Letters Concerning Poetical Translations Part 14

"So spoke, so wish'd much humbled _Eve_, but Fate Subscrib'd not; Nature first gave Signs, imprest On Bird, Beast, Air; Air suddenly eclips'd After short blush of Morn.--

Now to put this Pa.s.sage into _French_ all the following Particles must be added.

_Le_, _La_, _Des_, _Les_, _Les_, _Le_, _Le_, _Un_, _Du_. Of which there is not one in the _English_: And what an Effect this would have in Heroick Verse, you will easily judge.

Upon the whole, _Vossius_ was very little acquainted with _English_ Heroic Poetry. _Hudibras_ was the favourite Bard in his time, and therefore he does us the Honour to say, the _English_ is extremely fit for that sort of Poetry which the _Italians_ call _Sdruccioli_, that is, Doggrel Verse.

Thus much for _Vossius_, and his _French_ and _English_ Poetry. I will now shew you a very different Opinion of another learned Foreigner, referr'd to more than once already, and I will give it you in his own Words.

"_Sane in Epico Carminum genere_; Joh. Miltoni _insigne poema_, The Paradise Lost, _Gallos omnes in epicis inseliciores longo post se intervallo reliquit_.

Morhosius Polyhistor.

This judicious Critick gave the same Opinion of Mr. _Cowley_ above 50 Years ago, which Mr. _Pope_ has given of him lately in one of his _Horatian_ Epistles.

"Abr. Cowley _seu Coulejus poemata scripsit_, &c. _Quae ad genium Virgiliani Carminis non accedunt: argutiis enim nimium indulget, ut Epigrammatic.u.m potius quod interdum scribat, quam planum carmen: Ac praeterea non ubique purus est: quanquam Angli illum omnes veterum Poetarum numeros implevisse sibi persuadeant._

Foreigners, I am apt to think, frequently judge with more Exactness of our Countrymen's Performances than the generality of the Natives. I think the Judgment of another learned Foreigner very sensible, when he says upon reading _Virgilium Dryd[)e]ni_, "That if the Original had been no better than the Copy, _Augustus_ would have done well to have committed it to the Flames." But the Author's own Words are worth perusing.

"_Saepe, Maro, dixi, quantum mutatus ab illo es!

Romani quondam qui stupor orbis eras.

Si te sic tantum voluisset vivere Caesar, Quam satius, flammis te periisse foret._ _Vid._ Fabric. Bib. Lat.

December 4. 1736,

_I am_, SIR, _&c._

LETTER X.

_SIR,_

By what I have shewn in the preceding Letters, it sufficiently appears that _Virgil_ and _Milton_ had good reason to begin with _Hinc canere incipiam_. _Nunc te Bacche canam._ _Arma Virumque cano._ _Sing Heavenly Muse._ Their Verse is all _Musick_, and that is the reason why their Poems please, though ever so often read: And all Poetry that is not attended with Harmony, is properly speaking no Poetry at all.

Let the Sense be ever so fine, if the _Verse_ is not _melodious_, the Reader will undoubtedly find himself soon overtaken with Drowsiness.

But what I chiefly hope I have made out, is, that _Rhyme_ does not owe its Original to _Druids_, or to _dreaming Monks_, since it is certain there is more _Rhyme_ in _Virgil_, than there can be in any _English_ Translation of his Works. _English_ Verse never admits but of two Syllables that Rhyme in two Lines. But in _Virgil_, it is not easy to tell how many Rhymes there are in a single Line; as for Example,

"_O nimium Coelo, & pelago confise sereno,_

"_Et sola in sicca sec.u.m spatiatur arena._

And the like. But what would you say, if I was to observe to you all that _Erythraeus_ has writ of the Rhyme _c.u.m intervallo, & sine intervallo_ in _Virgil_? Of the Rhyme _sine intervallo_ there are four Examples in the two first Lines of the _aeneid_, namely, in the first, _no_--_tro_, and _qui_--_pri_. In the second, _to_--_pro_, and _que_-- _ve_.

"_Arma virumque can[=o], tr[=o]jae qu[=i] pr[=i]mus ab oris Italiam, fat[=o] pr[=o]fugus, Lavinaqu[=e] v[=e]nit._--

But for this particular, and the other just mentioned, I refer you to _Erythraeus_ himself, if you would be fully instructed on this Subject.

The Conclusion of this whole Matter is this: Rhyme is certainly one of the chief Ornaments of _Latin_ Verse, even of _Virgil_'s Verse: Most of his wonderful, harmonious Paragraphs are concluded with a full, strong, plain Rhyme: And if this is the Case; if _Virgil_'s Verse would lose one of its chief Ornaments by being stript of Rhyme, What would _English_ Verse do without it? Those learned Persons who in their Writings have treated Rhyme only as a needless _Gingle_, had not fully considered all that could be said on this Subject: _Rhyme_, as I have observed once before, has many Enemies because of its Difficulty, when accompanied with all the other necessary Arts of Versification.

It is a particular Talent which very few are blessed with, and ought to be esteemed accordingly: But if we give way to the Disuse of it, and even suffer Blank Verse to be brought in Compet.i.tion with it, Poetry will in a short time be lost in _England_, as it has been long since in _Italy_, and, if I mistake not, from this very Cause. They have Blank-vers'd _Homer_, _Virgil_, and _Milton_, and I believe all the _Cla.s.sick Poets_: And if we follow their Example in giving Applause to this kind of Verse, we must expect the same Consequences.

We should be the more to blame in this respect, because we have lately had so many excellent Writers of proper Verse amongst us, as _Addison_, _Rowe_, _Prior_, and many others; and have now Mr. _Pope_, Mr. _Pit_, and some whom I do not just now recollect.

_Milton_, as I observ'd already, is never to be mention'd as an Example in favour of Blank-Verse: To supply the Want of _Rhyme_ in him, there are so many Arts of Verse, such Variety of Melody, that it would require no small Volume to point them out.

I have nothing more to add, but that it is a very surprizing thing, that _Milton_ ever undertook to write in such a _Stile_ as he has made use of, and yet more surprizing that he should be read by all sorts of People, considering that the _Stile_ is more properly _Latin_ or _Greek_ than _English_.

I believe both these Things arise from the same Cause, which to me seems to be the _English Bible_; at least, as to the latter, it cannot be from any thing else. That _Milton_ acquir'd his _Stile_ from the _Common Bible_, is not at all improbable, though he understood the Original. It is certain he was entirely conversant with the _Bible_, and, in all Probability frequently made use of the _English_ Translation. Now this Translation is, by Great Providence, (give me leave to call it so) adapted to the _Latin and Greek Collocation_, or Arrangement of Words; that is, the Words are placed in the _English_ as they stand in those Languages, which, perhaps, you may not have so much attended to but that you may be glad to see some Examples of what I am speaking of.

Psalm v. 3. _My Voice shalt thou hear in the Morning, O Lord; in the Morning will I direct Prayer unto thee, and will look up._

Matthew xiii. 1. _The same Day went Jesus out of the House, and sat by the Sea-side._

Matthew xxvii. 32. _And as they came out, they found a Man of_ Cyrene, Simon _by Name_: Him _they compelled to bear his Cross_.

John ii. 11. _This Beginning of Miracles did_ Jesus _in_ Cana _of_ Galilee.

John xii. 16. _These things understood not his Disciples at the first._

John viii. 44. _Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the l.u.s.ts of your Father will ye do._

"_Verbo sensum cludere, multo, si compositio patiatur, optimum est.

In Verbis enim Sermonis vis inest._"

Quintil.

By these Pa.s.sages, and innumerable others that might be produc'd, it appears that the _English Bible_ is translated in such a manner as I have mentioned above: And as we see many Places in the _Paradise Lost_, which are exactly taken from this Translation, Why may we not conclude _Milton_ acquir'd much of his Stile from this Book? I can give an Instance of another very learned Person, who certainly learnt his way of Writing from it. I mean the late Dr. _Clarke_. Nothing can be more clear than his _Stile_, and yet nothing can be more like the _Greek_ or _Latin_, agreeably to the _English Bible_. I beg leave to produce one Instance from his _Exposition of the Church Catechism_.

"_Next after the Creed are in natural Order plac'd the Ten Commandments._

Is there any thing in _Demosthenes_ or _Tully_ more inverted than this Pa.s.sage? And yet the meanest Persons understand it, and are not at all shock'd at it; and this cannot possibly, with respect to them, proceed from any thing else, but their having been from their Childhood accustomed to this Language in the _Bible_, and their still continuing frequently to hear it in the publick Offices of the Church, and elsewhere: From whence I am apt to think Mr. _Pope_'s Opinion is not to be subscrib'd to, when he says,

"_And what now_ Chaucer _is, shall_ Dryden _be_."

It did not occur to that ingenious Writer, that the State of the _English_ Language is very different at this time from what it was in _Chaucer_'s Days: It was then in its Infancy: And even _the publick Wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d was in a foreign Tongue_, a thing as fatal to the _Language_ of any Country, as to _Religion_ itself. But now we have all that Service in the vernacular Tongue; and besides that, the _Bible_ in _English_, which may be properly called the _Standard_ of our Language: For this Book contains a Variety of every kind of _Stile_, the _Poetick_, the _Historick_, the _Narrative_, and all framed after the manner of the most learned Tongues. So that whilst this _Book_ continues to be as publickly used among us as it is at present, the _English_ Language cannot receive any great Alteration; but all sorts of learned Men may write, either in Verse or Prose, in the most learned manner in their native Tongue, and at the same time be perfectly understood by the common People. Indeed, if ever we should be so unhappy as to be depriv'd of the _publick Use_ of that _Book_, all that came with it, must go with it; and then Farewel the _English Language_, Farewel _Milton_, Farewel _Learning_, and Farewel all that distinguishes Man from Beasts.

Decemb. 9. 1736.

_I am_, SIR, _&c._

_FINIS._