(Vol. viii., p. 583.)
J. C. B. has noticed "the similarity of thought, and even sometimes of
expression," between "The Reaper and the Flowers" of this popular writer,
and a song by Luise Reichardt. But a far more extraordinary _similarity_
than this exists between Mr. Longfellow's translation of a certain
Anglo-Saxon metrical fragment, entitled "The Grave" (Tegg's edit. in
_London Domestic Library_, p. 283.) and the literal translation of the same
piece by the Rev. J. J. Conybeare, transcribed by Sharon Turner in _Hist.
Ang. Sax._, 8vo. edit. 1823, vol. iii. p. 326. With the exception of a few
verbal alterations, indeed, which render the fact of the plagiarism the
more glaring, the two translations are identical. I place a few of the
opening and {78} concluding lines of each side by side, and would ask if
the American poet has the slightest claim to the authorship of that
version, to which he has affixed the sanction of his name.
_Conybeare's Translation._
"For thee was a house built
Ere thou wert born,
For thee was a mould shapen
Ere thou of mother camest.
"Who shall ever open
For thee the door
And seek thee,
For soon thou becomest loathly,
And hateful to look upon."
_Longfellow's Translation._
"For thee was a house built
Ere thou wast born
For thee was a mould meant
Ere thou of mother camest.
"Who will ever open
The door for thee
And descend after thee,
For soon thou art loathsome,
And hateful to see."