TRANSLATION. From Clemente Bondi of Parma. (In Parnasso degl' Italiani Viventi.) Oft have I said that death should close To-morrow came, alike unkind, SONNET TO PEACE. Translated from the same. Peace, born of heav'n! O tell me where to attain, Gold cannot buy thee, nor plum'd honours gain, In crowded cities, or the hermit shade, Rove we abroad, or rest at home secure, Nor art nor skill can give thee to our aid: Where may I find thee, then?-ah! well I knowIn heav'n alone thou dwell'st, serene and pure: Fool that I was! to seek thee here below. By this time, however, the rich diversity and extent of Mr. Good's talents and acquirements began to be known, and literary men evinced as great an eagerness to cultivate his acquaintance, as he did to avail himself of theirs. Fond of society, and peculiarly fitted to shine in it, he had no difficulty in receiving and imparting the appropriate gratification. Besides several of the leading men in the medical profession, he numbered among his frequent associates at this period, Drs. Disney, Rees, Hunter, Geddes, Messrs. Maurice, Fuzeli, Charles Butler, Gilbert Wakefield, and others whose names do not now occur to me; most of them individuals of splendid talents and recondite attainments, but belonging to a school of theology, which though he then approved, be afterwards found it conscientiously necessary to abandon. Mr. Good's description of his first interview with Geddes, so aptly designates the habits of that extraordinary man, that I shall here insert it. "I met him accidentally at the house of Miss Hamilton, who has lately acquired a just reputation for her excellent Letters on Education and I freely confess, that at the first interview I was by no means pleased with him. I beheld a man of about five feet five inches high, in a black dress, put on with uncommon negligence, and apparently never fitted to his form: his figure was lank, his face meagre, his hair black, long, and loose, without having been sufficiently submitted to the operations of the toilet, and his eyes, though quick and vivid, sparkling at that time rather with irritability than benevolence. He was disputing with one of the company when I entered, and the rapidity with which at this moment he left his chair, and rushed, with an elevated tone of voice and uncourtly dogmatism of manner, towards his opponent, instantaneously persuaded me that the subject upon which the debate turned was of the utmost moment. I listened with all the attention I could command; and in a few minutes learned, to my astonishment, that it related to nothing more than the distance of his own house in the New Road, Paddington, from the place of our meeting, which was in Guildford-street. The debate being at length concluded, or rather worn out, the Doctor took possession of the next chair to that in which I was seated, and united with myself, and a friend who sat on my other side, in discoursing upon the politics of the day. On this topic we proceeded smoothly and accordantly for some time; till at length disagreeing with us upon some point as trivial as the former, he again rose abruptly from his seat, traversed the room in every direction, with as indeterminate a parallax as that of a comet, and loudly and with increase of voice maintaining his position at every step he took. Not wishing to prolong the dispute, we yielded to him without further interruption; and in the course of a few minutes after he had closed his harangue, he again approached us, retook possession of his chair, and was all playfulness, good humour, and genuine wit." In the year 1797, as appears from a letter to Dr. Drake, Mr. Good commenced his translation of Lucretius. He says, "I have been much urged to persevere by many of my most respectable friends of real taste; and especially by Gilbert Wakefield, who, by the bye, is now collating a most superb Latin edition of Lucretius." Of this labour, which employed much of our author's time and thoughts for many years, I shall speak more fully in another place. The undertaking stimulated Mr. Good to the study of various other languages, at first, in order to the successful search of parallel passages, but ere long with much more enlarged views. In another letter to Dr. Drake, dated October, 1799, he says, "I have just begun the German language, having gone with tolerable ease through the French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese." In a few months afterwards he sent specimens of his translations, especially of pieces of elegant poetry, to the Doctor and other friends. In December, 1800, he informs him that he had been sedulously studying the Arabic and Persian; and in a short time he gave proofs of his acquisition of those languages, both by private communications to his friends, and by articles in some of the Reviews.* A few of the shorter poetical translations will, I am persuaded, be read with interest. PARAPHRASE OF THE LORD'S PRAYER. (From Dante's Purgatorio. Canto XI.) Father of all! who dwell'st above; Of boundless power, and boundless love; The tide of life and jubilee. Prais'd be thy Name through time and space, By every tongue of every race; Prais'd in loud hymns of deathless fame, On earth may every eye survey As all in heav'n obey thy will, * The Russian, Sanscrit, Chinese, and other languages, engaged his attention at no very remote period. This day, once more with daily bread Else through this vale of want and woe, The ills we suffer, while we live, Lead us not, ever prone to yield, For thine is wisdom in its height, And thou art God, and God alone. TRANSLATION OF A PASSAGE FROM KLOPSTOCK'S MESSIAS. (Inserted in a letter to Dr. Drake, Jan. 22d, 1800, suggesting a comparison with Milton's "Hail Holy Light," &c.) Once more I hail thee, once behold thee more, |