An Example on the Turn both of Thoughts and Words, is to be found in Catullus; in the Complaint of Ariadne, when fhe was left by Thefeus: Tum jam nulla viro juranti fæmina credat ; Qui dum aliquid cupiens animus prægeftit apisci, An extraordinary Turn upon theWords, is that in Ovid's Epiftola Heroidum, of Sappho to Phaon: Si nifi qua forma poterit te digna videri, Lastly, a Turn which I cannot fay is abfolutely on Words, for the Thought turns with them, is in the Fourth Georgique of Virgil; where Orpheus is to receive his Wife from Hell, on exprefs Condition not to look on her, till fhe was come on Earth: Cùm fubita incautum dementia cepit Amantem; ; I will not burden your Lordship with more of them for I write to a Master, who understands them better than my felf. But I may fafely conclude them to be great Beauties; I might defcend also to the Mechanick Beau. ties of Heroick Verfe; but we have yet no English Profodia, not fo much as a tolerable Dictionary, or a Grammar; fo that our Language is in a manner Barbarous ; and what Govenment will encourage any one, or more, who are capable of refining it, I know not: But no. thing under a Publick Expence can go through with it. i And And I rather fear a Declination of the Language, than hope an Advancement of it in the present Age. I am ftill fpeaking to you, my Lord: tho' in all probability, you are already out of hearing. Nothing, which my Meannefs can produce, is worthy of this long Attention. But I am come to the laft Petition of Abraham; If there be Ten Righteous Lines, in this vast Preface, spare it for their fake; and also spare the next City, because it is but a little one. I wou'd excuse the Performance of this Tranflation, if it were all my own; but the better, tho' not the greater part being the Work of fome Gentlemen, who have fucceeded very happily in their Undertaking; let their Excellencies atone for my Imperfections, and those of my Sons. I have perus'd some of the Satyrs, which are done by other Hands; and they seem to me as perfect in their kind, as any thing I have feen in English Verfe. The common way which we have taken, is not a literal Translation, but a kind of Paraphrafe; or fomewhat which is yet more loose, betwixt a Paraphrafe and Imitation. It was not poffible for us, or any Men, to have made it pleasant any other way. If rendring the exact Sense of those Authors, almost Line for Line, had been our Bufinefs, Barten Holiday had done it already to our hands: And, by the help of his Learned Notes and Illuftrations, not only Juvenal and Perfius, but what yet is more obscure, his own Verfes, might be understood. But he wrote for Fame, and wrote to Scholars: We write only for the Pleasure and Entertainment of those Gentlemen and Ladies, who tho' they are not Scholars, are not Ignorant: Perfons of Understanding and good Senfe; who not having been converfant in the Original, or at least not having made Latin Verse so much their Business, as to be Critiques in it, wou'd be glad to find, if the Wit of our two great Authors be anfwerable to their Fame and Reputation in the World. We have E therefore therefore endeavour'd to give the Publick all the Satisfaction we are able in this kind. And if we are not altogether fo faithful to our Author, as our Predeceffors Holiday and Stapylton; yet we may challenge to ourselves this Praife, That we fhall be far more pleafing to our Readers. We have follow'd our Authors at greater Distance, tho' not Step by Step, as they have done. For oftentimes they have gone so clofe, that they have trod on the Heels of Juvenal and Perfius, and hurt them by their too near Approach. A noble Author wou'd not be purfu'd too close by a Tranflator. We lofe his Spirit, when we think to take his Body. The groffer Part remains with us, but the Soul is flown away, in fome Noble Expreffion, o: fome delicate Turn of Words, or Thought. Thus Holiday, who made this way his Choice, feiz'd the Meaning of Juvenal; but the Poetry has always 'fcap'd him." They who will not grant me, that Pleafure is one of the Ends of Poetry, but that it is only a Means of compaffing the only End, which is Inftruction; muft yet allow, that without the Means of Pleasure, the Inftruction is but a bare and dry Philofophy; a crude Preparation of Morals, which we may have from Ariftotle and Epictetus, with more Profit than from any Poet: Neither Holiday nor Stapylton have imitated Juvenal, in the Poetical Part of him, his Diction and his Elocution. Nor had they been Poets, as neither of them were; yet in the way took, it was impoffible for them to have fucceeded in the Poetique Part. The English Verfe, which we call Heroique, confifts of more than Ten Syllables; the Latin Hexameter fometimes rifes to Seventeen; as for Example, this Verse in Virgil: Pulverulenta putrem fonitu quatit ungula campum. Here Here is the difference of no less than Seven Syllables in a Line, betwixt the English and the Latin. Now the Medium of these, is about Fourteen Syllables; because the Dactyle is a more frequent Foot in Hexameters than the Spondee. But Holiday, without confidering that he writ with the difadvantage of Four Syllables less in every Verse, endeavours to make one of his Lines to comprehend the Sense of one of Juvenal's. According to the Falfity of the Propofition, was the Succefs. He was forc'd to crowd his Verfe with ill-founding Monofyllables, of which our barbarous Language affords him a wild Plenty: And by that means he arriv'd at his pedantick End, which was to make a literal Tranflation: His Verfes have nothing of Verfe in them, but only the worst part of it, the Rhyme; and that, into the Bargain, is far from good. But, which is more intolerable, by cramming his illchofen, and wor fe-founding Monofyllables fo close together; the very Senfe which he endeavours to explain, is become more obfcure than that of his Author. So that Holiday himself cannot be understood, without as large a Commentary, as that which he makes on his two Authors. For my own Part, I can make a fhift to find the Meaning of Juvenal without his Notes: But his Tranflation is more difficult than his Author. And I find Beauties in the Latin to recompence my Pains; but in Holiday and Stapylton, my Ears, in the firft Place, are mortally offended; and then their Senfe is fo per plex'd, that I return to the Original, as the more pleafing Task, as well as the more eafie. This must be faid for our Tranflation, that if we give not the whole Sense of Juvenal, yet we give the most confiderable Part of it: We give it, in General, fo clearly, that few Notes are fufficient to make us intelligible. We make our Author at least appear in a Poetique Drefs. We have actually made him more Sound E 2 ing, ing, and more Elegant, than he was before in English: And have endeavour'd to make him fpeak that kind of English, which he wou'd have spoken had he liv'd in England, and had written to this Age. If fometimes any of us (and 'tis but feldom) make him exprefs the Cuftoms and Manners of our Native Country, rather than of Rome; 'tis, either when there was some kind of Analogy, betwixt their Customs and ours; or when, to make him more eafie to Vulgar Understandings, we give him those Manners which are familiar to us. But I defend not this Innovation, 'tis enough if I can excuse it. For to fpeak fincerely, the Manners of Nations and Ages are not to be confounded: We fhou'd either make them English, or leave them Roman. If this can neither be defended, nor excus'd, let it be pardon'd, at least, because it is acknowledg'd; and fo much the more eafily, as being a Fault which is never committed without fome Pleasure to the Reader. Thus, my Lord, having troubled you with a tedious Vifit, the beft Manners will be fhewn in the leaft Ceremony. I will flip away while your back is turn'd, and while are otherwife employ'd: With great Confuyou fion, for having entertain'd you fo long with this Difcourse; and for having no other Recompence to make you, than the Worthy Labours of my Fellow-Underta¬ kers in this Work, and the Thankful Acknowledgments, Prayers and perpetual good Wishes of, |