poraries, there are at least fewer faults. Not is this his highest praise; for Mr. Pope has celebrated him as the only moral writer of King Charles's reign: Unhappy Dryden! in all Charles's days, His great work is his Effay on Tranflated Verfe; of which Dryden writes thus in the preface to his Mifcellanies: It was my Lord Rofcommon's Effay on "Tranflated Verfe," fays Dryden, "which "made me uneafy, till I tried whether or no "I was capable of following his rules, and "of reducing the fpeculation into practice.. "For many a fair precept in poetry is like a "feeming demonstration in mathematicks, 66 very fpecious in the diagram, but failing "in the mechanick operation. I think I have "generally obferved his inftructions: I am "fure my reafon is fufficiently convinced "both of their truth and ufefulness; which, "in other words, is to confefs no lefs a vanity "than to pretend that I have, at leaft in fome places, made examples to his rules." This declaration of Dryden will, I am afraid, be found little more than one of thofe curfory civilities which one author pays to another; for when the fum of lord Rofcommon's precepts is collected, it will not be eafy to difcover how they can qualify their reader for a better performance of tranflation than might have been attained by his own reflections, He that can abftract his mind from the elegance of the poetry, and confine it to the fenfe of the precepts, will find no other direction than that the author fhould be fuitable to the tranflator's genius; that he should be fuch as may deserve a translation; that he who intends to tranflate him should endeayour to understand him; that perfpicuity fhould be ftudied, and unusual and uncouth names fparingly inferted; and that the style of the original fhould be copied in its eleva tion and depreffion. These are the rules that are celebrated as fo definite and important; and for the delivery of which to mankind so much honour has been paid. Rofcommon has indeed deferved his praises, had they been poraries, there are at least fewer faults. Nor is this his highest praise; for Mr. Pope has celebrated him as the only moral writer of King Charles's reign: Unhappy Dryden! in all Charles's days, His great work is his Effay on Tranflated Verfe; of which Dryden writes thus in the preface to his Miscellanies : It was my Lord Rofcommon's Effay on “Translated Verfe," fays Dryden, “which "made me uneafy, till I tried whether or no "I was capable of following his rules, and ❝of reducing the fpeculation into practice. "For many a fair precept in poetry is like a "feeming demonftration in mathematicks, 66 very specious in the diagram, but failing " in the mechanick operation. I think I have generally obferved his inftructions: I am "fure my reafon is fufficiently convinced ❝both of their truth and usefulness; which, " in other words, is to confefs no lefs a vanity than to pretend that have, at leaft in fome places, made examples to his rules." This declaration of Dryden will, I am afraid, be fourd little more than one of thofe curfory civilities which one author pays to another; for when the fum of lord Rofcommon's precepts is collected, it will not be eafy to difcover how they can qualify their reader for a better performance of translation than might have been attained by his own reflections, He that can abftract his mind from the elegance of the poetry, and confine it to the fenfe of the precepts, will find no other direction than that the author fhould be fuitable to the tranflator's genius; that he should be fuch as may deferve a tranflation; that he who intends to tranflate him should endeayour to understand him; that perfpicuity fhould be ftudied, and unufual and uncouth pames fparingly inferted; and that the style of the original fhould be copied in its eleva tion and depreffion. These are the rules that are celebrated as fo definite and important; and for the delivery of which to mankind fo much honour has been paid. Rofcommon has indeed deferved his praises, had they been been given with defcernment, and bestowed not on the rules themselves, but the art with which they are introduced, and the decora tions with which they are adorned, The Effay, though generally excellent, is not without its faults. The ftory of the Quack, borrowed from Boileau, was not worth the importation: he has confounded the British and Saxon mythology : 1. I grant that from fome moffy idol oak, In double rhymes, our Thor and Woden spoke. ,; The oak, as I think Gildon has obferved, belonged to the British druids, and Thor and Woden were Saxon deities. Of the double rhymes, which he fo liberally fuppofes, he certainly had no knowledge, His interpofition of a long paragraph of blank verfes is unwarrantably licentious. Latin poets might as well have introduced a feries of iambicks among their he roicks. |