"reason why we have fo few versions "that are tolerable, is, because there

are fo few who have all the talents re

quifite for tranflation, and that there "is fo little praife and finall encourage

ment for fo confiderable a part of "learning." Pref. to Ovid's Epiftles.

It must be owned, at the fame time, that there have been, and that there are men of genius among the moderns who have vindicated the dignity of this art fo ill-appretiated, and who have furnished us with excellent tranflations, both of the ancient claffics, and of the productions of foreign writers of our own and of former ages. Thefe works lay open a great field of useful criticism; and from them it is certainly poffible to draw the principles of that art which has never yet been methodifed, and to establish

B

establish its rules and precepts. Towards this purpose, even the worst tranflations would have their utility, as in such a critical exercise, it would be equally neceffary to illustrate defects as to exemplify perfections.

AN attempt of this kind forms the fubject of the following Effay, in which the Author folicits indulgence, both for the imperfections of his treatise, and perhaps for fome errors of opinion. His apology for the firft, is, that he does not pretend to exhauft the fubject, or to treat it in all its amplitude, but only to point out the general principles of the art; and for the last, that in matters where the ultimate appeal is to Tafte, it is almost impoffible to be fecure of the folidity of our opinions, when the criterion of their truth is fo very uncertain.

СНАР

fine, or, perhaps more properly, to describe what is meant by a good Tranflation, it is evident that a confiderable progrefs would be made towards establishing the Rules of the Art; for these Rules would flow naturally from that definition or defcription. But there is B 2

no

no fubject of criticism where there has been fo much difference of opinion. If the genius and character of all languages were the fame, it would be an easy task to translate from one into another; nor would any thing more be requifite on the part of the tranflator, than fidelity and attention. But as the genius and character of languages is confeffedly very different, it has hence become a common opinion, that it is the duty of a tranflator to attend only to the fenfe and fpirit of his original, to make himfelf perfectly mafter of his author's ideas, and to communicate them in thofe expreffions which he judges to be best fuited to convey them. It has, on the other hand, been maintained, that, in order to constitute a perfect translation, it is not only requifite that the ideas and fentiments

fentiments of the original author should be conveyed, but likewise his style and manner of writing, which, it is fuppofed, cannot be done without a strict attention to the arrangement of his fentences, and even to their order and construction *. According to the former idea of translation, it is allowable to improve and to embellish; according to the latter, it is neceffary to preserve even blemishes and defects; and to these must likewife be fuperadded

*Batteux de la Conftruction Oratoire, Par. 2. ch. 4• Such likewife appears to be the opinion of M. Huet: "Optimum ergo illum effe dico interpretandi modum, quum "auctoris fententiæ primum, deinde ipfis etiam, fi ita fert "utriufque linguæ facultas, verbis artiffimè adhæret inter

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pres, et nativum poftremo auctoris characterem, quoad ejus fieri poteft, adumbrat; idque unum ftudet, ut nulla "cum detractione imminutum, nullo additamento auctum, fed "integrum, fuique omni ex parte fimillimum, perquam fide"liter exhibeat.. Universè ergo verbum de verbo ex“primendum, et vocum etiam collocationem retinendam esse "pronuncio, id modo per linguæ qua utitur interpres facul tatem liceat." Huet de Interpretatione, lib. I.