By ftrenuous toil the bold Ligurian fteel'd, And thunderbolts of war each Scipio thine. This paffage alone would be fufficient to juftify the commendation which we have bestowed on Mr. Sotheby, in which we have, defignedly, rather understated our approbation, that there might be no fufpicion of our wifh to exaggerate, and that our praise might appear to be, what it really is, both confiderate and impartial. Whoever will compare the above extract with previous verfions, will, notwithstanding the great fpirit of fome of Dryden's lines, be convinced of the general fuperiority of the prefent tranflation. In the beginning of the paffage, none of the tranflators have been content with the fimplicity of Virgil's "Laudibus Italia certent"; they feem all to have been afraid of trufting Italy without an epithet: and perhaps they were right. Virgil was addreffing Italians, whofe feelings were fufficiently excited by the mere name of their country. But his tranflators were fpeaking to other nations, who had no fuch feelings connected with the found of Italy. They were therefore obliged to difplay fome of the circumstances which made Italy not only dear to her own children, but delightful or interefting to other nations. This they have done varioufly. Dryden has rendered it thus: Can with sweet Italy contend in fame. Warton thus: can vie With the bleft fcenes of beauteous Italy. The Abbé Delille : A l'antique Aufonie cnt ils rien qui s'égale. And Mr. Sotheby: O native Italy! tranfcend thy praife. Dryden has expreffed the affection of men for their country with which we naturally fympathize; the Abbé Delille that reverence which we feel for antiquity; Mr. Sotheby has expreffed the veneration of a patriot for his country, by the folemn folemn form of invocation, and his love by that epithet, "native", which with fo fweet, though irrefiftible an influence, attracts virtuous hearts to the fcene of their first pleasures. Dr. Warton has not availed himself of any of thefe interesting circumftances. He has employed only vague epithets of common-place defcription, which call up no picture, and infpire no feeling. It is, however, but juftice to him to obferve, that he has rendered one phrafe of this paffage more exactly, and more elegantly (as it feems to us) than any other tranflator. The phrafe is alienis menfibus æftas." It is abfolutely miftranflated by Dryden : And fummer funs recede by flow degrees. The tranflation of Mr. Sotheby, though very elegant, is perhaps more florid than the manner of Virgil will admit : And winter wears a wreath of fummer flowers. Dr. Warton feems to have gone as near an exact tranflation as can be hoped for in poetry. Here fummer fhines in feafons not her own. Though hypercritical acutenefs might fuggeft, that as "fummer" is a "feafon", there is fome difcordancy in the language "feafons not her own", which Virgil has efcaped. The verfion of the fame phrafe, by the Abbé Delille, is excellent. Même au fein des hivers l'été luit dans nos plaines; though it wants the poetical circumlocution which gives dignity to the language of Virgil. To expect in any other writer turns of expreflion fo elegant, and yet so perfectly void of oftentation; fo digniñed, and yet fo natural, as thofe of Virgil, would imply both feverity to other poets, and irreverence for his unrivalled art. Our limits will not permit us to give any more fpecimens, and we have produced enough to excite the curiofity of every lover of polite letters; if indeed all fuch perfons be not already in pofletion of this elegant work. The peculiar beauty of the following verfes tempt us to infert them. 66 Yes, lovely Spring! when rofe the world to birth, Beneath thy balmy air Creation grew, And no bleak gale on infant Nature blew. When herds firit drank the light, from Earth's rude bed, When firft man's iron race uprear'd its head, When first to beats the wilds and woods were given, And ftars unnumber'd paved th' expanfe of heav'n, And the globe teem'd throughout its mighty frame, Each Each tender being, ftruggling into life, Soft nurfe of Nature! gave the golden mean.” In the panegyric on rural life, which is towards the end of the fecond book, there are feveral verfes finifhed with fuch masterly skill, fo wonderfully excellent, or, to fum up all praife in one word, fo perfectly Virgilian, that they are fevere tefts indeed of a translator's art. Quibus ipfa procul discordibus armis, Georg. Lib. ii. v. 459–460. DRYDEN. free from bufinefs and debate, Receives his easy food from Nature's hand, And just returns of cultivated land. Here the meaning is accurately rendered, but the elegance is untranflated; and it is perhaps untranflatable. WARTON. From wars and difcord far, and public ftrife, Here the ideas and the elegance are alike loft. The two beautiful and fignificant epithets, "facilem" and "justiffima”, are both unattempted. DELILLE. Fidèle a fes béfoins a fes travaux docile, The words which we have marked in thefe verfes will show, that the ideas of Virgil are skilfully clothed in another language; but the antithetical arrangement of the first line is not Virgilian. SOTHEBY. For theé juft earth, from her prolific beds, We will venture to anticipate the decifion of readers of taste, by adjudging to Mr. Sotheby the palm in the translation of thefe verfes. Thefe fpecimens, though too few for our gratification, feem more than fufficient to juftify our praise. Upon the whole, Warton's tranflation is inferior to Dryden in every thing but fidelity; and the prefent verfion, ftill more exact than that of Warton, may indeed sometimes yield to that of Dryden, in thofe parts which demand peculiar animation. and vigour, but far furpaffes it wherever tenderness, or elegance, ог or majefty is the prevailing character of the original. The only general cenfure to which it is justly liable is perhaps fomewhat too great a profufion of ornament, where fevere tafte might have required more didactic fimplicity; and if this objection were harthly urged, it might probably with great truth be answered, that the extreme delicacy of Virgil's elegance might have been unnoticed by modern readers, as they would be repelled by the occafional rufticity and groffness of Homer; and that Mr. Sotheby is juftified for having, in fome degree, modernized Virgil, on the fame principles which excuse Pope for having, in a much greater degree, modernized Homer. Mr. Sotheby, in his Advertisement, calls Dr. Warton "the first critic of this age". Has this elegant poet forgotten the name of Dr. Johnfon? We know that there are ftrange literaty herefies on this fubject, prevalent among the friends of the two Wartons. We have the highest refpect for the memory of thefe ingenious and accomplished men, and we therefore admonifh their admirers not to provoke comparifons, which cannot be advantageous to their fame, whether rank in criticifm is to be eflimated by juftnefs of decifion, or by vigour of talent. ART. XIII. A Maximum; or, the Rife and Progrefs of Famine. Addreffed to the British People. By the Author of a Refidence in France, during the Years 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, &c. &c. 8vo. 8vo. 62 pp. 15. 6d. Wright. 1801. THE HE confequence of this tract muft by no means be estimated from its fize. It contains a statement of facts, and of facts bearing ftrongly, in the way of example, upon the prefent circumftances of this country. Under the preflure occafioned by the exorbitant price of all neceffaries, fome fpeculators have been rafh enough to turn their eyes towards the famous French expedient of a Maximum, as a mode of extricasion for us. Under thefe circumstances, to prevent as effectually as poffible all hankering after a noftrum fo pernicious, by showing its actual operation when tried, a writer here steps forward, well-qualified, both by knowledge and abilities, to ftate the truth with effect. When the celebrated Letters during a Refidence in France were published in 1797, befides commending the truth and Spirit of this picture they contained, we flated our belief of 'what we now know to be the fact, that they were the genuine production of a lady, who had been fituated as they defcribe, and the refult of actual knowledge and obfervation. The prefent painphlet comes undoubtedly from the pen of the faine lady, and may be confidered, in fome meafure, as a fupplement to thofe Letters. It relates the frightful and miferable confequences of the maximum, as they were actually experienced when that law was established in France. One or two fpecimens will effectually thow the fpirit and force of this feafonable tract. "The French farmers argued much in the fpirit of Shylock, whenever I converfed with them on the caufe of their confinement; they perfifted they had a right to fell their corn under the protection of the fame laws, which had encouraged them to fow and reap it; and that they would endure every hardship, rather than any advantage should be derived from the injuftice practifed upon them. They urged, moreover, that it was impoffible for them to fell their grain at an arbitrary valua tion, while they were themselves obliged to pay for their cattle, implements of husbandry, clothes, and every article (not raised on their own farms), according to the will of the proprietors.-But it was in vain they reafoned; the prejudice against them was univerfal.—I was one day giving a meffage at the prifon door, when I obferved a member of the Convention, who had juft entered to take a furvey of his flock, talking to an old decent looking prifoner, with a petition in his hand, and apparently very ill," Vat'en, Va t'en" (Get along, get along with you), faid the polite legislator of the most polished nation in the world; and then turning to me, Citoyenne, added he, "that fellow is a farmer, and when I meet with a farmer, je le traite comme un chien, I treat him like a dog." "Citizen reprefentative," returned I, I wish the farmers may not repay this, by treating us worse than dogs;—for dogs are fed, and, I fear, if we go on this way, we fhall be starved."— Pooh, it would be as well for the country, if all the farmers in it were fent to peep out of the † national cafement." 66 66 "Not caring much to argue with one, who, if he had chofen it, might, by way of frolic, have ordered me on the fame errani, I was filent, though I now began to fufpect this notion of treating farmers like dogs, would end in no good; and many besides my felt, converted by want, were of the fame opinion.-At first, the gentry, the merchants, the ihopkeeper, in fhort, thofe of no occupation and thofe of all occupations, had joined in calling for measures of feverity again't the farmers; one would have imagined, it was a crime to plough, low, and cultivate the earth; or that fome method had been difcovered of producing corn without labour; and, I may venture to lay, this madness was the only inftance of unanimity between the government and the people. The refult proved, that even a whole nation, when acting * See Brit. Crit. vol. ix, pp. 176, 274, 369. under |