(1792-1872)
"It will be the height of my ambition," once wrote Sir John Bowring to a
friend, "to do something which may connect my name with the literature
of the age."
[Illustration: Sir John Bowring]
This desire was accomplished; for the distinguished linguist, scholar,
and diplomat of England rendered genuine service to literature by his
translations of Slavonic and Oriental verses into the English tongue.
These were more than translations: they were studies of the national
song. Bowring was one of the first scholars to appreciate the beauty,
the importance, and the charm of the traditional ballad and lyric; those
faithful records of the joys, sorrows, superstitions, and history of a
people. In the various East-European languages wherein Bowring's
researches bore such valuable fruit,--embracing Bohemian, Polish,
Russian, Hungarian, Servian, and Bulgarian,--the race-soul of these
nations is preserved: their wild mythology, their bizarre Oriental
color, their impassioned thought, their affections and traditions, and
often the sorrows and ideals learned during centuries of vain wanderings
and heavy oppressions. In this rich and romantic field, which has been
assiduously cultivated since his time, Bowring was a pioneer.
John Bowring, born on October 17th, 1792, came of an old Puritan family,
long identified with the woolen trade. "In the early days," he tells us,
"the Exeter merchants were mostly traveled men with a practical
knowledge of other tongues, and the quay at Exeter was crowded with the
ships of all nations." Thus his imagination was kindled by the visible
links to far-away countries, and from intercourse with the emigrants of
various nations he acquired the foundation of his brilliant linguistic
attainments.
In 1811 he went to London as clerk to a commercial house, which sent him
to Spain in 1813, and subsequently to France, Belgium, Holland, Russia,
and Sweden. Immediately on his return to London he published the first
of his translations, "Specimens of the Russian Poets" (1820). In 1822 he
published a second volume of Russian verse and a translation of
Chamisso's whimsical tale 'Peter Schlemihl'; and when in 1824 his friend
Jeremy Bentham founded the Westminster Review, Bowring became one of its
editors. He contributed to it numerous essays on political and literary
topics, one of which, on the literature of Finland, published in 1827,
first brought the poetry of that country into notice. In 1849 he was
sent on a mission to China; in 1854 was made plenipotentiary and
knighted, and remained in China during the Taeping insurrection, being
made governor of Hong Kong. In 1859 he resigned the post.
With the exception of negotiating commercial treaties for England
between the Hawaiian court and various European States, the remainder of
his life was spent quietly in the pursuit of literary pleasures. Even in
his old age he translated fugitive poetry, wrote essays on political,
literary, and social questions of the hour, and frequently delivered
lectures. He died November 23d, 1872, in Exeter, within sight of his
birthplace under the shadows of the massive cathedral. "In my travels,"
he said, "I have never been very ambitious of the society of my
countrymen, but have always sought that of the natives; and there are
few men, I believe, who can bear a stronger or a wider testimony to the
general kindness and hospitality of the human family when the means of
intercourse exist. My experiences of foreign lands are everywhere
connected with the most pleasing and the most grateful remembrances." In
1873 Lady Bowring published a 'Memorial Volume of Sacred Poetry,'
containing many of his popular hymns; and in 1877 his 'Autobiographical
Recollections' were published, with a memoir by his son.
Sir John Bowring was a natural linguist of the first order. He knew and
spoke over a hundred languages, and affirmed that he often dreamed in
foreign tongues. His friend Tom Hood humorously referred to his gifts in
the following verse:--
"To Bowring! man of many tongues,
(All over tongues, like rumor)
This tributary verse belongs
To paint his learned humor.
All kinds of gab he knows, I wis,
From Latin down to Scottish--
As fluent as a parrot is,
But far more Polly-glottish.
No grammar too abstruse he meets,
However dark and verby;
He gossips Greek about the streets
And often Russ--in urbe.
Strange tongues--whate'er you do them call;
In short, the man is able
To tell you what o'clock in all
The dialects of Babel.
Take him on Change--in Portuguese,
The Moorish and the Spanish,
Polish, Hungarian, Tyrolese,
The Swedish and the Danish:
Try him with these, and fifty such,
His skill will ne'er diminish;
Although you should begin in Dutch,
And end (like me) in Finnish."
Bowring was a member of many learned societies, and had honors and
decorations without stint, including the Order of the White Elephant,
the Swedish Order of the Northern Star, and the Order of Kamehameha I.
His publications are a 'Russian Anthology,' 'Matins and Vespers,'
'Batavian Anthology,' 'Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain,' 'Peter
Schlemihl,' 'Servian Popular Poetry,' 'Specimens of the Polish Poets,'
'Sketch of the Language and Literature of Holland,' 'Poetry of the
Magyars,' 'Cheskian Anthology,' 'Minor Morals,' 'Observations on
Oriental Plague and Quarantines,' Manuscript of the Queen's Court: a
Collection of Old Bohemian Lyrico-Epic Songs,' 'Kingdom and People of
Siam,' 'A Visit to the Philippine Islands,' 'Translations from Petöfi,'
'The Flowery Scroll' (translation of a Chinese novel), and 'The Oak' (a
collection of original tales and sketches). He also edited the works of
Jeremy Bentham. Of his translations, the 'Servian Anthology' has been
the most admired for the skill and ease with which the wild beauty of
the poems, and their national spirit, has been preserved. At the time of
its publication, the collection of Servian popular poetry called
'Narodne srpske pjesme' had just appeared, and was the first attempt to
put into literary form the ballads and lyric songs sung by the wandering
minstrels and the people.