substantial of the two; notwithstanding Mr. W.'s arguments to prove that the skeleton was that of Barius or Barr, the confidential attendant of St. Neot, and that in no other sense it ever appertained to his master. In the present age, there is little danger of litigation on such a question; but should it unexpectedly arise, we would recommend a compromise; on the ground, that, after the body of St. Neot had returned to dust, it might be carefully treasured up in Cornwall, while the less perishable parts were removed to Einesbury, the name by which one quarter of the town of St. Neot's in Huntingdonshire is still distinguished. It seems unlikely, that the mere removal of Barius to that place, after his master's death, should have occasioned the change which was indisputably made in its appellation. One point of Mr. W.'s argument on the subject, is exceedingly curious. He alledges that the bones of St. Neot could not be removed from his Huntingdonshire church to Croyland, and back again, as some have asserted, because a history of that place at that period, is silent respecting it: yet he admits that the bones of Barius were thus removed, and were then believed to be those of St. Neot ! Connected, rather oddly, with this question, we have an investigation of the existence of Moose Deer in Ireland, and in England, even so lately as the sixteenth century. As the Irish Moose Deer, however, are said to be "exalted in dignity of head and horns, in proportion as they are inferior in size of body," we presume that the name must have been given to some very different animal: because the Moose deer, or elk, which is common in Canada, is much larger and higher in the body, but lower in, the head, than the common stag. Mr. W. has very commendably inserted, by way of appendix to his work, three Latin biographical accounts of St. Neot, of which he procured copies from ancient MSS. in the Bodleian and Magdalen libraries at Oxford, and in the British Museum. The last, which narrowly escaped the conflagration of the Cottonian library, is the least important, having been published by Capgrave, in 1516, from the original by John, Vicar of Tinmouth, in the fourteenth century. The other two are of earlier date, being written, one wholly in verse, another chiefly in prose, by William Ramsey, who was abbot of Croyland in the twelfth century. On the whole, we regard this posthumous work of a learned, laborious, and acute antiquary, as a valuable, though not as a very important accession, to our documents of national history. It is harmless, amusing, and in some respects instructive. Its defects are too obvious to be ensnaring, 1 and may be useful, as warnings, to those who are engaged in the study of our history and antiquities. They plainly suggest the expediency of diffidence, on obscure subjects; of modesty, on controverted points; of cool perseverance in historical research; and of temperance and mildness on every topic of literary investigation. Having extended our article to the utmost limit of propriety, we abstain from enlarging it with extracts; the author's style being well known to the public, and his present volume being sufficiently cheap to be purchased by all who feel an interest in the subject. THIS Art. III. Translations in Poetry and Prose from the Greek Poets and Prose Authors, consisting of a Chronological Series of the most valuable, scarce, and faithful Translations extant, and several never before published. By Francis Lee, A. M. Chaplain in ordinary to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Member of the Asiatic Society, &c. Vol. 1. Part I. [Hesiod.] royal 8vo. pp. 60. Price 6s. Miller. 1808. 'HIS translation of the writings of Hesiod is, as the titlepage imports, the commencement of a very voluminous work. The whole collection of translations will form twentyseven volumes, of which the specimen now presented to the public, together with the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Batrachomyomachia, will constitute the first. It is the intention of the compiler to choose, of two or more good English translations, that which is judged the closer to the original. He also purposes to make what alterations may appear advisable to him, in the versions which he shall select. Notes from various hands will accompany the text, and with these the same liberty of alteration will be taken. The English style is corrected in various places; obsolete terms, spellings, idioms, and inequalities of verses are adjusted, but with as sparing a hand as possible. Lives and prefaces that were wanting, are given by the editor. Multitudes of useless notes are rejected, which would fill up great quantities of letter press, waste much time, and distract the attention in perusal. All the notes are omitted, containing the literary conceits of commentators, and pedantic displays of learning; as well as those presuming to supply judgment for the reader. Prolix comments are abridged and compressed, and useful, concise notes selected, and others added, by which the text may be elucidated and explained. Latin notes, and others unintelligible to an English reader, are rejected, and English notes of equal import substituted, where requisite, in their places. The critic, who seeks for Hebrew, Greek, or Latin notes,. must be referred to the voluminous original scholia on the ancient authors. For in this publication general knowledge is sought to be communicated through the medium of our own tongue, freed from the dead languages, and united with conciseness. p. ix.' We think the time is gone by, when so vast a mass of Grecian literature would have been acceptable to English readers at large. The enthusiasm and perseverance with which learned men pursued the study of the Greek and Roman classics at the revival of letters, and the admiration of them which was naturally communicated to common minds, have long subsided; and both the learned and the unlearned, by a customary revulsion, have gone into the opposite extreme of blamable indifference or dislike. A poet would be apt to tell us, that he hears, or seems to hear, the mourning of the muse of ancient poesy, about to take her last leave of our island, and afraid that the world will not afford her another place of refuge. "The lonely mountains o'er, And the resounding shore, A voice of weeping heard, and loud lament; Edg'd with poplar pale, The parting Genius is with sighing sent." Milton's Ode on Christ's Nativity. Philosophy is now the order of the day. It is not the magic inspirations of poetic genius, but the cool dictates of a vigorous mind; it is not the effusions of elevated sentiment, but the elaborate investigations of reason; it is not the warm and high-wrought colouring of fancy, but the naked glory of truth, which men now chiefly profess to admire. The straightest and easiest road to celebrity, is through a well-conducted analysis of divers gases, or an ingenious structure of political economy. The design, therefore, of giving to the world a large collection of translations from the Greek, is ill-timed, even if it be accomplished in the most able manner. And we cannot flatter any compiler with a hope that he will increase his fame or his wealth by such an undertaking. We object to the author's method of conducting the present work. As it was stated in the outset, he makes alterations in the text where he thinks it necessary. This liberty. he has taken with the translation of Hesiod now before the public; and he purposes to treat all future translations in the same way. If Mr. Lee thinks of improving the different works by this means, and is indifferent to the result on the public mind, we do not so much wonder. For some men are apt to suppose, that their own touches would improve the most finished pieces; and are able to despise any popular clamour which may be excited against them, being supported - by an inward consciousness that they subserve the cause of literature and truth. But if he supposes that he shall recommend the work by this liberty of emendation, we wonder much at the strangeness of his misconception. Who that has been accustomed to admire Pope, or Dryden, or any other eminent translator; who that has only heard of the praises of the English Iliad and Eneid, would choose to read a translation which he knew had been changed in various places, according to the will of the compiler? A poem is not like a common treatise on Oxygen, which might be revised or corrected by successive inquirers. We should not be much gratified to hear of Paradise Lost improved, or of some tender passages thrown into the epistle from Eloisa to Abelard, or of a new stanza added to Alexander's Feast by an unknown hand. We are so much in the habit of blending a poem and its author together, that they both pass under the same name, 'Milton" designates the writings of the man who bore that name, as well as the man himself. We should almost as soon think of altering his personal identity, as the identity of his compositions; and propose amputating a foot or an arm with a view to graft another man's in the stead of them, as expunging lines from his poem to make room for improvements. Such an amended composition would, in our estimation, very aptly illustrate the description of Horace in the opening of his epistle on the art of poetry, "Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam," &c. The compiler's method of conducting the present work is objectionable on another ground. He makes the closeness of a translation a cause of preference, We had hoped that the old notions, which prevailed about this species of composition before the time of Dryden, were effectually exploded by his oracular dictates on the subject. We are therefore both astonished and grieved to see a writer, in these last times of classical literature, so ignorant, or so contemptuous, of the natural laws of translation. For of ignorance or contumacy we must accuse him, when he thinks closeness (as that term is commonly understood) an excellence in a poetical version. Every language, and especially a language carried to its highest point of improvement, has its peculiar idioms, metaphors, and turns; which, if they are closely followed in a translation, are either nonsensical, or disgusting. It is allowed, that Dryden, who saw the necessity of avoiding this fault, has frequently fallen into it; probably because a mind used to Roman modes of thinking and speaking, from long study of the language, is not always aware of a peculiarity which an English reader would instantly perceive. But why, in the name of all the muses at once, should a translation be preferred because it is chargeable with this imperfection? The union of English words and Latin idioms is like one of those chemical solutions which neutralize the properties of each ingredient. And, what is still worse, the poetical tertium quid thus produced is good for nothing. It has neither the novelty of an original composition, nor the elegant likeness of a skilful imitation. The present translation of Hesiod, which Mr. Lee has chosen for the opening number of his compilation, was written by Thomas Cooke. The writings of this Greek poet, who is affirmed to be more ancient even than Homer, are on various accounts interesting to the English reader. Their high antiquity will recommend them to those, who wish to compare the efforts of the human mind, in a very early stage of society, with those of later periods, when we enjoy the accumulated experience of many generations, benefited by all the arts of civilization. Nor is there small delight in contemplating the picture of domestic life and social manners, which the pencil of this ancient poet drew from the original, as it was found in his own times. For modes of early warfare, and simple negociation, we may have recourse to Homer. For the habits of peace and humble privacy, we must turn to Hesiod. There is another circumstance of still more powerful interest than those already mentioned. Our great epic poet drew some of his sublimest notions, from the Theogony of this Grecian bard; and he who has any just feeling of poetical beauty, or any curiosity to trace noble expansions of thought to their source, will read passages with pleasure which ministered materials to the mighty genius of Milton. But whether Hesiod has poured forth the dictates of his muse in flowing numbers, or elegant and appropriate words; whether he has the delicate and unexpected turns of expression, the skilful allusions, the happy combinations of language, and the various undefinable beauties of style; in short, whether he best expresses what had been often thought before by others, are points of no moment to the reader of a translation. He is dependent on the translator for these excellences; and the translator must depend on his own genius, which may convert barbarous prose, provided the sub.. ject be suitable, into an elegant English version, as well as the most lofty flights of Homer; or translate the noblest raptures of poesy into doggrel rhyme. The beauties of style in a translation, whether poetry or prose, do not at all depend on the original. The Imitation of Christ, written by Thomas a Kempis in monkish language, was translated by Castallio into classical Latin. The uncouth satires of Dr. Donne are elegantly versified by Mr. Pope. The majestic form of Virgil has been successfully disguised in the plebeian garb of Dr. Trapp. As, however, it is essential to the pleasure of many English |