Cum multa in crudelitatem Pisistrati conviva ebrius dixisset. De ira, lib. 3. c. 11. Thrasippus, in his drink, fell foul upon "the cruelties of Pisistratus." FROM the same defect of taste, the simple and natural manner degenerates into childish and insipid. J'ai perdu tout mon bonheur, J'ai perdu mon serviteur, Colin me délaisse. 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: To Colinette her Colin's naught. CHAPTER VI. Examples of a good Taste in Poetical Translation.-Bourne's Translations from Mallet and from Prior.-Dr Atterbury from Horace. The Duke de Nivernois from Horace.- Dr Jortin from Simonides.-Imitation of the same by Dr Markham. -Mr Glasse from Mason's Caractacus.Mr Webb from the Anthologia.-Grotius from the same.—Hughes from Claudian.Beattie from Pope.-Pope from Boileau.Fragments of the Greek Dramatists by Mr Cumberland. AFTER these examples of faulty translation, from a defect of taste in the translator, or the 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 translation, where the authors have entered with exquisite taste into the manner of their originals, and have succeeded most happily in the imitation of it. THE first is the opening of the beautiful ballad of William and Margaret, translated by Vincent Bourne. 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. I. Omnia nox tenebris, tacitaque involverat umbrâ, II. Vultus erat, qualis lachrymosi vultus Aprilis, Cui dubia hyberno conditur imbre dies; Quaque sepulchralem à pedibus collegit amictum, Candidior nivibus, frigidiorque manus. III. Cumque dies aberunt molles, et læta juventus, Cum mors decutiet capiti diademata, regum Hac erit in trabea conspiciendus honos. |