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 Francklin 
 Translation
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD 
 ENDOWMENT FUND
 
 TRANSLATION; 
 
 OEM. 
 
 By THOMAS FRANCKLIN, 
 
 Fellow of Trinity-College^ Cambridge. 
 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for R. Francklin in Coirnt Garden, and 
 fold by R. DoDSLEY in Pall-Mali. Mdccliii. 
 
 [ Price one Shilling. ]
 
 TO THE J.^^/ 
 
 Right Honourable the Earls of ^/ItfY^ 
 
 GRAN VILLE, 
 CHESTERFIELD, 
 
 AND 
 
 ORRERY, 
 
 The beft Judges of antient Learning, 
 
 AND 
 
 Moft diftinguifli'd Patrons of modern Merit; 
 The following Lines are humbly infcrib'd, 
 
 B Y 
 
 Their Lordship's 
 
 Moft obedient and moft 
 devoted humble Servant^ 
 
 THOMAS FRANC KLIN. 
 
 85S570
 
 TRANSLATION; 
 
 POEM. 
 
 c< 
 
 s 
 
 U C H is our Pride, our Folly, or our Fate, 
 I « ^^^ That few, but fuch as cannot write, Tranflatc. 
 
 So Denham fung, who well the labour 
 knew; 
 And an age paft has left the maxim true. 
 Wit as of old, a proud imperious Lord, c 
 
 Difdains the plenty of another's board ; 
 And haughty Genius feeks, like Philip's fon. 
 Paths never trod before, and worlds unknown. 
 Unaw'd by thefe whilft hands impure difpenfe 
 The facred ftreams of antient eloquence, lo 
 
 B Pedants
 
 ( X ) 
 
 Pedants affume the tafk for fcholars fit, 
 And blockheads rife interpreters of wit. 
 
 I N the fair field the vet'ran armies Hand, 
 A firm, unconquer'd, formidable band. 
 When lo ! Tranilation comes and levels all j 1^ 
 
 By vulgar hands the bravefl: heroes fall. 
 On eagle's vikings fee lofty Pindar foar ; 
 Cowley attacks, and Pindar is no more. 
 O'er Tibur's fwan the mufes wept in vain, 
 And mourn'd their bard by cruel Dunfter flain. 20 
 
 By Ogilby and Trap great Maro fell. 
 And Homer dy'd by Chapman and Ozell. 
 
 I N blefi: Arabia's Plains unfading blow 
 Flow'rs ever fragrant, fruits immortal grow. 
 To northern climes th'unwilling guefts convey, 2^ 
 
 The fruit fliall wither, and the flow'r decay; 
 
 Ev'n 
 
 Line i8. Coivley attacks, &c. Nothing can be more contemptible than 
 the tranflations and imitations of Pindar done by Cowley, which yet have 
 had their admirers, in an Age not quite (o fagacious as our own. 
 
 Lin. 20. See Horace's Epiftles, Satires, and Art of Poetry, done into Eng^ 
 lijh byS.Dunfter, D. D. Preberuiary of Sarum..
 
 ( 3 ) 
 
 Ev'n fo when here the fweets of Athens come, 
 
 Or the fair produce of imperial Rome, 
 
 They pine and ficken in th'imfricndly fhade, 
 
 Their rofes droop, and all their laurels fade. 30 
 
 The modern critick, whofe unletter'd pride. 
 Big with itfelf, contemns the world befide, 
 If haply told that Terence once cou'd charm, 
 Each feeling heart that Sophocles cou'd warm. 
 Scours every ftall for Echard's dirty page, 3 r 
 
 Or pores in Adams for th'Athenian ftage ; 
 With joy he reads the fervile mimics o'er, 
 Pleas'd to difcover what he guefs'd before ; 
 Concludes that Attic wit's extremely lew. 
 And gives up Greece to Wotton and Perrault. 40 
 
 Our 
 
 Lin. 31. The modern critic, &c. Les belles tradudlions (fays Boileau) font 
 des preuves fans replique en faveur des anciens. qu'on leur donne Ic-s Ra- 
 cines pour interpretcs, Sc ils fcauront plaire aujourdhui coninie autrefois. 
 Certain it is, that trie contempt, in which the antients are held by the 
 illiterate wits of the prefent age, is in a great meafure owing to the num- 
 ber of bad tranflations. 
 
 Lin. 36. See Adams's profe tranllation of Sophocles. 
 
 Lin. 39, Extremely loiv. A favourite coffee-houfe phrafe. 
 
 Lin. 40. U'otlon and Perrault. See Wotton's difcourfe on antient and 
 modern learning, and Perrault's defence of his Siecle de Louis XIV,
 
 ( 4 ) 
 
 Our fliallow language, fhallow'r judges fay. 
 Can ne'er the force of antient fenfe convey ; 
 As well might Vanbrugh ev'ry ftone revile 
 That fwells enormous Blenheim's awWard pile j 
 The guiltlefs pen as well might Mauro blame, 4j; 
 
 I'^or writing ill, and fullying Arthur's fame ; 
 Succefslefs lovers blaft the maid they woo'd. 
 And thefe a Tongue they never underftood j 
 That Tongue, which gave immortal Shakefpear fame. 
 Which boafts a Prior's and a Thomfon's name ; 50 
 GracefuU and chafte, which flows in Addifon, 
 With native charms, and vigour all its own ; 
 In Bolinbroke and Swift its beauties fliine. 
 In Rowe's foft numbers, johnfon's nervous line, 
 Dryden's free vein, and Milton's work divine. 
 
 But, fuch, alas ! difdain to borrow fame, 55 
 
 Or live like dulnefs in another's name ; 
 And hence the tafk for noblell fouls defign'd, 
 Giv'n to the weak, the taftelefs, and the blind ; 
 To fome low wretch who, proftitute for pay, 
 Lets out to Curll the labours of the day, 60 
 
 Or 
 
 Lin. 46. Arthur s fi'7m. See Blackmore's king Arthur, an heroic poem. 
 
 Lin. 60. To Curll, &c. Moll of the bad trandations, which we have of 
 eminent authors, were done by garreteers under the infpeftion of this gen- 
 tJiJ.nan, who paid ther.i by tlis ilicet for their hafty performances.
 
 (T ) 
 
 Carelefs who hurries o'er th' unblotted line, 
 
 Impatient ftill to finifh and to dinej 
 
 Or fome pale pedant, whofe encumber'd brain 
 
 O'er the dull page hath toil'd for years in vain. 
 
 Who writes at laft ambitioufly to fliew 65 
 
 How much a fool may read, how little know; 
 
 Can thefe on fancy's wing with Plato foar ? 
 
 Can thefe a Tally's adlivc mind explore ? 
 
 Great nature's fecret fprings can thefe reveal, 
 
 Or paint thofe paflions, which they ne'er cou'd feel ? 70 
 
 Yet will they dare the pondrous lance to wield, 
 
 Yet will they ftrive to lift the feven-fold fhield. 
 
 The rock of Ajax ev'ry child wou'd throw. 
 
 And ev'ry ftripling bend UlyfTes' bow. 
 
 There are, who timid line by line purfue, y^ 
 Anxious to keep th' Original in view ; 
 Who mark each footftep where their mail:er trod. 
 And after all their pains have mill the road. 
 
 There are, an author's fenfe who boldly quit, 
 As if afham'd to own the debt of wit; 80 
 
 C Who 
 
 Lin. 75, 79. T/.vre are. Sec. The reader will eafily rerollcft inftances to 
 illuftrate each of tkefe Remarks, more efpecially the laft ; half our tranfla- 
 
 tions
 
 ( 6 ) 
 
 Who leave their fellovv-trav'ller on the fhorc, 
 Launch in the deep, and part to meet no more. 
 
 Some from refledlion catch the weaken'd ray, 
 And fcarce a gleam of doubtful fenfe convey, 
 Prefent a pidture's pifture to your view, 85 
 
 Where not a line is juft or feature truej 
 
 Thus Greece and Rome, in modern drefs array'd. 
 Is but antiquity in mafquerade. 
 Difguis'd in Oldfworth's verfe or Watfon's profe. 
 What claffic friend his alter'd Flaccus knows ? 90 
 Whilft great Longinus gives to Welfted fame. 
 And Tacitus to Gordon lends his name. 
 Unmeaning ftrains debafe the Mantuan mufe. 
 And Terence fpeaks the language of the Hews. 
 
 In 
 
 tions being done from tranflations by fuch as were never able to confult the 
 original. One of thefe gentlemen having occafion in his verfion to mention 
 Dionyfius of Halicarnafl'us, not having the good fortune to be acquaiinted 
 with any fuch writer, makes ufe of the French liberty of curtailing, and 
 without fcruple calls him Dennis of Halicarnaflus. Miftakes as grofs as 
 this often occur, the' perhaps not many altogether fo ridiculous. 
 
 Lin. 91. See Welfted's tranflation of Longinus, done almoil word for 
 word from Boileau. 
 
 Lin. 92. fo Gordon, — This gentleman tranflated Tacitus in a very ftiff 
 
 and
 
 ( 7) 
 
 In learning thus murt: Britain's Ions decay, 
 And fee her rival bear the prize away, 
 In arts as well as arms to Gallia yield, 
 And own her happier lT<ill in either field? loo 
 
 See wiiere her boafled d'Ablancourt appears, 
 Her Mongaults, Brumoys, Olivets, Dacicrs ; 
 Careful to make each antient's merit known, 
 Who jufl to others fame have rais'd their own; 
 Nor wonder thefe fliou'd claim fiiperior praife ; 105 
 A nation thanks them, and a monarch pays. 
 Far other fate attends our hireling bard ; 
 A fneer his praife, a pittance his reward, 
 
 The 
 
 and affefted manner, tranfpofing words, and placing the verb at the end of 
 the fentence, according to the Latin idiom. He was called in his life-time 
 Tacitus-Gordon. 
 
 Lin. 99. To Gallia yield. It was faid by a great wit in the lall war, that 
 he (hould never doubt of our fuccefs, if we could once bring ourfelves to 
 hate the French as heartily as we do the arts and fciences. It is indifpu- 
 table, that they are more warmly encouraged, and confequently more cul- 
 tivated and improved in France than amongft us. Their tranflations (efpe- 
 cially in profe) are acknowledged to be more faithful and correft, and in 
 general more lively and fpirited than ours. 
 
 Lin. loi. The French had fo high an opinion of d'Ablancourt's merit as 
 to think him deferving of the following epitaph : 
 
 L'illuftre d'Ablancourt repofc en ce tombeau, 
 5on genie a fon fiecle a fervi de flambeau, 
 Dans fes fameuxecrits toute la France admire 
 Des Grecs & des Romains les precieux trefors ; 
 
 A fon trepas on ne peut dire 
 Qui perd le plus, des vivans ou des morts.
 
 (8 ) 
 
 The butt of wit, and jeft of every mufe. 
 Foes laugh to fcorn, and even friends abufe, iioi 
 The great Tranflator bids each dunce tranflate, 
 And ranks us all with Tibbald and with Tate. 
 
 But know, whate'er proud Art hath call'd her own. 
 The breathing canvas, and the fculptur'd ftone. 
 The poets verfe j 'tis Imitation all j r I ? 
 
 Great Nature only is Original. 
 Her various charms in various forms exprefs'd. 
 They beft have pleas'd us, who have copy'd befl ; 
 And thofe ftill fhine more eminendy bright. 
 Who fhew the goddefs in the faireft light. 120 
 
 So when great Shakefpear to his Garrick join'd, 
 With mutual aid confpire to rouze the mind, 
 'Tis not a fcene of idle mimickry, 
 'Tis Lear's, Hamlet's, Richard's felf we fee j 
 We feel the adtor's llrength, the Poet's fire j 125 
 With joy we praife, with rapture we admire. 
 
 To 
 
 The great Tranjlator, &.-C. Pope in his epiftle to Arbuthnot, after his enu- 
 meration of dunces, concludes with tliefe two Lines. 
 
 All thefe my model): fatire bade t-unjlatc. 
 
 And own'd that nine fuch poets made a Tate. Ver. 1 8g. 
 
 I make no doubt but the veiy defpicablt; light, in which Tranflation is here 
 reprclentcd, may have deterred many from engaging in it, who would per- 
 haps have mads no contemptible figure in that branch of literature.
 
 ( 9 ) 
 
 To fee fuch powVs within the reach of art. 
 And Fidion thus fubdue the human heart. 
 
 When Sarto's pencil trac'd the faithful Unc, 
 So juft each ftroke, fo equal the defign, 13c 
 
 That pleas'd he faw aftonifli'd Julio ftand, 
 Nor know his own, nor Raphael's magic hand ; 
 Blulhing to find himfelf enamour'd grown 
 Of rival charms and beauties not his own. 
 
 Theirs be the tafk to comment and tranflate, 135 
 Like thefe who judge, like thefe who imitate. 
 
 Unless an author like a miftrefs warms. 
 How fhall we hide his faults, or tafte his charms, 
 
 D How 
 
 Lin. 129. Andrea del Sarto, being defired by Frederic duke of Mantna 
 to copy a pifture of hto X. did it with fo much juftnefs, that Julio 
 Romano, who drew the drapery of that piece 'under Raphael, took his copy 
 for the original, and faid to Vafari, " Don't I fee the ftrokes that I (truck 
 with my own hand ; but Vafari fliewing him Del Sarto's mark, he was con- 
 vinced of his miftake. 
 
 The ftory is told at large in the 27th chapter of the firft book of De Pile's 
 Art of Painting. 
 
 Lin. 1 37. Vnle/s, i^c, Rofcommon fays, 
 
 " Chufe then an author as you chufe a friend." 
 Perhaps the image is better drawn from the more lively paffion.
 
 ( lo ) 
 
 How all his modeft-, latent beauties find, 
 How trace each lovelier featui^ of the mind, 140 
 Soften each blemilL, and each grace improve, 
 And treat him with the dignity of love ? 
 
 'Tis not enough that, fraught with learning's ftore. 
 By the dim lamp the taftelefs critic pore, 
 'Tis not enough that wit's mifguiding ray 14^ 
 
 Uncertain glance, and yield a doubtful day, 
 Not ev'n when both by partial nature giv'n 
 United blefs the favourite of heav'n ; 
 Unlefs, by fecret fympathy combin'd. 
 The faithful glafs reflefts its kindred mind; 150 
 
 Unlefs from foul to foul th' imparted fire 
 Congenial catch and kindle warm defire ; 
 Ev'n fuch as lives in Rowe's enraptur'd flrain, 
 And gives Pharfalia to our eyes again. 
 Where glowing in each animated line, 155 
 
 We fee the fiery foul of Lucan fliine ; 
 
 Or 
 
 Lin. 149, Unlefs hy fecret, kc. A biafs of inclination towards a parti- 
 cular author, and a fimilarity of genius in the tranflator feem more imme- 
 diately neceffary than wit or learning. 
 
 Lin. 156, See Rowe's tranflation of Lucan's Pharfalia, at the end of 
 which is a fhort fupplement written in the true fpirit of the original.
 
 ( II ) 
 
 Or fuch as gilds the fliir hiftorlc page, 
 
 For Smith referv'd to grace our latter age ; 
 
 Such as o'er Dryden all its influence Ihed, 
 
 And bade his mufe recall the mighty dead, i6o 
 
 Such as in Pope's extenfive genius flione, 
 
 And made immortal Homer all our own. 
 
 View all that proud antiquity dilplays, 
 
 Count o'er her boafted heirs of endlefs praife, 
 
 Who thought fo nobly or who wrote {o well, 165 
 
 Britain can fliew th' illuftrious parallel. 
 
 Methinks I hear each venerable fliade 
 
 For bafe negledl his genuine fons upbraid. 
 
 Why wou'd not Congreve Afer's charms revive, 
 
 Or tender Hammond bid Tibullus live ? 1 70 
 
 Plautus had pleas'd in Vanbrugh's loofer page, 
 
 And Otway fhou'd have trod the Grecian ftage ; 
 
 Lucian wou'd fhine unveil'd by Swift alone. 
 
 And Tully calls in vain for Middleton ; 
 
 A Livy's fenfe demands a St. John's flile, J75 
 
 And Plato afks a Melmoth or a Boyle. 
 
 Ev'n 
 
 Lin. 158. See Smith's trannatlon of Thucydides, lately publifhed. 
 
 Lin. 162. If Pope had never produced anything but his nob:c tranflation 
 of Homer, it had been fufficient ta have eftablilhed bis reputation as 3 
 poet. 
 
 Lin. 170. Hammond, author of Love degics.
 
 ( I^ ) 
 
 Ev'n now there are, e'er learning take her flight. 
 And gothic daricnefs fpread a fecond night; 
 Tho' Icience droop, and hng'ring arts decay. 
 There are, who gild the evening of our day. i8o 
 Once more behold, majeftic in her tears, 
 By Gray adorn 'd, fair Elegy appears, 
 Whilft by her fide the foft Elfrida ftands, 
 And all our love and all our grief demands ; 
 With Roman fpirit Johnfon's manly page 185 
 
 Rifes fevere to fcourge a venal age ; 
 Brown draws the pen in facred truth's defence. 
 And Armflrong paints his own benevolence. 
 From antient models thefe exalted few 
 Their faireft forms and bright ideas drew; igo 
 
 We know the fountain whence the waters came. 
 Nor wonder at the clearnefs of the ilream. 
 
 Yet ftill, fair Greece, we fee thy garlands torn, 
 ■We fee thee ftill thy widow'd altars mourn j 
 
 On 
 
 Lin. 182. See Elegy in a country churchyard. 
 
 Lin. 183. Elfrida, by Mr. Mafon. 
 
 Lin. 185. Samuel Johnfon, author of the Rambler, and alfo of two fine 
 imitations of Juvenal. 
 
 Lin. 1 87. See Eflay on the Charafteriftics of lord Shaftsbury. 
 
 Lin. 188. See an epiftle on Benevolence, by Dr. Arroftrong, author of a 
 poem on Health, one of the bell performances in the Englilh language.
 
 ( 13 ) 
 
 On us thy heroes ftill Indignant frown, 195 
 
 Or look with awful indignation down ; 
 The tears of Rome for injur 'd learning flow, 
 And Athens grieves that Britain is her foe. 
 
 Will you not rife then, O ! you fons of fime, 
 To vindicate the Greek and Roman name ? 200 
 
 On friends opprefs'd your gen'rous aid beftow, 
 And pay the debt of gratitude you owe ? 
 Or can you ftill their wrongs unpitying fee. 
 Nor focial join with Warton and with Me ? 
 
 Whilst round his brows the Mantuan ivy twine, 
 Cautious to tread in Attic paths be mine ; 206 
 
 To fame unknown, but emulous to pleafe. 
 Trembling I feek th' immortal Sophocles. 
 
 Genius of Greece, do thou my breafl infpire 
 With fome warm portion of thy poet's fire, 2 1 o 
 From hands profane defend his much-lov'd name j 
 From cruel Tibbald wreft his mangled fame ; 
 
 E Give 
 
 Lin. 204. Mr. Warton has lately publifhcd a new tninHation ol" the 
 eclogues and georgics of Virgil, and joined it to I\Ir. Pit's e\cxiient 
 tra.iflation of the ^Eneid. 
 
 Lin. 2 12. Tibbaid (or Theob.ildj tranllated two or three phiys of Sopho- 
 cles, and threatened the public with more.
 
 21 j 
 
 ( 14 ) 
 
 Give him once more to bid the heart o'er-ffow 
 
 In graceful tears, and fympathizing woe; 
 
 A father's death while foft Eleftra mourn. 
 
 Or fhed her forrows o'er a brother's urnj 
 
 Or fair Antigone her griefs relate ; 
 
 Or poor Tecmefla weep her haplefs ftate ; 
 
 Or OEdipus revolve the dark decrees of fate. 
 
 Cou'd I like him the various pafTions move, 
 
 Granville wou'd fmile, and Chefterfield approve ; 
 
 Each letter'd fon of fcience wou'd commend. 
 
 Each gentle mufe wou'd mark me for her friend ;, 
 
 Ifis well-pleas'd wou'd join a filler's praife, 
 
 And Cam applauding confecrate the lays. 225, 
 
 220
 
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