The Answer must be, It is according as it is. That of our _English_
Tragedies, I confess, is not; tho' very proper for the Purpose to which
it is apply'd. This indeed is what the _French_ rightly call _Prose
mesurée_, rather than Verse. But much worse is to be said of _any_ Poem,
which is only written in the Shape of Metre, but has no more of Verse in
it, than of Rhime; no Harmony, or Prosody, no true Metrical Cadence;
half the Lines concluding with double Syllables, as _Torment_,
_Greatness_, and the Participles ending in _ing_. This deserves not so
much as the Name of _Prose on Horseback_; 'Tis Prose upon Crutches; and
of all Prose the vilest. But if Blank Verse be laboured, as it ought to
be; it is sufficiently distinguished from Prose. We have no Feet, nor
Quantities, like the Ancients; and nothing in our poor Language will
ever supply That Defect: Rhime is at least as far from doing it, as the
more Advantageous Variety of Cadences in Blank Verse: Which requires so
much the more Care, and Art, to work it up into Numbers, and Support it
from groveling into Prose.
Which naturally leads us to observe further, that many Imperfections,
both in Thought, and Expression, will be overlooked in Rhime, which will
not be endured in Blank Verse: So that the same may be said of This,
which _Horace_ applies to Comedy;
_Creditur----habere
Sudoris minimum; sed habet----tanto
Plus oneris, quanto veniæ minus----_
I do not say, Rhime is, all things considered, more easy than the other:
That Point cannot be well determined; because it relates to the
particular Genius's of particular Persons. For my own part, if I never
made one good Verse, I have made many good Rhimes: But supposing Both to
be equally easy, I should chuse Blank Verse, for the Reasons already
alledged.
After all which, if some Gentlemen are resolved that _Blank Verse shall_
be _Prose_; they have my free Leave to _enjoy their Saying_: provided I
may have Theirs to think they mean nothing by it; unless they can prove
that Rhime is essential to Metre; consequently that the _Goths_, and
_Monks_ were the first Inventers of Verse; and that _Homer_, and
_Virgil_, as well as _Milton_, wrote nothing but Prose.
_Milton_ indeed has _too many_ of those looser and weaker Verses; as he
has some Lines which are no Verses at all. These for Instance,
_Burnt after them to the bottomless Pit:_
_In the Visions of God; It was a Hill:_
are Lines consisting of ten Syllables; but they are no more _English_
Verses, than they are _Greek_ ones. Many _irregular_ and _redundant_
Verses, and more of an ill Sound and Cadence, are to be met with in his
Poem; sometimes a considerable Number of them together. Whether This was
_Negligence_ in him, or _Choice_, I know not. Certain it is from the
main Tenour of his Verification, than which nothing can be more
heroically sonorous, that it was not Want of Ear, Genius, or Judgment.
What is the true Cadence of an _English_ Verse, is sufficiently known to
the Ears of every one who has a Taste of Poetry. Sometimes it is not
only allowable, but beautiful, to run into harsh, and unequal Numbers.
Mr. _Dryden_ himself does it; and we may be sure he knew when he did it,
as well as we could tell him. In a Work intended for Pleasure, _Variety_
justifies the Breach of almost any Rule, provided it be done but
_rarely_. Among the Ancient Poets, what are many of those _Figures_ (as
we call them) both in Prosody, and Syntax, but so many Ways of making
_false Quantity_, and _false Grammar_, for the sake of _Variety_? False,
I mean, ordinarily speaking; for Variety, and That only, makes it
elegant. _Milton_ however has too much irregular Metre: But if his
overruling Genius, and Merit might in Him _authorize_ it, or at least
_excuse_ it; yet _nobis non licet esse tam audacibus_: especially when
I am translating _Virgil_, the most exact, and accurate Versificator in
the World: A Character, however, which he would not deserve (for the
Reason just mentioned) were he not in _some_ Verses irregular, and
unaccurate. I am sure I have truly imitated him in _That_; I wish I may
have done so in _any thing else_.
Two Things remain to be taken notice of, equally relating to Rhime, and
Blank Verse. It is a known Fault in our Language, that it is too much
crouded with _Monosyllables_: Yet some Verses consisting wholly of them
sound well enough: However, the fewer we have of them, the better it is.
I believe there are as few of them in this Translation as in any
_English_ Poem of an equal Length; which is all I shall say upon This
Article.
The Other is the _Elision of Vowels_: Upon which, in my Opinion, the
Criticks have ran into Extremes on both Sides. Mr. _Dryden_ declares for
it as a general Rule which he has observed without Exception, in his
Translation of the _Æneis_;[22] and is utterly against _a Vowel gaping
after another for want of a Cesura_, as he expresses himself. Another
great Master and Refiner of our Language[23] is for very little, or no
Abbreviation; if I do not mistake his Meaning. It is true, in the
Letter, to which I refer, he instances only in cutting off the Vowel E
at the End of our Participles ending in _ed_; but I presume his Argument
is equally designed against the Elision of a Vowel before a Vowel in two
different Words: And, if I do not forget, he has declared himself of
That Opinion, when I have had the Honour and Pleasure of his most
agreeable and instructive Conversation. But with humble Submission to
both these great Men, the Elision seems sometimes proper, and sometimes
not, in the Particle _The_; for upon That, and the Particle _To_, the
Question chiefly turns; _He_, and _She_ being but very rarely
abbreviated by any tolerable Writer: And therefore Mr. _Dryden_
expresses himself too much at large, when he speaks of Vowels in
general. And when this Elision is proper, and when not, the Ear is a
sufficient Judge. The _French_, we know, continually use it in their
_Le_, and that in Prose, and common Discourse, as well as in Verse:
_L'Amour_, _L'Eternel_, _L'Invincible_, &c. As also in their Pronouns,
_me_, _te_, and _se_. In our _English_ Poetry, I think it may be either,
_Th' Eternal_, _Th' Almighty_; or _The Eternal_, _The Almighty_; but
rather the former: It should be always, _The Army_, _The Enemy_; never
_Th' Army_, or _Th' Enemy_. And so in other Instances: Of which the Ear
(which by the way will never endure the Sound of _Th' Ear_) is always to
be Judge. But of these Things too much.
The Kind of Verse therefore, which I have chosen, distinguishes this
Translation from Those of Others, who have gone before me in this bold
Undertaking: For I had never heard of Dr. _Brady_'s Design, 'till long
after This was in a great Forwardness. And His being not yet executed;
He is not to be reckoned among my Predecessors: of whom I presume it is
expected that I should now give some Account. When I say my Translation
is thus distinguished from Those of Others, I speak of our own
Countrymen; because _Hannibal Caro_'s _Italian Æneis_ is in Blank Verse,
such as it is: For [24]Mr. _Dryden_'s Character of it is a very true one;
and I need not add any thing to it. Few Persons were ever more
familiarly acquainted with the _Æneis_, had a truer Gust, and Relish of
it's Beauties, or enter'd more deeply into the Sentiments, into the very
Soul, and Spirit of it's Author, than Monsieur _Segrais_. His Preface is
altogether admirable; and his Translation perhaps almost as good as the
_French_ Language will allow; which is just as fit for an Epic Poem, as
an ambling Nag is for a War-Horse. It is indeed my Opinion of the
_French_; that none write better _of_ Poetry, and few (as to _Metre_)
worse _in_ it. Their Language is excellent for Prose; but quite
otherwise for Verse, especially Heroic. And therefore tho' the
Translating of Poems into Prose is a strange, modern Invention; yet the
_French_ Transposers are in the right; because their Language will not
bear Verse. The Translation of the _Æneis_ into _Scotish_ Metre by
_Gawin Douglas_ Bishop of _Donkeld_, is said to be a very extraordinary
Work by Those who understand it better than I do: There being added to
it a long List of great Men, who give him a wonderful Character, both as
an excellent Poet, and a most pious Prelate. What Mr. _Pope_ says of
_Ogilby's Homer_, may as well be apply'd to his _Virgil_, that his
Poetry is too mean for Criticism. Mr. _Dryden_ tells us, that no Man
understood _Virgil_ better than the Earl of _Lauderdale_; and I believe
few did. His Translation is pretty near to the Original; tho' not so
close, as it's Brevity would make one imagine; and it sufficiently
appears that he had a right Taste of Poetry in general, and of
_Virgil_'s in particular. He shews a true Spirit; and in many Places is
very beautiful. But we should certainly have seen _Virgil_ far better
translated by a Noble Hand; had the Earl of _Lauderdale_ been the Earl
of _Roscommon_; or had the _Scotish_ Peer followed all the Precepts, and
been animated with the Genius of the _Irish_.
But the most difficult, and invidious Part of my prefacing Task is yet
to come. How could I have the Confidence to attempt a Translation of
_Virgil_, after Mr. _Dryden_? At least to publish it; after Mr. _Pope_
has in effect given us his Opinion before-hand, that such a Work must be
unsuccessful to any Undertaker (much more to so mean a one, as I am) by
declaring that _He_ would never undertake it _Himself_? I do not say he
makes That Inference; but if his _Modesty_ would not suffer him to do
it, his _Merit_ must oblige others to do it for him. I so far agree with
That most ingenious Gentleman, that Mr. _Dryden_'s is, in many Parts, a
noble, and spirited Translation; and yet I cannot, upon the Whole, think
it a good one; at least, for Mr. _Dryden_. Not but that I think his
Performance is prodigious, and exceedingly for his Honour, considering
the little time he allowed himself for so mighty a Work; having
translated not the _Æneis_ only, but all _Virgil_'s Poems in the Compass
of three Years. Nobody can have a truer Respect for That great Man, than
I have; or be more ready to defend him against his unreasonable
Accusers; who (as Mr. _Pope_ justly observes) envy, and calumniate him.
But I hope I shall not be thought guilty of either (I am sure they are
the Things of the World which I abhor) if I presume to say that his
Writings have their dark, as well as their bright Side; and that what
was said of somebody else may be as well applied to Him: _Ubi bene, nemo
melius; Ubi male, nemo pejus_.
This may be affirmed of his Works in general; but I am now obliged to
consider his Translation of the _Æneis_ in particular. As he was the
great Refiner of our _English_ Poetry, and the best Marshaller of Words
that our Nation had then, at least, produced; and all, who have followed
him, are extremely indebted to him, as such: his Versification here, as
every where else, is generally flowing, and harmonious; and a multitude
of Beauties of all kinds are scattered through the Whole. But then,
besides his often grosly mistaking his Author's Sense; as a Translator,
he is extremely licentious. Whatever he alledges to the contrary in his
Preface; he makes no Scruple of adding, or retrenching, as his Turn is
best served by either. In many Places, where he shines most as a Poet,
he is least a Translator; And where you most admire Mr. _Dryden_, you
see least of _Virgil_. Then whereas my Lord _Roscommon_ lays down this
just Rule to be observed by a Translator with regard to his Author,
_Fall, as he falls; and as he rises, rise:_
Nothing being more absurd than for those two Counter-parts to be like a
Pair of Scales, one mounting as the other sinks; Mr. _Dryden_ frequently
acts contrary to this Precept, at least to the latter Part of it: Where
his _Author_ soars, and towers in the Air, _He_ often grovels, and
flutters upon the Ground. Instances of all these Kinds are numerous. If
I produce a few, it is not to detract from his Translation, in order to
recommend my own: I detest That base Principle of little, and envious
Spirits: And besides, I am sensible that it would be as foolish, as
ungenerous: For of Mine, the World _will_, and _ought to be_ judge,
whatever I say, or think; and it's Judgment in these Matters is never
erroneous. It is not therefore that I am acted by the Spirit of
_malevolent_ Criticism, or Criticism _commonly so called_; which is
nothing but the Art of finding Fault: But I do it, partly to _justify_
my _Undertaking_ (tho' of a different Kind from His, which is what I
_chiefly_ insist upon) not to _recommend_ my _Performance_; partly for
the Instruction, and Improvement of my self, and others; for the sake of
Truth, and _true Criticism_; that is, right, and impartial Judgment,
joined with good Nature, and good Manners; prone to _excuse_, but not to
_falsify_; and _delighting_ to dwell upon _Beauties_, tho' _daring_ to
remark upon _Faults_.
Were we to make a few scattered Strictures upon the First Book only; we
should observe that he leaves out a very material Word in the very
_first_ Line: And That too happens to be the Word _First_: As if That
stood for Nothing, in _Virgil_'s Verse; and as if _First_ would not have
stood as well as _Forc'd_ in his own. Especially, since there are two
Adjectives more of the same Signification [_Expell'd_, and _Exil'd_ in
the next Verse but one] agreeing with the same Substantive, all three to
express the single Epithet _Profugus_: Which, by the way, is Tautology,
and utterly unlike _Virgil_'s Manner; who never says any thing in vain,
and whose chief Beauty is Brevity. In the very next two Lines,
_Italiam_, _Lavinaque Littora_ are left out; tho' necessary to the
Design of the Poem: Not to mention his strange Transposing of _sævæ
memorem Junonis ob iram_. V. 28. _Long cited by the People of the Sky_,
is entirely added. As is, V. 41. _Electra's Glories, and her injur'd
Bed_; and the two following Lines. The Addition of three Verses together
is too much in all Reason. V. 66. _Then as an Eagle grasps the trembling
Game_, is wholly his own. And so is V. 107, 108. _The charming Daughters
of the Main Around my Person wait, and bear my Train._ V. 144,
145.----_Whose dismember'd Hands yet bear The Dart aloft, and clench the
pointed Spear_. As there is no Hint of This in _Virgil_; so I doubt it
is not Sense in it self. For how the Hand of a Body, which has been dead
seven Years, can hold a Spear aloft, I cannot imagine. V. 220. _And
quenches their innate Desire of Blood_. This is not only added; but too
gross, and horrid for _Virgil_'s Meaning in that Place. V. 233. After,
_Two Rows of Rocks_ (which, by the way, is no Translation of _geminique
minantur in coelum scopuli_) the next Words are totally omitted;
_Quorum sub vertice late Æquora tuta silent_. V. 459. _Then on your Name
shall wretched Mortals call_, is not included in _Multa tibi ante aras
nostra cadet hostia dextra_. He is speaking of _himself_, and his
_Friends_ in particular; not of _wretched Mortals_ in general; of
_Thanksgiving_, not of _Prayer_. V. 886.----_You shall find, If not a
costly Welcome, yet a kind_, is no more in _Virgil_, than it is like his
Stile. But as for the _Flatnesses_, and low _prosaick_ Expressions,
which are not a few, and which even the Rhime neither covers, nor
excuses; I will for several Reasons forbear to transcribe any of them.
These _Errata_ which I have mentioned in the First Book only, (and there
are in it many more such, which I have not mentioned) are either in
_adding to_, or _curtailing_, or _mistaking_ the Sense of the Original.
But upon the Article of adding to his Author, and altering his Sense,
there is one Fault in Mr. _Dryden_ which is not to be pardoned. I mean
when he does it directly contrary not only to the _Sense_, but to the
_Temper_ and _Genius_ of his Author; and that too in those Instances
which injure him not only as a _good Poet_, but as a _good Man_. As
_Virgil_ is the most chaste, and modest of Poets, and has ever the
strictest Regard to Decency; after the Prayer of _Iarbas_ to _Jupiter_
in the Fourth Book, he proceeds thus:
_Talibus orantem dictis, arasque tenentem
Audiit omnipotens; oculosque ad mœnia torsit
Regia, &_ oblitos famæ melioris amantes.
What could be more well-mannered, more delicate, and truly _Virgilian_,
than the Sweetness, and Softness of that remote, insinuating Expression,
_oblitos famæ melioris amantes_? For this Piece of a Verse Mr. _Dryden_
gives us Three entire ones; which I will not transcribe. The two first
are totally his own; and to One who is not himself _insensible of
Shame_, those fulsom Expressions must be very nauseous. Part of the last
Verse indeed is _Virgil_'s; and it comes in strangely, after the odious
Stuff that goes before it. If _Virgil_ can be said to be remarkable for
any one good Quality more than for Modesty, it is for his awful
Reverence to Religion. And yet, as Mr. _Dryden_ represents him
describing _Apollo_'s Presence at one of his own Festivals, he speaks
Thus; Book iv. V. 210.
_Himself, on Cynthus walking, sees below
The merry Madness of the sacred Show._
_Virgil_ says, He walks on the Top of _Cynthus_; That's all: The rest is
Mr. _Dryden_'s. And it is exactly of a Piece with a Passage in the Third
Georgick; in which, without any sort of Provocation, or the least Hint
from his Author, He calls the _Priest_ the _Holy Butcher_. If Mr.
_Dryden_ took Delight in abusing Priests, and Religion; _Virgil_ did
not. It is indeed wonderful that a Man of so fine, and elevated a
Genius, and at the same time of so good a Judgment, as Mr. _Dryden_
certainly was, could so much as endure those clumsey Ideas, in which he
perpetually rejoices; and that to such a degree, as to thrust them into
_Translations_, contrary not only to the Design, and Meaning, but even
to the Spirit, and Temper, and most distinguishing Character of his
Author. Thus in his Translation of the last Lines of _Homer_'s First
Iliad he describes the Gods, and Goddesses as being drunk; and that in
no fewer than three Verses, and in some of the coarsest Expressions
that our Language will admit of: Whereas the Original gives not the
least Intimation of any such thing; but only says that they were
_sleepy_, and went _to bed_. And therefore here again I cannot be of Mr.
_Pope_'s Opinion, _that it is a great Loss to the Poetical World that
Mr._ Dryden _did not live to translate the Iliad_. If we may judge of
what the Whole would have been by the Specimen which he has left us; I
think it was a Gain to the Poetical World that Mr. _Dryden_'s Version
did not hinder us from Mr. _Pope_'s. Which may be said, without any
great Compliment to the latter.
As to the Instances of Mr. _Dryden_'s sinking, where his Author most
remarkably rises, and being flat where his Author is most remarkably
elegant; they are many: But I am almost tired with Quotations; quite
tired with such invidious ones, as these are; it being (as I said) much
more agreeable to my Temper to remark upon Beauties, than upon Faults,
and Imperfections; especially in the Works of great Men, who (tho' they
may have written many things not capable of being defended, yet) have
written many more, which I can only admire, but do not pretend to equal.
And That is the present Case. I shall therefore mention but one Example
of this Kind; And it is the unutterable Elegancy of these Lines in the
Fourth Book, describing the Scrietch-Owl:
_Solaque culminibus, ferali carmine bubo
Sæpe queri_, & longas in fletum ducere voces.
How is This translated in the following Verses? Or rather is it
translated at all?
_----With a boding Note
The solitary Scrietch-Owl strains her Throat;
And on a Chimney's Top, or Turret's height,
With Songs obscene disturbs the Silence of the Night._
To produce more Instances would be needless; because One general Remark
supersedes them all. It is acknowledged by every body that the First Six
Books in the Original are the best, and the most perfect; but the Last
Six are so in Mr. _Dryden_'s Translation. Not that even in These
_Virgil_ properly sinks, or flags in his Genius; but only he did not
live to correct them, as he did the former. However, they abound with
Beauties in the Original; and so indeed they do in the Translation,
more, as I said, than the First Six: Which is visible to any one that
reads the Whole with Application.
I observed in the last place, that where Mr. _Dryden_ shines most, we
often see least of _Virgil_. To omit many other Instances, the
Description of the _Cyclops_ forging Thunder for _Jupiter_, and Armour
for _Æneas_, is elegant, and noble to the last degree in the _Latin_;
and it is so to a very great degree in the _English_. But then is the
_English_ a Translation of the _Latin_?
_Hither the Father of the Fire by Night
Thro' the brown Air precipitates his Flight:
On their eternal Anvils here be found
The Brethren beating, and the Blows go round._
Our Language, I think, will admit of few things more truly Poetical,
than those four Lines. But the two first are set to render
_Huc tunc Ignipotens cœlo descendit ab alto._
There is nothing of _coelo ab alto_ in the Version; nor of _by Night,
brown Air_, or _precipitates his Flight_ in the Original. The two last
are put in the room of
_Ferrum exercebant vasto Cyclopes in antro,
Brontesque, Steropesque, & nudus membra Pyracmon._
_Vasto in antro_ in the first of these Lines, and the last Line entirely
are left out in the Translation. Nor is there any thing of _eternal
Anvils_ (I wish there were) or _here be found_, in the Original: And
_the Brethren beating, and the Blows go round_, is but a loose Version
of _Ferrum exercebant_. Much the same may be said of the whole Passage
throughout; which will appear to Those who compare the _Latin_ with the
_English_. In the whole Passage Mr. _Dryden_ has the true Spirit of
_Virgil_; but he would have had never the less of it, if he had more
closely adhered to his Words, and Expressions.
Sometimes he is _near enough_ to the Original; And tho' he _might have
been nearer_, he is altogether admirable, not only as a _Poet_, but as a
_Translator_. Thus in the Second Book;
_Pars ingentem formidine turpi
Scandunt rursus equum, & nota conduntur in alvo._
_And some, oppress'd with more ignoble Fear,
Remount the hollow Horse_, and pant in secret there.
And in the Twelfth, after the last Speech of _Juturna_;
_Tantum effata, caput glauco contexit amictu,
Multa gemens, & se fluvio Dea condidit alto._
_She drew a length of Sighs; no more she said,
But with her azure Mantle wrap'd her Head;
Then plung'd into her Stream with deep Despair_,
And her last Sobs came bubbling up in Air.
Tho' the last Line is not expressed in the Original, yet it is in some
measure imply'd; and it is in it self so exceedingly beautiful, that the
whole Passage can never be too much admired. These are Excellencies
indeed; This is truly Mr. _Dryden_. _Si sic omnia dixisset_, tho' he had
approached no nearer to the Original than This; my other Criticisms upon
his Translation had been spared. And after all, I desire that Mine,
being in a different sort of Verse, may be considered as an Undertaking
of _another kind_, rather than as an Attempt to _excel His_. For tho' I
think even That may very well _be done_; yet I am too sensible of my own
Imperfection, to presume to say it can be done by _Me_. I have nothing
to plead, besides what I have already alledged, in Excuse of my many,
and great Faults, in the Execution of This bold Design; but that I was
drawn into it, not by any Opinion of my Abilities to perform it, but by
the inexpressible Passion which I have always had for this incomparable
Poet. With a View to whom, I will here insert a noble Stroke out of my
Lord _Roscommon_'s excellent _Essay on Translated Verse_: Which, I
think, is proper to stand in This Place, both as a Conclusion of my
Preface, and as a Kind of Poetical Invocation to my Work:
_Hail mighty_ MARO! _May That sacred Name
Kindle my Breast with Thy celestial Flame;
Sublime Ideas, and apt Words infuse:
The Muse instruct my Voice, and THOU inspire the Muse._
FOOTNOTES TO THE PREFACE:
[1] _Prælectiones Poeticæ._
[2] _Merchant of Venice._
[3] _De tous les Ouvrages dont l'Esprit de l'Homme est capable, le Poem
Epique est sans doute le plus accompli._
[4] _For so it should certainly be read; tho' both in the Folio and
Octavo Editions, 'tis_ Aristotle.
[5] _Preface to his Fables._
[6] Elogia Virgilii Cap. IV Major _Homero_.
[7] _The Word was originally applied to Dramatic Poetry, and from thence
transferred to Epic._ Aristotle _uses it in more Senses than one; which
seem not to be rightly distinguished by his Interpreters. However we are
for that Reason more at Liberty to apply it, as we think most proper._