"asked me very solemnly to-day, which I thought the better translation of Virgil; "Dryden's or Davidson's!!!* After such an interrogation, can any reasonable man expect that I will ever go again to his church; or is he not enough to make any man "of letters Parcus deorum cultor et infre"quens? "The girls in this village are mad after "literature; they know not what to be at. "Miss T—, a young lady of easy deportment, elegant conversation, and bold countenance, has bought Tasso's Gierusaleme, and "digs in a dictionary for his meaning. She asked me my opinion of Tasso and the "Italian language. Madam, said I, the language of Tasso is not the language of heroes, "but the sing-song of fidlers, and guitarplayers. The Italian possesses neither the heroic grandeur of the Greek, the majesty "of the Roman, nor the strength of the Eng"lish language. Then, cried she, you would advise me to study English. By all means, Madam, said "I. And, Sir, rejoined the nymph, what "book do you think is best suited to a female? "Glasse's Cookery, Madam, said I. Pope pronounced Dryden's translation of Virgil, the noblest version ever produced by one Poet of another; Davidson's translation is in limping, hobbling, shuffling prose; the solace of Dunces; the clandestine refuge of schoolboys. "I have passed three hours under an oak"tree by the way-side, in reading the Iliad. "Blair, in his Lectures, says of Homer, that "in description he is concise. The descrip"tions of Homer, on the contrary, are full "and expanded paintings of nature. Of the "Homeric poetry, copiousness is the charac"teristic; of the Virgilian, metaphorical in"version. "There are few metaphorical inflexions of phrase in Homer; in Virgil they overflow. Virgil says, in the fifth book of his Æneis, "Thus he spoke weeping, and gave the reins to his fleet." Homer would have expressed "it more simply. Thus in the twelfth Odyssey "he says, "Now they leave the inhospitable shores of the Cyclops, and sail through the ocean." This marks strongly the distinc"tion between the Homeric and Virgilian poetry. "I sometimes amuse myself by translating from Homer into English verse. I will confront a brick of my house with a brick of Pope's. "BY ALEXANDER POPE "There in the forum swarm a num'rous train, "The subject of debate a townsman slain; "One pleads the fine discharg'd, which one denied, "And bade the public, and the laws decide. The witnesses appear on either hand, "For this or that the partial people stand; "The appointed heralds still the noisy bands, "BY LUCAS GEORGE "In noisy crouds the populace appear, Rise in debate, and urge the wordy war, "Two in contention rose, &c., &c. "This pleads his juster cause, attests the skies, "Pray, in the justice of criticism, do you not think mine the more spirited translation? "Is not my versification also more regular, "harmonious and natural? Answer this, I "say. The four last lines of Pope are mo(( notonous; the pauses fall too late to be lively. "Sum Pius Eneas! &c. &c. "Have you ever seen Mambrun's epic poem "in Latin, of Idolatry Overthrown? No. "You see, Sir, how little you know of French "authors. This poem I have glanced over (no matter where), and can inform you that "it is below criticism. "News. Townshend, the schoolmaster, has "fled. Finding his garrison no longer ten *Answer. NO. Is not this a bull? [Pierre Mambrun, 1600-1661, of Clermont-Ferrand, but author of Constantinus sive Idolatria debellata.] "L able, he wisely evacuated it, and has em"barked himself, and his system of book-keep ing, for the island of Bermudas. Had this "descendant from Orbilius Flagosus known "Latin, he would, doubtless, have found a "valedictory quotation in Virgil, and ad"dressed me with it at parting. "Nos patriæ fines et dulcia linquimus arva, "The trustees have increased my salary to a hundred and twenty pounds a-year, with "boarding; so, I believe, I shall continue to vegetate and eat grass among the Newtown farmers, till I shall be enabled to look on "the frowns of fortune with a more magnan(( imous countenance. "You say you are writing a Novel. There was a man in Babylon! toll de roll! "June 18, 1801. "I again resume my conversation with you. "Our right reverend Parson has the predict"ing spirit of Achilles' horse, for he told me "last night we should have fair weather, and "I perceive the sky is without a cloud. "The people here are become more atten"tive to me of late, than they formerly were; "and though I cannot hope for intellectual [* Virgil, Ecloga I, 2.] felicity, yet I may expect such tranquillity as (though inglorious) will at least be in"dulgent to my literary indolence. and her "I dined yesterday with Mrs. "daughter. The old lady told me a story "about you. She said, that instead of de'livering Heloise the novel which I sent her by you from West Chester, you lent it to "her youngest daughter, and palmed upon "Heloise an old history of Rome. I again repeat, women know not what to be at. "Mrs. acquainted me in a whisper, that she was preparing a critique on your fugi"tive poems, which she should sign Artimesia, and publish it in the Commercial Adver"tiser. Knowing you to be one of the genus "irritabile vatum, and having the dignity of your character at heart, I enjoin you not to reply to this Amazon with anger, but gibbet "her without ceremony to a gallows already "made to your hands. " 'When Artimesia talks by fits, "Of councils, classics, fathers, wits, "Reads Malbranche, Boyle and Locke; POPE.* "Having this gallows in contemplation, I "advised Mrs. -to publish her stricture; [* Imitations of English Poets: Earl of Dorset.] |