
 IIoAAaKi p.oi KareSeucras 7rt orrjOtcro-i ^irwva, 
 Oivov a.7ro/3Avtov fv vrfn-ierj aAeyein}. 
 
 " When I placed you before my knees, I filled 
 you full with meat, and gave you wine, which 
 you often vomited upon my bosom, and stained 
 my clothes, in your troublesome infancy." The 
 English reader certainly feels an obligation to 
 the translator for sinking altogether this nauseous 
 image, which, instead of heightening the picture, 
 greatly debases it : 
 
 Thy infant breast a like affection show'd, 
 Still in my arms, an ever pleasing load ; 
 Or at my knee, by Phoenix would'st thou stand, 
 No food was grateful hut from Phoenix hand :
 
 Principles of Translation 53 
 
 I pass my watchings o'er thy helpless years, 
 The tender labours, the compliant cares. 1 
 
 POPE. 
 
 But even the highest beauties of the original 
 receive additional lustre from this admirable 
 translator. 
 
 A striking example of this kind has been 
 remarked by Mr. Melmoth. 2 It is the trans- 
 
 1 A similar instance of good taste occurs in the following 
 translation of an epigram of Martial, where the indelicacy 
 of the original is admirably corrected, and the sense at 
 the same time is perfectly preserved : 
 
 Vis fieri liber? mentiris, Maxime, non vis: 
 
 Sed fieri si vis, hac ratione potes. 
 Liber en's, canare foris, si, Maxime, nolis : 
 
 Veientana tuam si domat uva sitim : 
 Si ridere potes miseri Chrysendeta Cinnce : 
 
 Contentus nostrd si potes esse togd. 
 Si plebeia Venus gemino tibi vincitur asse : 
 
 Si tua non rectus tecta subire potes : 
 Hcec tibi si vis est, si mentis tanta potestas, 
 
 Liberior Partho vivere rege potes. 
 
 MART. lib. 2, ep. 53. 
 
 Non, d'etre libre, cher Paulin, 
 Vous n'avez jamais eu 1'envie ; 
 Entre nous, votre train de vie 
 N'en est point du tout le chemin. 
 
 II vous faut grand'chere, bon vin, 
 Grand jeu, nombreuse compagnie, 
 Maitresse fringante et jolie, 
 Et robe du drap le plus fin. 
 
 II faudroit aimer, au contraire, 
 Vin commun, petit ordinaire, 
 Habit simple, un ou deux amis ; 
 Jamais de jeu, point d'Amarante : 
 Voyez si le parti vous tente, 
 La liberte n'est qu' a ce prix. 
 
 1 Fitzosborne's Letters, 1. 19.
 
 54 Essay on the 
 
 lation of that picture in the end of the eighth 
 book of the Iliad, which Eustathius esteemed the 
 finest night-piece that could be found in poetry : 
 
 8' or tv ovpavto acrrpa <f>a.ivr)v ap.<f>t. 
 
 ' dpiTrpeTre'a, ore T tTrXero vr^e/xos alOrjp, 
 "Ex T' l<avov Tratrai OTCOTTtat, /cat irpwove? a/cpoi, 
 Kcu vaTrai' ovpavodev 8' ap' iirf.ppa.yrj ao-Trero? aWrjp, 
 Havre. 8e T' eiSerat ao-rpa' ytyrjOe 8e re </>pva 
 
 "As when the resplendent moon appears in 
 the serene canopy of the heavens, surrounded 
 with beautiful stars, when every breath of air is 
 hush'd, when the high watch-towers, the hills, 
 and woods, are distinctly seen ; when the sky 
 appears to open to the sight in all its boundless 
 extent ; and when the shepherd's heart is de- 
 lighted within him." How nobly is this picture 
 raised and improved by Mr. Pope ! 
 
 As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night, 
 O'er heav'n's clear azure spreads her sacred light : 
 When not a breath disturbs the deep serene, 
 And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene ; 
 Around her throne the vivid planets roll, 
 And stars unnumber'd gild the glowing pole : 
 O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed, 
 And tip with silver every mountain's head : 
 Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise, 
 A flood of glory bursts from all the skies : 
 The conscious swains rejoicing in the sight, 
 Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light. a 
 
 1 Thus likewise translated with great beauty of poetry, 
 and sufficient fidelity to the original : 
 
 Ut lunam circa fulgent cum lucida pulchro 
 Astra choro, nusquam coelo dum nubila, nusquam
 
 Principles of Translation 55 
 
 These passages from Pope's Homer afford 
 examples of a translator's improvement of his 
 original, by a happy amplification and embellish- 
 ment of his imagery, or by the judicious correc- 
 tion of defects ; but to fix the precise degree to 
 which this amplification, this embellishment, and 
 this liberty of correction, may extend, requires a 
 great exertion of judgement. It may be useful 
 to remark some instances of the want of this 
 judgement. 
 
 It is always a fault when the translator adds 
 to the sentiment of the original author, what 
 does not strictly accord with his characteristic 
 mode of thinking, or expressing himself. 
 
 Pone sub curru nimium propinqui 
 Solis, in terra domibus negata ; 
 Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo, 
 Dulce loquentem. 
 
 HOR. Od. 22, 1. i. 
 
 Thus translated by Roscommon : 
 
 The burning zone, the frozen isles, 
 Shall hear me sing of Celia's smiles ; 
 All cold, but in her breast, I will despise, 
 And dare all heat, but that in Celia's eyes. 
 
 Aerios turbant ventorum flamina campos ; 
 Apparent speculas, nemoroso et vertice montes 
 Frondiferi et saltus ; late se fulgidus aether 
 Pandit in immensum, penitusque abstrusa remote 
 Signa polo produnt longe sese omnia ; gaudet 
 Visa tuens, haaretque imnioto lumine pastor. 
 
 I lias Lat. vers. a Raym. Cunighio, Rom. 1776.
 
 56 Essay on the 
 
 The witty ideas in the two last lines are foreign 
 to the original ; and the addition of these is quite 
 unjustifiable, as they belong to a quaint species 
 of wit, of which the writings of Horace afford no 
 example. 
 
 Equally faulty, therefore, is Cowley's transla- 
 tion of a passage in the Ode to Pyrrha : 
 
 Qui semper vacuam, semper amabilem 
 Sperat, nescius aurse fallacis. 
 
 He sees thee gentle, fair, and gay, 
 
 And trusts the faithless April of thy May. 
 
 As is the same author's version of that passage, 
 which is characterised by its beautiful simplicity. 
 
 somnus agrestium 
 Lenis virorum non humiles domes 
 Fastidit, umbrosamque ripam, 
 Non zephyris agitata Tempe. 
 
 HOR. 3, i. 
 
 Sleep is a god, too proud to wait on palaces, 
 And yet so humble too, as not to scorn 
 
 The meanest country cottages ; 
 This poppy grows among the com. 
 
 The Halcyon Sleep will never build his nest 
 In any stormy breast : 
 
 'Tis not enough that he does find 
 
 Clouds and darkness in their mind ; 
 
 Darkness but half his work will do, 
 
 'Tis not enough ; he must find quiet too. 
 
 Here is a profusion of wit, and poetic imagery ; 
 but the whole is quite opposite to the character 
 of the original.
 
 Principles of Translation 57 
 
 Congreve is guilty of a similar impropriety in 
 translating 
 
 Vides, ut alta stet nive candidum 
 Soracte : nee jam sustineant onus 
 Sylvse laborantes. 
 
 HOR. i. 9. 
 
 Bless me, 'tis cold ! how chill the air ! 
 How naked does the world appear ! 
 Behold the mountain tops around, 
 As if with fur of ermine crown'd : 
 
 And lo ! how by degrees, 
 The universal mantle hides the trees, 
 
 In hoary flakes which downward fly, 
 As if it were the autumn of the sky, 
 
 Whose fall of leaf would theirs supply : 
 Trembling the groves sustain the weight, and bow, 
 
 Like aged limbs which feebly go, 
 Beneath a venerable head of snow. 
 
 No author of real genius is more censurable 
 on this score than Dryden. 
 
 Obsidere alii telis angusta viarum 
 Oppositi : stat ferri acies mucrone corusco 
 Stricta parata neci. 
 
 jfcneiS) ii. 322. 
 
 Thus translated by Dryden : 
 
 To several posts their parties they divide, 
 Some block the narrow streets, some scour the wide : 
 The bold they kill, th' unwary they surprise ; 
 Who fights finds death, and death finds him who 
 flies. 
 
 Of these four lines, there are scarcely more 
 than four words which are warranted by the
 
 58 Essay on the 
 
 original. " Some block the narrow streets." 
 Even this is a faulty translation of Obsidere alii 
 telis angusta viarum ; but it fails on the score of 
 mutilation, not redundancy. The rest of the 
 ideas which compose these four lines, are the 
 original property of the translator ; and the 
 antithetical witticism in the concluding line, is 
 far beneath the chaste simplicity of Virgil. 
 
 The same author, Virgil, in describing a 
 pestilential disorder among the cattle, gives 
 the following beautiful picture, which, as 
 an ingenious writer justly remarks, 1 has every 
 excellence that can belong to descriptive poetry : 
 
 Ecce autem duro fumans sub vomere taurus 
 Concidit, et mixtum spumis vomit ore cruorem, 
 Extremosque ciet gemitus. It tristis arator, 
 Moerentem abjungens fraterna morte juvencum, 
 Atque opere in medio defixa relinquit aratra. 
 
 Which Mr. Dryden thus translates : 
 
 The steer who to the yoke was bred to bow, 
 (Studious of tillage and the crooked plow), 
 Falls down and dies ; and dying, spews a flood 
 Of foamy madness, mixed with clotted blood. 
 The clown, who cursing Providence repines, 
 His mournful fellow from the team disjoins ; 
 With many a groan forsakes his fruitless care, 
 And in the unfinish'd furrow leaves the share. 
 
 "I would appeal to the reader," says Dr.Beattie, 
 "whether, by debasing the charming simplicity 
 
 1 Dr. Beattie, Dissertation on Poetry and Music, p. 357. 
 4to. ed.
 
 Principles of Translation 59 
 
 of It tristis arator with his blasphemous para- 
 phrase, Dryden has not destroyed the beauty of 
 the passage." He has undoubtedly, even although 
 the translation had been otherwise faultless. But 
 it is very far from being so. Duro fumans sub 
 vomere, is not translated at all, and another idea 
 is put in its place. Extremosque ciet gemitus, a 
 most striking part of the description, is likewise 
 entirely omitted. " Spews a flood " is vulgar and 
 nauseous; and "a flood of foamy madness" is 
 nonsense. In short, the whole passage in the 
 translation is a mass of error and impropriety. 
 
 The simple expression, Jam Procyon furit, in 
 Horace, 3, 29, is thus translated by the same 
 author : 
 
 The Syrian star 
 
 Barks from afar, 
 
 And with his sultry breath infects the sky. 
 
 This barking of a star is a bad specimen of the 
 music of the spheres. Dryden, from the fervour 
 of his imagination, and the rapidity with which 
 he composed, is frequently guilty of similar 
 impropriety in his metaphorical language. Thus, 
 in his version of Du Fresnoy, de Arte Graphica, 
 he translates 
 
 Indolis ut vigor inde potens obstrictus hebescat, 
 
 " Neither would I extinguish the fire of a vein 
 which is lively and abundant." 
 
 The following passage in the second Georgic>
 
 60 Essay on the 
 
 as translated by Delille, is an example of vitious 
 taste. 
 
 Ac dum prima novis adolescit frondibus aetas, 
 Parcendum teneris : et dum se Isetus ad auras 
 Palmes agit, laxis per purum immissus habenis, 
 Ipsa acies nondum falce tentanda ; 
 
 Quand ses premiers bourgeons s'empresseront d'eclore, 
 Que 1'acier rigoureux n'y touche point encore ; 
 Meme lorsque dans 1'air, qu'il commence a braver, 
 Le rejetton moins frele ose enfin s'elever ; 
 Pardonne a son audace en faveur de son age : 
 
 The expression of the original is bold and 
 figurative, Icetus ad auras, laxis per purum 
 immissus habenis; but there is nothing that 
 offends the chastest taste. The concluding line 
 of the translation is disgustingly finical, 
 
 Pardonne a son audace en faveur de son age. 
 
 Mr. Pope's translation of the following passage 
 of the Iliad, is censurable on a similar account : 
 
 Aaot fj.ev <f>0ivv6ov(ri Trcpt TrroXiv, CUTTU re reives, 
 Mapva/ievor 
 
 Iliad, 6, 327. 
 
 For thee great Ilion's guardian heroes fall, 
 Till heaps of dead alone defend the wall. 
 
 Of this conceit, of dead men defending the 
 walls of Troy, Mr. Pope has the sole merit. The 
 original, with grave simplicity, declares, that the 
 people fell, fighting before the town, and around 
 the walls. 1 
 
 1 Fitzosborne's Letters, 43.
 
 Principles of Translation 61 
 
 In the translation of the two following lines 
 from Ovid's Epistle of Sappho to Phaon, the 
 same author has added a witticism, which is less 
 reprehensible, because it accords with the usual 
 manner of the poet whom he translates : yet it 
 cannot be termed an improvement of the 
 original: 
 
 " Scribimus, et lachrymis oculi rorantur abortis, 
 Aspice, quam sit in hoc multa litura loco." 
 
 See while I write, my words are lost in tears, 
 The less my sense, the more my love appears. 
 
 POPE. 
 
 But if authors, even of taste and genius, are 
 found at times to have made an injudicious use 
 of that liberty which is allowed in the translation 
 of poetry, we must expect to see it miserably 
 abused indeed, where those talents are evidently 
 wanting. The following specimen of a Latin 
 version of the Paradise Lost is an example of 
 everything that is vitious and offensive in 
 poetical translation. 
 
 Primsevi ca.no furta patris, furtumque secutse 
 Tristiafata neris, labes ubi prima notavit 
 Quotquot Adamaeo genitos de sanguine vidit 
 Phoebus ad Hesperias ab Eoo cardine metas ; 
 Quos procul auricomis Paradisi depulit hortis, 
 Dira cupido atavum, raptique injuria pomi : 
 Terrigena donee meliorque et major Adamus, 
 Amissis meliora bonis, majora reduxit. 
 Quosque dedit morti lignum inviolabile, mortis 
 Unicus ille alto rapuit de limine It'gno.
 
 62 Principles of Translation 
 
 Terrenusque licet pereat Paradisus, at ejus 
 Munere laxa patet Paradisi porta superni : 
 Haec oestro stimulata novo mens pandere gestit. 
 Quis mihi monstret iter? Quis carbasa nostra 
 
 profundo 
 Dirigat in dubio ? 
 
 Gul. Hogczi Paradisus A missus, 1. i . 
 
 How completely is Milton disguised in this 
 translation ! His Majesty exchanged for mean- 
 ness, and his simplicity for bombast ! " l 
 
 The preceding observations, though they 
 principally regard the first general rule of trans- 
 lation, viz. that which enjoins a complete trans- 
 fusion of the ideas and sentiments of the 
 original work, have likewise a near connection 
 with the second general rule, which I shall 
 now proceed to consider. 
 
 1 It is amusing to observe the conceit of this author, 
 and the compliment he imagines he pays to the taste of 
 his patron, in applauding this miserable composition : 
 "Adeo tibi placuit, ut quasdam etiam in melius mutasse 
 tibi visus fuerim." With similar arrogance and absurdity, 
 he gives Milton credit for the materials only of the poem, 
 assuming to himself the whole merit of its structure : 
 " Miltonus Paradisum Amissum invenerat ; ergo Miltoni 
 hie lana est, at mea tela tamen."
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 SECOND GENERAL RULE : THE STYLE AND 
 MANNER OF WRITING IN A TRANSLATION 
 SHOULD BE OF THE SAME CHARACTER 
 WITH THAT OF THE ORIGINAL. TRANSLA- 
 TIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES ; OF HOMER, 
 ETC. A JUST TASTE REQUISITE FOR THE 
 DISCERNMENT OF THE CHARACTERS OF 
 STYLE AND MANNER. EXAMPLES OF 
 FAILURE IN THIS PARTICULAR ; THE 
 GRAVE EXCHANGED FOR THE FORMAL; 
 THE ELEVATED FOR THE BOMBAST ; 
 THE LIVELY FOR THE PETULANT ; THE 
 SIMPLE FOR THE CHILDISH. HOBBES, 
 L'ESTRANGE, ECHARD, ETC. 
 
 NEXT in importance to a faithful transfusion 
 of the sense and meaning of an author, is an 
 assimilation of the style and manner of writing 
 in the translation to that of the original. This 
 requisite of a good translation, though but 
 secondary in importance, is more difficult to 
 be attained than the former ; for the qualities 
 requisite for justly discerning and happily 
 imitating the various characters of style and 
 manner, are much more rare than the ability 
 of simply understanding an author's sense. A 
 good translator must be able to discover at 
 once the true character of his author's style. 
 63
 
 64 Essay on the 
 
 He must ascertain with precision to what class 
 it belongs ; whether to that of the grave, the 
 elevated, the easy, the lively, the florid and 
 ornamented, or the simple and unaffected ; and 
 these characteristic qualities he must have the 
 capacity of rendering equally conspicuous in 
 the translation as in the original. If a trans- 
 lator fails in this discernment, and wants this 
 capacity, let him be ever so thoroughly master 
 of the sense of his author, he will present him 
 through a distorting medium, or exhibit him 
 often in a garb that is unsuitable to his character. 
 The chief characteristic of the historical style 
 of the sacred scriptures ; is its simplicity. This 
 character belongs indeed to the language itself. 
 Dr. Campbell has justly remarked, that the 
 Hebrew is a simple tongue: "That their verbs 
 have not, like the Greek and Latin, a variety 
 of moods and tenses, nor do they, like the 
 modern languages, abound in auxiliaries and 
 conjunctions. The consequence is, that in nar- 
 rative, they express by several simple sentences, 
 much in the way of the relations used in con- 
 versation, what in most other languages would 
 be comprehended in one complex sentence of 
 three or four members." 1 The same author 
 gives, as an example of this simplicity, the be- 
 ginning of the first chapter of Genesis, where 
 the account of the operations of the Creator on 
 
 1 Third Preliminary Diss. to New Translation oj the 
 Four Gospels.
 
 Principles of Translation 65 
 
 the first day is contained in eleven separate 
 sentences. " i. In the beginning God created the 
 Heaven and the Earth. 2. And the earth was 
 without form, and void. 3. And darkness was 
 upon the face of the deep. 4. And the Spirit 
 of God moved upon the face of the waters. 
 5. And God said, let there be light. 6. And 
 there was light. 7. And God saw the light, 
 that it was good. 8. And God divided the 
 light from the darkness. 9. And God called 
 the light day. 10. And the darkness he called 
 night, ii. And the evening and the morning 
 were the first day." " This/' says Dr. Campbell, 
 "is a just representation of the style of the 
 original. A more perfect example of simplicity 
 of structure, we can nowhere find. The sentences 
 are simple, the substantives are not attended 
 by adjectives, nor the verbs by adverbs; no 
 synonymas, no superlatives, no effort at ex- 
 pressing things in a bold, emphatical, or 
 uncommon manner." 
 
 Castalio's version of the Scriptures is intitled 
 to the praise of elegant Latinity, and he is in 
 general faithful to the sense of his original; 
 but he has totally departed from its style and 
 manner, by substituting the complex and florid 
 composition to the simple and unadorned. His 
 sentences are formed in long and intricate 
 periods, in which many separate members are 
 artfully combined ; and we observe a constant 
 endeavour at a classical phraseology and orna-
 
 66 Essay on the 
 
 mented diction. 1 In Castalio's version of the 
 foregoing passage of Genesis, nine sentences of 
 the original are thrown into one period. i. 
 Principio creavit Deus ccelum et terrain, 2. Quuin 
 autem esset terra iners atque rudis, tenebrisque 
 effusum profundum, et divinus spiritus sese super 
 aquas libraret, jussit Deus ut existeret lux, et 
 extitit lux ; quam quum videret Deus esse bonam, 
 lucem secrevit a tenebrts, et lucem diem, et tenebras 
 noctem appellavit. 3. It a extitit ex vespere et mane 
 dies primus. 
 
 Dr. Beattie, in his essay On Laughter and 
 Ludicrous Composition, has justly remarked, 
 that the translation of the Old Testament by 
 Castalio does great honour to that author's 
 learning, but not to his taste. " The quaintness 
 of his Latin betrays a deplorable inattention 
 to the simple majesty of his original. In 
 the Song of Solomon, he has debased the 
 magnificence of the language and subject by 
 diminutives, which, though expressive of familiar 
 endearment, he should have known to be desti- 
 
 1 " His affectation of the manner of some of the poets 
 and orators has metamorphosed the authors he interpreted, 
 and stript them of the venerable signatures of antiquity, 
 which so admirably befit them ; and which, serving as 
 intrinsic evidence of their authenticity, recommend their 
 writings to the serious and judicious. Whereas, when 
 accoutred in this new fashion, nobody would imagine 
 them to have been Hebrews ; and yet, (as some critics have 
 justly remarked), it has not been within the compass of 
 Castalio's art, to make them look like Romans." Dr. 
 Campbell's loth Prelim. Diss.
 
 Principles of Translation 67 
 
 tute of dignity, and therefore improper on 
 solemn occasions." Meet Columbula, ostende milii 
 tmim mdticulum ; fac ut audiam tuam voculam ; 
 nani et voculam venusttilam, et vulticulwn kabes 
 lepidulum. Vent in meos Jwrtulos, sororcula meet 
 sponsa. Ego dormio, vigilante meo corculo, &c. 
 
 The version of the Scriptures by Arias Mon- 
 tanus, is in some respects a contrast to that of 
 Castalio. Arias, by adopting the literal mode of 
 translation, probably intended to give as faithful 
 a picture as he could, both of the sense and 
 manner of the original. Not considering the 
 different genius of the Hebrew, the Greek, and 
 the Latin, in the various meaning and import of 
 words of the same primary sense ; the difference 
 of combination and construction, and the peculi- 
 arity of idioms belonging to each tongue, he has 
 treated the three languages as if they corres- 
 ponded perfectly in all those particulars ; and 
 the consequence is, he has produced a composi- 
 tion which fails in every one requisite of a good 
 translation : it conveys neither the sense of the 
 original, nor its manner and style ; and it abounds 
 in barbarisms, solecisms, and grammatical inac- 
 curacy. 1 In Latin, two negatives make an affirm- 
 ative ; but it is otherwise in Greek ; they only 
 give force to the negation : x^pt? *V-ov ov bwacrde 
 Tto'.cLv ovbev, as translated by Arias, sine me non 
 potestis facere nihil, is therefore directly contrary 
 to the sense of the original : And surely that 
 1 Dr. Campbell, loth Prel. Diss. part 2.
 
 68 Essay on the 
 
 translator cannot be said either to do justice to 
 the manner and style of his author, or to write 
 with the ease of original composition, who, in- 
 stead of perspicuous thought, expressed in pure, 
 correct, and easy phraseology, gives us obscure 
 and unintelligible sentiments, conveyed in bar- 
 barous terms and constructions, irreconcileable 
 to the rules of the language in which he uses 
 them. Et nunc dixi vobis ante fieri, tit quum 
 factum fuerit credatis. Ascendit autem et Joseph 
 a Galilcea in civitatein David, propter esse ipsuin 
 ex domo etfamilia David, describi cum Maria de- 
 sponsata sibi uxore, existente pr&gnante. Factum 
 autem in esse eos ibi, impleti sunt dies par ere ipsam. 
 Venerunt ad portam, qua spontanea aperta est 
 eis, et exeuntes processerunt victim. N illiquid 
 aquam prohibere potest quis ad non baptizare hos ? 
 Spectat descenden s super se vas quoddam lintcum, 
 quatuor initiis vinctum. Aperiens autem Petrus 
 os, dixit : in veritate deprehendo quia non est 
 personarum acceptor Deus}- 
 
 1 The language of that ludicrous work, Episioltz obscuro- 
 rum virorum, is an imitation, and by no means an ex- 
 aggerated picture, of the style of Arias Montanus's version 
 of the Scriptures. Vos bene audivistis qualiter Papa 
 habuit unum magnum animal quodvocatumf uit ElepJias ; 
 et habuit ipsuin in magno honor e, et value amavit Hind. 
 Nunc igitur debetis scire, quod tale animal est mortuum. 
 Et quando fuit infinnum, tune Papa f uit in magna tris- 
 titia, et vocavit medicos plures, et dixit eis : Si est possibile, 
 sanate mihi Elephas. Tune fecerunt magnam diligentiani, 
 et viderunt ei urinam, et dcderunt ei unam purgationem 
 quce cons tat quinque centum aureos, sed tamen non potuerunt 
 Elephas facere merdare, et sic est mortuum ; et Papa dolet
 
 Principles of Translation 69 
 
 The characteristic of the language of Homer is 
 strength united with simplicity. He employs 
 frequent images, allusions, and similes ; but he 
 very rarely uses metaphorical expression. The 
 use of this style, therefore, in a translation of 
 Homer, is an offence against the character of 
 the original. Mr. Pope, though not often, is 
 sometimes chargeable with this fault ; as where 
 he terms the arrows of Apollo " the feather'd 
 fates," Iliad> I, 68, a quiver of arrows, "a store 
 of flying fates," Odyssey, 22, 136: or instead of 
 saying, that the soil is fertile in corn, " in wavy 
 gold the summer vales are dress'd," Odyssey, 19. 
 131 ; the soldier wept, "from his eyes pour'd 
 down the tender dew," Ibid, n, 486. 
 
 Virgil, in describing the shipwreck of the 
 Trojans, says, 
 
 Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto, 
 Which the Abbe des Fontaines thus translates : 
 " A peine un petit nombre de ceux qui montoient 
 le vaisseau purent se sauver a la nage." Of this 
 translation Voltaire justly remarks, "C'est tra- 
 duire Virgile en style de gazette. Ou est ce 
 vaste gouffre que peint le poete, gurgite vasto ? 
 Ou est V apparent rari nantes ? Ce n'est ^>as 
 ainsi qu'on doit traduire 1'Eneide." Voltaire, 
 Quest, sur tEncyclop. mot Amplification. 
 
 multum super Elephas ; quiafuit mirabile animal, habens 
 longum rostrum in magnaquantitate. Astego noncurabo 
 isia mundana negotia, qua afferunt perditionem animcz. 
 Valete.
 
 yo Essay on the 
 
 If we are thus justly offended at hearing 
 Virgil speak in the style of the Evening Post or 
 the Daily Advertiser, what must we think of the 
 translator, who makes the solemn and senten- 
 tious Tacitus express himself in the low cant of 
 the streets, or in the dialect of the waiters of a 
 tavern ? 
 
 Facile Asinium et Messalam inter Antonium 
 et Augustum bellorum prcemiis refer tos: Thus 
 translated, in a version of Tacitus by Mr. Dryden 
 and several eminent hands: "Asinius and 
 Messala, who feathered their nests well in the 
 civil wars 'twixt Antony and Augustus." Vino- 
 lentiam et libidines usurpans : " Playing the 
 good-fellow." Frustra Armininm prcescribi : 
 " Trumping up Arminius's title." Sed Agrippina 
 libertam cemulam, nurum ancillam, aliaque euii- 
 dem in modum muliebriter f renter e : "But 
 Agrippina could not bear that a freedwoman 
 should nose her." And another translator says, 
 "But Agrippina could not bear that a freed- 
 woman should beard her." Of a similar char- 
 acter with this translation of Tacitus is a 
 translation of Suetonius by several gentlemen of 
 Oxford, 1 which abounds with such elegancies as 
 the following : Sestio Gallo, libidinoso et prodigo 
 seni: " Sestius Gallus, a most notorious old Sir 
 Jolly." Jucundissimos et omnium Jiorarum amicos : 
 " His boon companions and sure cards." Nullam 
 
 1 Lond. 1691.
 
 Principles of Translation 71 
 
 unquam occasionem dedit : " They never could 
 pick the least hole in his coat." 
 
 Juno's apostrophe to Troy, in her speech to 
 the Gods in council, is thus translated in a ver- 
 sion of Horace by " The Most Eminent Hands." 
 
 .Ilion, Ilion, 
 Fatalis incestusque judex, &c. 
 
 HOR. 3, 3. 
 
 O Ilion, Ilion, I with transport view 
 The fall of all thy wicked, perjur'd crew ! 
 Pallas and I have borne a rankling grudge 
 To that curst Shepherd, that incestuous judge. 
 
 The description of the majesty of Jupiter, 
 contained in the following passage of the first 
 book of the Iliad, is allowed to be a true 
 specimen of the sublime. It is the archetype 
 from which Phidias acknowledged he had framed 
 his divine sculpture of the Olympian Jupiter : 
 
 H, /cat Kvaverja-LV ?r' oe^pvcrt vevcre Kpovtwv 
 Ap,(3po(Ti(u 8' apa ^atrat eTreppwcravTO ava/cros, 
 Kparos air' a^avaroto, yaeyav 8'eA.eAt^ej/ 
 
 He spoke, and awful bends his sable brows, 
 Shakes his ambrosial curls, and gives the nod, 
 The stamp of fate, and sanction of the God : 
 High heaven, with trembling, the dread signal took, 
 And all Olympus to its centre shook. 
 
 POPE. 
 
 Certainly Mr. Hobbes of Malmsbury perceived 
 no portion of that sublime which was felt by
 
 72 Essay on the 
 
 Phidias and by Mr. Pope, when he could thus 
 translate this fine description : 
 
 This said, with his black brows he to her nodded, 
 Wherewith displayed were his locks divine ; 
 
 Olympus shook at stirring of his godhead, 
 And Thetis from it jump'd into the brine. 
 
 In the translation of the Georgics, Mr. Dryden 
 has displayed great powers of poetry. But 
 Dryden had little relish for the pathetic, and no 
 comprehension of the natural language of the 
 heart. The beautiful simplicity of the following 
 passage has entirely escaped his observation, and 
 he has been utterly insensible to its tenderness : 
 
 Ipse cava solans cegrum testudine amor em, 
 Te, die Ids conjux, te solo in littore sec urn, 
 Te veniente die, te decedente canebat. 
 
 VIRG. Geor. 4. 
 
 Th' unhappy husband, now no more, 
 
 Did on his tuneful harp his loss deplore, 
 
 And sought his mournful mind with music to restore.; 
 
 On thee, dear Wife, in deserts all alone, 
 
 He call'd, sigh'd, sung ; his griefs with day begun, 
 
 Nor were they finish'd till the setting sun. 
 
 The three verbs, caird, stgtid, sung, are here 
 substituted, with peculiar infelicity, for the re- 
 petition of the pronoun ; a change which converts 
 the pathetic into the ludicrous. 
 
 In the same episode, the poet compares the 
 complaint of Orpheus to the wailing of a night-
 
 Principles of Translation 73 
 
 ingale, robb'd of her young, in those well-known 
 beautiful verses : 
 
 Qualis populea mcerens Philomela sub umbra 
 Amissos queritur foetus, quos durus arator 
 Observans nido implumes, detraxit : at ilia 
 Flet noctem, ramoque sedens miserabile carmen 
 Integrate et mxstis late loca questibus implet. 
 
 Thus translated by De Lille : 
 
 Telle sur un rameau durant la nuit obscure 
 Philomele plaintive attendrit la nature, 
 Accuse en gemissant 1'oiseleur inhumain, 
 Qui, glissant dans son nid une furtive main, 
 Ravit ces tendres fruits que 1'amour fit eclorre, 
 Et qu'un leger duvet ne couvroit pas encore. 
 
 It is evident, that there is a complete evapora- 
 tion of the beauties of the original in this 
 translation : and the reason is, that the French 
 poet has substituted sentiments for facts, and 
 refinement for the simple pathetic. The night- 
 ingale of De Lille melts all nature with her 
 complaint ; accuses with her sighs the inhuman 
 fowler, who glides his thievish hand into her nest, 
 and plunders the tender fruits that were hatched 
 by love ! How different this sentimental foppery 
 from the chaste simplicity of Virgil ! 
 
 The following beautiful passage in the sixth 
 book of the Iliad has not been happily trans- 
 lated by Mr. Pope. It is in the parting interview- 
 between Hector and Andromache.
 
 74 Essay on the 
 
 fis CLTrtDV, aXoxoio (}>i\r)<; ev ^epcrtv tOrjKf. 
 IIa.i8' eov' ^ 8' apa fjav /cr/wSet 8ea.TO KoA.7ra), 
 AaKpuoev ytAacracra' -^ocris 8 eAe^cre vor/cras, 
 Xcipt re /xiv Karepe^tv, CTTO? T' e^ar' e/c T' ovo/xae. 
 
 He spoke, and fondly gazing on her charms, 
 Restor'd the pleasing burden to her arms ; 
 Soft on her fragrant breast the babe she laid, 
 Hush'd to repose, and with a smile survey'd. 
 The troubled pleasure soon chastis'd by fear, 
 She mingled with the smile a tender tear. 
 The soften'd chief with kind compassion view'd, 
 And dried the falling drops, and thus pursu'd. 
 
 This, it must be allowed, is good poetry ; but 
 it wants the affecting simplicity of the original. 
 Fondly gazing on her charms pleasing burden 
 The troubled pleasure soon chastised by fear, 
 are injudicious embellishments. The beautiful 
 expression Aa/cpuoey yeAaaao-a is totally lost 
 by amplification ; and the fine circumstance, 
 which so much heightens the tenderness of 
 the picture, Xa/n re piv Karepeez>, is forgotten 
 altogether. 
 
 But a translator may discern the general 
 character of his author's style, and yet fail re- 
 markably in the imitation of it. Unless he is 
 possessed of the most correct taste, he will be in 
 continual danger of presenting an exaggerated 
 picture or a caricatura of his original. The 
 distinction between good and bad writing is 
 often of so very slender a nature, and the 
 shadowing of difference so extremely delicate, 
 that a very nice perception alone can at all
 
 Principles of Translation 75 
 
 times define the limits. Thus, in the hands of 
 some translators, who have discernment to per- 
 ceive the general character of their author's 
 style, but want this correctness of taste, the 
 grave style of the original becomes heavy and 
 formal in the translation ; the elevated swells 
 into bombast, the lively froths up into the 
 petulant, and the simple and naif degenerates 
 into the childish and insipid. 1 
 
 In the fourth Oration against Catiline, Cicero, 
 after drawing the most striking picture of the 
 miseries of his country, on the supposition that 
 success had crowned the designs of the con- 
 spirators, closes the detail with this grave and 
 solemn application : 
 
 Quia mihi vehementer hcec videntur misera 
 atque miseranda, idcirca in eos qui ea perficere 
 voluerunt, me severum, vehementemque prcebeo. 
 Etenim qu&ro, si quis paterfamilias, liberis suis 
 a servo interfectis, uxore occisa, incensa domo, 
 supplicium de servo quam acerbissimum sumserit ; 
 utnim is clemens ac misericors, an inhumanis- 
 simus et criidelissimus esse videatur ? Mihi vero 
 importunus ac ferreus, qui non dolore ac cruciatu 
 nocentis, suum dolorem ac cruciatum lenierit. 
 
 How awkwardly is the dignified gravity of the 
 
 1 Sectantem levia nervi 
 
 Deficiunt animique : professus grandia turget : 
 Serpit humi tutus nimium timidusqtie procell<z. 
 In vitium ducit culpce fuga, si caret arte. 
 
 HOR. Ep. ad. Pis.
 
 76 Essay on the 
 
 original imitated, in the following heavy, formal, 
 and insipid version. 
 
 " Now as to me these calamities appear ex- 
 tremely shocking and deplorable : therefore I 
 am extremely keen and rigorous in punishing 
 those who endeavoured to bring them about. 
 For let me put the case, that a master of a 
 family had his children butchered, his wife 
 murdered, his house burnt down by a slave, yet 
 did not inflict the most rigorous of punishments 
 imaginable upon that slave : would such a 
 master appear merciful and compassionate, and 
 not rather a monster of cruelty and inhumanity? 
 To me that man would appear to be of a flinty 
 cruel nature, who should not endeavour to soothe 
 his own anguish and torment by the anguish and 
 torment of its guilty cause." 1 
 
 Ovid, in describing the fatal storm in which 
 Ceyx perished, says, 
 
 Undarum incursa gravis unda, tonitrubus ather 
 Fluctibus erigitur, coelumque cequare videtur 
 Ponfus. 
 
 An hyperbole, allowable in poetical description ; 
 but which Dryden has exaggerated into the 
 most outrageous bombast : 
 
 Now waves on waves ascending scale the skies, 
 And in the fires above the water fries. 
 
 In the first scene of \h&Amphitryo of Plautus, 
 
 1 The Orations of M. T. Cicero translated into English, 
 with notes historical and critical. Dublin, 1766.
 
 Principles of Translation 77 
 
 Sosia thus remarks on the unusual length of the 
 night : 
 
 Neque ego hac node longiorem me vidisse censeo, 
 Nisi item unam, verberatus qiiam pependi perpetem. 
 Earn quoqtie, sEdepol, etiam multo hac vicit longitudine. 
 Credo equidem dormire solem atqne appohim probe. 
 Mira sunt, nisi invitavit sese in ccena plusculum. 
 
 To which Mercury answers : 
 
 A in vero, verbero ? Deos esse tui similes putas ? 
 Ego Pol te istis tuis pro dictis et malefactis, furrifer, 
 Aaipiam, modb sis veni hue : invenies infortunium. 
 
 Echard, who saw no distinction between the 
 familiar and the vulgar, has translated this in 
 the true dialect of the streets : 
 
 " I think there never was such a long night 
 since the beginning of the world, except that 
 night I had the strappado, and rid the wooden 
 horse till morning ; and, o' my conscience, that 
 was twice as long. 1 By the mackins, I believe 
 Phoebus has been playing the good-fellow, and 
 's asleep too. I'll be hang'd if he ben't in 
 for't, and has took a little too much o' the 
 creature." 
 
 " Mer. Say ye so, slave ? What, treat Gods 
 like yourselves. By Jove, have at your doublet, 
 Rogue, for scandahnn magnatum. Approach 
 then, you'll ha' but small joy here." 
 
 1 Echard has here mistaken the author's sense. He 
 ought to have said, " o' my conscience, this night is twice 
 as long as that was."
 
 78 Essay on the 
 
 " Mer. Accedam, atque lianc appellabo atqnc 
 supparasitabo patri" Ibid. sc. 3. 
 
 "Mer. I'll to her, and tickle her up as my 
 father has done." 
 
 " Sosia. Irritabis crabrones." Ibid, act 2, sc. 2. 
 
 " Sosia. You'd as good p ss in a bee-hive." 
 
 Seneca, though not a chaste writer, is remark- 
 able for a courtly dignity of expression, which, 
 though often united with ease, never descends to 
 the mean or vulgar. L'Estrange has presented 
 him through a medium of such coarseness, that 
 he is hardly to be known. 
 
 Probatos itaque semper lege, et siquando ad 
 alias diver tere libuerit, ad prior es redi. Nihil 
 <zque sanitatem impedit quam remediorum crebra 
 mutatio, Ep. 2. " Of authors be sure to make 
 choice of the best ; and, as I said before, stick 
 close to them ; and though you take up others 
 by the bye, reserve some select ones, however, 
 for your study and retreat. Nothing is more 
 hurtful, in the case of diseases and wounds, than 
 the frequent shifting of physic and plasters." 
 
 Fuit qui diceret, Quid perdis operam ? ille quern 
 quceris elatus, combustus esl. De benef., lib. 7. 
 c. 21. " Friend, says a fellow, you may hammer 
 your heart out, for the man you look for is 
 dead." 
 
 Cum multa in crudelitatem Pisistrati conviva 
 ebrius dixisset. De ira, lib. 3, c. 1 1. " Thrasip- 
 pus, in his drink, fell foul upon the cruelties of 
 Pisistratus."
 
 Principles of Translation 79 
 
 From the same defect of taste, the simple and 
 natural manner degenerates into the childish and 
 insipid. 
 
 J'ai perdu tout mon bonheur, 
 J'ai perdu mon serviteur, 
 
 Colin me delaisse. 
 Helas ! il a pu changer ! 
 Je voudrois n'y plus songer : 
 
 J'y songe sans cesse. 
 
 ROUSSEAU, Devin de Village. 
 
 I've lost my love, I've lost my swain ; 
 
 Colin leaves me with disdain. 
 Naughty Colin ! hateful thought ! 
 
 To Colinette her Colin's naught. 
 I will forget him that I will ! 
 Ah, t'wont do I love him still.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 EXAMPLES OF A GOOD TASTE IN POETICAL 
 TRANSLATION. BOURNE'S TRANSLATIONS 
 FROM MALLET AND FROM PRIOR. THE 
 DUKE DE NIVERNOIS FROM HORACE. DR. 
 JORTIN FROM SIMONIDES. IMITATION OF 
 THE SAME BY DR. MARKHAM. MR. WEBB 
 FROM THE ANTHOLOGIA. HUGHES FROM 
 CLAUDIAN. FRAGMENTS OF THE GREEK 
 DRAMATISTS BY MR. CUMBERLAND. 
 
 AFTER these examples of faulty translation, 
 from a defect of taste in the translator, or a want 
 of a just discernment of his author's style and 
 manner of writing, I shall now present the 
 reader with some specimens of perfect transla- 
 tion, where the authors have entered with 
 exquisite taste into the manner of their originals, 
 and have succeeded most happily in the imita- 
 tion of it. 
 
 The first is the opening of the beautiful ballad 
 of William and Margaret, translated by Vincent 
 Bourne. 
 
 When all was wrapt in dark midnight, 
 
 And all were fast asleep, 
 In glided Margaret's grimly ghost, 
 
 And stood at William's feet. 
 80
 
 Principles of Translation 81 
 ii 
 
 Her face was like the April morn, 
 
 Clad in a wintry-cloud ; 
 And clay-cold was her lily hand, 
 
 That held her sable shrowd. 
 
 Ill 
 
 So shall the fairest face appear, 
 When youth and years are flown ; 
 
 Such is the robe that Kings must wear, 
 When death has reft their crown. 
 
 IV 
 
 Her bloom was like the springing flower, 
 
 That sips the silver dew ; 
 The rose was budded in her cheek, 
 
 And opening to the view. 
 
 V 
 
 But Love had, like the canker-worm, 
 
 Consum'd her early prime ; 
 The rose grew pale and left her cheek, 
 
 She died before her time. 
 
 Omnia nox tenebris, tacitaque involverat umbra. 
 
 Etfessos homines vinxerat alta quies ; 
 Cum valvce patuere, et gressu illapsa silenti, 
 
 Thyrsidis ad lectum stabat imago Chloes. 
 
 II 
 
 Vultus erat, qualis lachrymosi vultus Aprilis, 
 Cut dubia hyberno conditur imbre dies ; 
 
 Quaque sepulchralem a pedibus collegit amictum, 
 Candidior nivibus, frigidiorque ma?ius.
 
 82 Essay on the 
 
 in 
 
 Cumque dies aberunt molles, et l<zta juventus, 
 Gloria pallebit, sic Cyparissi tua ; 
 
 Cum mors decutiet capiti diademata, regum 
 Hac erit in trabea conspiciendus honos. 
 
 IV 
 
 Forma fuit (dum forma fuit) nascentis ad ins tar 
 Floris, cui cano gemmula rare tumet ; 
 
 Et Veneres risert, et subrubuere labella, 
 Subrubet ut teneris purpura prima rosis. 
 
 Sed lenta exedit tabes mollemque ruborem, 
 
 Et faciles risus, et juvenile decus ; 
 Et rosa paulatim languens, nudata religiiit 
 
 Oscula ; prceripuit mors properata Chloen. 
 
 The second is a small poem by Prior, intitled 
 Chloe Hunting, which is likewise translated into 
 Latin by Bourne. 
 
 Behind her neck her comely tresses tiea, 
 
 Her ivory quiver graceful by her side, 
 
 A-hunting Chloe went ; she lost her way, 
 
 And through the woods uncertain chanc'd to stray. 
 
 Apollo passing by beheld the maid ; 
 
 And, sister dear, bright Cynthia, turn, he said ; 
 
 The hunted hind lies close in yonder brake. 
 
 Loud Cupid laugh'd, to see the God's mistake : 
 
 And laughing cried, learn better, great Divine, 
 
 To know thy kindred, and to honour mine. 
 
 Rightly advis'd, far hence thy sister seek, 
 
 Or on Meander's banks, or Latmus' peak. 
 
 But in this nymph, my friend, my sister know ; 
 
 She draws my arrows, and she bends my bow.
 
 Principles of Translation 83 
 
 Fair Thames she haunts, and every neighbouring grove, 
 
 Sacred to soft recess, and gentle Love. 
 
 Go with thy Cynthia, hurl the pointed spear 
 
 At the rough boar, or chace the flying deer : 
 
 I, and my Chloe, take a nobler aim ; 
 
 At human hearts we fling, nor ever miss the game. 
 
 Forte Chloe, pulchros nodo collecta capillos 
 Post collum, pJiaretraque latus sucdncfa decora, 
 Venatrix ad sylvam ibat ; cervumque secuta 
 Elapsum visu, deserta per avia tendit 
 Incerta. Erranteni nympham conspexit Apollo, 
 Et, converte hws, dixit, mea Cynthia, cursus ; 
 En ibi (monstravitque manu) tibi cervus anhelat 
 Occnltus dumo, latebrisque moratur in illis. 
 
 Improbus hcec audivit Amor, lepidumque cachinnum 
 Attollens, poterantne etiam tua numina falli ? 
 Hinc, quccso, bone Phcebe, tuarn dignosce sororem, 
 Et melius venerare meam. Tua Cynthia longe, 
 Mceandri ad ripas, aut summi in vertice Latrni, 
 Versatur ; nostra est soror htec, nostra, inquit, arnica est. 
 Hcec nostros promit calamos, arcumque sonantem 
 Incurvat, Tamumque colens, placidosque recessus 
 Lucorum, quos alma quies sacravit amori. 
 Ite per umbrosos saltus, lustrisque vel aprum 
 Excutite horrentem setis, cervumve fugacem, 
 Tuque sororque tua, et directo sternite ferro : 
 Nobilior labor, et dim's dignissima cura, 
 Meque Chloenque manet ; nos cor da humana ferimus, 
 Vibrantes cerium vulnus nee inutile telum. 
 
 The third specimen, is a translation by the Duke 
 de Nivernois, of Horace's dialogue with Lydia ; 
 
 HORACE 
 
 Plus heureux qu'un monarque au faite des grandeurs, 
 
 J'ai vu mes jours dignes d'envie, 
 Tranquiles, ils couloient au gre de nos ardeurs : 
 
 Vous m'aimiez, charmante Lydie.
 
 84 Essay on the 
 
 LYDIE 
 Que mes jours dtoient beaux, quand des soins les 
 
 plus doux 
 
 Vous payiez ma flamme sincere ! 
 Venus me regardoit avec des yeux jaloux ; 
 Chloe n'avoit pas sc.u vous plaire. 
 
 HORACE 
 
 Par son luth, par sa voix, organe des amours, 
 
 Chlod seule me paroit belle : 
 Si le Destin jaloux veut dpargner ses jours, 
 
 Je donnerai les miens pour elle. 
 
 LYDIE 
 
 Le jeune Calais, plus beau que les amours, 
 
 Plait seul a mon ame ravie : 
 Si le Destin jaloux veut epargner ses jours, 
 
 Je donnerai deux fois ma vie. 
 
 HORACE 
 
 Quoi, si mes premiers feux, ranimant leur ardeur, 
 
 Etouffoient une amour fatale ; 
 Si, perdant pour jamais tous ses droits sur mon cceur, 
 
 Chloe vous laissoit sans rivale 
 
 LYDIE 
 
 Calais est charmant : mais je n'aime que vous, 
 
 Ingrat, mon cceur vous justifie ; 
 Heureuse egalement en des liens si doux, 
 
 De perdre ou de passer la vie. 1 
 
 If any thing is faulty in this excellent trans- 
 lation, it is the last stanza, which does not convey 
 
 1 Hor. Donee gratus eram tibi, 
 
 Nee quisquara potior brachia candidae 
 
 Gervici juvenis dabat ; 
 
 Persarum vigui rege beatior.
 
 Principles of Translation 85 
 
 the happy petulance, the procacitas of the original. 
 The reader may compare with this, the fine 
 translation of the same ode by Bishop Atterbury, 
 " Whilst I was fond, and you were kind," which 
 is too well known to require insertion. 
 
 The fourth example is a translation by Dr. 
 Jortin of that beautiful fragment of Simonides, 
 preserved by Dionysius, in which Danae, exposed 
 with her child to the fury of the ocean, by 
 command of her inhuman father, is described 
 lamenting over her sleeping infant. 
 
 Lyd. Donee non aliam magis 
 
 Arsisti, neque erat Lydia post Chloen ; 
 
 Multi Lydia nominis 
 
 Romana vigui clarior Ilia. 
 
 Hor. Me nunc Thressa Chloe regit, 
 Uulceis docta modos, et citharas sciens ; 
 
 Pro qua non metuam mori, 
 
 Si parcent animae fata superstiti. 
 
 Lyd. Me torret face mutua 
 
 Thurini Calais filius Ornithi ; 
 Pro quo bis patiar mori, 
 
 Si parcent puero fata superstiti. 
 
 Hor. Quid, si prisca redit Venus, 
 
 Diductosque jugo cogit aheneo ? 
 Si flava excutitur Chloe, 
 
 Rejectaeque patet janua Lydiae ? 
 
 Lyd. Ouamquam sidere pulchrior 
 I lie est, tu levior cortice, et improbo 
 
 Iracundior Hadria ; 
 Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens. 
 
 HOR. 1. 3, Od. 9.
 
 86 Essay on the 
 
 Ex Dionys. Hal. De Coinpositione Verbonnn, 
 c. 26. 
 
 Ore AapvaKi ev 8aiSaAea ave/to? 
 fipffj-r) TTVCWV, KivrjOftara Se Xi/j,va 
 Aei/xan cpenrev OVT' a8iavTaio"i 
 Ilapeiais, a/u.<i re Hepo-ei /3aAAe 
 
 t&tAaV Xepa, t7TCV T' O) Tt/CVOV, 
 
 'Oiov e^w TTOVOV. crv 8' aure yaXaOrji'dt 
 
 Hropi Kvoo-creis ev arepTrct 8to/x,aTi, 
 
 XaA/<oyo/u.^)a) Se, 
 
 Kuavew re 8vo</)U)' cru 8' a 
 reav KO/JLO.V fiaOuav 
 
 Ku/xaros OVK aAeyets 
 avepov <f>6oyy<av, Trop^upe 
 
 Kei/tevos ev ^AavtSi, TrpocrajTrov 
 
 Ei 8e roi Seivov TO ye 8etrov T^V 
 
 Kat piev /j.(t)V pir)/j.aT(j)v ACTTTOV 
 
 ouas. /ceAo/xai, Iu8e, ySpe^os, 
 
 8e TTOVTOS, trSerw a/xerpov Ka/ccv. 
 
 Zev irarep, e/c creo- on 8r/ OapcraXeov 
 ETTOS, cu^o/xat TCKVO^J. 8t/cas /xot. 
 
 Nocte sub obscura, verrentibus sequora vends, 
 
 Quum brevis immensa cymba nataret aqua, 
 Multa gemens Danae subjecit brachia nato, 
 
 Et tenerse lacrymis immaduere genae. 
 Tu tamen ut dulci, dixit, pulcherrime, somno 
 
 Obrutus, et metuens tristia nulla, jaces ! 
 Quamvis, heu quales cunas tibi concutit unda, 
 
 Prsebet et incertam pallida luna facem, 
 Et vehemens flavos everberat aura capillos, 
 
 Et prope, subsultans, irrigat ora liquor. 
 Nate, meam sentis vocem ? Nil cernis et audis, 
 
 Teque premunt placidi vincula blanda dei ; 
 Nee mihi purpureis effundis blsa labellis 
 
 Murmura, nee notes confugis usque sinus.
 
 Principles of Translation 87 
 
 Care, quiesce, puer, sasvique quiescite fluctus, 
 Et mea qui pulsas corda, quiesce, dolor. 
 
 Cresce puer ; matris leni atque ulciscere luctus, 
 Tuque tuos saltern protege summe Tonans. 
 
 This admirable translation falls short of its 
 original only in a single particular, the measure 
 of the verse. One striking beauty of the original, 
 is the easy and loose structure of the verse, 
 which has little else to distinguish it from ani- 
 mated discourse but the harmony of the syllables ; 
 and hence it has more of natural impassioned 
 eloquence, than is conveyed by the regular 
 measure of the translation. That this character- 
 istic of the original should have been overlooked 
 by the ingenious translator, is the more remark- 
 able, that the poem is actually quoted by Diony- 
 sius, as an apposite example of that species of 
 composition in which poetry approaches to the 
 freedom of prose ; rrjs eju/ueAous KCU fj.^rpov <rvvdf- 
 crecos rrjs f)(OV(Tr]S TroXXrjv o/xotorjjTa Ttpos rt]V TTf(jt]v 
 Xtiv. Dr. Markham saw this excellence of the 
 original ; and in that fine imitation of the verses 
 of Simonides, which an able critic 1 has pro- 
 nounced to be far superior to the original, has 
 given it its full effect. The passage alluded to 
 is an apostrophe of a mother to her sleeping 
 infant, a widowed mother, who has just left the 
 deathbed of her husband. 
 
 His conatibus occupata, ocellos 
 Guttis lucidulis adhuc madentes 
 
 1 Dr. Warton.
 
 88 Essay on the 
 
 Convertit, puerum sopore vinctum 
 Qua nutrix placido sinu fovebat : 
 Dormis, inquiit, O miselle, nee te 
 Vultus exanimes, silentiumque 
 Per longa atria commovent, nee ullo 
 Fratrum tangeris, aut meo dole-re ; 
 Nee sentis patre destitutus illo 
 Qui gestans genibusve brachiove 
 Aut formans lepidam tuam loquelam 
 Tecum mille modis ineptiebat. 
 Tu dormis, volitantque qui solebant 
 
 Risus in roseis tuis labellis. 
 
 Dormi parvule ! nee mali dolores 
 Qui matrem cruciant tuse quietis 
 Rumpant somnia. Quando, quando tales 
 Redibunt oculis meis sopores ! 
 
 The next specimen I shall give, is the transla- 
 tion of a beautiful epigram, from the Antliologia 
 which is supposed by Junius to be descriptive of 
 a painting mentioned by Pliny, 1 in which, a 
 mother wounded, and in the agony of death, is 
 represented as giving suck to her infant for the 
 last time : 
 
 EXxe roAav Trapa fJLf}rpo<s ov OVK en p.aov d/xcXf 5, 
 
 EA/cvcrov vcrraTiov va/m Karac^i/Mei^s 
 H8?; yap i<e'eo-cri XITTOTTVOOS, aAA.a TO. /x^rpos 
 
 <J>iA.Tpa KCU cv dt'Siy TratSoKO/xeif l/ia^ov. 
 
 1 Hujus (viz. Aristidis) pictnra est, oppido capto, ad 
 inatris morientis e vulnere mammam adrcpcns infans j in- 
 telligiturque sentire mater et timere, ne emortuo lacte san- 
 guinem infans lambat. Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 35, c. 10. If 
 the epigram was made on the subject of this picture, 
 Pliny's idea of the expression of the painting is somewhat 
 more refined than that of the epigrammatist, though 
 certainly not so natural. As a complicated feeling can 
 never be clearly expressed in painting, it is not improbable 
 that the same picture should have suggested ideas some- 
 what different to different observers.
 
 Principles of Translation 89 
 
 Thus happily translated into English by Mr. 
 Webb: 
 
 Suck, little wretch, while yet thy mother lives, 
 Suck the last drop her fainting bosom gives ! 
 She dies : her tenderness survives her breath, 
 And her fond love is provident in death. 
 
 Equal in merit to any of the preceding, is 
 the following translation by Mr. Hughes from 
 
 Claudian. 
 
 Ex Epithalainio Honorii & Maricz. 
 
 Cunctatur stupefacta Venus ; mine ora puellce, 
 N-unc flavam niveo miratur vertice matrem. 
 Htzc modo crescenti, plena par altera LuncR : 
 Assurgit ceu forte minor sub matre virenti 
 Laurus ; et ingentes ramos, olimque futuras 
 Promittit jam parva comas : vel flore sub uno 
 Seu gemince P&stana rosce per jugera regnant. 
 Hczc largo matura die, satiirataque vernis 
 Roribus indulget spatio : latet altera nodo, 
 Nee teneris audetfoliis admittere soles. 
 
 The goddess paus'd ; and, held in deep amaze, 
 
 Now views the mother's, now the daughter's face. 
 
 Different in each, yet equal beauty glows ; 
 
 That, the full moon, and this, the crescent shows, 
 
 Thus, rais'd beneath its parent tree is seen 
 
 The laurel shoot, while in its early green 
 
 Thick sprouting leaves and branches are essay'd, 
 
 And all the promise of a future shade. 
 
 Or blooming thus, in happy Psestan fields, 
 
 One common stock two lovely roses yields : 
 
 Mature by vernal dews, this dares display 
 
 Its leaves full-blown, and boldly meets the day 
 
 That, folded in its tender nonage lies, 
 
 A beauteous bud, nor yet admits the skies.
 
 9o Essay on the 
 
 The following passage, from a Latin version of 
 the Messiah of Pope, by a youth of uncommon 
 genius, 1 exhibits the singular union of ease, ani- 
 mation, and harmony of numbers, with the 
 strictest fidelity to the original. 
 
 Lanigera ul caute placidus regit agmina pastor, 
 Aera ut explorat ptirum, camposque virentes ; 
 Amissas ut qucerit oves, moderator eunthm 
 Ut gressus, curatque diu, nociuque tuetitr ; 
 Ut teneros agnos lenta inter brachia tollit, 
 Mulcenti pasrit palma, gretnioque fodllat ; 
 Sic genus omne hominum sic complectetur amanti 
 Pectore, promissus seclo Pater ille futuro. 
 
 As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care, 
 Seeks freshest pasture and the purest air ; 
 Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs, 
 By day o'ersees them, and by night protects ; 
 The tender lambs he raises in his arms, 
 Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms : 
 Thus shall mankind his guardian care engage 
 The promis'd Father of the future age. 
 
 To these specimens of perfect translation, in 
 which not only the ideas of the original are 
 completely transfused, but the manner most 
 happily imitated, I add the following admirable 
 translations by Mr. Cumberland, 2 of two frag- 
 ments from the Greek dramatists Timocles and 
 Diphilus, which are preserved by Athenaeus. 
 
 1 J. H. Beattie, son of the learned and ingenious Dr. 
 Beattie of Aberdeen, a young man who disappointed the 
 promise of great talents by an early death. In him, the 
 author of The Ministrel saw his Ed-win realised. 
 
 2 Observer, vol. 4, p. 115, and vol. 5, p. 145.
 
 Principles of Translation 91 
 
 The first of these passages beautifully illus- 
 trates the moral uses of the tragic drama : 
 
 Nay, my good friend, but hear me ! I confess 
 
 Man is the child of sorrow, and this world, 
 
 In which we breathe, hath cares enough to plague us ; 
 
 But it hath means withal to soothe these cares : 
 
 And he who meditates on others' woes, 
 
 Shall in that meditation lose his own : 
 
 Call then the tragic poet to your aid, 
 
 Hear him, and take instruction from the stage : 
 
 Let Telephus appear ; behold a prince, 
 
 A spectacle of poverty and pain, 
 
 Wretched in both. And what if you are poor ? 
 
 Are you a demigod ? Are you the son 
 
 Of Hercules ? Begone ! Complain no more. 
 
 Doth your mind struggle with distracting thoughts ? 
 
 Do your wits wander ? Are you mad? Alas ! 
 
 So was Alcmeon, whilst the world ador'd 
 
 His father as their God. Your eyes are dim ; 
 
 What then ? The eyes of (Edipus were dark, 
 
 Totally dark. You mourn a son ; he's dead ; 
 
 Turn to the tale of Niobe for comfort, 
 
 And match your loss with hers. You're lame of foot ; 
 
 Compare it with the foot of Philoctetes, 
 
 And make no more complaint. But you are old, 
 
 Old and unfortunate ; consult Oeneus ; 
 
 Hear what a king endur'd, and learn content. 
 
 Sum up your miseries, number up your sighs, 
 
 The tragic stage shall give you tear for tear, 
 
 And wash out all afflictions but its own. 1 
 
 The following fragment from Diphilus conveys 
 1 The original of the fragment of Timocles : 
 
 n TO.V, b.Kovffov t\v TL ffoi yueAAco Ae'-ye iv. 
 A.v6p<air&s tffn <aov tTriiro^oi' (pvffei, 
 Kal TroAAa At/Tr/jp 5 ftios ev tavrca (pfpei. 
 napa^vxas ovv tppovriSuiv avevparov
 
 92 Essay on the 
 
 a very favourable idea of the spirit of the 
 dialogue, in what has been termed the New 
 Comedy of the Greeks, or that which was 
 posterior to the age of Alexander the Great. 
 
 Tavras- & yap vovs Ttav iSitav A.TJfhjf \afiiav 
 Tlpbs a\\orpicf re ^/vx^-y^ynSfls TaOft, 
 Me0' T/Soprjs dir^Afle iraiSevOfls aua- 
 Tovs yap rpaycfSovs irpiarov ei ftov\fi ffKotrfi, 
 fis u)(pt\ovffi iravras- 6 /j.tv yap &v Trfvris 
 nriax^rfpov avrov Kara/j.a6iav rbv T'fi\e(f)ov 
 rev6fj.evov, ^877 TTJV ireviav paov <pfpei. 
 O voffOov 8e fjLavtKws, A\K/j.aicav' ffKe^/aro. 
 O(pOa\(j.ia TIS ; elffl 4>ireT5at rv(J>\ol. 
 TtdirriKf Tea Trals ; TJ NiojSrj xeKOixpixf. 
 Xa>A(fs TIS ^<TTI, T^V fiAo/fTTJTrji' dpS.- 
 Tfpojv rls arvx*? i KaTf/j.ade rbv Olvta. 
 Airavra yap ra /j.eiov' tf ireirovBe rts 
 ATi>x^M aT ' aAXois yeyovdr' evvoovfievos, 
 Tas avTbs avrov ffvfji.<popas paov <j>fpei. 
 
 Thus, in the literal version of Dalechampius : 
 
 Hem amice, nunc ausculta quod dicfurus sum tibi. 
 
 Animal naturd laboriosum homo est. 
 
 Tristia vita secum affert plurima : 
 
 Itaque curarum hcec adinvenit solatia : 
 
 Mentem enim suorum malorum oblitam, 
 
 Alienorum casuum reputatio consolatur, 
 
 Inddquefit ea Itzta, et erudita ad sapientiam. 
 
 Tragicos enim primiim, si libet, considera, 
 
 Quam prosint omnibus. Qui eget^ 
 
 Pauperiorem se fuisse Telephum 
 
 Cum intelligit, leniiis fert inopiam. 
 
 Insanid qui cegrotat, de Alcmeone is cogitet. 
 
 Lippus est aliquis, Phinea co3cum is contempletur. 
 
 Obiit tibi filius, dolorem levabit exemplum Niobes. 
 
 Claudicat quispiam, Philocteten is respicito. 
 
 Miser est senex a/tyuz's, in Oeneum is intuetor. 
 
 Omnia namque graviora quam patiatur 
 
 Infortunia quivis animadvertens in aliis cum deprehen- 
 
 derit, 
 Suas calamitates luget minus.
 
 Principles of Translation 93 
 
 Of this period Diphilus and Menander were 
 among the most shining ornaments. 
 
 We have a notable good law at Corinth, 
 
 Where, if an idle fellow outruns reason, 
 
 Feasting and junketting at furious cost, 
 
 The sumptuary proctor calls upon him, 
 
 And thus begins to sift him. -You live well, 
 
 But have you well to live ? You squander freely, 
 
 Have you the wherewithal ? Have you the fund 
 
 For these outgoings ? If you have, go on ! 
 
 If you have not, we'll stop you in good time, 
 
 Before you outrun honesty ; for he 
 
 Who lives we know not how, must live by plunder ; 
 
 Either he picks a purse, or robs a house, 
 
 Or is accomplice with some knavish gang, 
 
 Or thrusts himself in crowds, to play th' informer, 
 
 And put his perjur'd evidence to sale : 
 
 This a well-order'd city will not suffer ; 
 
 Such vermin we expel. " And you do wisely : 
 
 But what is that to me ? " Why, this it is : 
 
 Here we behold you every day at work, 
 
 Living, forsooth ! not as your neighbours live, 
 
 But richly, royally, ye gods ! Why man, 
 
 We cannot get a fish for love or money, 
 
 You swallow the whole produce of the sea : 
 
 You've driv'n our citizens to brouze on cabbage ; 
 
 A sprig of parsley sets them all a-fighting, 
 
 As at the Isthmian games : If hare or partridge, 
 
 Or but a simple thrush comes to the market, 
 
 Quick, at a word, you snap him : By the Gods ! 
 
 Hunt Athens through, you shall not find a feather 
 
 But in your kitchen ; and for wine, 'tis gold 
 
 Not to be purchas'd. We may drink the ditches. 1 
 
 1 The original of the fragment of Diphilus : 
 
 Toiovro v6p.iij.6v earl &tX-riaT ev9aSe 
 Kopivdiois, iV eav riv' oty&ivovvr' ael
 
 94 Essay on the 
 
 Of equal merit with these two last specimens, 
 are the greatest part of those translations given 
 by Mr. Cumberland of the fragments of the 
 
 AajAirptas Speaker, TOVTOV avaKptvetv Tr6dei> 
 ZT), Kal T( TTOLUV. K&V fj.ev ovaiav exy 
 Us at irpoffoSoi \vovo~t r' avaK-jifj.aTa, 
 Bay airo\aveiv. jjSe TOVTOV T~OV /3lov. 
 Eav 8' virep TIJV ovffiav SaTravcav Ti/xy, 
 AireiTTOi' avTca TOVTO yUTj iroifiv fTi. 
 Os kv Se (J.TI irfidriT*, eirffiaXov ^tjfjLiav. 
 Eat' 8e fj.T]Se bnovv t-%<av fff Tro\VTf\cas, 
 TtS Srjfiicf irapeStoKO.!' aiiTov. HpaXets. 
 OT Iv5fx e ' rat y^P Cy v & vev KO.KOV Tivbs 
 TOVTOV. ffvvirjs ; a\\' avayitaicas e^ 6 ' 
 HXoTroSuTeTj/ ras VVKTOLS, ^ Toixcapvx^v, 
 
 H T<i>V TTOIOVVTWV TUVTO, KOlVtoVSlV Tlfflf. 
 
 H avKo<bavTfiv /car' ayopav, ^ fj.apTvpe'iv 
 WfvSri, TOiovTcav eKKa.Qa.ipoft.fv yevos. 
 OpOias ye v^ Ai', d\Ao Sr; T'I TOUT' e'^ot ; 
 Opa>fj.tv o\l/o>vovv6' e/caerTTjs ri/^epas, 
 Of xi /J.fTpi(as &e\Tiffre a*, a\\' virepr)<pd.vcas. 
 OT/c tffTiv IxOvrjpbv virb aov /j.eTa\a/3f'iv. 
 SUVTJ/COS Tipuiv els TO. \dxava rr\v -noKiv, 
 Tlfpl Ttiiv aeXivtav fj.axdfJ.ed' wffirep laQfiiois. 
 A.ay<i>s TIS elffe\rt\vd'. evdiis ripiraicas. 
 TilepSiKa 5' ^ KIX^V ; Kal v$i Ai" OVK t-ri 
 'EffTiv SI vfias ovSe ireTou.evj]v ISelv, 
 Tbv eviKbv o'lvov eiriTeTi/j.r)>cas iro\v. 
 
 Thus in the version of Dalechampius : 
 
 A. Tali's istic lex est, 6 vir optime, 
 Corinthiis : si quern obsonantem semper 
 Splendtdiiis aspexerint, ilium ut interrogent 
 Unde vivat, quidnam agat : quod si facultates illi sunt 
 Quorum ad eum sumptum reditus sujficiat, 
 Eo vita? luxu permittunt frui : 
 Sin amplius impendat qtidm pro re sua, 
 Ne id porrb facial interdicitur. 
 Si non pareat, mulctd quidem plectitur. 
 Si sumptuose vivit qui nihil prorsus habet, 
 Traditur puniendus carnifici. B. Proh Hercules. 
 
 A. Quod enim sa'as, fieri minime potest 
 Ut qui eo est tngenio, non -vivat tmprobe : itaque necessum
 
 Principles of Translation 95 
 
 Greek dramatists. The literary world owes to 
 that ingenious writer a very high obligation for 
 his excellent view of the progress of the dramatic 
 art among the Greeks, and for the collection he 
 has made of the remains of more than fifty of 
 their comic poets. 1 
 
 Vel noctu grassantem obvios spoliare, vel effractarium, 
 
 parietem sitffodere, 
 Vel his se furibits adjungere sociuni, 
 
 A lit delatorem et quadrnplatorem esse inforo : autfalsum 
 Testari : a talium hominum genere purgatur civitas. 
 
 B. Rede, per Jove in : sed ad me quid hoc at tine t ? 
 
 A. Nos te videmus obsonantcm quotidie 
 Haud mediocriter, vir optime, sed fastuose, et magnifice, 
 Ne pisciculum quideni ]iabere licet caussd tud : 
 Gives nostros commisisti, pugnaturos de oleribus : 
 De apio dimicamus tanquain in Isthmiis. 
 Si lepus necessity eu/n exteinplo rapis. 
 Perdicem, ac turdum ne volantein quideni 
 Propter vos, ita me Juppiter amet, nobis jam videre licet ', 
 Peregrini mnltiim auxistis vitii pretium. 
 
 1 It is to be regretted that Mr. Cumberland had not 
 either published the original fragments along with his 
 translations, or given special references to the authors 
 from whom he took them, and the particular part of their 
 works where they were to be found. The reader who 
 wishes to compare the translations with the originals, will 
 have some trouble in searching for them at random in 
 the works of Athenoeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, Stobaeus, 
 and others.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 LIMITATION OF THE RULE REGARDING THE 
 IMITATION OF STYLE. THIS IMITATION 
 MUST BE REGULATED BY THE GENIUS OF 
 LANGUAGES. THE LATIN ADMITS OF A 
 GREATER BREVITY OF EXPRESSION THAN 
 THE ENGLISH ; AS DOES THE FRENCH. 
 THE LATIN AND GREEK ALLOW GREATER 
 INVERSIONS THAN THE ENGLISH, AND 
 ADMIT MORE FREELY OF ELLIPSIS 
 
 THE rule which enjoins to a translator the 
 imitation of the style of the original author, 
 demands several limitations. 
 
 i. This imitation must always be regulated by 
 the nature or genius of the languages of the 
 original and of the translation. 
 
 The Latin language admits of a brevity, which 
 cannot be successfully imitated in the English. 
 
 Cicero thus writes to Trebatius (lib. 7, ep. 17) : 
 
 In Britanniam te profectum non esse gaudeo, 
 quod et tu labore caruisli, et ego te de rebus tills 
 non audiam. 
 
 It is impossible to translate this into English 
 with equal brevity, and at the same time do com- 
 plete justice to the sentiment Melmoth, there- 
 fore, has shewn great judgement in sacrificing 
 the imitation of style to the perfect transfusion 
 of the sense. " I am glad, for my sake as well 
 96
 
 Principles of Translation 97 
 
 as yours, that you did not attend Caesar into 
 Britain ; as it has not only saved you the fatigue 
 of a very disagreeable journey, but me likewise 
 that of being the perpetual auditor of your 
 wonderful exploits." Melm. Cic. Lett. b. 2, 1. 12. 
 Pliny to Minutianus, lib. 3, ep. 9, says, 
 towards the end of his letter: Temere dixi 
 Succurrit quod pr&terieram, et quidem serb : sed 
 quanquamprepostere reddetur. Facit hoc Homerus, 
 multique illius exemplo. Est alioqui perdecorum : 
 a me tamen non ideo fiet. It is no doubt possible 
 to translate this passage into English with a 
 conciseness almost equal to the original ; but in 
 this experiment we must sacrifice all its ease 
 and spirit. " I have said this rashly I recollect 
 an omission somewhat too late indeed. It 
 shall now be supplied, though a little pre- 
 posterously. Homer does this : and many after 
 his example. Besides, it is not unbecoming ; 
 but this is not my reason." Let us mark how 
 Mr. Melmoth, by a happy amplification, has 
 preserved the spirit and ease, though sacrificing 
 the brevity of the original. " But upon re- 
 collection, I find that I must recall that last 
 word; for I perceive, a little too late indeed, 
 that I have omitted a material circumstance. 
 However, I will mention it here, though some- 
 thing out of its place. In this, I have the 
 authority of Homer, and several other great 
 names, to keep me in countenance ; and the 
 critics will tell you this irregular manner has its 
 
 H
 
 98 Essay on the 
 
 beauties : but, upon my word, it is a beauty I 
 had not at all in my view." 
 
 An example of a similar brevity of expression, 
 which admits of no imitation in English, occurs 
 in another letter of Cicero to Trebatius, Ep. 1. 7, 
 14. 
 
 Chrysippus Vettius, Cyri architecti libertus, 
 fecit, ut te non immemorem putarem met. Valde 
 jam lautus es qui gravere literas ad me dare, 
 komini prcesertim domestico. Quod si scribere 
 oblitns es, minus multi jam te advocate causa 
 cadent. Sin nostri oblitus es, dabo ope ram ut 
 isthuc veniam antequam plane ex animo tuo effluo. 
 
 In translating this passage, Mr. Melmoth has 
 shewn equal judgement. Without attempting to 
 imitate the brevity of the original, which he 
 knew to be impossible, he saw that the 
 characterising features of the passage were 
 ease and vivacity; and these he has very happily 
 transfused into his translation. 
 
 " If it were not for the compliments you sent 
 me by Chrysippus, the freedman of Cyrus the 
 architect, I should have imagined I no longer 
 possessed a place in your thoughts. But surely 
 you are become a most intolerable fine gentle- 
 man, that you could not bear the fatigue of 
 writing to me, when you had the opportunity of 
 doing so by a man, whom, you know, I look 
 upon as one almost of my own family. Perhaps, 
 however, you may have forgotten the use of 
 your pen : and so much the better, let me tell
 
 Principles of Translation 99 
 
 you, for your clients, as they will lose no more 
 causes by its blunders. But if it is myself only 
 that has escaped your remembrance, I must 
 endeavour to refresh it by a visit, before I am 
 worn out of your memory, beyond all power of 
 recollection." 
 
 Numberless instances of a similar exercise of 
 judgement and of good taste are to be found in 
 Mr. Murphy's excellent translation of Tacitus. 
 After the death of Germanicus, poisoned, as was 
 suspected, by Piso, with the tacit approbation of 
 Tiberius, the public loudly demanded justice 
 against the supposed murderer, and the cause 
 was solemnly tried in the Roman Senate. Piso, 
 foreseeing a judgement against him, chose to 
 anticipate his fate by a voluntary death. The 
 senate decreed that his family name should be 
 abolished for ever, and that his brother Marcus 
 should be banished from his country for ten 
 years ; but in deference to the solicitations of the 
 Empress, they granted a free pardon to Plancina, 
 his widow. Tacitus proceeds to relate, that this 
 sentence of the senate was altered by Tiberius : 
 Multa ex ea sententia mitigata sunt a principe ; 
 " ne nomen Pisonis fastis eximeretur, quando 
 M. Antonii, qui bellinn patricz fecisset, Juli 
 Antcnii, qui domum Augusti violasset, manerent;" 
 et M. Pisonem ignominies exemit, concessitque ei 
 paterna bona ; satis firmus, ut scepe memoravi, 
 adversus pecuniam ; et turn pudore absolutes 
 Plandnce placabilior. Atque idem cum Valerius
 
 ioo Essay on the 
 
 Messalinus signum aureum in cede Martis Ultoris, 
 Cacina Severns aram ultioni statuendam cen- 
 suissent, prohibuit : ob externas ea victorias 
 sacrari dictitans.domestica mala tristitiaoperienda. 
 An. 1. 3, c. 1 8. 
 
 Thus necessarily amplified, and translated with 
 the ease of original composition, by Mr. Murphy : 
 
 " This sentence, in many particulars, was 
 mitigated by Tiberius. The family name, he 
 said, ought not to be abolished, while that of 
 Mark Antony, who appeared in arms against his 
 country, as well as that of Julius Antonius, who 
 by his intrigues dishonoured the house of 
 Augustus, subsisted still, and figured in the 
 Roman annals. Marcus Piso was left in pos- 
 session of his civil dignities, and his father's 
 fortune. Avarice, as has been already observed, 
 was not the passion of Tiberius. On this occa- 
 sion, the disgrace incurred by the partiality 
 shewn to Plancina, softened his temper, and 
 made him the more willing to extend his mercy 
 to the son. Valerius Messalinus moved, that a 
 golden statue might be erected in the temple of 
 Mars the Avenger. An altar to Vengeance was 
 proposed by Caecina Severus. Both these 
 motions were over-ruled by the Emperor. The 
 principle on which he argued was, that public 
 monuments, however proper in cases of foreign 
 conquest, were not suited to the present junc- 
 ture. Domestic calamity should be lamented, 
 and as soon as possible consigned to oblivion."
 
 Principles of Translation 101 
 
 The conclusion of the same chapter affords 
 an example yet more striking of the same 
 necessary and happy amplification by the 
 translator. 
 
 Addiderat Messalinus, Tiberio et Augusta, et 
 Antonice, et A gripping, Drusoque, ob vindictani 
 Germanid grates agendas, omiseratque Claudii 
 mentionem ; et Messalinum quidem L. Asprenas 
 senatu coram percunctatus est, an prudens prceter- 
 isset? Actum demum nomen Claudii adscriptum 
 est. Mihi quanta plura recentium, seu veterum 
 revolvo, tanto magis ludibria rerum mortalium 
 cunctis in negotiis obversantur ; quippe fama, spe, 
 veneratione potius omnes destinabantur imperio, 
 quam quem futunnn principem fortuna in occulto 
 tenebat. 
 
 " Messalinus added to his motion a vote of 
 thanks to Tiberius and Livia, to Antonia, 
 Agrippina, and Drusus, for their zeal in bringing 
 to justice the enemies of Germanicus. The 
 name of Claudius was not mentioned. Lucius 
 Asprenas desired to know whether that omission 
 was intended. The consequence was, that 
 Claudius was inserted in the vote. Upon an 
 occasion like this, it is impossible not to pause 
 for a moment, to make a reflection that naturally 
 rises out of the subject. When we review what 
 has been doing in the world, is it not evident, 
 that in all transactions, whether of ancient or of 
 modern date, some strange caprice of fortune 
 turns all human wisdom to a jest? In the
 
 IO2 Essay on the 
 
 juncture before us, Claudius figured so little on the 
 stage of public business, that there was scarce a 
 man in Rome, who did not seem, by the voice of 
 fame and the wishes of the people, designed for 
 the sovereign power, rather than the very person, 
 whom fate, in that instant, cherished in obscurity, 
 to make him, at a future period, master of the 
 Roman world." 
 
 So likewise in the following passage, we must 
 admire the judgement of the translator in 
 abandoning all attempt to rival the brevity 
 of the original, since he knew it could not be 
 attained but with the sacrifice both of ease and 
 perspicuity : 
 
 Is finis fuit ulciscenda Germanici morte, non 
 modo apud illos homines qui turn agebant, etiam 
 secutis temporibus vario rumore jactata ; adeo 
 maxima quceque ambigua sunt, dum alii quoquo 
 modo audita pro compertis habent ; alii vera in 
 contrarium vertunt ; et gliscit utrumque posteri- 
 tate. An. 1. 3, c. 19. 
 
 " In this manner ended the enquiry concerning 
 the death of Germanicus ; a subject which has 
 been variously represented, not only by men of 
 that day, but by all subsequent writers. It 
 remains, to this hour, the problem of history. A 
 cloud for ever hangs over the most important 
 transactions ; while, on the one hand, credulity 
 adopts for fact the report of the day ; and, on 
 the other, politicians warp and disguise the 
 truth : between both parties two different
 
 Principles of Translation 103 
 
 accounts go down from age to age, and gain 
 strength with posterity." 
 
 The French language admits of a brevity of 
 expression more corresponding to that of the 
 Latin : and of this D'Alembert has given many 
 happy examples in his translations from Tacitus. 
 
 Quod si vita suppeditet, principatum divi 
 Nerves et imperium Trajani, uberiorem, securior- 
 emque mater iam senectuti seposui : rard temporum 
 felicitate, ubi sentire qua velis, et qua sentias 
 dicere licet, Prsf. ad Hist. " Si les dieux m'ac- 
 cordent des jours, je destine a 1'occupation et a 
 la consolation de ma vieillesse, 1'histoire interes- 
 sante et tranquille de Nerva et de Trajan ; terns 
 heureux et rares, ou 1'on est libre de pcnseret de 
 parler." 
 
 And with equal, perhaps superior felicity, the 
 same passage is thus translated by Rousseau : 
 " Que s'il me reste assez de vie, je reserve pour 
 ma vieillesse la riche et paisible matiere des 
 regnes de Nerva et de Trajan : rares et heureux 
 terns, ou Ton peut penser librement, et dire ce 
 que Ton pense." 
 
 But D'Alembert, from too earnest a desire to 
 imitate the conciseness of his original, has some- 
 times left the sense imperfect. Of this an 
 example occurs in the passage before quoted, 
 An. 1. i, c. 2. Cum cceteri nobilium, quanta quis 
 servitio promptior, opibus et honoribus extolle- 
 rentur: the translator, too studious of brevity, 
 has not given the complete idea of his author,.
 
 104 Essay on the 
 
 " Le reste des nobles trouvoit dans les richesses 
 et dans les honneurs la recompense de 1'escla- 
 vage." Omnium consensu capax imperil nisi 
 imperasset, Tac. Hist. I, 49. " Digne de 1'empire 
 au jugement de tout le monde tant qu'il ne regna 
 pas." This is not the idea of the author ; for 
 Tacitus does not mean to say that Galba was 
 judged worthy of the empire till he attained to 
 it ; but that all the world would have thought 
 him worthy of the empire if he had never 
 attained to it. 
 
 2. The Latin and Greek languages admit of 
 inversions which are inconsistent with the genius 
 of the English. 
 
 Mr. Gordon, injudiciously aiming at an imita- 
 tion of the Latin construction, has given a 
 barbarous air to his translation of Tacitus : 
 " To Pallas, who was by Claudius declared to 
 be the deviser of this scheme, the ornaments of 
 the praetorship, and three hundred seventy-five 
 thousand crowns, were adjudged by Bareas 
 Soranus, consul designed," An. b. 12. "Still 
 to be seen are the Roman standards in the 
 German groves, there, by me, hung up," An. 
 lib. i. "Naturally violent was the spirit of 
 Arminius, and now, by the captivity of his wife, 
 and by the fate of his child, doomed to bondage 
 though yet unborn, enraged even to distraction." 
 Ib. " But he, the more ardent he found the 
 affections of the soldiers, and the greater the 
 hatred of his uncle, so much the more intent
 
 Principles of Translation 105 
 
 upon a decisive victory, weighed with himself all 
 the methods," &c. Ib. lib. 2. 
 
 Thus, Mr. Macpherson, in his translation of 
 Homer, (a work otherwise valuable, as containing 
 a most perfect transfusion of the sense of his 
 author), has generally adopted an inverted con- 
 struction, which is incompatible with the genius 
 of the English language. "Tlepolemus, the race 
 of Hercules, brave in battle and great in arms, 
 nine ships led to Troy, with magnanimous 
 Rhodians rilled. Those who dwelt in Rhodes, 
 distinguished in nations three, who held Lindus, 
 lalyssus, and white Camirus, beheld him afar. 
 Their leader in arms was Tlepolemus, renowned 
 at the spear, //. 1. 2. The heroes the slaughter 
 began. Alexander first a warrior slew 
 Through the neck, by the helm passed the 
 steel. Iphinous, the son of Dexius, through 
 the shoulder he pierced to the earth fell the 
 chief in his blood, Ib. 1. 7. Not unjustly we 
 Hector admire ; matchless at launching the 
 spear ; to break the line of battle, bold, Ib. 1. 5. 
 Nor for vows unpaid rages Apollo ; nor solemn 
 sacrifice denied," Ib. 1. i. 
 
 3. The English language is not incapable of 
 an elliptical mode of expression ; but it does not 
 admit of it to the same degree as the Latin. 
 Tacitus says, Trepida civitas incusare Tiberium, 
 for trepida civitas incepit incusare Tiberium. We 
 cannot say in English, " The terrified city to 
 blame Tiberius:" And even as Gordon has
 
 io6 Principles of Translation 
 
 translated these words, the ellipsis is too violent 
 for the English language ; " hence against 
 Tiberius many complaints." 
 
 T&wr)/J.ap fjiv ava (rrparov WKCTO KrjXa. Oeolo. 
 
 II. 1. I, 1. 53 . 
 
 "For nine days the arrows of the god were 
 darted through the army." The elliptical brevity 
 of Mr. Macpherson's translation of this verse, 
 has no parallel in the original; nor is it agreeable 
 to the English idiom : 
 
 " Nine days rush the shafts of the God."
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 WHETHER A POEM CAN BE WELL TRANSLATED 
 INTO PROSE 
 
 FROM all the preceding observations respect- 
 ing the imitation of style, we may derive this 
 precept, That a Translator ought always to figure 
 to himself, in what manner the original author 
 would have expressed himself, if he had written 
 in the language of the translation. 
 
 This precept leads to the examination, and 
 probably to the decision, of a question which has 
 admitted of some dispute, Whether a poem can 
 be well translated into prose ? 
 
 There are certain species of poetry, of which 
 the chief merit consists in the sweetness and 
 melody of the versification. Of these it is 
 evident, that the very essence must perish in 
 translating them into prose. What should we 
 find in the following beautiful lines, when divested 
 of the melody of verse? 
 
 She said, and melting as in tears she lay, 
 In a soft silver stream dissolved away. 
 The silver stream her virgin coldness keeps, 
 For ever murmurs, and for ever weeps ; 
 Still bears the name the hapless virgin bore, 
 And bathes the forest where she rang'd before. 
 
 POPE'S Windsor Forest. 
 
 But a great deal of the beauty of every regular 
 107
 
 io8 Essay on the 
 
 poem, consists in the melody of its numbers. 
 Sensible of this truth, many of the prose trans- 
 lators of poetry, have attempted to give a sort 
 of measure to their prose, which removes it from 
 the nature of ordinary language. If this measure 
 is uniform, and its return regular, the composi- 
 tion is no longer prose, but blank-verse. If it is 
 not uniform, and does not regularly return upon 
 the ear, the composition will be more unhar- 
 monious, than if the measure had been entirely 
 neglected. Of this, Mr. Macpherson's transla- 
 tion of the Iliad \s a strong example. 
 
 But it is not only by the measure that poetry 
 is distinguishable from prose. It is by the 
 character of its thoughts and sentiments, and 
 by the nature of that language in which they are 
 clothed. 1 A boldness of figures, a luxuriancy of 
 imagery, a frequent use of metaphors, a quick- 
 ness of transition, a liberty of digressing ; all 
 these are not only allowable in poetry, but to many 
 species of it, essential. But they are quite un- 
 suitable to the character of prose. When seen 
 in a prose translation, they appear preposterous 
 and out of place, because they are never found 
 in an original prose composition. 
 
 In opposition to these remarks, it may be 
 urged, that there are examples of poems origin- 
 ally composed in prose, as Fenelon's Telemachus. 
 
 1 C'est en quoi consiste le grand art de la Poesie, de 
 dire figurement presque tout ce qu'elle dit. Rapin. 
 Reflex, fur la Poetique en general. 29.
 
 Principles of Translation 109 
 
 But to this we answer, that Fenelon, in com- 
 posing his Telemachus, has judiciously adopted 
 nothing more of the characteristics of poetry 
 than what might safely be given to a prose com- 
 position. His good taste prescribed to him 
 certain limits, which he was under no necessity 
 of transgressing. But a translator is not left to 
 
 o o 
 
 a similar freedom of judgement: he must follow 
 the footsteps of his original. Fenelon's Epic 
 Poem is of a very different character from the 
 Iliad, the sEneid, or the Gierusalemme Liberata. 
 The French author has, in the conduct of his 
 fable, seldom transgressed the bounds of historic 
 probability ; he has sparingly indulged himself 
 in the use of the Epic machinery ; and there is 
 a chastity and sobriety even in his language, 
 very different from the glowing enthusiasm that 
 characterises the diction of the poems we have 
 mentioned : We find nothing in the Telemaque 
 of the Os magna sonaturuni- 
 
 The difficulty of translating poetry into prose, 
 is different in its degree, according to the nature 
 or species of the poem. Didactic poetry, of 
 which the principal merit consists in the detail 
 of a regular system, or in rational precepts which 
 flow from each other in a connected train of 
 thought, will evidently suffer least by being 
 transfused into prose. But every didactic poet 
 judiciously enriches his work with such orna- 
 ments as are not strictly attached to his subject. 
 In a prose translation of such a- poem, all that
 
 no Essay on the 
 
 is strictly systematic or preceptive may be 
 transfused with propriety ; all the rest, which 
 belongs to embellishment, will be found im- 
 pertinent and out of place. Of this we have a 
 convincing proof in Dryden's translation of the 
 valuable poem of Du Fresnoy, De Arte Graphica. 
 The didactic parts of the poem are translated 
 with becoming propriety ; but in the midst of 
 those practical instructions in the art of painting, 
 how preposterous appear in prose such passages 
 as the following ? 
 
 " Those things which the poets have thought 
 unworthy of their pens, the painters have judged 
 to be unworthy of their pencils. For both those 
 arts, that they might advance the sacred honours 
 of religion, have raised themselves to heaven ; 
 and having found a free admission into the 
 palace of Jove himself, have enjoyed the sight 
 and conversation of the Gods, whose awful 
 majesty they observe, and whose dictates they 
 communicate to mankind, whom, at the same 
 time they inspire with those celestial flames 
 which shine so gloriously in their works." 
 
 " Besides all this, you are to express the 
 motions of the spirits, and the affections or pas- 
 sions, whose centre is the heart. This is that in 
 which the greatest difficulty consists. Few there 
 are whom Jupiter regards with a favourable eye 
 in this undertaking. 
 
 " And as this part, (the Art of Colouring), 
 which we may call the utmost perfection of
 
 Principles of Translation 1 1 1 
 
 Painting, is a deceiving beauty, but withal 
 soothing and pleasing ; so she has been accused 
 of procuring lovers for her sister (Design), and 
 artfully engaging us to admire her." 
 
 But there are certain species of poetry, of the 
 merits of which it will be found impossible to 
 convey the smallest idea in a prose translation. 
 Such is Lyric poetry, where a greater degree of 
 irregularity of thought, and a more unrestrained 
 exuberance of fancy, is allowable than in any 
 other species of composition. To attempt, 
 therefore, a translation of a lyric poem into 
 prose, is the most absurd of all undertakings ; 
 for those very characters of the original which 
 are essential to it, and which constitute its highest 
 beauties, if transferred to a prose translation, be- 
 come unpardonable blemishes. The excursive 
 range of the sentiments, and the play of fancy, 
 which we admire in the original, degenerate in 
 the translation into mere raving and impertinence. 
 Of this the translation of Horace in prose, by 
 Smart, furnishes proofs in every page. 
 
 We may certainly, from the foregoing obser- 
 vations, conclude, that it is impossible to do 
 complete justice to any species of poetical com- 
 position in a prose translation ; in other words, 
 that none but a poet can translate a poet.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THIRD GENERAL RULE A TRANSLATION 
 SHOULD HAVE ALL THE EASE OF ORI- 
 GINAL COMPOSITION. EXTREME DIFFI- 
 CULTY IN THE OBSERVANCE OF THIS 
 RULE. CONTRASTED INSTANCES OF SUC- 
 CESS AND FAILURE. OF THE NECESSITY 
 OF SOMETIMES SACRIFICING ONE RULE 
 TO ANOTHER 
 
 IT remains now that we consider the third 
 general law of translation. 
 
 In order that the merit of the original work 
 may be so completely transfused as to produce 
 its full effect, it is necessary, not only that the 
 translation should contain a perfect transcript of 
 the sentiments of the original, and present like- 
 wise a resemblance of its style and manner ; but, 
 That the translation should have all the ease of 
 original composition. 
 
 When we consider those restraints within 
 which a translator finds himself necessarily con- 
 fined, with regard to the sentiments and manner 
 of his original, it will soon appear that this last 
 requisite includes the most difficult part of his 
 task. 1 To one who walks in trammels, it is not 
 
 1 " Quand il s'agit de representer dans une autre langue 
 les choses, les pensees, les expressions, les tours, les tons 
 d'un ouvrage ; les choses telles qu'elles sont sans rien 
 
 112
 
 Principles of Translation 113 
 
 easy to exhibit an air of grace and freedom. It 
 is difficult, even for a capital painter, to preserve 
 in a copy of a picture all the ease and spirit of 
 the original; yet the painter employs precisely 
 the same colours, and has no other care than 
 faithfully to imitate the touch and manner of the 
 picture that is before him. If the original is 
 easy and graceful, the copy will have the same 
 qualities, in proportion as the imitation is just 
 and perfect The translator's task is very differ- 
 ent : He uses not the same colours with the 
 original, but is required to give his picture the 
 same force and effect. He is not allowed to 
 copy the touches of the original, yet is required, 
 
 ajouter, ni retrancher, ni deplacer ; les pensees dans leurs 
 couleurs, leurs degres, leurs nuances ; les tours, qui 
 donnent le feu, 1'esprit, et la vie au discours ; les expres- 
 sions naturelles, figurees, fortes, riches, gracieuses, deli- 
 cates, &c. le tout d'apres un modele qui commande dure- 
 ment, et qui veut qu'on lui obeisse d'un air aise ; il faut, 
 sinon autant de genie, du moins autant de gout pour bien 
 traduire, que pour composer. Peutetre meme en faut il 
 davantage. L'auteur qui compose, conduit seulement par 
 une sorte d'instinct toujours libre, et par sa matiere qui lui 
 presente des idees, qu'il peut accepter ou rejetter a son 
 gre, est maitre absolu de ses pensees et de ses expressions : 
 si la pensee ne lui convient pas, ou si ^expression ne 
 convient pas a la pensee, il peut rejetter Tune et 1'autre ; 
 quce desperat tractala nitescere posse, relinquit. Le tra- 
 ducteur n'est maitre de rien ; il est oblige de suivre par- 
 tout son auteur, et de se plier a toutes ses variations avec 
 une souplesse infinie. Qu'on en juge par la variete des 
 tons qui se trouvent necessairement dans un meme fujet, 
 
 et a plus forte raison dans un meme genre. Quelle 
 
 idee done ne doit-on pas avoir d'une traduction faite 
 avec succes?" Batteux de la construction Oratozre, 
 par. 2.
 
 H4 Essay on the 
 
 by touches of his own, to produce a perfect 
 resemblance. The more he studies a scrupulous 
 imitation, the less his copy will reflect the ease 
 and spirit of the original. How then shall a 
 translator accomplish this difficult union of ease 
 with fidelity ? To use a bold expression, he 
 must adopt the very soul of his author, which 
 must speak through his own organs. 
 
 Let us proceed to exemplify this third rule of 
 translation, which regards the attainment of ease 
 of style, by instances both of success and failure. 
 
 The familiar style of epistolary correspondence 
 is rarely attainable even in original composition. 
 It consists in a delicate medium between the per- 
 fect freedom of ordinary conversation and the 
 regularity of written dissertation or narrative. 
 It is extremely difficult to attain this delicate 
 medium in a translation ; because the writer has 
 neither a freedom of choice in the sentiments, 
 nor in the mode of expressing them. Mr. Mel- 
 moth appears to me to be a great model in this 
 respect. His Translations of the Epistles of 
 Cicero and of Pliny have all the ease of the 
 originals, while they present in general a very 
 faithful transcript of his author's sense. 
 
 " Surely, my friend, your couriers are a set of the 
 most unconscionable fellows. Not that they have 
 given me any particular offence ; but as they never 
 bring me a letter when they arrive here, is it fair, 
 they should always press me for one when they 
 return ?" Melmoth, Cic. Ep. 10, 20.
 
 Principles of Translation 115 
 
 PrcEposteros habes tabellarios ; etsi me quidem 
 non offendunt. Sed tamen cum a me discedunt, 
 flagitant litteras, cum ad me veniunt, millets 
 afferunt. Cic. Ep. 1. 15, ep. 17. 
 
 " Is it not more worthy of your mighty ambi- 
 tion, to be blended with your learned brethren 
 at Rome, than to stand tJie sole great wonder of 
 wisdom amidst a parcel of paltry provincials P" 
 Melmoth, Cic. Ep. 2, 23. 
 
 Velim ibi malis esse ubi aliquo numero sis, 
 quant isthic ubi solus sapere videare. Cic. Ep. 
 1. i, ep. 10. 
 
 "In short, I plainly perceive your finances are 
 in no flourishing situation, and I expect to hear 
 the same account of all your neighbours ; so that 
 famine, my friend, most formidable famine, must 
 be your fate, if ydu do not provide against it in 
 due time. And since you have been reduced to 
 sell your horse, een mount your mule, (the only 
 animal, it seems, belonging to you, which you 
 have not yet sacrificed to your table}, and convey 
 yourself immediately to Rome. To encourage 
 you to do so, you shall be honoured with a chair 
 and cushion next to mine, and sit the second 
 great pedagogue in my celebrated school." Mel- 
 moth, Cic. Ep. 8, 22. 
 
 Video te bona perdidisse : spero idem isthuc 
 familiares tuos. Actum igitur de te est, nisi pro- 
 vides. Potes nmlo isto quern tibi reliquum diets 
 esse (quando cantJierium comedisti) Romam per- 
 vehi. Sella tibi erit in ludo, tanquam hypodi-
 
 1 1 6 Essay on the 
 
 dascalo ; proximo, earn pulvimis sequetur. Cic. 
 Ep. 1. 9, ep. 1 8. 
 
 " Are you not a pleasant mortal, to question me 
 concerning the fate of those estates you mention, 
 when Balbus had just before been paying you a 
 visit?" Melmoth, Cic. Ep. 8, 24. 
 
 Non tu homo ridiculus es, qui cum Balbus 
 nostcr apud tefuerit, ex me queer as quid de istis 
 municipiis et agris futurum putem ? Cic. Ep. 9, 
 
 17- 
 
 " And now I have raised your expectations of 
 
 this piece, I doubt you will be disappointed when 
 it comes to your hands. In the meanwhile, how- 
 ever, you may expect it, as something that will 
 please you : And who knozus but it may ? " Plin. 
 Ep. 8, 3. 
 
 Erexi expectationem tuam ; quam vereor ne 
 destituat oratio in manus sumpta. Interim tamen, 
 tanquam placituram, etfortasse placebit, expecta. 
 Plin. Ep. 8, 3. 
 
 " I consent to undertake the cause which you 
 so earnestly recommend to me ; but as glorious 
 and honourable as it may be, I will not be your 
 counsel without a fee. Is it possible, you will say, 
 that my friend Pliny should be so mercenary ? 
 In truth it is ; and / insist upon a reward, which 
 will do me more honour than the most disinter- 
 ested patronage." Plin. Ep. 6, 23. 
 
 Impense petis ut agam causam pertinentcm 
 ad curam tuam, pulchram alioquin et famosam. 
 Faciain, sed non gratis. Qui fieri potest (inquis)
 
 Principles of Translation 117 
 
 ut non gratis tit ? Potest : exigam enim mercedem 
 honestiorem gratuito patrocinio. Plin. Ep. 8, 3. 
 
 To these examples of the ease of epistolary 
 correspondence, I add a passage from one of the 
 orations of Cicero, which is yet in a strain of 
 greater familiarity : " A certain mechanic 
 Whafs his name ? Ok, Fm obliged to you for 
 helping me to it: Yes, I mean Polycletus." 
 Melmoth. 
 
 A rtificem quemnam ? Recte admones. Poly- 
 cletum esse ducebant. Cicero, Orat. 2, in Verrem. 
 
 In the preceding instances from Mr. Melmoth, 
 the words of the English translation which are 
 marked in Italics, are those which, in my opinion, 
 give it the ease of original composition. 
 
 But while a translator thus endeavours to 
 transfuse into his work all the ease of the 
 original, the most correct taste is requisite to 
 prevent that ease from degenerating into licen- 
 tiousness. I have, in treating of the imitation 
 of style and manner, given some examples of 
 the want of this taste. The most licentious of 
 all translators was Mr. Thomas Brown, of face- 
 tious memory, in whose translations from Lucian 
 we have the most perfect ease ; but it is the ease 
 of Billingsgate and of Wapping. I shall contrast 
 a few passages of his translation of this author, 
 with those of another translator, who has given 
 a faithful transcript of the sense of his original, 
 but from an over-scrupulous fidelity has failed a 
 little in point of ease.
 
 1 1 8 Essay on the 
 
 GNATHON. "What now! Timon, do you 
 strike me ? Bear witness, Hercules ! O me, O 
 me ! But I will call you into the Areopagus for 
 this. TlMON, Stay a little only, and you may 
 bring me in guilty of murder." l Francklin's 
 Lucian. 
 
 GNATHON. " Confound him ! what a blow he 
 has given me ! What's this for, old Touchwood ? 
 Bear witness, Hercules, that he has struck me. 
 I warrant you, I shall make you repent of this 
 blow. I'll indite you upon an action of the case, 
 and bring you coram nobis for an assault and 
 battery." TlMON. " Do, thou confounded law- 
 pimp, do ; but if thou stay'st one minute longer, 
 I'll beat thee to pap. I'll make thy bones rattle 
 in thee, like three blue beans in a blue bladder. 
 Go, stinkard, or else I shall make you alter your 
 action, and get me indicted for manslaughter." 
 Timon, Trans, by Brown in Dryden's Lucian. 
 
 " On the whole, a most perfect character ; we 
 shall see presently, with all his modesty, what a 
 bawling he will make." Francklin's Lncian, 
 Timon? 
 
 " In fine, he's a person that knows the world 
 better than any one, and is extremely well 
 
 1 TN. Ti TOUTO ; iratets ca Tipcav ; fj.aprvpofj.af co Hpa/cAeis- tov, 
 tov. TlpoKa\oiifj.ai <re rpavfj,aros fts Apetov irayov TI/J.. K.ai fj.ev 
 av ye ^anpov eirtfJpaSvvrjs, <povov roxa irpoKfK\i)ffr) pe. Lucian, 
 Timon. 
 
 2 Kat 8Aa>s vavffoQov ri x/"7M> Kal "fd-VTaxoQfv aKpi/3fS, 
 /cat iroiKt\o>s evTf\es' oifKa^erat roiyapovv OVK ei 
 
 <uv. Lucian, Timon.
 
 Principles of Translation 119 
 
 acquainted with the whole Encyclopaedia of 
 villany; a true elaborate finished rascal, and for 
 all he appears so demure now, that you'd think 
 butter would not melt in his mouth, yet I shall 
 soon make him open his pipes, and roar like a 
 persecuted bear." Dryden's Lucian, Tinton. 
 
 " He changes his name, and instead of Byrria, 
 Dromo, or Tibius, now takes the name of 
 Megacles, or Megabyzus, or Protarchus, leaving 
 the rest of the expectants gaping and looking 
 at one another in silent sorrow." Francklin's 
 Lucian, Timon! 
 
 " Straight he changes his name, so that the 
 rascal, who the moment before had no other title 
 about the house, but, you son of a whore, you 
 bulk-begotten cur, you scoundrel, must now be 
 called his worship, his excellency, and the Lord 
 knows what. The best on't is, that this mush- 
 room puts all these fellows noses out of joint," 
 &c. Dryden's Lucian, Timon. 
 
 From these contrasted specimens we may 
 decide, that the one translation of Lucian errs 
 perhaps as much on the score of restraint, as 
 the other on that of licentiousness. The pre- 
 ceding examples from Melmoth point out, in 
 my opinion, the just medium of free and spirited 
 translation, for the attainment of which the most 
 correct taste is requisite. 
 
 1 AVTI TOV Tfais TIvppiov, TJ Apo/Awvcs, t] Tifiwv, Me-yaKAijs, 
 Meya@vos, rj Tlpcarapxos /jLerovo/Aatrdfis, rovs p-ar^v Kexyvoras 
 fKfivovs eis a\\7j\ovs a.Tro@\eirovTa.s /caroA.iTrcoj', &c. Lucian 
 Timon.
 
 I2O Essay on the 
 
 If the order in which I have classed the three 
 general laws of translation is their just and 
 natural arrangement, which I think will hardly 
 be denied, it will follow, that in all cases where 
 a sacrifice is necessary to be made of one of 
 those laws to another, a due regard ought to be 
 paid to their rank and comparative importance. 
 The different genius of the languages of the 
 original and translation, will often make it 
 necessary to depart from the manner of the 
 original, in order to convey a faithful picture 
 of the sense ; but it would be highly preposterous 
 to depart, in any case, from the sense, for the 
 sake of imitating the manner. Equally improper 
 would it be, to sacrifice either the sense or 
 manner of the original, if these can be preserved 
 consistently with purity of expression, to a 
 fancied ease or superior gracefulness of com- 
 position. This last is the fault of the French 
 translations of D'Ablancourt.an author otherwise 
 of very high merit. His versions are admirable, 
 so long as we forbear to compare them with the 
 originals ; they are models of ease, of elegance, 
 and perspicuity ; but he has considered these 
 qualities as the primary requisites of trans- 
 lation, and both the sense and manner of his 
 originals are sacrificed, without scruple, to their 
 attainment. 1 
 
 1 The following apology made by D'Ablancourt of 
 his own version of Tacitus, contains, however, many just 
 observations ; from which, with a proper abatement
 
 Principles of Translation 121 
 
 of that extreme liberty for which he contends, every 
 translator may derive much advantage. 
 
 Of Tacitus he thus remarks : " Comme il considere 
 souvent les choses par quelque biais etranger, il laisse 
 quelquefois ses narrations imparfaites, ce qui engendre 
 de 1'obscurite dans ses ouvrages, outre la multitude des 
 fautes qui s'y rencontrent, et le peu de lumiere qui nous 
 reste de la plupart des choses qui y sont traitees. II ne 
 faut done pas s ; etonner s'il est si difficile a traduire, 
 puisqu'il est meme difficile a entendre. D'ailleurs il a 
 accoutume de meler dans une meme periode, et quel- 
 quefois dans une meme expression diverses pensees 
 qui ne tiennent point 1'une a 1'autre, et dont il faut perdre 
 une partie, comme dans les ouvrages qu'on polit, pour 
 pouvoir exprimer le reste sans choquer les delicatesses 
 de notre langue, et la justesse du raisonnement. Car on 
 n'a pas le meme respect pour mon Francois que pour son 
 Latin ; et Ton ne me pardonneroit pas des choses, qu'on 
 admire souvent chez lui, et s'il faut ainsi dire, qu'on 
 revere. Par tout ailleurs je 1'ai suivi pas a pas, et plutot 
 en esclave qu'en compagnon ; quoique peutetre je me 
 pusse donner plus de liberte, puisque je ne traduis pas un 
 passage, rnais un livre, de qui toutes les parties doivent 
 etre unies ensemble, et comme fondues en un meme corps. 
 D'ailleurs, la diversite qui se trouve dans les langues 
 est si grande, tant pour la construction et la forme des 
 periodes, que pour les figures et les autres ornemens, 
 qu'il faut a touts coups changer d'air et de visage, si 
 Ton ne veut faire un corps monstrueux, tel que celui des 
 traductions ordinaires, qui sont ou mortes et languissantes, 
 ou confuses et embrouillees, sans aucun ordre ni agre- 
 ment. II faut done prendre garde qu'on ne fasse perdre 
 la grace a son auteur par trop de scrupule, et que de 
 peur de lui rnanquer de foi en quelque chose, on ne lui 
 soit infidele en tout : principalement, quand on fait 
 un ouvrage qui doit tenir lieu de 1'original, et qu'on ne 
 travaille pas pour faire entendre atix jeunes gens le Grec 
 ou le Latin. Car on fait que les expressions hardies ne 
 sont point exactes, parceque la justesse est ennemie de 
 la grandeur, comme il se voit dans la peinture et dans 
 1'ecriture ; mais la hardiesse du trait en supplee le defaut, 
 et elles sont trouvees plus belles de la sorte, que si elles 
 etoient plus regulieres. D'ailleurs il est difficile d'etre
 
 122 Principles of Translation 
 
 bien exact dans la traduction d'un auteur qui ne Test 
 point. Souvent on est contraint d'ajouter quelque chose 
 Ji sa pensee pour 1'eclaircir ; quelquefois il faut en 
 retrancher une partie pour donner jour a tout le reste. 
 Cependant, cela fait que les meilleures traductions 
 paroissent les moins fideles ; et un critique de notre terns 
 a remarque deux mille fautes dans le Plutarque d'Amyot, 
 et un autre presqu'autant dans les traductions d'Erasme ; 
 peutetre pour ne pas savoir que la diversite des langues 
 et des styles oblige a des traits tout differens, parceque 
 F Eloquence est une chose si delicate, qtf'tl nefaut quelquefois 
 grfune syllabc pour la corrompre. Car du reste, il n'y a 
 point d'apparence que deux si grands hommes se soient 
 abuses en tant de lieux, quoiqu'il ne soit pas etrange 
 qu'on se puisse abuser en quelque endroit. Mais tout le 
 monde n'est pas capable de juger d'une traduction, 
 quoique tout le monde s'en attribue la connoissance ; et 
 ici comme ailleurs, la maxime d'Aristote devroit servir de 
 regie, qu'il faut croire chacun en son art."
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 IT IS LESS DIFFICULT TO ATTAIN THE EASE OF 
 ORIGINAL COMPOSITION IN POETICAL, THAN 
 IN PROSE TRANSLATION. LYRIC POETRY 
 ADMITS OF THE GREATEST LIBERTY OF 
 TRANSLATION. EXAMPLES DISTINGUISH- 
 ING PARAPHRASE FROM TRANSLATION, 
 FROM DRYDEN, LOWTH, FONTENELLE, 
 PRIOR, ANGUILLARA, HUGHES. 
 
 IT may perhaps appear paradoxical to assert, 
 that it is less difficult to give to a poetical 
 translation all the ease of original composition, 
 than to give the same degree of ease to a prose 
 translation. Yet the truth of this assertion 
 will be readily admitted, if assent is given to that 
 observation, which I before endeavoured to illus- 
 trate, viz. That a superior degree of liberty is 
 allowed to a poetical translator in amplifying, 
 retrenching from, and embellishing his original, 
 than to a prose translator. For without some 
 portion of this liberty, there can be no ease of 
 composition ; and where the greatest liberty is 
 allowable, there that ease will be most apparent, 
 as it is less difficult to attain to it. 
 
 For the same reason, among the different 
 species of poetical composition, the lyric is that 
 which allows of the greatest liberty in transla- 
 tion ; as a freedom both of thought and expres- 
 sion is agreeable to its character. Yet even in 
 123
 
 124 Essay on the 
 
 this, which is the freest of all species of transla- 
 tion, we must guard against licentiousness ; and 
 perhaps the more so, that we are apt to persuade 
 ourselves that the less caution is necessary. The 
 difficulty indeed is, where so much freedom is 
 allowed, to define what is to be accounted 
 licentiousness in poetical translation. A moder- 
 ate liberty of amplifying and retrenching the 
 ideas of the original, has been granted to the 
 translator of prose ; but is it allowable, even to 
 the translator of a lyric poem, to add new 
 images and new thoughts to those of the origi- 
 nal, or to enforce the sentiments by illustrations 
 which are not in the original ? As the limits 
 between free translation and paraphrase are 
 more easily perceived than they can be well 
 defined, instead of giving a general answer to 
 this question, I think it safer to give my opinion 
 upon particular examples. 
 
 Dr. Lowth has adapted to the present times, 
 and addressed to his own countrymen, a very 
 noble imitation of the 6th ode of the third book 
 of Horace : Delicta majorum immeritiis hies, &c. 
 The greatest part of this composition is of the 
 nature of parody ; but in the version of the 
 following stanza there is perhaps but a slight 
 excess of that liberty which may be allowed to 
 the translator of a lyric poet : 
 
 Motus doceri gaudet lonicos 
 Matura virgo, et fingitur artubus 
 Jam nunc, et incestos amores 
 De tenero meditatur ungui.
 
 Principles of Translation 125 
 
 The ripening maid is vers'd in every dangerous art, 
 That ill adorns the form, while it corrupts the heart ; 
 
 Practis'd to dress, to dance, to play^ 
 
 In wanton mask to lead the way, 
 To move the pliant limbs, to roll the luring eye ; 
 With Folly's gayest partizans to vie 
 
 In empty noise and vain expence ; 
 
 To celebrate with flaunting air 
 
 The midnight revels of the fair ; 
 Studious of every praise, but virtue, truth, and sense. 
 
 Here the translator has superadded no new 
 images or illustrations ; but he has, in two parts 
 of the stanza, given a moral application which is 
 not in the original: "That ill adorns the form, 
 while it corrupts the heart ;" and "Studious of 
 every praise, but virtue, truth, and sense." These 
 moral lines are unquestionably a very high 
 improvement of the original ; but they seem to 
 me to transgress, though indeed very slightly, the 
 liberty allowed to a poetical translator. 
 
 In that fine translation by Dryden, of the 29th 
 ode of the third book of Horace, which upon the 
 whole is paraphrastical, the version of the two 
 following stanzas has no more licence than what 
 is justifiable : 
 
 Fortuna stzvo lizto negotio, et 
 Ludum insolentem ludere pertinax, 
 Transmutat incertos honores, 
 Nunc mihi, nunc alii benigna. 
 
 Laudo manenlem : si celeres quatit 
 Pennas, resigno quce dedit : et mea 
 Virtute me involve, probamque 
 Pauperiem sine dote quczro.
 
 126 Essay on the 
 
 Fortune, who with malicious joy 
 
 Does man, her slave, oppress, 
 Proud of her office to destroy, 
 
 Is seldom pleas'd to bless. 
 Still various and inconstant still, 
 But with an inclination to be ill, 
 Promotes, degrades, delights in strife, 
 And makes a lottery of life. 
 I can enjoy her while she's kind ; 
 But when she dances in the wind, 
 
 And shakes her wings, and will not stay, 
 
 I puff the prostitute away : 
 The little or the much she gave is quietly 
 resign'd ; 
 
 Content with poverty, my soul I arm, 
 And Virtue, though in rags, will keep me warm. 
 
 The celebrated verses of Adrian, addressed to 
 his Soul, have been translated and imitated by 
 many different writers. 
 
 Animula, vagula, blandula, 
 Hospes, comesque corporis ! 
 Quae nunc abibis in loca, 
 Pallidula, frigida, nudula, 
 Nee ut soles dabis joca ? 
 
 By Casaubon. 
 
 Epacr/xtoi' ij/vxapiov, 
 Eev?7 KCU eraipir) crw/Aaros, 
 Hoi wv TaAaiv eAeucreai, 
 A/ACI/T/S, yoeparc /ecu. ovaa, 
 Ou8' ota 
 
 Except in the fourth line, where there is a slight 
 change of epithets, this may be termed a just 
 translation, exhibiting both the sense and manner 
 of the original.
 
 Principles of Translation 127 
 
 By Fontenelle. 
 
 Ma petite ame, ma mignonne, 
 
 Tu t'en vas done, ma fille, et Dieu sache ou tu vas. 
 
 Tu pars seulette, nue, et tremblotante, helas ! 
 
 Que deviendra ton humeur folichonne ? 
 
 Que deviendront tant de jolis ebats ? 
 
 The French translation is still more faithful 
 to the original, and exhibits equally with the 
 former its spirit and manner. 
 
 The following verses by Prior are certainly a 
 great improvement upon the original ; by a most 
 judicious and happy amplification of the senti- 
 ments, (which lose much of their effect in the 
 Latin, from their extreme compression) ; nor do 
 they, in my opinion, exceed the liberty of poetical 
 translation. 
 
 Poor little pretty flutt'ring thing, 
 
 Must we no longer live together ? 
 And do'st thou prune thy trembling wing, 
 
 To take thy flight, thou know'st not whither ? 
 
 The hum'rous vein, the pleasing folly, 
 
 Lies all neglected, all forgot ; 
 And pensive, wav'ring, melancholy, 
 
 Thou dread'st and hop'st thou know'st not what. 
 
 Mr. Pope's Dying Christian to his Soul, 
 which is modelled on the verses of Adrian, 
 retains so little of the thoughts of the original, 
 and substitutes in their place a train of senti- 
 ments so different, that it cannot even be called 
 a paraphrase, but falls rather under the description 
 of imitation.
 
 128 Essay on the 
 
 The Italian version of Ovid in otiava rima, 
 by Anguillara, is a work of great poetical merit ; 
 but is scarcely in any part to be regarded as a 
 translation of the original. It is almost entirely 
 paraphrastical. In the story of Pyramus and 
 Thisbe, the simple ideas announced in these two 
 lines, 
 
 Tempore crevit amor : toedse quoque jure coissent ; 
 Sed vetuere patres quod non potuere vetare, 
 
 are the subject of the following paraphrase, 
 which is as beautiful in its composition, as it is 
 unbounded in the licence of its amplification. 
 
 Era 1'amor cresciuto a poco a poco 
 Secondo erano in lor cresciuti gli anni : 
 E dove prima era trastullo, e gioco, 
 Scherzi, corrucci, e fanciulleschi inganni, 
 Quando fur giunti a quella eta di foco 
 Dove comincian gli amorosi affanni 
 Che 1'alma nostra ha si leggiadro il manto 
 E che la Donna e'l huom s'amano tanto ; 
 
 Era tanto 1' amor, tanto il desire, 
 Tanta la fiamma, onde ciascun ardea : 
 Che P uno e P altro si vedea morire, 
 Se pietoso Himeneo non gli giungea. 
 E tanto era maggior d'ambi il martire, 
 Quanto il voler de Pun 1'altro scorge. 
 Ben ambo de le nozze eran contend, 
 Ma no'l soffriro i loro empi parenti. 
 
 Eran fra i padri lor pochi anni avanti 
 Nata una troppo cruda inimicitia : 
 E quanto amore, e fe s'hebber gli amanti, 
 Tanto regn6 ne' padri odi6 e malitia.
 
 Principles of Translation 129 
 
 Gli huomini della terra piu prestanti, 
 Tentar pur di ridurli in amicitia ; 
 E vi s'affaticar piu volte assai ; 
 Ma non vi sepper via ritrovar mai. 
 
 Quei padri, che fra lor fur si infedeli 
 Vetaro a la fanciulla, e al giovinetto, 
 A due si belli amanti, e si fedeli 
 Che non dier luogo al desiato affetto : 
 Ahi padri irragionevoli e crudeli, 1 
 Perche togliete lor tanto diletto ; 
 S'ogn'un di loro il suo desio corregge 
 Con la terrena, e la celeste legge ? 
 
 O sfortunati padri, ove tendete, 
 Qual ve gli fa destin tener disgiunti ? 
 Perche vetate, quel che non potete ? 
 Che gli animi saran sempre congiunti ? 
 
 1 A striking resemblance to this beautiful apostrophe 
 "Ahi padri irragionevoli," is found in the beginning 
 of Moncrifs Romance d' Alexis et Ah's, a ballad which 
 the French justly consider as a model of tenderness and 
 elegant simplicity. 
 
 Pourquoi rompre leur mariage, 
 
 Medians parens ? 
 Us auroient fait si bon menage 
 
 A tous momens ! 
 One sert d'avoir bagues et dentelle 
 
 Pour se parer ? 
 Ah ! la richesse la plus belle 
 
 Est de s'aimer. 
 
 Quand on a commence la vie 
 
 Disant ainsi : 
 Oui, vous serez toujours ma mie, 
 
 Vous mon ami : 
 Quand 1'age augmente encor Fenvie 
 
 De s'entreunir, 
 Qu'avec un autre on nous marie 
 
 Vaut mieux mourir. 
 
 K
 
 130 Essay on the 
 
 Ahi, che sara di voi, se gli vedrete 
 Per lo vostro rigor restar defunti ? 
 Ahi, che co' vostri non sani consigli 
 Procurate la morte a' vostri figli ! 
 
 In the following poem by Mr. Hughes, which 
 the author has intitled an imitation of the i6th ode 
 of the second book of Horace, the greatest part 
 of the composition is a just and excellent trans- 
 lation, while the rest is a free paraphrase or com- 
 mentary on the original. I shall mark in Italics 
 all that I consider as paraphrastical : the rest 
 is a just translation, in which the writer has 
 assumed no more liberty, than was necessary 
 to give the poem the easy air of an original 
 composition. 
 
 I 
 
 Indulgent Quiet ! Pow'r serene, 
 Mother of Peace, and Joy, and Love, 
 O say, thou calm, propitious Queen, 
 
 Say, in what solitary grove, 
 Within what hollow rock, or winding cell, 
 
 By human eyes unseen, 
 Like some retreated Druid dost thou dwell ? 
 And why, illusive Goddess I why, 
 When we thy mansion would surround, 
 Why dost thou lead us throiigh enchanted ground, 
 To mock our vain research, and from our wishes fly 
 
 II 
 The wand'ring sailors, pale with fear, 
 
 For thee the gods implore, 
 When the tempestuous sea runs high 
 And when through all the dark, benighted sky 
 No friendly moon or stars appear, 
 To guide their steerage to the shore :
 
 Principles of Translation 131 
 
 For thee the weary soldier prays, 
 
 Furious in fight the sons of Thrace, 
 And Medes, that wear majestic by their side 
 
 A full-charg'd quiver's decent pride, 
 Gladly with thee would pass inglorious days, 
 
 Renounce the warrior's tempting praise, 
 
 And buy thee, if thou might'st be sold, 
 With gems, and purple vests, and stores of plunder'd 
 gold. 
 
 Ill 
 
 But neither boundless wealth, nor guards that wait 
 
 Around the Consul's honour'd gate, 
 Nor antichambers with attendants fill'd, 
 The mind's unhappy tumults can abate, 
 
 Or banish sullen cares, that fly 
 
 Across the gilded rooms of state, 
 
 And their foul nests like swallows build 
 Close to the palace-roof s and tow'rs that pierce the sky ? 
 
 Much less will Nature's modest wants supply : 
 
 And happier lives the homely swain, 
 
 Who in some cottage, far from noise, 
 
 His few paternal goods enjoys ; 
 
 Nor knows the sordid lust of gain, 
 
 Nor with Fear's tormenting pain 
 
 His hovering sleeps destroys. 
 
 IV 
 
 Vain man ! that in a narrow space 
 At endless game projects the darting spear ! 
 
 For short is life's uncertain race ; 
 
 Then why, capricious mortal ! why 
 
 Dost thou for happiness repair 
 To distant climates and a foreign air ? 
 
 Fool ! from thyself thou canst not fly, 
 
 Thyself the source of all thy care : 
 So flies the ivounded stag, provok'd with pain, 
 
 Bounds o'er the spacious downs in vain ;
 
 132 Essay on the 
 
 The feather 1 d torment sticks within his side, 
 And from the smarting wound a purple tide 
 Marks all his way with blood, and dies the grassy plain. 
 
 V 
 
 But swifter far is execrable Care 
 
 Than stags, or winds, that through the skies 
 Thick-driving snows and gather'd tempests bear ; 
 Pursuing Care the sailing ship out-flies. 
 Climbs the tall vessel's painted sides ; 
 Nor leaves arm'd squadrons in the field, 
 But with the marching horseman rides, 
 And dwells alike in courts and camps, and makes all 
 places yield, 
 
 VI 
 
 Then, since no state's completely blest, 
 Let's learn the bitter to allay 
 With gentle mirth, and, wisely gay, 
 Enjoy at least the present day, 
 
 And leave to Fate the rest. 
 Nor with vain fear of ills to come 
 Anticipate th' appointed doom. 
 Soon did Achilles quit the stage ; 
 The hero fell by sudden death ; 
 While Tithon to a tedious, wasting age 
 
 Drew his protracted breath. 
 And thus, old partial Time; my friend, 
 Perhaps unask'd, to worthless me 
 Those hours of lengthen'd life may lend, 
 
 Which he'll refuse to thee. 
 
 VII 
 
 Thee shining wealth, and plenteous joys surround, 
 
 And all thy fruitful fields around 
 Unnumber'd herds of cattle stray 
 Thy harness'd steeds with sprightly voice,
 
 Principles of Translation 133 
 
 Make neighbouring vales and hills rejoice, 
 While smoothly thy gay chariot flies o'er the swift- 
 
 measur'd way. 
 To me the stars with less profusion kind, 
 
 An humble fortune have assign'd, 
 And no untuneful Lyric vein, 
 But a sincere contented mind 
 That can the vile, malignant crowd disdain. 1 
 
 1 Otium divos rogat in patent! 
 Prensus ALgeo, simul atra nubes 
 Condidit Lunam, neque certa fulgent 
 Sidera nautis. 
 
 Otium bello furiosa Thrace, 
 Otium Medi pharetra decori, 
 Grosphe, non gemmis, neque purpura ve- 
 nale, nee auro. 
 
 Non enim gazte, neque Consularis 
 Summovet lictor miseros tumultus 
 Mentis, et curas laqueata circum 
 Tecta volantes. 
 
 Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum 
 Splendet in mensa tenui salinum : 
 Nee leves somnos Timor aut Cupido 
 Sordidus aufert. 
 
 Quid brevi fortes jaculamur asvo 
 Multa ? quid terras alio calentes 
 Sole mutamus ? Patriae quis exul, 
 Se quoque fugit ? 
 
 Scandit aeratas vitiosa naves 
 Cura, nee turmas equitum relinquit, 
 Ocyor cervis, et agente nimbos 
 Ocyor Euro. 
 
 Laetus in praesens animus, quod ultra est 
 Oderit curare ; et amara lento 
 Temperat risu. Nihil est ab omni 
 Parte beatum.
 
 134 Principles of Translation 
 
 Abstulit clarum cita mors Achillem : 
 Longa Tithonum minuit senectus : 
 Et mihi forsan, tibi quod negarit, 
 Porriget hora. 
 
 Te greges centum, Siculaeque circum 
 Mugiunt vaccee : tibi tollit hinnitum 
 Apta quadrigis equa : te bis Afro 
 Murice tinctas. 
 
 Vestiunt lame : mihi parva rura, et 
 Spiritum Graiae tenuem Camoenas 
 Parca non mendax dedit, et malignum 
 Spernere vulgus. 
 
 HOR. Od. 2, 1 6.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 OF THE TRANSLATION OF IDIOMATIC PHRASES. 
 EXAMPLES FROM COTTON, ECHARD, 
 STERNE. INJUDICIOUS USE OF IDIOMS IN 
 THE TRANSLATION, WHICH DO NOT CORRES- 
 POND WITH THE AGE OR COUNTRY OF THE 
 ORIGINAL. IDIOMATIC PHRASES SOMETIMES 
 INCAPABLE OF TRANSLATION. 
 
 WHILE a translator endeavours to give to his 
 work all the ease of original composition, the 
 chief difficulty he has to encounter will be found 
 in the translation of idioms, or those turns of 
 expression which do not belong to universal 
 grammar, but of which every language has its 
 own, that are exclusively proper to it. It will 
 be easily understood, that when I speak of the 
 difficulty of translating idioms, I do not mean 
 those general modes of arrangement or con- 
 struction which regulate a whole language, and 
 which may not be common to it with other 
 tongues: As, for example, the placing the ad- 
 jective always before the substantive in English, 
 which in French and in Latin is most commonly 
 placed after it ; the use of the participle in 
 English, where the present tense is used in other 
 languages; as he is writing, scribit, il ecrit ; the 
 use of the preposition to before the infinitive in 
 English, where the French use the preposition 
 i35
 
 136 Essay on the 
 
 de or of. These, which may be termed the 
 general idioms of a language, are soon under- 
 stood, and are exchanged for parallel idioms 
 with the utmost ease. With regard to these a 
 translator can never err, unless through affecta- 
 tion or choice. 1 For example, in translating the 
 
 1 There is, however, a very common mistake of trans- 
 lators from the French into English, proceeding either 
 from ignorance, or inattention to the general construction 
 of the two languages. In narrative, or the description of 
 past actions, the French often use the present tense for 
 the preterite : Deux jeunes nobles Mexicains jettent leiirs 
 artnes, et viennent a lui comine deserteurs. Us met tent nn 
 genouil a terre dans la posture des supplians ; Us le 
 sazsissent, et s'^lancent de la platformc. Cor fez s'en dc- 
 barasse, et se retient d la balustrade. Lcs deux jeunes 
 nobles perissent sans avoir execute ' leur genereuse entreprise. 
 Let us observe the aukward effect of a similar use of the 
 present tense in English. "Two young Mexicans of 
 noble birth throw away their arms and come to him as 
 deserters. They kneel in the posture of suppliants ; they 
 seise him, and throw themselves from the platform. 
 Cortez disengages himself from their grasp, and keeps 
 hold of the ballustrade. The noble Mexicans perish 
 without accomplishing their generous design." In like 
 manner, the use of the present for the past tense is very 
 common in Greek, and we frequently remark the same 
 impropriety in English translations from that language. 
 " After the death of Darius, and the accession of Artax- 
 erxes, Tissaphernes accuses Cyrus to his brother of 
 treason : Artaxerxes gives credit to the accusation, and 
 orders Cyrus to be apprehended, with a design to put him 
 to death ; but his mother having saved him by her inter- 
 cession, sends him back to his government." Spelman s 
 Xenophon. In the original, these verbs are put in the 
 
 present tense, 5io/3aA\ei, TretOerai, ffv\\a/j./3avi, OTroire/iiret. 
 
 But this use of the present tense in narrative is contrary 
 to the genius of the English language. The poets have 
 assumed it ; and in them it is allowable, because it is 
 their object to paint scenes as present to the eye ; ut
 
 Principles of Translation 137 
 
 French phrase, // profita dun avis, he may 
 choose fashionably to say, in violation of the 
 English construction, lie profited Q{ an advice; or, 
 under the sanction of poetical licence, he may 
 choose to engraft the idiom of one language 
 into another, as Mr. Macpherson has done, where 
 he says, "Him to the strength of Hercules, the 
 lovely Astyochea bore ; " Oz> reKer Ao-ruoxft^, ^07 
 HpaK\7]eu]' //. lib. 2, 1. 165. But it is not with 
 regard to such idiomatic constructions, that a 
 translator will ever find himself under any 
 difficulty. It is in the translation of those 
 particular idiomatic phrases of which every 
 language has its own collection ; phrases which 
 
 O O ' * 
 
 are generally of a familiar nature, and which 
 occur most commonly in conversation, or in that 
 species of writing which approaches to the ease 
 of conversation. 
 
 The translation is perfect, when the translator 
 finds in his own language an idiomatic phrase 
 
 pictura poesis ; but all that a prose narrative can pretend 
 to, is an animated description of things past : if it goes 
 any farther, it encroaches on the department of poetry. 
 In one way, however, this use of the present tense is 
 found in the best English historians, namely, in the sum- 
 mary heads, or contents of chapters. " Lambert Simnel 
 invades England. Perkin Warbeck is avowed by the 
 Duchess of Burgundy he returns to Scotland he is 
 taken prisoner and executed." Hume. But it is by an 
 ellipsis that the present tense comes to be thus used. The 
 sentence at large would stand thus." This chapter 
 relates how Lambert Simnel invades England, how 
 Perkin Warbeck is avowed by the Duchess of Bur- 
 gundy," &c.
 
 138 Essay on the 
 
 corresponding to that of the original. Mon- 
 taigne (Ess. 1. i, c. 29) says of Gallic, " Lequel 
 ayant ete envoy en exil en 1'isle de Lesbos, on 
 fut averti a Rome, quit s'y donnoit du bon temps, 
 et que ce qu'on lui avoit enjoint pour peine, lui 
 tournoit a commodite." The difficulty of trans- 
 lating this sentence lies in the idiomatic phrase, 
 " gu'il sy donnoit du bon temps" Cotton finding 
 a parallel idiom in English, has translated the 
 passage with becoming ease and spirit : " As it 
 happened to one Gallic, who having been sent 
 an exile to the isle of Lesbos, news was not long 
 after brought to Rome, that he there lived as 
 merry as the day was long ; and that what had 
 been enjoined him for a penance, turned out to 
 his ^greatest pleasure and satisfaction." Thus, 
 in another passage of the same author, (Essais, 
 1. i, c. 29) " Si feusse ete chef de part, j'eusse 
 prins autre voye plus naturelle." " Had I rufd 
 the roast, I should have taken another and more 
 natural course." So likewise, (Ess. 1. i, c. 25) 
 " Mais d'y enfoncer plus avant, et de m'etre range 
 les angles a I" etude d'Aristote, monarche de la 
 doctrine moderne." " But, to dive farther than 
 that, and to have cudgelled my brains in the study 
 of Aristotle, the monarch of all modern learning." 
 So, in the following passages from Terence, 
 translated by Echard : " Credo manibus pedibus- 
 que obnixe omnia facturum," An dr. act i. "I 
 know he'll be at it tooth and nail." " Herus, 
 quantum audio, uxore excidit" Andr. act 2.
 
 Principles of Translation 139 
 
 " For aught I perceive, my poor master may go 
 whistle for a wife." 
 
 In like manner, the following colloquial 
 phrases are capable of a perfect translation by 
 corresponding idioms. Rem acu tetigisti, " You 
 have hit the nail upon the head." Mihi isthic 
 nee seritur nee repitur, Plaut. " That's no bread 
 and butter of mine." Omnem jecit aleam, " It 
 was neck or nothing with him." Ti 77/20? T' 
 aA^ura; Aristoph. Nub. "Will that make the 
 pot boil?" 
 
 It is not perhaps possible to produce a happier 
 instance of translation by corresponding idioms, 
 than Sterne has given in the translation of 
 Slawkenbergius's Tale. " Nihil me pcenitet hujus 
 nasi, quoth Pamphagus ; that is, My nose has 
 been the making of me." " Nee est cur pceniteat ; 
 that is, How the deuce should such a nose fail ? " 
 Tristram Shandy, vol. 3, ch. 7. " Miles peregrini 
 in faciem suspexit. Di boni, nova forma nasi ! 
 The centinel look'd up into the stranger's face. 
 Never saw such a nose in his life ! " Ibid. 
 
 As there is nothing which so much conduces 
 both to the ease and spirit of composition, as a 
 happy use of idiomatic phrases, there is nothing 
 which a translator, who has a moderate com- 
 mand of his own language, is so apt to carry to 
 a licentious extreme. Echard, whose transla- 
 tions of Terence and of Plautus have, upon the 
 whole, much merit, is extremely censurable for 
 his intemperate use of idiomatic phrases. In
 
 140 Essay on the 
 
 the first act of the Andria, Davus thus speaks to 
 himself: 
 
 Enimrero, Dave, nihil loci est segnitice neque socordice. 
 
 Quantum intellexi senis sententiam de mtptiis : 
 
 Qua si non astu providentur, me aut herum pessunda- 
 
 bunt ; 
 Nee quid agam cerium est, Pamphihimne adjutem an 
 
 auscultem seni. 
 
 TERENT. Andr. act i, sc. 3. 
 
 The translation of this passage by Echard, 
 exhibits a strain of vulgar petulance, which is 
 very opposite to the chastened simplicity of the 
 original. 
 
 " Why, seriously, poor Davy, 'tis high time to 
 bestir thy stumps, and to leave off dozing ; at 
 least, if a body may guess at the old man's 
 meaning by his mumping. If these brains do 
 not help me out at a dead lift, to pot goes 
 Pilgarlick, or his master, for certain : and hang 
 me for a dog, if I know which side to take ; 
 whether to help my young master, or make fair 
 with his father." 
 
 In the use of idiomatic phrases, a translator 
 frequently forgets both the country of his original 
 author, and the age in which he wrote; and 
 while he makes a Greek or a Roman speak 
 French or English, he unwittingly puts into his 
 mouth allusions to the manners of modern 
 France or England. 1 This, to use a phrase 
 
 1 It is surprising that this fault should meet even with 
 approbation from so judicious a critic as Denham. In
 
 Principles of Translation 141 
 
 borrowed from painting, may be termed an 
 offence against the costume. The proverbial 
 expression, [3aTpax<*> voap, in Theocritus, is of 
 similar import with the English proverb, to carry 
 coals to Newcastle; but it would be a gross 
 impropriety to use this expression in the trans- 
 lation of an ancient classic. Cicero, in his oration 
 for Archias, says, " Persona qua propter otium et 
 studium minime in judiciis periculisque versata 
 est" M. Patru has translated this, " Un homme 
 que ses etudes et ses livres ont eloigne du 
 commerce du Palais" The Palais, or the Old 
 Palace of the kings of France, it is true, is the 
 place where the parliament of Paris and the 
 chief courts of justice were assembled for 
 
 the preface to his translation of the second book of the 
 sEneid he says: "As speech is the apparel of our 
 thoughts, so there are certain garbs and modes of 
 speaking which vary with the times ; the fashion of our 
 clothes being not more subject to alteration, than that of 
 our speech : and this I think Tacitus means by that 
 which he calls Sermonem temporis istius auribus accom- 
 modatum, the delight of change being as due to the 
 curiosity of the ear as of the eye : and therefore, if Virgil 
 must needs speak English, it were fit he should speak, 
 not only as a man of thi^ nation, but as a man of this 
 age. n The translator's opinion is exemplified in his 
 practice. 
 
 Infandum, Regina, jubes renovare dolorem. 
 
 " Madam, when you command us to review 
 Our fate, you make our old wounds bleed anew." 
 
 Of such translation it may with truth be said, in the 
 words of Francklin, 
 
 Thus Greece and Rome, in modern dress array'd, 
 Is but antiquity in masquerade.
 
 142 Essay on the 
 
 the decision of causes ; but it is just as absurd 
 to make Cicero talk of his haranguing in the 
 Palais ', as it would be of his pleading in West- 
 minster Hall. In this respect, Echard is most 
 notoriously faulty : We find in every page of his 
 translations of Terence and Plautus, the most 
 incongruous jumble of ancient and of modern 
 manners. He talks of the " Lord Chief Justice 
 of Athens," Jam tu autem nobis Prceturam geris? 
 PI. Epid. act i, sc. i, and says, " I will send him 
 to Bridewell with his skin stripped over his 
 ears," Hominem irrigatum plagis pistori dabo, 
 Ibid. sc. 3. " I must expect to beat hemp in 
 Bridewell all the days of my life," Molendum 
 imhi est usque in pistrina, Ter. Phormio, act 2. 
 " He looks as grave as an alderman," Tristis 
 severitas inest in vultu, Ibid. Andria, act 5. 
 The same author makes the ancient heathen 
 Romans and Greeks swear British and Christian 
 oaths ; such as " Fore George, Blood and ounds, 
 Gadzookers, 'Sbuddikins, By the Lord Harry ! " 
 They are likewise well read in the books both 
 of the Old and New Testament : "Good b'ye, 
 Sir Solomon," says Gripus to Trachalion, Salve, 
 Thales ! PI. Rudens, act 4, sc. 3 ; and Sosia thus 
 vouches his own identity to Mercury, " By Jove 
 I am he, and 'tis as true as the gospel," Per 
 Jovem j'uro, vied esse, neque me falsum dicere, 
 PI. Amphit. act i, sc. i. 1 The same ancients, 
 
 1 The modern air of the following sentence is, however, 
 not displeasing : Antipho asks Cherea, where he has
 
 Principles of Translation 143 
 
 in Mr. Echard's translation, are familiarly ac- 
 quainted with the modern invention of gun- 
 powder ; " Had we but a mortar now to play 
 upon them under the covert way, one bomb 
 would make them scamper," Fundam tibi nunc 
 nimis vellem dart, ut tu illos procul hinc ex oculto 
 ccederes, facerent fugam, Ter. Eun. act 4. And 
 as their soldiers swear and fight, so they must 
 needs drink like the moderns : " This god can't 
 afford one brandy-shop in all his dominions," 
 Ne thermopolium quidem ulium ille instruit, PL 
 Rud. act 2, sc. 9. In the same comedy, Plautus, 
 who wrote 180 years before Christ, alludes to 
 the battle of La Hogue, fought A.D. 1692. 
 " I'll be as great as a king," says Gripus, " I'll 
 have a Royal Sun x for pleasure, like the king of 
 France, and sail about from port to port," 
 Navibus magnis mercaturam faciam, PI. Rud. 
 act 4, sc. 2. 
 
 In the Latin poems of Pitcairne, we remark 
 an uncommon felicity in cloathing pictures of 
 modern manners in classical phraseology. In 
 familiar poetry, and in pieces of a witty or 
 humorous nature, this has often a very happy 
 effect, and exalts the ridicule of the sentiment, 
 or humour of the picture. But Pitcairne's fond- 
 bespoke supper; he answers, Apud libertum Discum, 
 "At Discus the freedman's." Echard, with a happy 
 familiarity, says, "At old Harry Platter's." Ter. Eun. 
 act 3, sc. 5. 
 
 1 Alluding to the French Admiral's ship Le Soleil 
 Royal, beaten and disabled by Russell.
 
 144 Essay on the 
 
 ness for the language of Horace, Ovid, and 
 Lucretius, has led him sometimes into a gross 
 violation of propriety, and the laws of good taste. 
 In the translation of a Psalm, we are shocked 
 when we find the Almighty addressed by the 
 epithets of a heathen divinity, and his attributes 
 celebrated in the language and allusions proper 
 to the Pagan mythology. Thus, in the trans- 
 lation of the iO4th Psalm, every one must be 
 sensible of the glaring impropriety of the 
 following expressions : 
 
 Dexteram invictam canimus, Jovemque 
 Qui triumphatis, hominum et Deorum 
 Praesidet regnis. 
 
 Quam tuse virtus tremefecit orbera 
 Juppiter dextrse. 
 
 Et manus ventis tua Dsedaleas 
 Assuit alas. 
 
 facilesque leges 
 
 Rebus imponis, quibus antra parent 
 ^Eoli. 
 
 Proluit siccam pluvialis aether 
 Barbam, et arentes humeros Atlantis. 
 
 Que fovet tellus, fluviumque regnum 
 Tethyos. 
 
 Juppiter carmen mihi semper. 
 Juppiter solus mihi rex. 
 
 In the entire translation of the Psalms by 
 Johnston, we do not find a single instance of 
 similar impropriety. And in the admirable
 
 Principles of Translation 145 
 
 version by Buchanan, there are (to my knowledge) 
 only two passages which are censurable on that 
 account. The one is the beginning of the 4th 
 Psalm : 
 
 O Pater, O hominum Divumque seterna potestas ! 
 which is the first line of the speech of Venus to 
 Jupiter, in the loth sEneid : and the other is the 
 beginning of Psalm Ixxxii. where two entire 
 lines, with the change of one syllable, are 
 borrowed from Horace : 
 
 Regum timendorum in proprios greges, 
 Reges in ipsos imperium est fovcz. 
 
 In the latter example, the poet probably judged 
 that the change of Jovis into Jovce removed all 
 objection ; and Ruddiman has attempted to 
 vindicate the Divtim of the former passage, by 
 applying it to saints or angels : but allowing 
 there were sufficient apology for both those 
 words, the impropriety still remains ; for the 
 associated ideas present themselves immediately 
 to the mind, and we are justly offended with the 
 literal adoption of an address to Jupiter in a 
 hymn to the Creator. 
 
 If a translator is bound, in general, to adhere 
 with fidelity to the manners of the age and 
 country to which his original belongs, there are 
 some instances in which he will find it necessary 
 to make a slight sacrifice to the manners of his 
 modern readers. The ancients, in the expression 
 of resentment or contempt, made use of many 
 
 L
 
 146 Essay on the 
 
 epithets and appellations which sound extremely 
 shocking to our more polished ears, because we 
 never hear them employed but by the meanest 
 and most degraded of the populace. By similar 
 reasoning we must conclude, that those ex- 
 pressions conveyed no such mean or shocking 
 ideas to the ancients, since we find them used 
 by the most dignified and exalted characters. 
 In the 1 9th book of the Odyssey, Melantho, one 
 of Penelope's maids, having vented her spleen 
 against Ulysses, and treated him as a bold 
 beggar who had intruded himself into the palace 
 as a spy, is thus sharply reproved by the Queen : 
 
 6a.po-a.Xe-r) KVOV aSSees, OVTL 
 EpSovcra //.eya epyov, o err] KetftaXr] 
 
 These opprobrious epithets, in a literal trans- 
 lation, would sound extremely offensive from the 
 lips of the TTfpKJypuv n^eAc-Treta, whom the poet 
 has painted as a model of female dignity and 
 propriety.' Such translation, therefore, as con- 
 veying a picture different from what the poet 
 intended, would be in reality injurious to his 
 sense. Of this sort of refinement Mr. Hobbes 
 had no idea ; and therefore he gives the epithets 
 in their genuine purity and simplicity : 
 
 Bold bitch, said she, I know what deeds you've done, 
 Which thou shalt one day pay for with thy head. 
 
 We cannot fail, however, to perceive, that Mr. 
 Pope has in fact been more faithful to the sense
 
 Principles of Translation 147 
 
 of his original, by accommodating the expres- 
 sions of the speaker to that character which a 
 modern reader must conceive to belong to her : 
 
 Loquacious insolent, she cries, forbear ! 
 Thy head shall pay the forfeit of thy tongue. 
 
 A translator will often meet with idiomatic 
 phrases in the original author, to which no corre- 
 sponding idiom can be found in the language 
 of the translation. As a literal translation of 
 such phrases cannot be tolerated, the only re- 
 source is, to express the sense in plain and easy 
 language. Cicero, in one of his letters to Papirius 
 Psetus, says, " Veni igitur, si vires, et disce jam 
 7rpoA.eyo//.efas quas queens ; etsi sus Minervam" 
 Ep. ad Fam. 9, 18. The idiomatic phrase si vires, 
 is capable of a perfect translation by a corre- 
 sponding idiom ; but that which occurs in the 
 latter part of the sentence, etsi sus Minervam, can 
 neither be translated by a corresponding idiom, 
 nor yet literally. Mr. Melmoth has thus happily 
 expressed the sense of the whole passage : " If 
 you have any spirit then, fly hither, and learn 
 from our elegant bills of fare how to refine your 
 own ; though, to do your talents justice, this is 
 a sort of knowledge in which you are much 
 superior to your instructors." Pliny, in one 
 of his epistles to Calvisius, thus addresses him, 
 Assent para, et accipe auream fabulam : fabulas 
 immo : nam me priorum nova admonuit, lib. 2, ep. 
 20. To this expression, assent para, &c. which
 
 148 Essay on the 
 
 is a proverbial mode of speech, we have nothing 
 that corresponds in English. To translate the 
 phrase literally would have a poor effect : " Give 
 me a penny, and take a golden story, or a story 
 worth gold." Mr. Melmoth has given the sense 
 in easy language : " Are you inclined to hear a 
 story ? or, if you please, two or three ? for one 
 brings to my mind another." 
 
 But this resource, of translating the idiomatic 
 phrase into easy language, must fail, where the 
 merit of the passage to be translated actually lies 
 in that expression which is idiomatical. This 
 will often occur in epigrams, many of which are 
 therefore incapable of translation : Thus, in the 
 following epigram, the point of wit lies in an 
 idiomatic phrase, and is lost in every other 
 language where the same precise idiom does not 
 occur : 
 
 On the wretched imitations of the Diable Boiteux of 
 Le Sage : 
 
 Le Diable Boiteux est aimable ; 
 Le Sage y triomphe aujourdhui ; 
 Tout ce qu'on a fait apres lui 
 N'a pas valu le Diable. 
 
 We say in English, " 'Tis not worth a fig," or, 
 " 'tis not worth a farthing ; " but we cannot say, 
 as the French do, " 'Tis not worth the devil ; " 
 and therefore the epigram cannot be translated 
 into English. 
 
 Somewhat of the same nature are the follow-
 
 Principles of Translation 149 
 
 ing lines of Marot, in his Epitre au Roi, where 
 the merit lies in the ludicrous naivete of the last 
 line, which is idiomatical, and has no strictly 
 corresponding expression in English : 
 
 J'avois un jour un valet de Gascogne, 
 Gourmand, yvrogne, et assure menteur, 
 Pipeur, larron, jureur, blasphemateur, 
 Sentant la hart de cent pas a la ronde : 
 Au demeurant le meilleur filz du monde. 
 
 Although we have idioms in English that are 
 nearly similar to this, we have none which 
 has the same naivete, and therefore no justice 
 can be done to this passage by any English 
 translation. 
 
 In like manner, it appears to me impossible 
 to convey, in any translation, the naivete of the 
 following remark on the fanciful labours of 
 Etymologists : " Monsieur, dans 1'Etymologie 
 il faut compter les voyelles pour rien, et les 
 consonnes pour peu de chose."
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 DIFFICULTY OF TRANSLATING DON QUIXOTE, 
 FROM ITS IDIOMATIC PHRASEOLOGY. OF 
 THE BEST TRANSLATIONS OF THAT RO- 
 MANCE. COMPARISON OF THE TRANSLA- 
 TION BY MOTTEUX WITH THAT BY SMOLLET. 
 
 THERE is perhaps no book to which it is 
 more difficult to do perfect justice in a transla- 
 tion than the Don Quixote of Cervantes. This 
 difficulty arises from the extreme frequency of 
 its idiomatic phrases. As the Spanish language 
 is in itself highly idiomatical, even the narrative 
 part of the book is on that account difficult ; 
 but the colloquial part is studiously filled with 
 idioms, as one of the principal characters continu- 
 ally expresses himself in proverbs. Of this work 
 there have been many English translations, exe- 
 cuted, as may be supposed, with various degrees 
 of merit. The two best of these, in my opinion, 
 are the translations of Motteux and Smollet, 
 both of them writers eminently well qualified 
 for the task they undertook. It will not be 
 foreign to the purpose of this Essay, if I shall 
 here make a short comparative estimate of the 
 merit of these translations. 1 
 
 1 The translation published by Motteux declares in the 
 
 title-page, that it is the work of several hands ; but as of 
 
 these Mr. Motteux was the principal, and revised and 
 
 corrected the parts that were translated by others, which 
 
 150
 
 Principles of Translation 151 
 
 Smollet inherited from nature a strong sense 
 of ridicule, a great fund of original humour, and 
 a happy versatility of talent, by which he could 
 accommodate his style to almost every species 
 of writing. He could adopt alternately the 
 solemn, the lively, the sarcastic, the burlesque, 
 and the vulgar. To these qualifications he joined 
 an inventive genius, and a vigorous imagination. 
 As he possessed talents equal to the compo- 
 sition of original works of the same species with 
 the romance of Cervantes ; so it is not perhaps 
 possible to conceive a writer more completely 
 qualified to give a perfect translation of that 
 romance. 
 
 Motteux, with no great abilities as an original 
 writer, appears to me to have been endowed with 
 a strong perception of the ridiculous in human 
 character ; a just discernment of the weaknesses 
 and follies of mankind. He seems likewise to 
 have had a great command of the various styles 
 which are accommodated to the expression both 
 of grave burlesque, and of low humour. Inferior 
 to Smollet in inventive genius, he seems to have 
 equalled him in every quality which was essen- 
 tially requisite to a translator of Don Quixote. 
 It may therefore be supposed, that the contest 
 between them will be nearly equal, and the 
 question of preference very difficult to be 
 
 indeed we have no means of discriminating from his own, 
 I shall, in the following comparison, speak of him as the 
 author of the whole work.
 
 152 Essay on the 
 
 decided. It would have been so, had Smollet 
 confided in his own strength, and bestowed on 
 his task that time and labour which the length 
 and difficulty of the work required : but Smollet 
 too often wrote in such circumstances, that dis- 
 patch was his primary object. He found various 
 English translations at hand, which he judged 
 might save him the labour of a new composition. 
 Jarvis could give him faithfully the sense of his 
 author ; and it was necessary, only to polish his 
 asperities, and lighten his heavy and aukward 
 phraseology. To contend with Motteux, Smollet 
 found it necessary to assume the armour of 
 Jarvis. This author had purposely avoided, 
 through the whole of his work, the smallest 
 coincidence of expression with Motteux, whom, 
 with equal presumption and injustice, he accuses 
 in his preface of having " taken his version 
 wholly from the French." 1 We find, therefore, 
 
 1 The only French translation of Don Quixote I have 
 ever seen, is that to which is subjoined a continuation of 
 the Knight's adventures, in two supplemental volumes, 
 by Le Sage. This translation has undergone numberless 
 editions, and is therefore, I presume, the best ; perhaps 
 indeed the only one, except a very old version, which is 
 mentioned in the preface, as being quite literal, and very 
 antiquated in its style. It is therefore to be presumed, 
 that when Jarvis accuses Motteux of having taken his 
 version entirely from the French, he refers to that trans- 
 lation above mentioned to which Le Sage has given a 
 supplement. If this be the case, we may confidently 
 affirm, that Jarvis has done Motteux the greatest injustice. 
 On comparing his translation with the French, there is a 
 discrepancy so absolute and universal, that there does 
 not arise the smallest suspicion that he had ever seen
 
 Principles of Translation 153 
 
 both in the translation of Jarvis and in that of 
 Smollet, which is little else than an improved 
 edition of the former, that there is a studied 
 
 that version. Let any passage be compared adaperturam 
 libri ; as, for example, the following : 
 
 "De simples huttes tenoient lieu de maisons, et de 
 palais aux habitants de la terre ; les arbes se defaisant 
 d'eux-memes de leurs ecorces, leur fournissoient de quoi 
 couvrir leurs cabanes, et se garantir de I'intemperie des 
 saisons." 
 
 " The tough and strenuous cork-trees did of themselves, 
 and without other art than their native liberality, dismiss 
 and impart their broad, light bark, which served to cover 
 those lowly huts, propped up with rough-hewn stakes, 
 that were first built as a shelter against the inclemencies 
 of the air." MOTTEUX. 
 
 " La beaute n'etoit point un avantage dangereux aux 
 jeunes filles ; elles alloient librement partout, etalant sans 
 artifice et sans dessein tous les presents que leur avoit fait 
 la Nature, sans se cacher davantage, qu' autant que 1'hon- 
 netete commune a tous les siecles 1'a toujours demande." 
 
 " Then was the time, when innocent beautiful young 
 shepherdesses went tripping over the hills and vales, 
 their lovely hair sometimes plaited, sometimes loose and 
 flowing, clad in no other vestment but what was neces- 
 sary to cover decently what modesty would always have 
 concealed." MOTTEUX. 
 
 It will not, I believe, be asserted, that this version of 
 Motteux bears any traces of being copied from the French, 
 which is quite licentious and paraphrastical. But when 
 we subjoin the original, we shall perceive, that he has 
 given a very just and easy translation of the Spanish. 
 
 Los valientes alcornoques despfdian de si sin otro artificio 
 que el de su cortesia, sus anchas y livianas cortezas, sin que 
 se commen^aron a cubrir las casas, sobre rusticas, estacas 
 sustentadaS) no mas que para defensa de las inclemencias 
 del cielo. 
 
 Entonces si, que andaban las simples y hermosas zaga- 
 lejas de valle en valle, y de otero en otero, en trenzay en 
 cabello, sin mas vestidos de aquellos que eran menester 
 para cubrir honestamente lo que la honestidad quiere.
 
 154 Essay on the 
 
 rejection of the phraseology of Motteux. Now, 
 Motteux, though he has frequently assumed too 
 great a licence, both in adding to and retrench- 
 ing from the ideas of his original, has upon the 
 whole a very high degree of merit as a trans- 
 lator. In the adoption of corresponding idioms 
 he has been eminently fortunate, and, as in these 
 there is no great latitude, he has in general pre- 
 occupied the appropriated phrases ; so that a 
 succeeding translator, who proceeded on the rule 
 of invariably rejecting his phraseology, must have, 
 in general, altered for the worse. Such, I have 
 said, was the rule laid down by Jarvis, and by 
 his copyist and improver, Smollet, who by thus 
 absurdly rejecting what his own judgement and 
 taste must have approved, has produced a com- 
 position decidedly inferior, on the whole, to that 
 of Motteux. While I justify the opinion I have 
 now given, by comparing several passages of 
 both translations, I shall readily allow full credit 
 to the performance of Smollet, wherever I find 
 that there is a real superiority to the work of his 
 rival translator. 
 
 After Don Quixote's unfortunate encounter 
 with the Yanguesian carriers, in which the 
 Knight, Sancho, and Rozinante, were all most 
 grievously mauled, his faithful squire lays his 
 master across his ass, and conducts him to the 
 nearest inn, where a miserable bed is made up 
 for him in a cock-loft. Cervantes then proceeds 
 as follows :
 
 Principles of Translation 155 
 
 En esta maldita cama se accosto Don Quixote : 
 y luego la ventera y su kija le emplastdron de 
 arnba abaxo, alumbrandoles Maritornes : que asi 
 se llamaba la Asturiana. Y coino al vizmalle, 
 viese la ventera tan acardenalado a partes a Don 
 Quixote, dixo que aquello mas parecian golpes que 
 caida. No fue'ron golpes, dixo Sancho, sino que la 
 pefia tenia muchospicos y tropezones, y qtte cada uno 
 habia hccJw su cardinal, y tambien le dixo : haga 
 vuestra merced, senora, de manera que queden 
 algunas estopas, que no faltard quien las haya 
 menester, qiie tambien me duelen a mi un poco los 
 lomos. Desa manera, respondio la ventera, tambien 
 debistes vos de cacr? No cat, dico Sancho 
 Panza, sino que del sobresalto que tome de ver 
 caer a mi amo, de tal manera me duele a mi 
 el cuerpo, que me parece que me han dado mil 
 palos. 
 
 Translation by Motteux 
 
 " In this ungracious bed was the Knight laid 
 to rest his belaboured carcase ; and presently the 
 hostess and her daughter anointed and plastered 
 him all over, while Maritornes (for that was the 
 name of the Asturian wench) held the candle. 
 The hostess, while she greased him, wondering 
 to see him so bruised all over, I fancy, said she, 
 those bumps look much more like a dry beating 
 than a fall. Twas no dry beating, mistress, I 
 promise you, quoth Sancho ; but the rock had I 
 know not how many cragged ends and knobs,
 
 156 Essay on the 
 
 and every one of them gave my master a token 
 of its kindness. And by the way, forsooth, con- 
 tinued he, I beseech you save a little of that 
 same tow and ointment for me too, for I don't 
 know what's the matter with my back, but I 
 fancy I stand mainly in want of a little greasing 
 too. What, I suppose you fell too, quoth the 
 landlady. Not I, quoth Sancho, but the very 
 fright that I took to see my master tumble 
 down the rock, has so wrought upon my body, 
 that I am as sore as if I had been sadly 
 mauled." 
 
 Translation by Smollet 
 
 " In this wretched bed Don Quixote having 
 laid himself down, was anointed from head to 
 foot by the good woman and her daughter, while 
 Maritornes (that was the Asturian's name) stood 
 hard by, holding a light. The landlady, in the 
 course of her application, perceiving the Knight's 
 whole body black and blue, observed, that those 
 marks seemed rather the effects of drubbing 
 than of a fall ; but Sancho affirmed she was 
 mistaken, and that the marks in question were 
 occasioned by the knobs and corners of the 
 rocks among which he fell. And now, I think 
 of it, said he, pray, Madam, manage matters so 
 as to leave a little of your ointment, for it will 
 be needed, I'll assure you : my own loins are 
 none of the soundest at present. What, did you 
 fall too, said she ? I can't say I did, answered
 
 Principles of Translation 157 
 
 the squire ; but I was so infected by seeing my 
 master tumble, that my whole body akes, as 
 much as if I had been cudgelled without 
 mercy." 
 
 Of these two translations, it will hardly be 
 denied that Motteux's is both easier in point of 
 style, and conveys more forcibly the humour of 
 the dialogue in the original. A few contrasted 
 phrases will shew clearly the superiority of the 
 former. 
 
 Motteux. " In this ungracious bed was the 
 Knight laid to rest his belaboured carcase." 
 
 Smollet. " In this wretched bed Don Quixote 
 having laid himself down." 
 
 Motteux. " While Maritornes (for that was 
 the name of the Asturian wench) held the 
 candle." 
 
 Smollet. "While Maritornes (that was the 
 Asturian's name) stood hard by, holding a 
 light." 
 " ^ Motteux. " The hostess, while she greased him." 
 
 Smollet. " The landlady, in the course of her 
 application." 
 
 Motteux. " I fancy, said she, those bumps 
 look much more like a dry beating than a fall." 
 
 Smollet. " Observed, that those marks seemed 
 rather the effect of drubbing than of a fall." 
 
 Motteux. " 'Twas no dry beating, mistress, I 
 promise you, quoth Sancho." 
 
 Smollet. " But Sancho affirmed she was in a 
 mistake."
 
 158 Essay on the 
 
 Motteux. " And, by the way, forsooth, con- 
 tinued he, I beseech you save a little of that 
 same tow and ointment for me ; for I don't know 
 what's the matter with my back, but I fancy I 
 stand mainly in need of a little greasing too." 
 
 Smollet. " And now, I think of it, said he, 
 pray, Madam, manage matters so as to leave a 
 little of your ointment, for it will be needed, I'll 
 assure you : my own loins are none of the 
 soundest at present." 
 
 Motteux. " What, I suppose you fell too, 
 quoth the landlady ? Not I, quoth Sancho, but 
 the very fright," &c. 
 
 Smollet. " What, did you fall too, said she ? 
 I can't say I did, answered the squire ; but I 
 was so infected," &c. 
 
 There is not only more ease of expression 
 and force of humour in Motteux's translation 
 of the above passages than in Smollet's, but 
 greater fidelity to the original. In one part, no 
 fueron golpes, Smollet has improperly changed 
 the first person for the third, or the colloquial 
 style for the narrative, which materially weakens 
 the spirit of the passage. Cada uno habia hecJio 
 su cardenal is most happily translated by Mot- 
 teux, " every one of them gave him a token of 
 its kindness ; " but in Smollet's version, this 
 spirited clause of the sentence evaporates alto- 
 gether. Algunas estopas is more faithfully 
 rendered by Motteux than by Smollet. In the 
 latter part of the passage, when the hostess
 
 Principles of Translation 159 
 
 jeeringly says to Sancho, Desa manera tambien 
 debistes vos de caer? the squire, impatient to 
 wipe off that sly insinuation against the veracity 
 of his story, hastily answers, No cat. To this 
 Motteux has done ample justice, " Not I, quoth 
 Sancho." But Smollet, instead of the arch 
 effrontery which the author meant to mark by 
 this answer, gives a tame apologetic air to the 
 squire's reply, " I can't say I did, answered the 
 squire." Don Quix. par. I, cap. 16. 
 
 Don Quixote and Sancho, travelling in the 
 night through a desert valley, have their ears 
 assailed at once by a combination of the most 
 horrible sounds, the roaring of cataracts, clank- 
 ing of chains, and loud strokes repeated at 
 regular intervals ; all which persuade the Knight, 
 that his courage is immediately to be tried in 
 a most perilous adventure. Under this im- 
 pression, he felicitates himself on the immortal 
 renown he is about to acquire, and brandishing 
 his lance, thus addresses Sancho, whose joints 
 are quaking with affright : 
 
 A si que aprieta un poco las cinchas a Rocinante, 
 y quedate a Dios, y asperame aqui kasta tres dias, 
 no mas, en los quales si no volviere, puedes tu 
 volverte a nnestra aldea,y desde alli,por hacerme 
 mercedy buena obra, irds al Toboso, donde dirds 
 al incomparable senora mia Dulcinea, que su 
 cautivo caballero murio por acometer cosas, que le 
 liictesen digno de poder llamarse suyo. Don 
 Ouix. par. I, cap. 20.
 
 160 Essay on the 
 
 Translation by Motteux 
 
 " Come, girth Rozinante straiter, and then 
 Providence protect thee : Thou may'st stay for 
 me here ; but if I do not return in three days, 
 go back to our village, and from thence, for my 
 sake, to Toboso, where thou shalt say to my 
 incomparable lady Dulcinea, that her faithful 
 knight fell a sacrifice to love and honour, while 
 he attempted things that might have made him 
 worthy to be called her adorer." 
 
 Translation by Smollet 
 
 " Therefore straiten Rozinante's girth, recom- 
 mend thyself to God, and wait for me in this 
 place, three days at farthest ; within which time 
 if I come not back, thou mayest return to our 
 village, and, as the last favour and service done 
 to me, go from thence to Toboso, and inform my 
 incomparable mistress Dulcinea, that her captive 
 knight died in attempting things that might 
 render him worthy to be called her lover." 
 
 On comparing these two translations, that of 
 Smollet appears to me to have better preserved 
 the ludicrous solemnity of the original. This is 
 particularly observable in the beginning of the 
 sentence, where there is a most humorous associ- 
 ation of two counsels very opposite in their 
 nature, the recommending himself to God, and 
 girding Rozinante. In the request, " and as the 
 last favour and service done to me, go from 
 thence to Toboso;" the translations of Smollet
 
 Principles of Translation 161 
 
 and Motteux are, perhaps, nearly equal in 
 point of solemnity, but the simplicity of the 
 original is better preserved by Smollet. 1 
 
 Sancho, after endeavouring in vain to dissuade 
 his master from engaging in this perilous adven- 
 ture, takes advantage of the darkness to tie 
 Rozinante' legs together, and thus to prevent him 
 from stirring from the spot ; which being done, 
 to divert the Knight's impatience under this 
 supposed enchantment, he proceeds to tell him, 
 in his usual strain of rustic buffoonery, a long 
 story of a cock and a bull, which thus begins : 
 " Erase que se era, el bien que viniere para todos 
 sea, y el mal para quien lo fuere d buscar ; y 
 advierta vuestra inerced, senormio, que el principle 
 que los antiguos dieron a sus consejas, no fue asi 
 como quiera, que fue tina sentenda de Caton Zon- 
 zorino Romano que dice, y el mal para quien lo 
 fuere d buscar" Ibid. 
 
 In this passage, the chief difficulties that occur 
 to the translator are, first, the beginning, which 
 seems to be a customary prologue to a nursery- 
 
 1 Perhaps a parody was here intended of the famous 
 epitaph of Simonides, on the brave Spartans who fell at 
 Thermopylae : 
 
 G leir, ayyeikov Aa/ce8ai j uoj'iots, <m TjjSe 
 KejjUefla, TOLS Keivcav pr)/j.affi TretQo/J.ei'oi. 
 
 " O stranger, carry back the news to Lacedemon, that 
 we died here to prove our obedience to her laws." This, 
 it will be observed, may be translated, or at least 
 closely imitated, in the very words of Cervantes ; diras 
 que su caballero murio par acometer cosas, que le hidesen 
 digno de poder llamarse suyo. 
 
 M
 
 1 62 Essay on the 
 
 tale among the Spaniards, which must therefore 
 be translated by a corresponding phraseology in 
 English ; and secondly, the blunder of Caton 
 Zonzorino. Both these are, I think, most happily 
 hit off by Motteux. "In the days of yore, 
 when it was as it was, good betide us all, and 
 evil to him that evil seeks. And here, Sir, you 
 are to take notice, that they of old did not begin 
 their tales in an ordinary way ; for 'twas a 
 saying of a wise man, whom they call'd Cato 
 the Roman Tonsor, that said, Evil to him that 
 evil seeks." Smollet thus translates the passage : 
 " There was, so there was ; the good that shall 
 fall betide us all ; and he that seeks evil may 
 meet with the devil. Your worship may take 
 notice, that the beginning of the ancient tales is 
 not just what came into the head of the teller : 
 no, they always began with some saying of Cato, 
 the censor of Rome, like this, of " He that seeks 
 evil may meet with the devil." 
 
 The beginning of the story, thus translated, 
 has neither any meaning in itself, nor does it 
 resemble the usual preface of a foolish tale. 
 Instead of Caton Zonsorino, a blunder which 
 apologises for the mention of Cato by such an 
 ignorant clown as Sancho, we find the blunder 
 rectified by Smollet, and Cato distinguished by 
 his proper epithet of the Censor. This is a 
 manifest impropriety in the last translator, for 
 which no other cause can be assigned, than that 
 his predecessor had preoccupied the blunder of
 
 Principles of Translation 163 
 
 Cato tht Tonsor, which, though not a translation 
 of Zonzorino, (the purblind), was yet a very 
 happy parallelism. 
 
 In the course of the same cock-and-bull story, 
 Sancho thus proceeds: " Asi gue, yendo dias y 
 viniendo dias, el diablo que no duerme y que todo 
 lo anasca, hizo de manera, que el amor que el pas- 
 tor tenia a su pastor a se volviese en omecillo y mala 
 voluntad.y la causa fue segun malas lenguas, una 
 cierta cantidad de zelillos que ella le did, tales que 
 pasaban de la raya, y llegaban a lo vedado, y fue 
 tanto lo que el pastor la aborrecio de alii aaelante, 
 que por on verla se quiso ausentar de aquella 
 tierra, e irse donde sus ojos no la vie sen jamas : la 
 Toralva, que se via desdenada del Lope, luego le 
 quiso bien mas que nunca le habia querido." Ibid. 
 
 Translation by Motteux 
 
 " Well, but, as you know, days come and go, 
 and time and straw makes medlars ripe ; so it 
 happened, that after several days coming and 
 going, the devil, who seldom lies dead in a 
 ditch, but will have a finger in every pye, so 
 brought it about, that the shepherd fell out with 
 his sweetheart, insomuch that the love he bore 
 her turned into dudgeon and ill-will ; and the 
 cause was, by report of some mischievous tale- 
 carriers, that bore no good-will to either party, 
 for that the shepherd thought her no better than 
 she should be, a little loose i' the hilts, &C. 1 
 1 One expression is omitted which is a little too gross.
 
 164 Essay on the 
 
 Thereupon being grievous in the dumps about it, 
 and now bitterly hating her, he e'en resolved to 
 leave that country to get out of her sight : for 
 now, as every dog has his day, the wench per- 
 ceiving he came no longer a suitering to her, but 
 rather toss'd his nose at her and shunn'd her, she 
 began to love him, and doat upon him like any 
 thing." 
 
 I believe it will be allowed, that the above 
 translation not only conveys the complete sense 
 and spirit of the original, but that it greatly im- 
 proves upon its humour. When Smollet came 
 to translate this passage, he must have severely 
 felt the hardship of that law he had imposed on 
 himself, of invariably rejecting the expressions of 
 Motteux, who had in this instance been eminently 
 fortunate. It will net therefore surprise us, if 
 we find the new translator to have here failed as 
 remarkably as his predecessor has succeeded. 
 
 Translation by Smollet 
 
 "And so, in process of time, the devil, who 
 never sleeps, but wants to have a finger in every 
 pye, managed matters in such a manner, that the 
 shepherd's love for the shepherdess was turned 
 into malice and deadly hate : and the cause, 
 according to evil tongues, was a certain quantity 
 of small jealousies she gave him, exceeding all 
 bounds of measure. And such was the abhorrence 
 the shepherd conceived for her, that, in order to 
 avoid the sight of her, he resolved to absent
 
 Principles of Translation 165 
 
 himself from his own country, and go where he 
 should never set eyes on her again. Toralvo 
 finding herself despised by Lope, began to love 
 him more than ever." 
 
 Smollet, conscious that in the above passage 
 Motteux had given the best possible free transla- 
 tion, and that he had supplanted him in the 
 choice of corresponding idioms, seems to have 
 piqued himself on a rigid adherence to the very 
 letter of his original. The only English idiom, 
 being a plagiarism from Motteux, " wants to 
 have a finger in every pye? seems to have been 
 adopted from absolute necessity: the Spanish 
 phrase would not bear a literal version, and no 
 other idiom was to be found but that which 
 Motteux had preoccupied. 
 
 From an inflexible adherence to the same 
 law, of invariably rejecting the phraseology of 
 Motteux, we find in every page of this new 
 translation numberless changes for the worse : 
 
 Se que no mira de mal ojo a la mocJiacha. 
 
 " I have observed he casts a sheep's eye at the 
 wench." Motteux. 
 
 " I can perceive he has no dislike to the girl." 
 Smollet. 
 
 Teresa me pusieron en el bautismo, nombre 
 mondo y escueto, sin anadiduras, ni cortopizas, m 
 arrequives de Danes ni Donas. 
 
 " I was christened plain Teresa, without any 
 fiddle-faddle, or addition of Madam, or Your 
 Ladyship." Motteux.
 
 1 66 Essay on the 
 
 "Teresa was I christened, a bare and simple 
 name, without the addition, garniture, and em- 
 broidery of Don or Donna." Smollet. 
 
 Sigue tn cuenta, Sancho. 
 
 " Go on with thy story, Sancho." Motteux. 
 
 " Follow thy story, Sancho." Smollet. 
 
 Yo confieso que he andado algo risueilo en 
 demasia. 
 
 " I confess I carried the jest too far." Motteux. 
 
 " I see I have exceeded a little in my 
 pleasantry." Smollet. 
 
 De mis villas vengo, no se nada> no soy amigo de 
 saber vidas agenas. 
 
 " I never thrust my nose into other men's 
 porridge ; it's no bread and butter of mine : 
 Every man for himself, and God for us all, say 
 I." Motteux. 
 
 " I prune my own vine, and I know nothing 
 about thine. I never meddle with other people's 
 concerns." Smollet. 
 
 Y advierta que ya tengo edad para dar consejos. 
 Quien bien tiene^y mal escoge, por bien que se enoja, 
 no se venga} 
 
 " Come, Master, I have hair enough in my 
 beard to make a counsellor : he that will not 
 when he may, when he will he shall have nay." 
 Motteux. 
 
 1 Thus it stands in all the editions by the Royal 
 Academy of Madrid ; though in Lord Carteret's edition 
 the latter part of the proverb is given thus, apparently 
 with more propriety : del mal que le viene no se enoje.
 
 Principles of Translation 167 
 
 " Take notice that I am of an age to give good 
 counsels. He that hath good in his view, and 
 yet will not evil eschew, his folly deserveth to 
 rue." Smollet. Rather than adopt a corre- 
 sponding proverb, as Motteux has done, Smollet 
 chuses, in this instance, and in many others, to 
 make a proverb for himself, by giving a literal 
 version of the original in a sort of doggrel 
 rhime. 
 
 Vive Rogue, que es la s eft or a nuestra amo mas 
 ligera que un alcotan, y que puede ensenar al mas 
 diestro Cordobes o Mexicano. 
 
 " By the Lord Harry, quoth Sancho, our Lady 
 Mistress is as nimble as an eel. Let me be 
 hang'd,if I don't think she might teach the best 
 Jockey in Cordova or Mexico to mount a- 
 horseback." Motteux. 
 
 " By St. Roque, cried Sancho, my Lady 
 Mistress is as light as a hawk, 1 and can teach the 
 most dexterous horseman to ride." Smollet, 
 
 The chapter which treats of the puppet-show, 
 is well translated both by Motteux and Smollet. 
 But the discourse of the boy who explains the 
 story of the piece, in Motteux's translation, 
 appears somewhat more consonant to the phrase- 
 ology commonly used on such occasions : 
 " Now, gentlemen, in the next place, mark that 
 personage that peeps out there with a crown on 
 
 1 Mas ligera que un alcotan is more literally translated 
 by Smollet than by Motteux ; but if Smollet piqued him- 
 self on fidelity, why was Cordobes o Mexicano omitted ?
 
 1 68 Essay on the 
 
 his head, and a sceptre in his hand : That's the 
 Emperor Charlemain. Mind how the Emperor 
 turns his back upon him. Don't you see that 
 Moor ; hear what a smack he gives on her 
 sweet lips, and see how she spits, and wipes her 
 mouth with her white smock-sleeve. See how 
 she takes on, and tears her hair for very mad- 
 ness, as if it was to blame for this affront. 
 Now mind what a din and hurly-burly there is." 
 Motteux. This jargon appears to me to be 
 more characteristic of the speaker than the 
 following : " And that personage who now ap- 
 pears with a crown on his head and a sceptre in 
 his hand, is the Emperor Charlemagne. Behold 
 how the Emperor turns about and walks off. 
 Don't you see that Moor ; Now mind how he 
 prints a kiss in the very middle of her lips, and 
 with what eagerness she spits, and wipes them 
 with the sleeve of her shift, lamenting aloud, and 
 tearing for anger her beautiful hair, as if it had 
 been guilty of the trangression." x 
 
 1 Smollet has here mistaken the sense of the original, 
 como si ellos tuvieran la culpa del maleficio : She did not 
 blame the hair for being guilty of the transgression or 
 offence, but for being the cause of the Moor's transgres- 
 sion, or, as Motteux has properly translated it, "this 
 affront." In another part of the same chapter, Smollet 
 has likewise mistaken the sense of the original. When 
 the boy remarks, that the Moors don't observe much form 
 or ceremony in their judicial trials, Don Quixote contra- 
 dicts him, and tells him there must always be a regular 
 process and examination of evidence to prove matters of 
 fact, "para sacar una verdad en liinpio tncncster son 
 muchas pruebas y reprnebas" Smollet applies this
 
 Principles of Translation 169 
 
 In the same scene of the puppet-show, the 
 scraps of the old Moorish ballad are translated 
 by Motteux with a corresponding naivete of ex- 
 pression, which it seems to me impossible to 
 exceed : 
 
 Jugando estd a las tablets Don Gayferos, 
 Que ya de Melisendra estd olvidado. 
 
 Now Gayferos the live-long day, ' 
 Oh, errant shame ! at draughts doth play ; 
 And, as at court most husbands do, 
 Forgets his lady fair and true. Motteux. 
 
 Now Gayferos at tables playing, 
 
 Of Melisendra thinks no more. Smollet. 
 
 Caballero, si a Francia ides, 
 Par Gayferos pregnntad. 
 
 Quoth Melisendra, if perchance, 
 
 Sir Traveller, you go for France, 
 
 For pity's sake, ask, when you're there, 
 
 For Gayferos, my husband dear. Motteux. 
 
 Sir Knight, if you to France do go, 
 For Gayferos inquire. Smollet. 
 
 How miserably does the new translator sink 
 in the above comparison ! Yet Smollet was a 
 good poet, and most of the verse translations 
 interspersed through this work are executed 
 with ability. It is on this head that Motteux 
 
 observation of the Knight to the boy's long- winded story, 
 and translates the passage, "There is not so much proof 
 and counter proof required to bring truth to light." In 
 both these passages Smollet has departed from his 
 prototype, Jarvis.
 
 ijo Essay on the 
 
 has assumed to himself the greatest licence. 
 He has very presumptuously mutilated the 
 poetry of Cervantes, by leaving out many 
 entire stanzas from the larger compositions, 
 and suppressing some of the smaller altogether : 
 Yet the translation of those parts which he 
 has retained, is possessed of much poetical 
 merit ; and in particular, those verses which are 
 of a graver cast, are, in my opinion, superior to 
 those of his rival. The song in the first volume, 
 which in the original is intitled Cancion de 
 Grisostomo, and which Motteux has intitled, 
 The Despairing Lover, is greatly abridged by 
 the suppression of more than one half of the 
 stanzas in the original ; but the translation, so 
 far as it goes, is highly poetical. The translation 
 of this song by Smollet, though inferior as a 
 poem, is, perhaps, more valuable on the whole, 
 because more complete. There is, however, only 
 a single passage in which he maintains with 
 Motteux a contest which is nearly equal : 
 
 O thou, whose cruelty and hate, 
 
 The tortures of my breast proclaim, 
 Behold, how willingly to fate 
 
 I offer this devoted frame. 
 If thou, when I am past all pain, 
 
 Shouldst think my fall deserves a tear, 
 Let not one single drop distain 
 
 Those eyes, so killing and so clear. 
 No ! rather let thy mirth display 
 
 The joys that in thy bosom flow : 
 Ah ! need I bid that heart be gay, 
 
 Which always triumph'd in my woe. Smollet
 
 Principles of Translation 171 
 
 It will be allowed that there is much merit in 
 these lines, and that the last stanza in particular 
 is eminently beautiful and delicate. Yet there 
 is in my opinion an equal vein of poetry, and 
 more passion, in the corresponding verses of 
 Motteux : 
 
 thou, by whose destructive hate 
 I'm hurry'd to this doleful fate, 
 
 When I'm no more, thy pity spare ! 
 
 1 dread thy tears ; oh, spare them then 
 But, oh ! I rave, I was too vain 
 
 My death can never cost a tear ! Motteux. 
 
 In the song of Cardenio, there is a happy 
 combination of tenderness of expression with 
 ingenious thought ; the versification is likewise 
 ofa peculiar structure, the second line forming 
 an echo to the first. This song has been 
 translated in a corresponding measure both by 
 Motteux and Smollet ; but by the latter with 
 far inferior merit. 
 
 CANCION DE CARDENIO 
 I 
 
 Quien menoscaba mis bienes ? 
 
 Desdenes. 
 
 Y quien aumenta mis duelos ? 
 
 Los Zelos. 
 
 Y quien prueba mi paciencia? 
 
 Ausencia. 
 
 De ese modo en mi dolencia, 
 Ningun remedio se alcanza ; 
 Pues me matan la Esperanza, 
 Desdenes, Zelos, y Ausencia.
 
 II 
 
 Quien me causa este dolor ? 
 
 Amor. 
 Y quien mi gloria repuna ? 
 
 Fortuna. 
 Y quien consiente mi duelo ? 
 
 El Cielo. 
 
 De ese modo yo rezelo, 
 Morir deste mal extrano, 
 Pues se aunan en mi dano 
 Amor, Fortuna, y el Cielo. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Quien mejorara mi suerte ? 
 
 La Muerte. 
 Y el bien de amor, quien le alcanza ? 
 
 Mudanza. 
 Y sus malos quien los cura ? 
 
 Locura. 
 
 De ese modo no es cordura 
 Querer curar la pasion ; 
 Quando los remedios son 
 Muerte, Mudanza, y Locura. 
 
 CARDENIO'S SONG, by MOTTEUX 
 
 I 
 
 What makes me languish and complain ? 
 
 O, 'tis Disdain ! 
 What yet more fiercely tortures me ? 
 
 'Tis fealousy. 
 How have I my patience lost ? 
 
 By Absence crost. 
 
 Then Hope, farewell, there's no relief; 
 I sink beneath oppressing grief; 
 Nor can a wretch, without despair, 
 Scorn, Jealousy, and Absence, bear.
 
 Principles of Translation 173 
 II 
 
 What in my breast this anguish drove ? 
 
 Intruding Love. 
 Who could such mighty ills create? 
 
 Blind Fortune's hate. 
 What cruel powers my fate approve ? 
 
 The Powers above. 
 Then let me bear, and cease to moan ; 
 'Tis glorious thus to be undone : 
 When these invade, who dares oppose ? 
 Heaven, Love, and Fortune are my foes. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Where shall I find a speedy cure ? 
 
 Oh ! Death is sure. 
 No milder means to set me free ? 
 
 Inconstancy. 
 Can nothing else my pains assuage ? 
 
 Distracting Rage. 
 
 What, die or change ? Lucinda lose ? 
 O let me rather madness chuse ! 
 But judge, ye gods, what we endure, 
 When death or madness are a cure ! 
 
 In the last four lines, Motteux has used more 
 liberty with the thought of the original than is 
 allowable for a translator. It must be owned, 
 however, that he has much improved it. 
 
 CARDENIO'S SONG, by SMOLLET 
 I 
 
 Ah ! what inspires my woful strain ? 
 
 Unkind Disdain ! 
 Ah ! what augments my misery ? 
 
 Fell Jealousy ! 
 Or say what hath my patience worn ? 
 
 An absent lover's scorn !
 
 174 Essay on the 
 
 The torments then that I endure 
 No mortal remedy can cure : 
 For every languid hope is slain 
 By Absence, Jealousy, Disdain. 
 
 II 
 
 From Love, my unrelenting foe, 
 
 These sorrows flow : 
 My infant glory's overthrown 
 
 By Fortune's frown. 
 Confirm'd in this my wretched state 
 
 By the decrees of Fate, 
 In death alone I hope release 
 From this compounded dire disease, 
 Whose cruel pangs to aggravate, 
 Fortune and Love conspire with Fate ! 
 
 Ill 
 
 Ah ! what will mitigate my doom ? 
 
 The silent tomb. 
 Ah ! what retrieve departed joy ? 
 
 Inconstancy ! 
 Or say, can ought but frenzy bear 
 
 This tempest of despair ! 
 All other efforts then are vain 
 To cure this soul-tormenting pain, 
 That owns no other remedy 
 Than madness, death, inconstancy. 
 
 "The torments then that I endure no mortal 
 remedy can cure." Who ever heard of a mortal 
 remedy? or who could expect to be cured by 
 it ? In the next line, the epithet of languid is 
 injudiciously given to Hope in this place ; for a 
 languid or a languishing hope, was already dying, 
 and needed not so powerful a host of murderers
 
 Principles of Translation 175 
 
 to slay it, as Absence, Jealousy, and Disdain. 
 In short, the latter translation appears to me to 
 be on the whole of much inferior merit to the 
 former. I have remarked, that Motteux excels 
 his rival chiefly in the translation of those poems 
 that are of a graver cast. But perhaps he is 
 censurable for hiving thrown too much gravity 
 into the poems that are interspersed in this 
 work, as Smollet is blameable on the opposite 
 account, of having given them too much the air 
 of burlesque. In the song which Don Quixote 
 composed while he was doing penance in the 
 Sierra- Morena, beginning Arboles, Yerbas y 
 Plantas, every stanza of which ends with Del 
 Tobflso, the author intended, that the composition 
 should be quite characteristic of its author, a 
 ludicrous compound of gravity and absurdity. 
 In the translation of Motteux there is perhaps 
 too much gravity ; but Smollet has rendered 
 the composition altogether burlesque. The same 
 remark is applicable to the song of Antonio, 
 beginning Yo se, Olalla, que me adorzs, and to 
 many of the other poems. 
 
 On the whole, I am inclined to think, that the 
 version of Motteux is by far the best we have 
 yet seen of the Romance of Cervantes ; and that 
 if corrected in its licentious abbreviations and 
 enlargements, and in some other particulars 
 which I have noticed in the course of this com- 
 parison, we should have nothing to desire 
 superior to it in the way of translation.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF COMPOSITION, 
 WHICH RENDER TRANSLATION DIFFICULT. 
 ANTIQUATED TERMS NEW TERMS 
 VERBAARDENTIA. SIMPLICITYOF THOUGHT 
 AND EXPRESSION IN PROSE IN POETRY. 
 NAIVETE IN THE LATTER. CHAULIEU 
 PARNELL LA FONTAINE. SERIES OF 
 MINUTE DISTINCTIONS MARKED BY CHA- 
 RACTERISTIC TERMS. STRADA. FLORID 
 STYLE AND VAGUE EXPRESSION. PLINY'S 
 NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 IN the two preceding chapters I have treated 
 pretty fully of what I have considered as a princi- 
 pal difficulty in translation, the permutation of 
 idioms. I shall in this chapter touch upon 
 several other characteristics of composition, 
 which, in proportion as they are found in original 
 works, serve greatly to enhance the difficulty of 
 doing complete justice to them in a translation. 
 i. The poets, in all languages, have a licence 
 peculiar to themselves, of employing a mode of 
 expression very remote from the diction of prose, 
 and still more from that of ordinary speech. 
 Under this licence, it is customary for them to 
 use antiquated terms, to invent new ones, and 
 to employ a glowing and rapturous phraseology, 
 or what Cicero terms Verba ardentia. To do 
 176
 
 Principles of Translation 177 
 
 justice to these peculiarities in a translation, by 
 adopting similar terms and phrases, will be found 
 extremely difficult ; yet, without such assimila- 
 tion, the translation presents no just copy of the 
 original. It would require no ordinary skill to 
 transfuse into another language the thoughts of 
 the following passages, in a similar species of 
 phraseology : 
 
 Antiquated Terms : 
 
 For Nature crescent doth not grow alone 
 In thews and bulk ; but as this temple waxes, 
 The inward service of the mind and soul 
 Grows wide withal. Perhaps he loves thee now, 
 And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch 
 The virtue of his will. 
 
 SHAK. Hamlet, act i. 
 
 New Terms : 
 
 So over many a tract 
 
 Of heaven they march'd, and many a province wide, 
 Tenfold the length of this terrene : at last 
 Far in th' horizon to the north appear'd 
 From skirt to skirt a fiery region, stretcht 
 In battailous aspect, and nearer view 
 Bristl'd with upright beams innumerable 
 Of rigid spears, and helmets throng'd, and shields 
 Various with boastful argument pourtrayed. 
 
 Paradise Lost, b. 6. 
 
 All come to this ? the hearts 
 That spaniel'd me at heels, to whom I gave 
 Their wishes, do discandy. 
 
 SHAK. Ant. & Cleop. act 4, sc. 10. 
 
 N
 
 178 Essay on the 
 
 Glowing Phraseology, or Verba ardentia : 
 Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er ye are, 
 That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, 
 How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides, 
 Your loop'd and window'd raggedness defend you 
 From seasons such as these ? Oh, I have ta'en 
 Too little care of this : Take physic, pomp ! 
 Expose thyself to feel what wretches feel, 
 That thou may'st shake the superflux to them, 
 And show the heavens more just. 
 
 SHAK. K. Lear. 
 
 Tremble, thou wretch, 
 That hast within thee undivulged crimes, 
 Unwhipt of justice ! Hide thee, thou bloody hand ; 
 Thou perjure, and thou simular of virtue, 
 That art incestuous ! Caitiff, shake to pieces, 
 That under covert and convenient seeming 
 Hast practis'd on man's life ! Close pent up guilts, 
 Rive your concealing continents, and ask 
 Those dreadful summoners grace. Ibid. 
 
 Can any mortal mixture of Earth's mould, 
 Breathe such divine, enchanting ravishment ? 
 Sure something holy lodges in that breast, 
 And with these raptures moves the vocal air 
 To testify his hidden residence : 
 How sweetly did they float upon the wings 
 Of silence, through the empty-vaulted night ; 
 At every fall smoothing the raven down 
 Of darkness till it smil'd : I have oft heard, 
 Amidst the flow'ry kirtled Naiades, 
 My mother Circe, with the Sirens three, 
 Culling their potent herbs and baleful drugs, 
 Who, as they sung, would take the poison'd soul 
 
 And lap it in Elysium. 
 
 But such a sacred, and home-felt delight, 
 
 Such sober certainty of waking bliss, 
 
 I never heard till now. MILTON'S Comus.
 
 Principles of Translation 179 
 
 2. There is nothing more difficult to imitate 
 successfully in a translation than that species of 
 composition which conveys just, simple, and 
 natural thoughts, in plain, unaffected, and per- 
 fectly appropriate terms ; and which rejects all 
 those aucupia sermonis, those lenocinia verborum, 
 which constitute what is properly termed florid 
 writing. It is much easier to imitate in a trans- 
 lation that kind of composition (provided it be 
 at all intelligible), 1 which is brilliant and rheto- 
 rical, which employs frequent antitheses, allusions, 
 similes, metaphors, than it is to give a perfect 
 copy of just, apposite, and natural sentiments, 
 which are clothed in pure and simple language : 
 For the former characters are strong and promi- 
 nent, and therefore easily caught ; whereas the 
 latter have no striking attractions, their merit 
 eludes altogether the general observation, and 
 is discernible only to the most correct and 
 chastened taste. 
 
 It would be difficult to approach to the beau- 
 tiful simplicity of expression of the following 
 passages, in any translation. 
 
 "In those vernal seasons of the year, when 
 the air is calm and pleasant, it were an injury 
 and sullenness against Nature, not to go out 
 to see her riches, and partake in her rejoicing 
 
 1 I add this qualification not without reason, as I intend 
 afterwards to give an example of a species of florid writing 
 which is difficult to be translated, because its meaning 
 cannot be apprehended with precision.
 
 i8o Essay on the 
 
 with heaven and earth." Milton's Tract of 
 Education. 
 
 "Can I be made capable of such great ex- 
 pectations, which those animals know nothing 
 of, (happier by far in this regard than I am, if 
 we must die alike), only to be disappointed at 
 last? Thus placed, just upon the confines of 
 another, better world, and fed with hopes of 
 penetrating into it, and enjoying it, only to 
 make a short appearance here, and then to be 
 shut out and totally sunk ? Must I then, when 
 I bid my last farewell to these walks, when I 
 close these lids, and yonder blue regions and all 
 this scene darken upon me and go out ; must I 
 then only serve to furnish dust to be mingled 
 with the ashes of these herds and plants, or 
 with this dirt under my feet ? Have I been set 
 so far above them in life, only to be levelled with 
 them at death ? " Wollaston's ReL of Nature, 
 sect. ix. 
 
 3. The union of just and delicate sentiments 
 with simplicity of expression, is more rarely 
 found in poetical composition than in prose ; 
 because the enthusiasm of poetry prompts rather 
 to what is brilliant than what is just, and is 
 always led to clothe its conceptions in that 
 species of figurative language which is very 
 opposite to simplicity. It is natural, therefore, 
 to conclude, that in those few instances which 
 are to be found of a chastened simplicity of 
 thought and expression in poetry, the difficulty
 
 Principles of Translation 181 
 
 of transfusing the same character into a trans- 
 lation will be great, in proportion to the diffi- 
 culty of attaining it in the original. Of this 
 character are the following beautiful passages 
 from Chaulieu : 
 
 Fontenay, lieu delicieux 
 Ou je vis d'abord la lumiere, 
 Bientot au bout de ma carriere, 
 Chez toi je joindrai mes ayeux. 
 Muses, qui dans ce lieu champetre 
 Avec soin me fites nourir, 
 Beaux arbres, qui m'avez vu naitre, 
 Bientot vous me verrez mourir. 
 
 Les louanges de la Tie champetre. 
 
 Je touche aux derniers instans 
 De mes plus belles annees, 
 Et deja de mon printems 
 Toutes les fleurs sont fanees. 
 Je ne vois, et n'envisage 
 Pour mon arriere saison, 
 Que le malheur d'etre sage, 
 Et Finutile avantage 
 De connoitre la raison. 
 
 Autrefois mon ignorance 
 Me fournissoit des plaisirs ; 
 Les erreurs de 1'esperance 
 Faisoient naitre mes desirs. 
 A present 1'experience 
 M'apprend que la jouissance 
 De nos biens les plus parfaits 
 Ne vaut pas 1'impatience 
 Ni 1'ardeur de nos souhaits. 
 La Fortune a ma jeunesse 
 Offrit 1'e'clat des grandeurs ; 
 Com me un autre avec souplesse 
 J'aurois brigu< ses faveurs.
 
 1 82 Essay on the 
 
 Mais sur le peu de merite 
 De ceux qu' elle a bien traites, 
 J'eus honte de la poursuite 
 De ses aveugles bontes ; 
 Et je passai, quoique donne 
 D'eclat, et pourpre, et couronne, 
 Du mepris de la personne, 
 Au mepris des dignites. 1 
 
 Poesies diverses de Chaulieu, p. 44. 
 
 1 The following translation of these verses by Parnell, 
 is at once a proof that this excellent poet felt the charac- 
 teristic merit of the original, and that he was unable 
 completely to attain it. 
 
 My change arrives ; the change I meet 
 
 Before I thought it nigh ; 
 My spring, my years of pleasure fleet, 
 
 And all their beauties die. 
 In age I search, and only find 
 
 A poor unfruitful gain, 
 Grave wisdom stalking slow behind, 
 
 Oppress'd with loads of pain. 
 
 My ignorance could once beguile, 
 
 And fancied joys inspire ; 
 My errors cherish'd hope to smile 
 
 On newly born desire. 
 But now experience shews the bliss 
 
 For which I fondly sought, 
 Not worth the long impatient wish 
 
 And ardour of the thought. 
 
 My youth met fortune fair array'd, 
 
 In all her pomp she shone, 
 And might perhaps have well essay'd 
 
 To make her gifts my own. 
 But when I saw the blessings show'r 
 
 On some unworthy mind, 
 I left the chace, and own'd the power 
 
 Was justly painted blind.
 
 Principles of Translation 183 
 
 4. The foregoing examples exhibit a species 
 of composition, which uniting just and natural 
 sentiments with simplicity of expression, pre- 
 serves at the same time a considerable portion 
 of elevation and dignity. But there is another 
 species of composition, which, possessing the 
 same union of natural sentiments with simplicity 
 of expression, is essentially distinguished from 
 the former by its always partaking, in a con- 
 siderable degree, of comic humour. This is that 
 kind of writing which the French characterise 
 by the term naif, and for which we have no 
 perfectly corresponding expression in English. 
 " Le naif," says Fontenelle, " est une nuance du 
 bas." 
 
 In the following fable of Phaedrus, there is a 
 naivete, which I think it is scarcely possible to 
 transfuse into any translation : 
 
 Inops potentem dum vult imitari, perit. 
 
 In prato quasdam rana conspexit bovem ; 
 Et tacta invidia tantae magnitudinis 
 Rugosam inflavit pellem : turn natos suos 
 Interrogavit, an bove esset latior. 
 
 I pass'd the glories which adorn 
 
 The splendid courts of kings, 
 And while the persons mov'd my scorn, 
 
 I rose to scorn the things. 
 
 In this translation, which has the merit of faithfully 
 transfusing the sense of the original, with a great portion 
 of its simplicity of expression, the following couplet is a 
 very faulty deviation from that character of the style. 
 
 My errors cherish'd hope to smile 
 On newly born desire.
 
 184 Essay on the 
 
 Illi negarunt. Rursus intendit cutem 
 Majore nisu, et simili quaesivit modo 
 Quis major esset 1 Illi dixerunt, bovem. 
 Novissime indignata, dum vult validius 
 Inflare sese, rupto jacuit corpore. 
 
 It would be extremely difficult to attain, in 
 any translation, the laconic brevity with which 
 this story is told. There is not a single word 
 which can be termed superfluous ; yet there is 
 nothing- wanting to complete the effect of the 
 picture. The gravity, likewise, of the narrative 
 when applied to describe an action of the most 
 consummate absurdity; the self-important, but 
 anxious questions, and the mortifying dryness of 
 the answers, furnish an example of a delicate 
 species of humour, which cannot easily be 
 conveyed by corresponding terms in another 
 language. La Fontaine was better qualified 
 than any another for this attempt. He saw the 
 merits of the original, and has endeavoured 
 to rival them ; but even La Fontaine has 
 failed. 
 
 Une Grenouille vit un boeuf 
 
 Qui lui sembla de belle taille. 
 
 Elle, qui n'etoit pas grosse en tout comme un oeuf, 
 
 Envieuse s'etend, et s'enfle, et se travaille 
 
 Pour egaler I'animal en grosseur ; 
 
 Disant, Regardez bien ma soeur, 
 Est ce assez, dites moi, n'y suis-je pas encore ? 
 Nenni. M'y voila done ? Point du tout. M'y voila 
 Vous n'en approchez point La chetive pecore 
 
 S'enfla si bien qu'elle creva.
 
 Principles of Translation 185 
 
 Le monde est plein de gens qui ne sont pas plus sages, 
 Tout bourgeois veut batir comme les grands seigneurs ; 
 Tout prince a des ambassadeurs, 
 Tout marquis veut avoir des pages. 
 
 But La Fontaine himself when original, is 
 equally inimitable. The source of that naivete 
 which is the characteristic of his fables, has been 
 ingeniously developed by Marmontel : " Ce n'est 
 pas un poete qui imagine, ce n'est pas un conteur 
 qui plaisante ; c'est un temoin present a 1'action, 
 et qui veut vous rendre present vous-meme. II 
 met tout en oeuvre de la meilleure foi du monde 
 pour vous persuader ; et ce sont tous ces efforts, 
 c'est le serieux avec lequel il mele les plus 
 grandes choses avec les plus petites ; c'est 1'im- 
 portance qu'il attache a des jeux d'enfans ; c'est 
 1'interet qu'il prend pour un lapin et une belette, 
 qui font qu'on est tente de s'ecrier a chaque 
 instant, Le bon homme ! On le disoit de lui dans 
 la societe. Son caractere n'a fait que passer dans 
 ses fables. C'est du fond de ce caractere que 
 sont emanes ces tours si naturels, ces expressions 
 si nai'ves, ces images si fideles." 
 
 It would require most uncommon powers to 
 do justice in a translation to the natural and 
 easy humour which characterises the dialogue in 
 the following fable : 
 
 Les animaux malades de la Pesfe. 
 
 Un mal qui repand la terreur, 
 Mai que le ciel en sa fureur
 
 1 86 Essay on the 
 
 Inventa pour punir les crimes de la terre, 
 
 La peste, (puis qu'il faut 1'apeller par son nom), 
 
 Capable d'enrichir en un jour L'Acheron, 
 
 Faisoit aux animaux la guerre. 
 Us ne mouroient pas tous, mais tous etoient frappes. 
 
 On n'en voyoit point d'occupes 
 A chercher le soutien d'une mourante vie ; 
 
 Nul mets n'excitoit leur envie. 
 
 Ni loups ni renards n'epioient 
 
 La douce et 1'innocente proye. 
 
 Les tourterelles se fuyoient ; 
 
 Plus d'amour, partant plus de joye. 
 Le Lion tint conseil, et dit, Mes chers amis, 
 
 Je crois que le ciel a permis 
 
 Pour nos peches cette infortune : 
 
 Que le plus coupable de nous 
 Se sacrifie aux traits du celeste courroux ; 
 Peutetre il obtiendra la guerison commune. 
 L'histoire nous apprend qu'en de tels accidents, 
 On fait de pareils devouements : 
 Ne nous flattens done point, voions sans indulgence 
 
 L'dtat de notre conscience. 
 Pour moi, satisfaisant mes appetits gloutons 
 
 J'ai devore force moutons ; 
 
 Que m'avoient-ils fait ? Nulle offense : 
 Meme il m'est arrive quelquefois de manger le Berger. 
 Je me devourai done, s'il le faut ; mais je pense 
 Qu'il est bon que chacun s'accuse ainsi que moi ; 
 Car on doit souhaiter, selon toute justice, 
 
 Que le plus coupable pe'risse. 
 Sire, dit le Renard, vous etes trop bon roi ; 
 Vos scrupules font voir trop de delicatesse ; 
 Eh bien, manger moutons, canaille, sotte espece, 
 Est-ce un peche ? Non, non : Vous leur fites, seigneur, 
 
 En les croquant beaucoup d'honneur : 
 Et quant au Berger, Ton peut dire 
 Qu'il etoit digne de tous maux, 
 Etant de ces gens-la qui sur les animaux
 
 Principles of Translation 187 
 
 Se font un chimerique empire. 
 Ainsi dit le Renard, et flatteurs d'applaudir. 
 
 On n'osa trop approfondir 
 Du Tigre, ni de 1'Ours, ni des autres puissances 
 
 Les moins pardonnables offenses. 
 Tous les gens querelleurs, jusqu'aux simples matins 
 Au dire de chacun, etoient de petits saints. 
 L'ane vint a son tour, et dit, J'ai souvenance 
 
 Qu'en un pre de moines passant, 
 La faim, 1'occasion, 1'herbe tendre, et je pense 
 
 Quelque diable aussi me poussant, 
 Je tondis de ce pre la largeur de ma langue : 
 Je n'en avois nul droit, puisqu'il faut parler net. 
 A ces mots on cria haro sur le baudet : 
 Un loup quelque peu clerc prouva par sa harangue 
 Qu'il falloit de'voiier ce maudit animal, 
 Ce pele, ce galeux, d'ou venoit tout leur mal. 
 Sa peccadille fut jugee un cas pendable ; 
 Manger 1'herbe d'autrui, quel crime abominable ! 
 
 Rien que la mort n'etoit capable 
 D'expier son forfait, on le lui fit bien voir. 
 Selon que vous serez puissant ou miserable, 
 Les jugements de cour vous rendront blanc ou noir. 
 
 5. No compositions will be found more diffi- 
 cult to be translated, than those descriptions, in 
 which a series of minute distinctions are marked 
 by characteristic terms, each peculiarly appro- 
 priated to the thing to be designed, but many of 
 them so nearly synonymous, or so approaching 
 to each other, as to be clearly understood only 
 by those who possess the most critical know- 
 ledge of the language of the original, and a very 
 competent skill in the subject treated of. I have 
 always regarded Strada's Contest of the Musician
 
 1 88 Essay on the 
 
 and Nightingale, as a composition which almost 
 bids defiance to the art of a translator. The 
 reader will easily perceive the extreme difficulty 
 of giving the full, distinct, and appropriate 
 meaning of those expressions marked in Italics. 
 
 Jam Sol a medio pronus deflexerat orbe, 
 
 Mitius e radiis vibrans crinalibus ignem : 
 
 Cum fidicen propter Tiberina fluenta, sonanti 
 
 Lenibat plectro curas, asstumque levabat, 
 
 Ilice defensus nigra, scenaque virenti. 
 
 Audiit hunc hospes sylvae philomela propinquje, 
 
 Musa loci, nemoris Siren, innoxia Siren ; 
 
 Et prope succedens stetit abdita frondibus, alte 
 
 Accipiens sonitum, secumque remurmurat, et quos 
 
 Ille modos variat digitis, hsec gutture reddit. 
 
 Sensit se fidicen philomela imitante referri, 
 Et placuit ludum volucri dare ; plenius ergo 
 Explorat citharam, tentamentumque futurae 
 Praebeat ut pugnae, percurrit protinus omnes 
 Impulsu pernice fides. Nee segnius ilia 
 Mille per excurrens varise discrimina vocis, 
 Venturi specimen praefert argutula cantus. 
 
 Tune fidicen per fila movens trepidantia dextram, 
 Nunc contemnenti similis diverberat ungue, 
 Depectitque pari chordas et simp lice ductu : 
 Nunc carptim replicat, digitisque micantibus urget, 
 Fila minutatim, celerique repercutit ictu. 
 Mox silet. Ilia modis totidem respondet, et artem 
 Arte refert Nunc, ceu rudis aut incerta canendi, 
 Projicit in longum, nulloque plicatileflexit, 
 Carmen init siniili serie, jugique tenore 
 Praebet iter liquidum labenti e pectore voci : 
 Nunc ccesitn variat, modulisque canora minutis 
 Delibrat vocem, tremuloque reciprocat ore.
 
 Principles of Translation 189 
 
 Miratur fidicen parvis e faucibus ire 
 Tam varium, tarn dulce melos : majoraque tentans, 
 Alter nat mira art e fides ; dura torquet acutas 
 InciditqitCi graves operoso verbere pulsat, 
 Permiscetque simul certantia rauca sonoris ; 
 Ceu resides in bella viros clangore lacessat. 
 Hoc etiam philomela canit : dumque ore liquenti 
 Vibrat acuta sonum, modulisque interplicat cequis ; 
 Ex inopinato gravis intonat, et leve murmur 
 Turbinat introrsus, alternantique sonore, 
 Clarat et tnfuscat, ceu martia classica pulset. 
 
 Scilicet erubuit fidicen, iraque calente, 
 Aut non hoc, inquit, referes, citharistia sylvse, 
 Aut fracta cedam cithara. Nee plura locutus, 
 Non imitabilibus plectrum concentibus urget. 
 Namque manu per fila volat, simul hos, simul illos 
 Explorat numeros, chordaque laborat in omni ; 
 Et strepit et tinnit, crescitque superbius, et se 
 Multiplicat relegens, plenoque choreumate plaudit. 
 Turn stetit expectans si quid paret asmula contra. 
 
 Ilia autem, quanquam vox dudum exercita fauces 
 Asperat, impatiens vinci, simul advocat omnes 
 Necquicquam vires : nam dum discrimina tanta 
 Reddere tot fidium nativa et simplice tentat 
 Voce, canaliculisque imitari grandia parvis, 
 Impar magnanimis ausis, imparque dolori, 
 Deficit, et vitam summo in certamine linquens, 
 Victoris cadit in plectrum, par nacta sepulchrum. 
 
 He that should attempt a translation of this 
 most artful composition, dum tentat discrimina 
 tanta reddere, would probably, like the nightin- 
 gale, find himself impar magnanimis ausis. 1 
 
 1 The attempt, however, has been made. In a little 
 volume, intitled Prolnsiones Poeticce, by the Reverend T. 
 Bancroft, printed at Chester 1788, is a version of the Fidi- 
 cinis et Philomela certamen, which will please every
 
 190 Essay on the 
 
 It must be here remarked, that Stiada has not 
 the merit of originality in this characteristic 
 description of the song of the Nightingale. He 
 found it in Pliny, and with still greater ampli- 
 tude, and variety of discrimination. He seems 
 even to have taken from that author the hint of 
 his fable : " Digna miratu avis. Primum, tanta 
 vox tarn parvo in corpusculo, tarn pertinax 
 spiritus. Deinde in una perfecta musicae scien- 
 tia modulatus editur sonus ; et nunc continue 
 spiritu trahitur in longum, nunc variatur inflexo, 
 nunc distinguitur concise, copulatur intorto, pro- 
 mittitur revocato, infuscatur ex inopinato : inter- 
 dum et secum ipse murmurat, plenus, gravis, 
 acutus, creber, extentus ; ubi visum est vibrans, 
 summus, medius, imus. Breviterque omnia tam 
 parvulis in faucibus, quse tot exquisitis tibiarum 
 tormentis ars hominum excogitavit. Certant 
 inter se, palamque animosa contentio est. Victa 
 morte finit saepe vitam, spiritu prius deficicnte 
 quam cantu." Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. 10, c. 29. 
 
 It would perhaps be still more difficult to give 
 a perfect translation of this passage from Pliny, 
 than of the fable of Strada. The attempt, how- 
 ever, has been made by an old English author, 
 
 reader of taste who forbears to compare it with the 
 original ; and in the Poems of Pattison, the ingenious 
 author of the Epistle of Abelard to Eloisa, is a fable, 
 intitled, the Nightingale and Shepherd, imitated from 
 Strada. But both these performances serve only to 
 convince us, that a just translation of that composition 
 is a thing almost impossible.
 
 Principles of Translation 191 
 
 Philemon Holland ; and it is curious to re- 
 mark the extraordinary shifts to which he has 
 been reduced in the search of corresponding 
 expressions : 
 
 Explorat numeros, chordaqiie laborat in omni. 
 
 " Surely this bird is not to be set in the last 
 place of those that deserve admiration ; for is it 
 not a wonder, that so loud and clear a voice 
 should come from so little a body ? Is it not 
 as strange, that shee should hold her wind so 
 long, and continue with it as shee doth ? More- 
 over, shee alone in her song keepeth time and 
 measure truly, she riseth and falleth in her note 
 just with the rules of music, and perfect harmony ; 
 for one while, in one entire breath she drawes out 
 her tune at length treatable ; another while she 
 quavereth, and goeth away as fast in her running 
 points : sometimes she maketh stops and short 
 cuts in her notes ; another time she gathereth in 
 her wind, and singeth descant between the plain 
 song : she fetcheth in her breath again, and then 
 you shall have her in her catches and divisions: 
 anon, all on a sudden, before a man would think 
 it, she drowneth her voice that one can scarce 
 heare her ; now and then she seemeth to record 
 to herself, and then she breaketh out to sing 
 voluntarie. In sum, she varieth and altereth her 
 voice to all keies: one while full of her largs, 
 longs, briefs, semibriefs, and minims ; another 
 while in her crotchets, quavers, semiquavers, and
 
 1 92 Essay on the 
 
 double semiquavers : for at one time you shall 
 hear her voice full of loud, another time as low ; 
 and anon shrill and on high ; thick and short 
 when she list ; drawn out at leisure again when 
 she is disposed ; and then, (if she be so pleased), 
 shee riseth and mounteth up aloft, as it were with 
 a wind organ. Thus shee altereth from one to 
 another, and sings all parts, the treble, the mean, 
 and the base. To conclude, there is not a pipe 
 or instrument devised with all the art and cunning 
 of man, that can affoord more musick than this 
 pretty bird doth out of that little throat of hers. 
 They strive who can do best, and one laboreth 
 to excel another in variety of song and long 
 continuance; yea, and evident it is that they 
 contend in good earnest with all their will and 
 power : for oftentimes she that hath the worse, 
 and is not able to hold out with another, dieth 
 for it, and sooner giveth she up her vitall breath, 
 than giveth over her song." 
 
 The consideration of the above passage in the 
 original, leads to the following remark. 
 
 5. There is no species of writing so difficult to 
 be translated, as that where the character of the 
 style is florid, and the expression consequently 
 vague, and of indefinite meaning. The natural 
 history of Pliny furnishes innumerable examples 
 of this fault ; and hence it will ever be found 
 one of the most difficult works to be translated. 
 A short chapter shall be here analyzed, as an 
 instructive specimen.
 
 Principles of Translation 193 
 
 Lib. n, Cap. 2. 
 
 In magnis siquidem corporibus, aut certe 
 majoribus, facilis officina sequaci materia fuit. 
 In his tarn parvis atque tarn nullis, quae ratio, 
 quanta vis, quam inextricabilis perfectio ! Ubi 
 tot sensus collocavit in culice ? Et sunt alia 
 dictu minora. Sed ubi visum in eo praetendit? 
 Ubi gustatum applicavit? Ubi odoratum in- 
 seruit ? Ubi vero truculentam illam et portione 
 maximam vocem ingeneravit? Qua subtilitate 
 pennas adnexuit? Praelongavit pedum crura? 
 disposuit jejunam caveam, uti alvum ? Avidam 
 sanguinis et potissimum humani sitim accendit ? 
 Telum vero perfodiendo tergori, quo spiculavit 
 ingenio ? Atque ut in capaci, cum cerni non 
 possit exilitas, ita reciproca geminavit arte, ut 
 fodiendo acuminatum, pariter sorbendoque fistu- 
 losum esset Quos teredini ad perforanda robora 
 cum sono teste dentes affixit? Potissimumque 
 e ligno cibatum fecit ? Sed turrigeros elephant- 
 orum miramur humeros, taurorumque colla, et 
 truces in sublime jactus, tigrium rapinas, leonum 
 jubas ; cum rerum natura nusquam magis quam 
 in minimis tota sit. Quapropter quaeso, ne haec 
 legentes, quoniam ex his spernunt multa, etiam 
 relata fastidio damnent, cum in contemplatione 
 naturae, nihil possit videri supervacuum. 
 
 Although, after the perusal of the whole of this 
 chapter, we are at no loss to understand its general
 
 194 Essay on the 
 
 meaning, yet when it is taken to pieces, we shall 
 find it extremely difficult to give a precise inter- 
 pretation, much less an elegant translation of 
 its single sentences. The latter indeed may be 
 accounted impossible, without the exercise of 
 such liberties as will render the version rather 
 a paraphrase than a translation. In magnis 
 siquidem corporibus, aut certe majoribus, facilis 
 officina sequaci inaterice fuit. The sense of the 
 term magnus, which is in itself indefinite, becomes 
 in this sentence much more so, from its opposi- 
 tion to major ; and the reader is quite at a loss 
 to know, whether in those two classes of animals, 
 the magni and the majores, the largest animals 
 are signified by the former term, or by the latter. 
 Had the opposition been between magnus and 
 maxiinus, or major and maximus, there could 
 not have 'been the smallest ambiguity. Facilis 
 officina sequaci materice fuit, Officina is the 
 workhouse where an artist exercises his craft; 
 but no author, except Pliny himself, ever em- 
 ployed it to signify the labour of the artist. 
 With a similar incorrectness of expression, which, 
 however, is justified by general use, the French 
 employ cuisine to signify both the place where 
 victuals are dressed, and the art of dressing 
 them. Sequax materia signifies pliable materials, 
 and therefore easily wrought ; but the term 
 sequax cannot be applied with any propriety to 
 such materials as are easily wrought, on account 
 of their magnitude or abundance. Tarn parvis
 
 Principles of Translation 195 
 
 is easily understood, but tarn nullis has either no 
 meaning at all, or a very obscure one. Inex- 
 tricabilis perfectio. It is no perfection in any- 
 thing to be inextricable ; for the meaning of 
 inextricable is, embroiled, perplexed, and con- 
 founded. Ubi tot sensus collocavit in culice ? 
 What is the meaning of the question ubi? 
 Does it mean, in what part of the body of the 
 gnat ? I conceive it can mean nothing else : 
 And if so, the question is absurd ; for all the 
 senses of a gnat are not placed in any one part 
 of its body, any more than the senses of a man. 
 Dictu minora. By these words the author in- 
 tended to convey the meaning of alia etiam 
 minora possunt did ; but the meaning which 
 he has actually conveyed is, Sunt alia minora 
 quam quce did possunt, which is false and hyper- 
 bolical ; for no insect is so small that words may 
 not be found to convey an idea of its size. Portione 
 maximam vocem ingeneravit. What is portione 
 maximam ? It is only from the context that 
 we guess, the author's meaning to be, maximam 
 ratione portionis, i. e. magnitudinis insecti ; for 
 neither use, nor the analogy of the language, 
 justify such an expression as vocem maximam 
 portione. If it is alledged, that portio is here 
 used to signify the power or intensity of the 
 voice, and is synonymous in this place to vis, 
 evepyeia, we may safely assert, that this use of 
 the term is licentious, improper, and unwarranted 
 by custom. Jejunam caveam uti alvum ; "a
 
 196 Principles of Translation 
 
 hungry cavity for a belly : " but is not the 
 stomach of all animals a hungry cavity, as well 
 as that of the gnat? Capaci cum cernere non 
 potest exilitas. Capax is improperly contrasted 
 with exilis, and cannot be otherwise translated 
 than in the sense of magnus. Reciproca gemina- 
 vit arte is incapable of any translation which 
 shall render the proper sense of the words, 
 "doubled with reciprocal art." The author's 
 meaning is, " fitted for a double function." Cum 
 sono teste is guessed from the context to mean, 
 uti sonus testatur. Cum rerum natura nusquam 
 magis quam in minimis iota sit. This is a very 
 obscure expression of a plain sentiment, " The 
 wisdom and power of Providence, or of Nature, 
 is never more conspicuous than in the smallest 
 bodies." Ex his spernunt multa. The meaning 
 of ex his is indefinite, and therefore obscure : 
 we can but conjecture that it means ex rebus 
 hujusmodi ; and not ex his quce diximus ; for 
 that sense is reserved for relata. 
 
 From this specimen, we may judge of the 
 difficulty of giving a just translation of Pliny's 
 Natural History.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 OF BURLESQUE TRANSLATION. TRAVESTY 
 AND PARODY. SCARRON'S VIRGILE TRA- 
 VESTI. ANOTHER SPECIES OF LUDICROUS 
 TRANSLATION. 
 
 IN a preceding chapter, while treating of the 
 translation of idiomatic phrases, we censured the 
 use of such idioms in the translation as do not 
 correspond with the age or country of the 
 original. There is, however, one species of 
 translation, in which that violation of the costume 
 is not only blameless, but seems essential to the 
 nature of the composition : I mean burlesque 
 translation, or Travesty. This species of writing 
 partakes, in a great degree, of original compo- 
 sition ; and is therefore not to be measured by 
 the laws of serious translation. It conveys 
 neither a just picture of the sentiments, nor a 
 faithful representation of the style and manner of 
 the original ; but pleases itself in exhibiting a 
 ludicrous caricatura of both. It displays an 
 overcharged and grotesque resemblance, and 
 excites our risible emotions by the incongruous 
 association of dignity and meanness, wisdom 
 and absurdity. This association forms equally 
 the basis of Travesty and of Ludicrous Parody, 
 from which it is no otherwise distinguished than 
 by its assuming a different language from the 
 197
 
 198 Essay on the 
 
 original. In order that the mimickry may be 
 understood, it is necessary that the writer choose, 
 for the exercise of his talents, a work that is 
 well known, and of great reputation. Whether 
 that reputation is deserved or unjust, the work 
 may be equally the subject of burlesque imita- 
 tion. If it has been the subject of general, but 
 undeserved praise, a Parody or a Travesty is 
 then a fair satire on the false taste of the original 
 author, and his admirers, and we are pleased to 
 see both become the objects of a just castigation. 
 The Rehearsal, Tom Thumb, and Chrononhoton- 
 thologos, which exhibit ludicrous parodies of 
 passages from the favourite dramatic writers of 
 the times, convey a great deal of just and useful 
 criticism. If the original is a work of real ex- 
 cellence, the Travesty or Parody detracts nothing 
 from its merit, nor robs the author of the smallest 
 portion of his just praise. 1 We laugh at the 
 association of dignity and meanness ; but the 
 former remains the exclusive property of the 
 original, the latter belongs solely to the copy. 
 We give due praise to the mimical powers of the 
 
 1 The occasional blemishes, however, of a good writer, 
 are a fair subject of castigation ; and a travesty or bur- 
 lesque parody of them will please, from the justness of the 
 satire : As the following ludicrous version of a passage 
 in the 5th dEneid, which is among the few examples of 
 false taste in the chastest of the Latin Poets : 
 
 Oculos telumque tetendit. 
 
 He cock'd his eye and gun.
 
 Principles of Translation 199 
 
 imitator, and are delighted to see how ingeni- 
 ously he can elicit subject of mirth and ridicule 
 from what is grave, dignified, pathetic, or 
 sublime. 
 
 In the description of the games in the 5th 
 jEneid, Virgil everywhere supports the dignity 
 of the Epic narration. His persons are heroes, 
 their actions are suitable to that character, and 
 we feel our passions seriously interested in the 
 issue of the several contests. The same scenes 
 travestied by Scarron are ludicrous in the ex- 
 treme. His heroes have the same names, they 
 are engaged in the same actions, they have even 
 a grotesque resemblance in character to their 
 prototypes ; but they have all the meanness, 
 rudeness, and vulgarity of ordinary prize-fighters, 
 hackney coachmen, horse-jockeys, and water- 
 men. 
 
 Media Gyas in gurgite victor 
 Rectorem navis compellat voce Mencetem ; 
 Quo tantum mihi dexter abis ? hue dirige cursum, 
 Littus ama, et lavas stringat sine palmula cautes ; 
 Altum alii teneant. Dixit : sed cceca Mencetes 
 Saxa timens, proram pelagi detorquet ad undas. 
 Quo diversus abis ? iterum pete saxa, Mencete, 
 Cum damore Gyas revocabat. 
 
 Gyas, qui croit que son pilote, 
 Comme un vieil fou qu'il est, radote, 
 De ce qu'en mer il s'elargit, 
 Aussi fort qu'un lion rugit ; 
 Et s'ecrie, ecumant de rage, 
 Serre, serre done le rivage,
 
 2oo Essay on the 
 
 Fils de putain de Me'ne'tus, 
 
 Serre, ou bien nous somme victus : 
 
 Serre done, serre a la pareille : 
 
 Menetus fit la sourde oreille, 
 
 Et s'eloigne toujours du bord, 
 
 Et si pourtant il n'a pas tort : 
 
 Habile qu'il est, il redoute 
 
 Certains rocs, ou Ton ne voit goute 
 
 Lors Gyas se met en furie, 
 
 Et de rechef crie et recrie, 
 
 Vieil coyon, pilote enrage, 
 
 Mes ennemis t'ont ils gagd 
 
 Pour m'oter 1'honneur de la sorte ? 
 
 Serre, ou que le diable t'emporte, 
 
 Serre le bord, ame de chien : 
 
 Mais au diable, s'il en fait rien. 
 
 In Virgil, the prizes are suitable to the dignity 
 of the persons who contend for them : 
 
 Munera principio ante oculos, circoque locantur 
 In medio : sacri tripodes, viridesque coronas, 
 Et palmse, pretium victoribus ; armaque, et ostro 
 Perfusae vestes, argenti aurique talenta. 
 
 In Scarron, the prizes are accommodated to 
 the contending parties with equal propriety : 
 
 Maitre Eneas faisant le sage, &c. 
 Fit apporter une marmitte, 
 C'etoit un des prix destines, 
 Deux pourpoints fort bien galonnes 
 Moitie filet et moitie soye, 
 Un sifflet contrefaisant 1'oye, 
 Un engin pour casser des noix, 
 Vingt et quatre assiettes de bois, 
 Qu' Eneas allant au fourrage 
 Avoit trouve' dans le bagage
 
 Principles of Translation 201 
 
 Du ve'ne'rable Agamemnon : 
 Certain auteur a dit que non, 
 Comptant la chose d'autre sorte, 
 Mais ici fort peu nous importe : 
 Une toque de velous gras, 
 Un engin a prendre des rats, 
 . Ouvrage du grand Aristandre, 
 Qui savoit bien les rats prendre 
 En plus de cinquante fac.ons, 
 Et meme en donnoit des lemons : 
 Deux tasses d'etain emaillees, 
 Deux pantoufles despareillees, 
 Dont 1'une fut au grand Hector, 
 Toutes deux de peau de castor 
 Et plusieurs autres nippes rares, &c. 
 
 But this species of composition pleases only in 
 a short specimen. We cannot bear a lengthened 
 work in Travesty. The incongruous association 
 of dignity and meanness excites risibility chiefly 
 from its being unexpected. Cotton's and Scar- 
 ron's Virgil entertain but for a few pages : the 
 composition soon becomes tedious, and at length 
 disgusting. We laugh at a short exhibition of 
 buffoonery ; but we cannot endure a man, who, 
 with good talents, is constantly playing the 
 fool. 
 
 There is a species of ludicrous verse translation 
 which is not of the nature of Travesty, and 
 which seems to be regulated by all the laws of 
 serious translation. It is employed upon a 
 ludicrous original, and its purpose is not to 
 burlesque, but to represent it with the utmost 
 fidelity. For that purpose, even the metrical
 
 2O2 Essay on the 
 
 stanza is closely imitated. The ludicrous effect 
 is heightened, when the stanza is peculiar in its 
 structure, and is transferred from a modern to 
 an ancient language ; as in Dr. Aldrich's transla- 
 tion of the well-known song, 
 
 A soldier and a sailor, 
 
 A tinker and a tailor, 
 
 Once had a doubtful strife, Sir, 
 
 To make a maid a wife, Sir, 
 
 Whose name was buxom Joan, &c. 
 
 Miles et navigator, 
 Sartor et arator, 
 Jamdudum litigabant, 
 De pulchra quam amabant, 
 
 Nomen cut est Joanna, &c. 
 
 Of the same species of translation is the face- 
 tious composition intitled Ebrii Barnabcz Itiner- 
 arium, or Drunken Barnaby's Journal : 
 
 O Faustule, die amico, 
 Quo in loco, quo in vico, 
 Sive campo, sive tecto, 
 Sine linteo, sine lecto ; 
 Propinasti queis tabernis, 
 An in terris, an Avernis. 
 
 Little Fausty, tell thy true heart, 
 In what region, coast, or new part, 
 Field or fold, thou hast been bousing, 
 Without linen, bedding, housing ; 
 In what tavern, pray thee, show us, 
 Here on earth, or else below us :
 
 Principles of Translation 203 
 
 And the whimsical, though serious translation 
 of Chevy-chace : 
 
 Vivat Rex noster nobilis, 
 
 Omnis in tuto sit ; 
 Venatus olim flebilis 
 
 Chevino luco fit. 
 
 God prosper long our noble King, 
 
 Our lives and safeties all : 
 A woful hunting once there did 
 
 In Chevy-chace befal, &c.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE GENIUS OF THE TRANSLATOR SHOULD 
 BE AKIN TO THAT OF THE ORIGINAL 
 AUTHOR. THE BEST TRANSLATORS HAVE 
 SHONE IN ORIGINAL COMPOSITION OF THE 
 SAME SPECIES WITH THAT WHICH THEY 
 HAVE TRANSLATED. OF VOLTAIRE'S 
 TRANSLATIONS FROM SHAKESPEARE. OF 
 THE PECULIAR CHARACTER OF THE WIT 
 OF VOLTAIRE. HIS TRANSLATION FROM 
 HUDIBRAS. EXCELLENT ANONYMOUS 
 
 FRENCH TRANSLATION OF HUDIBRAS. 
 TRANSLATION OF RABELAIS BY URQUHART 
 AND MOTTEUX. 
 
 FROM the consideration of those general rules 
 of translation which in the foregoing essay I have 
 endeavoured to illustrate, it will appear no un- 
 natural conclusion to assert, that he only is 
 perfectly accomplished for the duty of a transla- 
 tor who possesses a genius akin to that of the 
 original author. I do not mean to carry this 
 proposition so far as to affirm, that in order to 
 give a perfect translation of the works of Cicero, 
 a man must actually be as great an orator, or 
 inherit the same extent of philosophical genius ; 
 but he must have a mind capable of discerning 
 the full merits of his original, of attending with 
 an acute perception to the whole of his reasoning, 
 204
 
 Principles of Translation 205 
 
 and of entering with warmth and energy of 
 feeling into all the beauties of his composition. 
 Thus we shall observe invariably, that the best 
 translators have been those writers who have 
 composed original works of the same species with 
 those which they have translated. The mutilated 
 version which yet remains to us of the Timcsus 
 of Plato translated by Cicero, is a masterly com- 
 position, which, in the opinion of the best judges, 
 rivals the merit of the original. A similar com- 
 mendation cannot be bestowed on those frasr- 
 
 o 
 
 ments of the Phenomena of Aratus translated 
 into verse by the same author ; for Cicero's 
 poetical talents were not remarkable : but who 
 can entertain a doubt, that had time spared to us 
 his versions of the orations of Demosthenes and 
 ^Eschines, we should have found th^m possessed 
 of the most transcendent merit ? 
 
 We have observed, in the preceding part of 
 this essay, that poetical translation is less sub- 
 jected to restraint than prose translation, and 
 allows more of the freedom of original composi- 
 tion. It will hence follow, that to exercise this 
 freedom with propriety, a translator must have 
 the talent of original composition in poetry ; and 
 therefore, that in this species of translation, the 
 possession of a genius akin to that of his author, 
 is more essentially necessary than in any other. 
 We know the remark of Denham, that the subtle 
 spirit of poesy evaporates entirely in the transfu- 
 sion from one language into another, and that
 
 206 Essay on the 
 
 unless a new, or an original spirit, is infused by 
 the translator himself, there will remain nothing 
 but a caput mortuum. The best translators of 
 poetry, therefore, have been those who have 
 approved their talents in original poetical com- 
 position. Dryden, Pope, Addison, Rowe, Tickell, 
 Pitt, Warton, Mason, and Murphy, rank equally 
 high in the list of original poets, as in that of the 
 translators of poetry. 
 
 But as poetical composition is various in its 
 kind, and the characters of the different species 
 of poetry are extremely distinct, and often 
 opposite in their nature, it is very evident that 
 the possession of talents adequate to one species 
 of translation, as to one species of original poetry, 
 will not infer the capacity of excelling in other 
 species of which the character is different. Still 
 further, it may be observed, that as there are 
 certain species of poetical composition, as, for 
 example, the dramatic, which, though of the 
 same general character in all nations, will take 
 a strong tincture of difference from the manners 
 of a country, or the peculiar genius of a people ; 
 so it will be found, that a poet, eminent as an 
 original author in his own country, may fail 
 remarkably in attempting to convey, by a trans- 
 lation, an idea of the merits of a foreign work 
 which is tinctured by the national genius of the 
 country which produced it Of this we have a 
 striking example in those translations from 
 Shakespeare by Voltaire ; in which the French
 
 Principles of Translation 207 
 
 poet, eminent himself in dramatical composition, 
 intended to convey to his countrymen a just 
 idea of our most celebrated author in the same 
 department. But Shakespeare and Voltaire, 
 though perhaps akin to each other in some of 
 the great features of the mind, were widely 
 distinguished, even by nature, in the characters 
 of their poetical genius ; and this natural dis- 
 tinction was still more sensibly increased by 
 the general tone of manners, the hue and fashion 
 of thought of their respective countries. Voltaire, 
 in his essay sur la Tragedie Angloise,^^ chosen 
 the famous soliloquy in the tragedy of Hamlet, 
 " To be, or not to be" as one of those striking 
 passages which best exemplify the genius of 
 Shakespeare, and which, in the words of the 
 French author, demandent grace pour toutes ses 
 fautes. It may therefore be presumed, that the 
 translator in this instance endeavoured, as far as 
 lay in his power, not only to adopt the spirit of 
 his author, but to represent him as favourably as 
 possible to his countrymen. Yet, how wonder- 
 fully has he metamorphosed, how miserably dis- 
 figured him ! In the original, we have the 
 perfect picture of a mind deeply agitated, giving 
 vent to its feelings in broken starts of utterance, 
 and in language which plainly indicates, that the 
 speaker is reasoning solely with his own mind, 
 and not with any auditor. In the translation, 
 we have a formal and connected harangue, in 
 which it would appear, that the author, offended
 
 208 Essay on the 
 
 with the abrupt manner of the original, and 
 judging those irregular starts of expression to 
 be unsuitable to that precision which is required 
 in abstract reasoning, has corrected, as he 
 thought, those defects of the original, and given 
 union, strength, and precision, to this philo- 
 sophical argument. 
 
 Demeure, il faut choisir, et passer a 1'instant 
 De la vie a la mort, ou de 1'etre au neant. 
 Dieux justes, s'il en est, eclairez mon courage. 
 Faut-il vieillir courbe sous la main qui m'outrage, 
 Supporter, ou finir mon malheur et mon sort ? 
 Que suis-je ? qui m'arrete ? et qu' est ce que la mort ? 
 C'est la fin de nos maux, c'est mon unique azile ; 
 Apres de longs transports, c'est un sommeil tranquile. 
 On s'endort et tout meurt ; mais un affreux reveil, 
 Doit succdder peutetre aux douceurs du sommeil. 
 On nous menace ; on dit que cette courte vie 
 De tourmens kernels est aussitot suivie. 
 
 mort ! moment fatale ! affreuse eternitd ! 
 Tout coeur a ton seul nom se glace epouvante. 
 Eh ! qui pourrait sans toi supporter cette vie ? 
 De nos pretres menteurs benir 1'hypocrisie ? 
 D'une indigne maitresse encenser les erreurs ? 
 Ramper sous un ministre, adorer ses hauteurs ? 
 Et montrer les langueurs de son ame abattue, 
 A des amis ingrats qui detournent la vue ? 
 
 La mort serait trop douce en ces extremites. 
 Mais le scrupule parle, et nous crie, arretez. 
 II defend a nos mains cet heureux homicide, 
 Et d'un hdros guerrier, fait un Chre'tien timide. 1 
 
 1 To be, or not to be, that is the question : 
 Whether 'tis better in the mind to suffer 
 The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune ; 
 Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
 
 Principles of Translation 209 
 
 Besides the general fault already noticed, of 
 substituting formal and connected reasoning, to 
 the desultory range of thought and abrupt 
 transitions of the original, Voltaire has in this 
 passage, by the looseness of his paraphrase, 
 allowed some of the most striking beauties, both 
 of the thought and expression, entirely to escape ; 
 while he has superadded, with unpardonable 
 licence, several ideas of his own, not only un- 
 connected with the original, but dissonant to 
 the general tenor of the speaker's thoughts, and 
 foreign to his character. Adopting Voltaire's 
 
 And by opposing end them ? To die ; to sleep ; 
 No more ? And by a sleep, to say we end 
 The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks 
 That flesh is heir to ; 'tis a consummation 
 Devoutly to be wish'd. To die ; to sleep ; 
 To sleep ! perchance to dream ; ay, there's the rub ; 
 For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 
 When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
 Must give us pause : There's the respect, 
 That makes calamity of so long life : 
 For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
 The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 
 The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
 The insolence of office, and the spurns 
 That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 
 When he himself might his quietus make 
 With a bare bodkin ? who would fardels bear, 
 To groan and sweat under a weary life ; 
 But that the dread of something after death 
 That undiscover'd country, from whose bourne 
 No traveller returns puzzles the will ; 
 And makes us rather bear those ills we have, 
 Than fly to others that we know not of? 
 Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, &c. 
 
 Hamlet, act 3, sc. I. 
 P
 
 2io Essay on the 
 
 own style of criticism on the translations of the 
 Abbe des Fontaines, we may ask him, " Where 
 do we find, in this translation of Hamlet's 
 soliloquy, 
 
 " The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune 
 To take arms against a sea of troubles 
 The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks 
 
 That flesh is heir to 
 
 Perchance to dream ; ay, there's the rub 
 
 The whips and scorns of time- 
 
 The law's delay, the insolence of office 
 
 The spurns that patient merit from th' unworthy 
 
 takes 
 
 That undiscover'd country, from whose bourne 
 No traveller returns ? " 
 
 Can Voltaire, who has omitted in this short 
 passage all the above striking peculiarities of 
 thought and expression, be said to have given 
 a translation from Shakespeare ? 
 
 But in return for what he has retrenched from 
 his author, he has made a liberal addition of 
 several new and original ideas of his own. 
 Hamlet, whose character in Shakespeare exhibits 
 the strongest impressions of religion, who feels 
 these impressions even to a degree of superstition, 
 which influences his conduct in the most im- 
 portant exigences, and renders him weak and 
 irresolute, appears in Mr. Voltaire's translation 
 a thorough sceptic and freethinker. In the 
 course of a few lines, he expresses his_doubt of 
 the existence of a God ; he treats the priests as
 
 Principles of Translation 211 
 
 liars and hypocrites, and the Christian religion 
 as a system which debases human nature, and 
 makes a coward of a hero : 
 
 Dieux justes ! S'il en est 
 
 De nos pretres menteurs benir 1'hypocrisie 
 Et d'un heros guerrier, fait un Chretien timide 
 
 Now, who gave Mr. Voltaire a right thus to 
 transmute the pious and superstitious Hamlet 
 into a modern philosophe and Esprit fort? 
 Whether the French author meant by this 
 transmutation to convey to his countrymen a 
 favourable idea of our English bard, we cannot 
 pretend to say ; but we may at least affirm, that 
 he has not conveyed a just one. 1 
 
 But what has prevented the translator, who 
 professes that he wished to give a just idea of the 
 merits of his original, from accomplishing what 
 he wished ? Not ignorance of the language ; for 
 Voltaire, though no great critic in the English 
 tongue, had yet a competent knowledge of it ; 
 and the change he has put upon the reader 
 
 1 Other ideas superadded by the translator, are, 
 
 Que suis-je Qui m'arrete? 
 
 On nous menace, on dit que cette courte vie, &c. 
 Affreuse eternite ! 
 
 Tout creur a ton seul nom se glace epouvante 
 
 A des amis ingrats qui detournent la vue 
 
 In the Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakespeare, 
 which is one of the best pieces of criticism in the English 
 language, the reader will find many examples of similar 
 misrepresentation and wilful debasement of our great 
 dramatic poet, in the pretended translations of Voltaire.
 
 212 Essay on the 
 
 was not involuntary, or the effect of ignorance. 
 Neither was it the want of genius, or of poetical 
 talents ; for Voltaire is certainly one of the best 
 poets, and one of the greatest ornaments of the 
 drama. But it was the original difference of his 
 genius and that of Shakespeare, increased by the 
 general opposition of the national character of 
 the French and English. His mind, accustomed 
 to connect all ideas of dramatic sublimity or 
 beauty with regular design and perfect symmetry 
 of composition, could not comprehend this union 
 of the great and beautiful with irregularity of 
 structure and partial disproportion. He was 
 capable indeed of discerning some features of 
 majesty in this colossal statue ; but the rudeness 
 of the parts, and the want of polish in the whole 
 figure, prevailed over the general impression 
 of its grandeur, and presented it altogether to 
 his eye as a monstrous production. 
 
 The genius of Voltaire was more akin to 
 that of Dryden, of Waller, of Addison, and of 
 Pope, than to that of Shakespeare : he has there- 
 fore succeeded much better in the translations 
 he has given of particular passages from these 
 poets, than in those he has attempted from our 
 great master of the drama. 
 
 Voltaire possessed a large share of wit ; but it 
 is of a species peculiar to himself, and which I 
 think has never yet been analysed. It appears 
 to me to be the result of acute philosophical 
 talents, a strong spirit of satire, and a most
 
 Principles of Translation 213 
 
 brilliant imagination. As all wit consists in 
 unexpected combinations, the singular union of 
 a philosophic thought with a lively fancy, which 
 is a very uncommon association, seems in 
 general to be the basis of the wit of Voltaire. 
 It is of a very different species from that wit 
 which is associated with humour, which is 
 exercised in presenting odd, extravagant, but 
 natural views of human character, and which 
 forms the essence of ludicrous composition. 
 The novels of Voltaire have no other scope than 
 to illustrate certain philosophical doctrines, or 
 to expose certain philosophical errors ; they are 
 not pictures of life or of manners ; and the 
 persons who figure in them are pure creatures 
 of the imagination, fictitious beings, who have 
 nothing of nature in their composition, and who 
 neither act nor reason like the ordinary race 
 of men. Voltaire, then, with a great deal of 
 wit, seems to have had no talent for humorous 
 composition. Now if such is the character of 
 his original genius, we may presume, that he 
 was not capable of justly estimating in the 
 compositions of others what he did not possess 
 himself. We may likewise fairly conclude, that 
 he should fail in attempting to convey by a 
 translation a just idea of the merits of a work, of 
 which one of the main ingredients is that quality 
 in which he was himself deficient. Of this I 
 proceed to give a strong example. 
 
 In the poem of Hudibras, we have a remarkable
 
 214 Essay on the 
 
 combination of Wit with Humour ; nor is it 
 easy to say which of these qualities chiefly pre- 
 dominates in the composition. A proof that 
 humour forms a most capital ingredient is, that 
 the inimitable Hogarth has told the whole story 
 of the poem in a series of characteristic prints : 
 now painting is completely adequate to the 
 representation of humour, but can convey no 
 idea of wit. Of this singular poem, Voltaire has 
 attempted to give a specimen to his countrymen 
 by a translation ; but in this experiment he says 
 he has found it necessary to concentrate the first 
 four hundred lines into little more than eighty 
 of the translation. 1 The truth is, that, either 
 insensible of that part of the merit of the original, 
 or conscious of his own inability to give a just 
 idea of it, he has left out all that constitutes the 
 humour of the painting, and attached himself 
 solely to the wit of. the composition. In the 
 original, we have a description of the figure, 
 dress, and accoutrements of Sir Hudibras, which 
 is highly humorous, and which conveys to the 
 imagination as complete a picture as is given by 
 the characteristic etchings of Hogarth. In the 
 translation of Voltaire, all that we learn of those 
 particulars which paint the hero, is, that he 
 
 1 Pour faire connoitre 1'esprit de ce poeme, unique 
 en son genre, il faut retrancher les trois quarts de tout 
 passage qu'on veut traduire ; car ce Butler ne finit jamais. 
 J'ai done rdduit a environ quatre-vingt vers les quatre cent 
 premiers vers d'Hudibras, pour eviter la prolixite. Mel. 
 Philos. par Voltaire, Oeuv. torn. 1 5. Ed. de Geneve. 410.
 
 Principles of Translation 215 
 
 wore mustachios, and rode with a pair of 
 pistols. 
 
 Even the wit of the original, in passing through 
 the alembic of Voltaire, has changed in a great 
 measure its nature, and assimilated itself to that 
 which is peculiar to the translator. The wit of 
 Butler is more concentrated, more pointed, and 
 is announced in fewer words, than the wit of 
 Voltaire. The translator, therefore, though he 
 pretends to have abridged four hundred verses 
 into eighty, has in truth effected this by the 
 retrenchment of the wit of his original, and not 
 by the concentration of it : for when we compare 
 any particular passage or point, we find there is 
 more diffusion in the translation than in the 
 original. Thus, Butler says, 
 
 The difference was so small, his brain 
 Outweigh'd his rage but half a grain ; 
 Which made some take him for a tool 
 That knaves do work with, call'd a fool. 
 
 Thus amplified by Voltaire, and at the same 
 time imperfectly translated. 
 
 Mais malgre sa grande eloquence, 
 Et son merite, et sa prudence, 
 II passa chez quelques savans 
 Pour etre un de ces instrumens 
 Dont les fripons avec addresse 
 Savent user sans dire mot, 
 Et qu' ils tournent avec souplesse ; 
 Get instrument s'appelle un sot. 
 
 Thus likewise the famous simile of Taliacotius,
 
 216 Essay on the 
 
 loses, by the amplification of the translator, a 
 great portion of its spirit. 
 
 So learned Taliacotius from 
 The brawny part of porter's bum 
 Cut supplemental noses, which 
 Would last as long as parent breech ; 
 But, when the date of nock was out, 
 Off dropt the sympathetic snout. 
 
 Ainsi Taliacotius, 
 
 Grand Esculape d'Etrurie, 
 
 Rdpara tons les nez perdus 
 
 Par une nouvelle Industrie : 
 
 II vous prenoit adroitement 
 
 Un morceau du cul d'un pauvre homme, 
 
 L'appliquoit au nez proprement ; 
 
 Enfin il arrivait qu'en somme, 
 
 Tout juste a la mort du preteur 
 
 Tombait le nez de 1'emprunteur, 
 
 Et souvent dans la meme biere, 
 
 Par justice et par bon accord, 
 
 On remettait au gre du mort 
 
 Le nez aupres de son derriere. 
 
 It will be allowed, that notwithstanding the 
 supplemental witticism of the translator, con- 
 tained in the last four lines, the simile loses, upon 
 the whole, very greatly by its diffusion. The 
 following anonymous Latin version of this simile 
 is possessed of much higher merit, as, with equal 
 brevity of expression, it conveys the whole spirit 
 of the original. 
 
 Sic adscititios nasos de dune torosi 
 Vectoris doctd secuit Talicotius arte, 
 Qui potuere parem durando cequare parentem : 
 At postquam fato clunis computruit, ipsum 
 Una sympathicum cozpit tabescere rostrum.
 
 Principles of Translation 217 
 
 With these translations may be compared the 
 following, which is taken from a complete ver- 
 sion of the poem of Hudibras, a very remarkable 
 work, with the merits of which (as the book is 
 less known than it deserves to be) I am glad to 
 have this opportunity of making the English 
 reader acquainted : 
 
 Ainsi Talicot d'une fesse 
 
 Savoit tailler avec addresse 
 
 Nez tous neufs, qui ne risquoient rien 
 
 Tant que le cul se portoit bien ; 
 
 Mais si le cul perdoit la vie, 
 
 Le nez tomboit par sympathie. 
 
 In one circumstance of this passage no trans- 
 lation can come up to the original : it is in that 
 additional pleasantry which results from the struc- 
 ture of the verses, the first line ending most unex- 
 pectedly with a preposition, and the third with 
 a pronoun, both which are the rhyming syllables 
 in the two couplets : 
 
 So learned Taliacotius fro m, &c. 
 Cut supplemental noses, which, &c. 
 
 It was perhaps impossible to imitate this in a 
 translation ; but setting this circumstance aside, 
 the merit of the latter French version seems 
 to me to approach very near to that of the 
 original. 
 
 The author of this translation of the poem of
 
 2i8 Essay on the 
 
 Hudibras, evidently a man of superior abilities, 1 
 appears to have been endowed with an uncom- 
 mon share of modesty. He presents his work to 
 the public with the utmost diffidence ; and, in a 
 short preface, humbly deprecates its censure for 
 the presumption that may be imputed to him, in 
 attempting that which the celebrated Voltaire 
 had declared to be one of the most difficult of 
 tasks. Yet this task he has executed in a very 
 masterly manner. A few specimens will shew 
 the high merit of this work, and clearly evince, 
 that the translator possessed that essential 
 requisite for his undertaking, a kindred genius 
 with that of his great original. 
 
 The religion of Hudibras is thus described : 
 
 For his religion, it was fit 
 To match his learning and his wit : 
 'Twas Presbyterian true blue ; 
 For he was of that stubborn crew 
 Of errant saints, whom all men grant 
 To be the true church-militant : 
 Such as do build their faith upon 
 The holy text of pike and gun ; 
 Decide all controversies by 
 Infallible artillery ; 
 And prove their doctrine orthodox, 
 By apostolic blows and knocks. 
 
 Canto i. 
 
 1 I have lately learnt, that the author of this translation 
 was Colonel Townley, an English gentleman who had 
 been educated in France, and long in the French service, 
 and who thus had acquired a most intimate knowledge of 
 both languages.
 
 Principles of Translation 219 
 
 Sa religion au genie 
 Et sgavoir etoit assortie ; 
 II etoit franc Presbyterien, 
 Et de sa secte le soutien, 
 Secte, qui justement se vante 
 D' etre 1' Eglise militante ; 
 Qui de sa foi vous rend raison 
 Par la bouche de son canon, 
 Dont le boulet et feu terrible 
 Montre bien qu'elle est infallible, 
 Et sa doctrine prouve a tous 
 Orthodoxe, a force de coups. 
 
 In the following passage, the arch ratiocina- 
 tion of the original is happily rivalled in the 
 translation : 
 
 For Hudibras wore but one spur, 
 As wisely knowing could he stir 
 To active trot one side of 's horse, 
 The other would not hang an a se. 
 
 Car Hudibras avec raison 
 Ne se chaussoit qu'un eperon, 
 Ayant preuve de'monstrative 
 Qu'un cote marchant, 1'autre arrive. 
 
 The language of Sir Hudibras is described as 
 a strange jargon, compounded of English, Greek, 
 and Latin, 
 
 Which made some think when he did gabble 
 They'd heard three labourers of Babel; 
 Or Cerberus himself pronounce 
 A leash of languages at once. 
 
 It was difficult to do justice in the translation
 
 22o Essay on the 
 
 to the metaphor of Cerberus, by translating 
 leash of languages : This, however, is very 
 happily effected by a parallel witticism : 
 
 Ce qui pouvoit bien faire accroire 
 Quand il parloit a 1'auditoire, 
 D'entendre encore le bruit mortel 
 De trois ouvriers de Babel, 
 Ou Cerbere aux ames errantes 
 Japper trois langues diff^rentes. 
 
 The wit of the following passage is completely 
 transfused, perhaps even heightened in the 
 translation : 
 
 For he by geometric scale 
 Could take the size of pots of ale ; 
 Resolve by sines and tangents straight 
 If bread or butter wanted weight ; 
 And wisely tell what hour o' th' day 
 The clock does strike, by algebra. 
 
 En gdometre raffine 
 
 Un pot de bierre il eut jaugd ; 
 
 Par tangente et sinus sur 1'heure 
 
 Trouvd le poids de pain ou beurre, 
 
 Et par algebre eut dit aussi 
 
 A quelle heure il sonne midi. 
 
 The last specimen I shall give from this work, 
 is Hudibras's consultation with the lawyer, 
 in which the Knight proposes to prosecute 
 Sidrophel in an action of battery : 
 
 Quoth he, there is one Sidrophel 
 Whom I have cudgell'd " Very well."- 
 And now he brags t'have beaten me. 
 " Better and better still, quoth he."-
 
 Principles of Translation 221 
 
 And vows to stick me to the wall 
 Where'er he meets me " Best of all." 
 'Tis true, the knave has taken's oath 
 That I robb'd him" Well done, in troth." 
 When h' has confessed he stole my cloak, 
 And pick'd my fob, and what he took, 
 Which was the cause that made me bang him 
 And take my goods again " Marry, hang him." 
 
 " Sir," quoth the lawyer, " not to flatter ye, 
 
 You have as good and fair a battery 
 As heart can wish, and need not shame 
 The proudest man alive to claim : 
 For if they've us'd you as you say ; 
 Marry, quoth I, God give you joy : 
 I would it were my case, I'd give 
 More than I'll say, or you believe." 
 
 II est, dit-il, de par le monde 
 
 Un Sidrophel, que Dieu confonde, 
 
 Que j'ai rosse des mieux. " Fort bien "- 
 
 Et maintenant il dit, le chien, 
 
 Qu'il m'a battu. " Bien mieux encore." 
 
 Et jure, afin qu'on ne 1'ignore, 
 
 Que s'il me trouve il me tuera 
 
 " Le meilleur de tout le voila "- 
 
 II est vrai que ce miserable 
 
 A fait serment au prealable 
 
 Que moi je 1'ai deValisd 
 
 "C'est fort bien fait, en verite"- 
 
 Tandis que lui-meme il confesse, 
 
 Qu'il m'a void dans une presse, 
 
 Mon manteau, mon gousset vuide ; 
 
 Et c'est pourquoi je 1'ai rosse" ; 
 
 Puis mes effets j'ai Su reprendre 
 
 " Oui da," dit-il, " il faut le pendre." 
 
 Dit 1'avocat, " sans flatterie, 
 Vous avez, Monsieur, batterie
 
 222 Essay on the 
 
 Aussi bonne qu'on puisse avoir ; 
 Vous devez vous en prevaloir. 
 S'ils vous ont traitd de la sorte, 
 Comme votre recit le porte, 
 Je vous en fais mon compliment ; 
 Je voudrois pour bien de 1'argent, 
 Et plus que vous ne sauriez croire, 
 Qu'il m'arrivat pareille histoire." 
 
 These specimens are sufficient to shew how 
 completely this translator has entered into the 
 spirit of his original, and has thus succeeded in 
 conveying a very perfect idea to his country- 
 men of one of those works which are most 
 strongly tinctured with the peculiarities of 
 national character, and which therefore required 
 a singular coincidence of the talents of the 
 translator with those of the original author. 
 
 If the English can boast of any parallel to 
 this, in a version from the French, where the 
 translator has given equal proof of a kindred 
 genius to that of his original, and has as 
 successfully accomplished a task of equal 
 difficulty, it is in the translation of Rabelais, 
 begun by Sir Thomas .Urquhart, and finished 
 by Mr. Motteux, and lastly, revised and corrected 
 by Mr. Ozell. The difficulty of translating this 
 work, arises less from its obsolete style, than 
 from a phraseology peculiar to the author, which 
 he seems to have purposely rendered obscure, in 
 order to conceal that satire which he levels both 
 against the civil government and the ecclesiasti- 
 cal policy of his country. Such is the studied
 
 Principles of Translation 223 
 
 obscurity of this satire, that but a very few of 
 the most learned and acute among his own 
 countrymen have professed to understand 
 Rabelais in the original. The history of the 
 English translation of this work, is in itself a 
 proof of its very high merit. The three first 
 books were translated by Sir Thomas Urquhart, 
 but only two of them were published in his 
 lifetime. Mr. Motteux a Frenchman by birth, 
 but whose long residence in England had given 
 him an equal command of both languages, 
 republished the work of Urquhart, and added 
 the remaining three books translated by himself. 
 In this publication he allows the excellence of 
 the work of his predecessor, whom he declares 
 to have been a complete master of the French 
 language, and to have possessed both learning 
 and fancy equal to the task he undertook. He 
 adds, that he has preserved in his translation "the 
 very style and air of his original ; " and finally, 
 " that the English readers may now understand 
 that author better in their own tongue, than 
 many of the French can do in theirs." The 
 work thus completed in English, was taken up 
 by Mr. Ozell, a person of considerable literary 
 abilities, and who possessed an uncommon know- 
 ledge both of the ancient and modern languages. 
 Of the merits of the translation, none could be 
 a better judge, and to these he has given the 
 strongest testimony, by adopting it entirely in his 
 new edition, and limiting his own undertaking
 
 224 Principles of Translation 
 
 solely to the correction of the text of Urquhart 
 and Motteux, to which he has added a translation 
 of the notes of M. Du Chat, who spent, as 
 Mr. Ozell informs us, forty years in composing 
 annotations on the original work. The English 
 version of Rabelais thus improved, may be 
 considered, in its present form, as one of the 
 most perfect specimens of the art of translation. 
 The best critics in both languages have borne 
 testimony to its faithful transfusion of the sense, 
 and happy imitation of the style of the original ; 
 and every English reader will acknowledge, that 
 it possesses all the ease of original composition. 
 If I have forborne to illustrate any of the rules or 
 precepts of the preceding Essay from this work, 
 my reasons were, that obscurity I have already 
 noticed, which rendered it less fit for the purpose 
 of such illustration, and that strong tincture of 
 licentiousness which characterises the whole 
 work.
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 No. I 
 
 STANZAS from TICKELL'S Ballad of COLIN AND LUCY 
 Translated by LE MIERRE 
 
 CHERES compagnes, je vous laisse ; 
 
 Une voix semble m'apeller, 
 Une main que je vois sans cesse 
 
 Me fait signe de m'en aller. 
 
 L'ingrat que j'avois cru sincere 
 Me fait mourir, si jeune encor : 
 
 Une plus riche a SQU lui plaire : 
 Moi qui 1'aimois, voila mon sort ! 
 
 Ah Colin ! ah ! que vas tu faire ? 
 
 Rends moi mon bien, rends-moi ta foi ; 
 Et toi que son creur me prdfere 
 
 De ses baisers detourne toi. 
 
 Des le matin en e'pouse'e 
 
 A Peglise il te conduira ; 
 Mais homme faux, fille abuse'e, 
 
 Songez que Lucy sera la. 
 
 Filles, portez-moi vers ma fosse ; 
 
 Que 1'ingrat me rencontre alors, 
 Lui, dans son bel habit de noce, 
 
 Et Lucy sous le drap des morts. 
 
 / hear a voice you cannot hear, 
 
 Which says I must not stay ; 
 I see a hand you cannot see, 
 
 Which beckons me away. 
 
 225 Q
 
 226 Appendix 
 
 By a false heart, and broken vows, 
 
 In early youth I die ; 
 Am I to blame, because his bride 
 
 Is thrice as rich as I ? 
 
 Ah Colin, give not her thy vows, 
 
 Voivs due to me alone ; 
 Nor thou, fond maid, receive his kiss, 
 
 Nor think him all thy own. 
 
 To-morrow in the church to wed, 
 
 Impatient both prepare, 
 But know, fond maid, and know, false man, 
 
 That Lucy will be there. 
 
 There bear my corse, ye comrades, bear, 
 The bridegroom blithe to meet ; 
 
 He in his wedding-trim so gay, 
 I in my winding-sheet. 
 
 No. II 
 
 ODE V. of the First Book of HORACE 
 Translated by MILTON 
 Quis multa gracilis, &*c. 
 
 WHAT slender youth, bedew'd with liquid odours. 
 Courts thee on roses in some pleasant cave ? 
 
 Pyrrha, for whom bind'st thou 
 
 In wreaths thy golden hair, 
 
 Plain in thy neatness ? O how oft shall he 
 On faith and changed Gods complain, and seas 
 
 Rough with black winds, and storms 
 
 Unwonted, shall admire.
 
 Appendix 227 
 
 Who now enjoys thee credulous, all gold, 
 Who always vacant, always amiable, 
 
 Hopes thee ; of flattering gales 
 
 Unmindful ? Hapless they 
 
 To whom thou untry'd seem'st fair. Me in my vow'd 
 Picture the sacred wall declares t'have hung 
 
 My dank and dropping weeds 
 
 To the stern God of sea. 
 
 No. Ill 
 
 The beginning of the VIHth Book of the ILIAD 
 Translated by T. HOBBES 
 
 THE morning now was quite displa'y'd, and Jove 
 
 Upon Olympus' highest top was set ; 
 And all the Gods and Goddesses above, 
 
 By his command, were there together met. 
 And Jupiter unto them speaking, said, 
 
 You Gods all, and you Goddesses, d'ye hear ! 
 Let none of you the Greeks or Trojans aid : 
 
 I cannot do my work for you : forbear ! 
 For whomsoever I assisting see 
 
 The Argives or the Trojans, be it known, 
 He wounded shall return, and laught at be, 
 
 Or headlong into Tartarus be thrown ; 
 Into the deepest pit of Tartarus, 
 
 Shut in with gates of brass, as much below 
 The common hell, as 'tis" from hell to us. 
 
 But if you will my power by trial know, 
 Put now into my hand a chain of gold, 
 
 And let one end thereof lie on the plain, 
 And all you Gods and Goddesses take hold, 
 
 You shall not move me, howsoe'er you strain
 
 228 Appendix 
 
 At th' other end, if I my strength put to 't, 
 I'll pull you Gods and Goddesses to me, 
 
 Do what you can, and earth and sea to boot, 
 And let you hang there till my power you see. 
 
 The Gods were out of countenance at this, 
 And to such mighty words durst not reply, &c. 
 
 No. IV 
 
 A VERY learned and ingenious friend, 1 to whom I am 
 indebted for some very just remarks, of which I have 
 availed myself in the preceding Essay, has furnished 
 me with the following acute, and, as I think, satis- 
 factory explanation of a passage in Tacitus, extremely 
 obscure in itself, and concerning the meaning of which 
 the commentators are not agreed. " Tacitus meaning 
 to say, ' That Domitian, wishing to be the great, and 
 indeed the only object in the empire, and that no body 
 should appear with any sort of lustre in it but himself, 
 was exceedingly jealous of the great reputation which 
 Agricola had acquired by his skill in war,' expresses 
 himself thus : 
 
 In Vit. Agr. cap. 39 
 
 Id sibi maxime formidolosum, privati hominis nomen 
 supra principis attolli. Frustra studtafori, et civilium 
 artium decus in silentium acta, si militarem gloriam 
 alius occuparet : et ccetera utcunque facilius dtssimulari, 
 duds boni imperatoriam virtutem esse. Which Gordon 
 translates thus : ' Terrible above all things it was to 
 him, that the name of a private man should be exalted 
 above that of the Prince. In vain had he driven from 
 the public tribunals all pursuits of popular eloquence 
 
 1 James Edgar, Esq., Commissioner of the Customs, 
 Edinburgh.
 
 Appendix 229 
 
 and fame, in vain repressed the renown of every civil 
 accomplishment, if any other than himself possessed 
 the glory of excelling in war : Nay, however he might 
 dissemble every other distaste, yet to the person of 
 Emperor properly appertained the virtue and praise of 
 being a great general.' 
 
 " This translation is very good, as far as the words 
 'civil accomplishment,' but what follows is not, in 
 my opinion, the meaning of Tacitus's words, which I 
 would translate thus : 
 
 " ' If any other than himself should become a great 
 object in the empire, as that man must necessarily be 
 who possesses military glory. For however he might 
 conceal a value for excellence of every other kind, and 
 even affect a contempt of it, yet he could not but 
 allow, that skill in war, and the talents of a great 
 General, were an ornament to the Imperial dignity 
 itself.' 
 
 " Domitian did not pretend to any skill in war ; and 
 therefore the word ' alius ' could never be intended 
 to express a competitor with him in it."
 
 INDEX 
 
 ABLANCOURT, his translations excellent, 120 
 
 , his just observations on translation, 120 
 
 Adrian, his Address to his Soul, 126 
 Alembert, D', quoted, 13 
 
 , his translations from Tacitus, 1 5 et seq. 34 
 Alts et Alexis, romance, 129 
 
 Aldrich, Dr., his translation of a humorous song, 202 
 Ambiguous expressions, how to be translated, 17 
 Ancient translation, few specimens of, existing at present, 
 
 4 
 Anguillara, beautiful passage from his translation of 
 
 Ovid's Metamorphoses, 128 
 
 Anthologia, translation of an epigram from, by Webb, 88 
 Aratus, Phenomena of, translated by Cicero, 2 
 Arias Montanus, his version of the Scriptures, 67 
 Atterbury, his translation of Horace's dialogue with 
 
 Lydia, 85 
 
 B 
 
 BARNABY, Ebrii Barnabcz Itinerarium, 202 
 
 Batteux, Abbd, remarks on the art of translation, 3, 4, 112 
 
 Beattie, Dr., his remark on a passage of Dryden, 58 ; 
 
 his remark on Castalio, 66 
 Beattie, J. H., his translation of Pope's Messiah quoted, 
 
 90 
 Bible, translations of, 64 et seq. See Castalio, Arias 
 
 Montanus 
 Bourne, Vincent, his translation of Colin and Lucy, 23 ; 
 
 of William and Margaret, 80 ; of Chlpe hunting, 82 
 Brown, Thomas, his translations from Lucian, 118 
 Buchanan, his version of the Psalms, 145 
 Burlesque translation, 197 et seq. 
 Butler. See Hudibras 
 
 C 
 
 CAMPBELL, DR., preliminary dissertation to a new trans- 
 lation of the Gospels, 3, cited 64 et seq. 
 231
 
 232 Index 
 
 Casaubon, his translation of Adrian's Address to his Soul, 
 
 126 
 
 Castalio, his version of the Scriptures, 65 
 Cervantes. See Don Quixote 
 
 Chaulieu, his beautiful Ode on Fontenai quoted, 181 
 Chevy-chace, whimsical translation of, 203 
 Cicero had cultivated the art of translation, i ; translated 
 
 Plato's TimcBus, Xenophon's (Economics, and the 
 
 Phenomena of Aratus, 2 
 
 , epistles of, translated by Melmoth, 17, 28, 32 
 
 Claudian, translation from, by Hughes, 89 
 
 Colin and Lucy, translated by Bourne, 23 ; by Le Mierre, 
 
 see Appendix, No. i 
 Colloquial phrases, 135 et seq. 
 Congreve, translation from Horace cited, 57 
 Cotton, his translation of Montaigne cited, 138 ; his Virgil 
 
 travesty, 201 
 
 Cowley, translation from Horace cited, 56 
 Cumberland, Mr., his excellent translations of fragments 
 
 of the ancient Greek dramatists, 90 et seq. 
 Cunighius, his translation of the Iliad cited, 49, 55 
 
 D 
 
 DEFINITION or description of a good translation, 8 
 Delille, or De Lille, his opinion as to the liberty allowed 
 
 in poetical translation, 46 ; his translation of the 
 
 Georgics cited, 61, 73 
 Denham, his opinion of the liberty allowed in translating 
 
 poetry, 35 ; his compliment to Fanshaw, 43 
 Descriptions, containing a series of minute distinctions, 
 
 extremely difficult to be translated, 1 88 
 Diphilus, fragment of, translated by Mr. Cumberland, 91 
 Don Quixote, difficulty of translating that romance, 1 50 ; 
 
 comparison of the translations of, by Motteux and 
 
 Smollet, 151 et seq. 
 Dryden improved poetical translation, 44 ; his translation 
 
 of Lucian's dialogues, 29, 1 1 8 ; his translation of 
 
 Virgil cited, 30, 57, 58, 72 ; his translation of Du 
 
 Fresnoy on painting, 59, 1 10 ; his translations from 
 
 Horace, 59, 125; his translation of Tacitus, 70; 
 
 translation from Ovid's Metamorphoses, 76 
 Duclos, a just observation of, 14
 
 Index 233 
 
 Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting admirably translated by 
 Mr. Mason, 27 ; translation of, by Dryden, 59, 1 10 
 
 ECHARD, his translation of Plautus cited, 77, 143 et seq. 
 
 , his translation of Terence cited, 138, 140, 143 et seq. 
 Ellipsis more freely admitted in Latin than in English, 
 
 105 
 
 Epigrams sometimes incapable of translation, 147 
 Epigram from Martial well translated, 53 
 Epistola obscurorum virorum, 68 
 Epithets used by Homer, sometimes mere expletives, 31 
 
 FANSHAW praised as a translator by Denham, 43 ; his 
 
 translation of Pastor Fido cited, 44 
 Fenelon's Telemachus, 108 
 Festus de verborum signification, 13 
 Florid writing, 179, 192 
 Folard, his commentary on Polybius erroneous from his 
 
 ignorance of the Greek language, 1 1 
 Fontaine, La, his character as a fabulist drawn by Mar- 
 
 montel, 185 
 
 , his fables cited, 184, 188 
 Fontaines, Abbe des, his translation of Virgil, 69 
 Fontenelle, his translation of Adrian's Address to his 
 
 Soul, 127 
 Fresnoy. See Du Fresnoy. 
 
 GlRARD, Synonytnes Francois, 14 
 
 Gordon's Tacitus cited, 19, 104 ; his injudicious imitation 
 of the Latin construction, 19, 104 
 
 Greek language admits of inversions which are incon- 
 sistent with the genius of the English, 104 
 
 Guischardt has demonstrated the errors in Folard s com- 
 mentary on Polybius, n 
 
 H 
 
 HOBBES, his translation of Homer cited, 50, 71, 146 
 Hogaeus, Paradisus A missus Miltoni cited, 61 
 Holland's translation of Pliny cited, 191 
 Homer, his epithets frequently mere expletives, 32
 
 234 Index 
 
 Homer, characteristics of his style, 69 
 
 , Pope's translation of the Iliad cited, 25, 31, 46 et 
 
 seq., 60, 71, 73 (see Cunighius, Hobbes) ; Mr. 
 Pope departs sometimes from the character of 
 Homer's style, 69 ; translation of the Odyssey cited, 
 146 ; Macpherson's Homer cited, 105, 108 
 
 Horace, translations from, cited. Vide Johnson, Roscom- 
 mon, Dryden, Congreve, Nivernois, Hughes 
 
 Hudibras, remarkable combination of wit and humour in 
 that poem, 213 ; Voltaire has attempted to translate 
 some passages of that poem, 214 et seq. ; excellent 
 French translation of that poem cited, 215 
 
 Hughes's translation from Claudian cited, 89 ; ditto 
 from Horace, 130 
 
 I 
 
 IDEAS superadded to the original by the translator 
 examples of, from Bourne, 23 ; from Pope's Homer, 
 25 ; from his imitations of Horace, 27 ; from 
 Johnston's version of the Psalms, 25 ; from Mason's 
 Du Fresnoy on Painting, 27 ; from Malherbe, 28 ; 
 from Melmoth's Cicero's Epistles, 27 ; from Dryden's 
 Lucian, 29 
 
 Ideas retrenched from the original by the translator 
 examples of, from Dryden's Virgil, 30 ; from Pope's 
 Iliad, 31 ; from Melmoth's Cicero 's Epistles, 32, 33 
 
 The liberty of adding to or retrenching from the ideas of 
 the original, is more allowable in poetical than in 
 prose translation, 35 ; and in lyric poetry more than 
 any other, 123 
 
 Idiomatic phrases, how to be translated, 135 ; the trans- 
 lation is perfect, when corresponding idioms are 
 employed, 137; examples from Cotton's translation 
 of Montaigne, from Echard, Sterne, 138 et seq.; 
 licentiousness in the translation of idioms, 140 ; 
 examples, 141 ; translator's resource when no corre- 
 sponding idioms are to be found, 147 
 
 Iliad. See Homer 
 
 Isidorus Hispalensis, Origines, 13 
 
 J 
 
 JONSON, Ben, translation from Horace, 36 et seq. 
 Johnston, Arthur, his translation of the Psalms, 25, 144
 
 Index 235 
 
 Jortin, Dr., translation from Simonides, 85 
 Juvenal, translation of, by Holiday cited, 38 
 
 L 
 
 LATIN language admits of a brevity of expression which 
 cannot be successfully imitated in English, 96 ; it 
 admits of inversions, which are inconsistent with the 
 genius of the English, 104 ; admits of ellipsis more 
 freely than the English, 105 
 
 L'Estrange, his translations from Seneca cited, 78 
 
 Lowth, Dr., his imitation of an ode of Horace, 124 
 
 Lucan. See May, Rowe. 
 
 Lucian, Franklin's translation of, cited, 118 et seq. ; 
 Dryden's, Brown's, &c., 117 et seq. 
 
 M 
 
 MACPHERSON'S translation of the Iliad, 105, 108 
 
 Malherbe cited, 28 
 
 Markham, Dr., his imitation of Simonides, 87 
 
 Mason's translation of Du Fresnoy's Art of Painting, 27 
 
 May, his translation of Lucan, 39 et seq. ; compared with 
 
 Rowe's, 41 
 Melmoth, one of the best of the English translators, 32, 
 
 114 et seq.; his translation of Cicero's Epistles cited, 
 
 17, 28, 32, 96, 98, 114, 147; his translation of 
 
 Pliny's Epistles cited, 33, 97, 116, 117, 147; his 
 
 unjust censure of a passage in Mr. Pope's version of 
 
 the Iliad, 31 
 Milton, his translation of Horace's Ode to Pyrrha, 43, 
 
 App. No. 2 
 , a passage from his tractate on education difficult to 
 
 be translated with corresponding simplicity, 179 ; his 
 
 Paradise Lost cited, 177 (see Hogaeus) ; his Comus 
 
 cited, 178 
 
 Moncrif, his ballad of Alexis et Alis, 129 
 Montaigne, Cotton's translation of, cited, 138 
 Motteux, his translation of Don Quixote compared with 
 
 that of Smollet, 151 et seq.; his translation of 
 
 Rabelais, 222 
 Murphy, his translation of Tacitus cited, 17, 19, 99 
 
 et seq.
 
 236 
 
 Index 
 
 N 
 
 NAIVET&, in what it consists, 183, 185; the fables of 
 Phaedrus are remarkable for this character, 183;. as 
 are those of La Fontaine, 184, 185 ; naivete oi par- 
 ticular phrases very difficult to be imitated in a 
 translation, 149 
 
 Nivernois, Due de, his translation of Horace's dialogue 
 with Lydia, 83 
 
 Nonius, de Proprietate Sermonum, 13 
 
 O 
 
 OVID. See Sandys, Dryden, Anguillara 
 Ozell, his edition of Urquhart and Motteux translation of 
 Rabelais, 223 
 
 PARAPHRASE, examples of, as distinguished from trans- 
 lation, 124, 127, 128 et seq. 
 
 Parnell, his translation of Chaulieu's verses on Fontenai, 
 181 
 
 Phasdrus, his fables cited, 183 
 
 Pitcairne, Dr., his Latin poetry characterised, 143 
 
 Pitt, eminent as a translator, 206 
 
 Plautus. See Echard 
 
 Pliny the Elder, his description of the Nightingale, 190 ; 
 analysis of a chapter of his Natural History, 190 
 
 Pliny the Younger, his Epistles. See Melmoth 
 
 Poem, whether it can be well translated into prose, ch. 8 
 
 Poetical translation, liberty allowed to it, 35 et seq. 
 
 , progress of poetical translation in England, 36 
 
 et seq. 
 
 Poetry, characteristics essential to it, 108 ; didactic 
 poetry is the most capable of a prose translation, 
 109 ; lyric poetry incapable of a prose translation, 
 in ; lyric poetry admits of the greatest liberty in 
 translation, 123 
 
 Polybius erroneously understood by Folard, 10 
 
 Pope. See Homer. His translation of Sappho's Epistle 
 to Phaon cited, 61 ; his Dying Christian to his Soul 
 127 
 
 Popma, Ausonius, de Difterentiis Verborum, 13 
 
 Prior, his Chloe Hunting translated by Bourne, 82
 
 Index 
 
 237 
 
 Q 
 
 QUINCTILIAN recommends the practice of translation, i 
 Quixote, Don, comparison of Motteux's translation of, 
 with Smollet's, \^\ et seq. 
 
 R 
 
 RABELAIS admirably translated by Urquhart and Motteux, 
 ch. 15 
 
 Roscommon's Essay on translated verse, 45 ; a precept 
 of his, with regard to poetical translation, contro- 
 verted, 45 ; translation from Horace cited, 55 
 
 Rousseau, Devin de Village cited, 79 ; his translations 
 from Tacitus cited, 103 
 
 Rowe's Lucan cited, 41 
 
 SANDYS, his character as a translator of poetry, 42 ; his 
 translation of Ovid cited 42 
 
 Scarron's burlesque translation of Virgil cited, 200 
 
 Seneca. See L'Estrange 
 
 Shakespeare, translations from, by Voltaire, 209, et seq. ; 
 his phraseology difficult to be imitated in a trans- 
 lation, 177, 178 
 
 Simonides, fragment of, translated by Jortin, 85 ; imitated 
 by Dr. Markham, 87 
 
 Simplicity of thought and expression difficult to be imitated 
 in a translation, 179 
 
 Smart's prose translation of Horace, 1 1 1 
 
 Spelman's Xenophon cited, 136 
 
 Sterne's Slawkenbergius's Tale cited, 139 
 
 Strada's Contest of the Musician and Nightingale, extreme 
 difficulty of translating it, 187 
 
 Style and manner of the original to be imitated in the 
 translation, 63 et seq.; a just taste requisite for the 
 discernment of those characters, 74 ; limitations of 
 the rule regarding the imitation of style, 96 et seq. 
 
 TACITUS. See D'Ablancourt, D'Alembert, Gordon, 
 Murphy, Dryden, Rousseau. Difficulty of translating 
 that author, 120
 
 2 3 8 
 
 Index 
 
 Telemachus, a poem in prose, 108 
 
 Terence. See Echard 
 
 Tickell's ballad of Lucy and Cotin, translated by Bourne 
 23 ; translated by Le Mierre, Appendix, No. r 
 
 Timocles, fragment of, translated by Cumberland, 90 
 
 Townley, Colonel, his translation of Hudibras, 218 
 
 Translation, art of, very little cultivated, i ; ancient trans- 
 lations, few specimens of, existing, 2 et seq.; reasons 
 why the art is at a low ebb among the moderns, 5 ; 
 description or definition of a good translation, 7, 
 8 ; laws of translation, 9 ; first general law, 
 "That the translation should give a complete tran- 
 script of the ideas of the original work," 10 et seq.; 
 second general law, " The style and manner of 
 writing in a translation should be of the same 
 character with that of the original," 63 et seq.; 
 specimens of good poetical translations, 80 et seq.; 
 third general rule, "A translation should have all 
 the ease of original composition," 112 et seq.; a 
 translator ought always to figure to himself in what 
 manner the original author would have expressed 
 himself, if he had written in the language of the 
 translation, 107 ; licentious translation, 117 ; the best 
 translators have shone in original composition of the 
 same species, 206 
 
 Travesty or burlesque translation, 197 et seq. Scarron's 
 and Cotton's Virgil Travesty, 200, 202 
 
 U 
 
 URQUHART, Sir Thomas, his excellent translation of 
 Rabelais, 222 
 
 V 
 
 VARRO, de Lingua Latzna, 1 3 
 
 Virgil. See Dryden, Delille, Fontaines. Example of 
 false taste in a passage of Virgil, 199 
 
 Voltaire, his remark on the Abbd des Fontaines's trans- 
 lation of Virgil, 69 ; his translations from Shake- 
 speare very faulty, 207 ; character of the wit of 
 Voltaire, 212 ; he had no talent for humorous 
 composition, 213 et seq.; character of his novels, 
 213
 
 Index 239 
 
 w 
 
 WARTON, eminent as a poetical translator, 206 
 Wollaston's Religion of Nature, passage from, difficult to 
 be translated, 180 
 
 X 
 
 XENOPHON'S (Economics translated by Cicero, i, 2 ; 
 Spelman's Xenophon cited, 136
 
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