Forc'd me from dear ALEMQUER's ruftic charms, 'Midft that rough main, whofe angry waters roar -Far from green Portugal's parental shore !' To combat perils frange. The original is not very graceful Me fez manjar de peixes;' literally, had made me food for fifbes." 6 The noble tranflator's delicacy is fhocked at the uncouth notion of a gentleman being made food for fifles; but if, in his feverer ftudies,' he fometimes takes up his Homer, he will find that this barbarous idea is by no means new in poetry; and, furely, it is not more horrible than the idea of being preyed upon by vultures, dogs, or worms, all of whom, it cannot be difputed, are very claffical performers. But it is not very graceful,' and Lord Strangford therefore quarrels with it; forgetting that, to be graceful, is not the only aim of poetry, and that he who facrifices every thing to the graces, though he may be reckoned a poet among triflers, must be contented to appear but a trifler among poets. However, though we could not admit the neceflity of any alteration in the paffage before us, we could not but approve that delicacy of confcience which forbade Lord Strangford to pafs over in filence even fo flight an innovation. In fonnet 5th, we find another inftance of this appearance of extraordinary refpect for the text of Camoens, where the line Scarce had the purpling eaft began to glow,' is followed by a note to announce the liberty which has been taken in tranflating marchetada (literally inlaid) by the word purpling: Perhaps dappled would have expreffed accurately enough the original idea, and might have fpared the apology. But who would have expected from a tranflator, who profefies himfelf fo fcrupulously exact, as to announce the variation. of a fingle ornamental epithet, that he fhould not only interpolate whole paffages, but that he fhould gravely comment upon his own interpolations? This, however, has been done by Lord Strangford in his note upon fonnet the 15th. I fang of love-and in fo fweet a ftrain, That hearts moft hard were foften'd at the found, From From whom my song such sweet instructions drew, Of her, who kindly taught me all she knew!' The literal tranflation of this from Camoens is as follows: 'I will fing of love fo fweetly, in terms fo well concerted, that it fhall make the breaft, which feels nothing, feel two thoufand amorous emotions. I will make love enliven all, by painting a thousand delicate fecrets, mild anger, fighs of anguish, rafh boldness, and absent pain. And I must content myself, lady, with telling the leaft part of your noble difdain, of your mild and fevere look: But, for finging your air, your exalted and miraculous compofition-there knowledge, genius, and art fail.’ Here we see that, in the original, there is no mention whatfoever of those blushing girls with tingling hearts, with whom we are prefented by Lord Strangford; and whilft, like another Timotheus, The mighty mafter smiles to fee That love is in the next degree,' he fmartly obferves in his note, that the aptitude of thefe young fcholars brings to mind a celebrated paffage in the confeffions of St Austin, Si non amaveris, frigidæ loquor: Da amantem, da fentientem, da defiderantem-fciet quod loquor!' But Lord Strangford, throughout his whole tranflation, if he has not wilfully mifreprefented, has entirely mifconceived the character of Camoens, and this mifconception leads him into continual errors. There is nothing in Camoens to make a girl blush; his feelings were delicate, and he wrote as he felt. Whether it be owing to the general deteriorationof morals, or whether it be that young perfons commence authorship at an earlier age than heretofore, whilft their fancy is as yet unchaftifed by experience, it is a melancholy truth, that delicacy is almost excluded from the fpecies of poetry now before us. The young author of the prefent day fuffers his mind to wander without retraint or controul; and the extravagant creations of a prurient imagination, tricked out in all the tinfel and frippery of the modern poet's effeminate vocabulary, are thoughtlessly put into the hands of youth, by thofe who would have been fhocked at the far lefs feducing danger of a downright obscenity. Lord Strangford's poems furnish us with too many proofs, that even the duty of a tranflator does not impofe fufficient restriction to fecure us from fuch disgusting intrufions, and to check this puerile itch for indelicacy: and the practice which he has frequently adopted, of writing a page or two upon what, in the original, is comprised in three or four lines, affords him free scope for indulg ing this propenfity. We will not produce more examples of this, than those which unavoidably prefent themselves in the quotations already made. It would, indeed, be difficult to select any piece to which fome addition has not been made in this tafte by the tranflator; and though he has fometimes improved upon his original, he has likewife frequently corrupted the purity or fimplicity of his compofition, by his own inordinate paflion for unfeafonable embellishment. The Canzon at p. 52. of Lord Strangford's volume, is very graceful: But it is not a tranflation; and though it may be thought an embellishment, it certainly is not an improvement apon Camoens. The reader fhall judge for himself. When day has fmil'd a foft farewell, And night-drops bathe each fhutting bell, And while my lone ftep prints the dew, Strike to my heart-and thence be still, God knows how fervently! Such are my hours of dear delight, I wandered filently." The words of Camoens, in his 34th fonnet, are these• When the fun overcaft, is fhewing to the world a tranquil and dubious light, I go along a delightful meadow, figuring to myfelf my enemy-Here have I feen her compofing her treffes-Here with her face upon her hand, fo beautiful!-Here talking cheerfully; there thoughtful-Now ftanding ftill; now walking-Here was the feated→→→ There fhe beheld me, as the raised thofe eyes fo indifferent-Here fomewhat moved; there fecure-Here fhe grew forrowful; there fhe smiled. And, in fhort, in thefe weary thoughts 1 pafs this vain life which lafts for ever,' We We are aware that thofe who are unacquainted with the ori ginal, except through the medium of our bald and unmufical tranflation, will not be enabled to do very ample juftice to its merits. They will, however, perceive, that Camoens, when he walks abroad to meditate upon his mistrefs, does not pay much attention to the ftate of the weather; and, far from occupying himfelf with the flowers, the winds, and the birds, is fo taken up with the object of his affections, that he appears not even to obferve that he is getting his feet wet with the dew. He indeed fays, that he has fometimes fucceeded in making a momentary impreffion upon her feelings; but he is not fo vain as to affirm that the lady is actually enamoured; nor does he think it neceffary to inform us what would have been his own fenfations in fuch circumftances. The authors of amatory verfes may be divided into two claffes; those who write from the heart, and thofe who write from the imagination. Camoens was of the former description; and therefore it is, that though none ever fuffered more feverely, or felt more acutely than he did, we meet with fo little in him that is either extravagant or unnatural, if we except that quaintnefs of expreffion, intó which he was now and then mifled by the general bad taste of the times in which he wrote. His tranflator appears to have feared a reproach from him in the words of St Austin frigidæ loquor;' and therefore he has warmed him up with ftimulating fpices, and tricked him out in the meretricious ornaments of Mr Little's school, the enervated licentioufnefs of whofe ftyle is fuch as might be expected from the more cultivated members of Mr Fribble's Club. There is a club of us, all young bachelors, the fweeteft fociety in the world; and we meet three times a week at each other's lodgings, where we drink tea, hear the chat of the day, invent fashions for the ladies, make models of them, and cut out patterns in paper. There's Phil. Whiffle, Jacky Wagtail, my Lord Trip, Billy Dimple, Sir Dilberry Diddle, and your humble Mr Fribble indeed is not to be compared as a poet with any of these gentlemen; but affectation deferves as little quarter as imbecility; and we really are not prepared to fhow any fort of indulgence for a protracted and artful depravation of confiderable talents and accomplishments. Nor can we confine this cenfure to the poetry of this new fchool: the fame want of nature, of manly fimplicity, and intellectual vigour, prevails throughout their profe compofitions. In this part of Lord Strangford's publication, indeed, the misreprefentation of Camoens's character is more direct and more inexcufeable Fribble, in Mifs in her teens. excufeable than in the poetical pieces, where some allowance might be made for the difficulty of tranflating; and where the reader is left at least to draw his own inference from what is before him. 6 • Gallantry (fays Lord Strangford) was the leading trait in the dif pofition of Camoens-His amours were various and fuccefsful-Woman was to him as a miniftering angel; and for the little joy which he tafted in life, he was indebted to her. The magic of female charms forms his favourite theme; and while he paints the allurements of the fex with the glowing pencil of an enthufiaft, he seems tranfported into that heaven which he defcribes. Nor did this paffion ever defert him. Even in his laft days, he feelingly regretted the raptures of youth, and lingered with delight on the remembrances of love. Prefatory Remarks, P. 13. And again, It is improbable that he remained long conftant to the memory of a departed miftrefs, when living beauty was ready to fupply her place. His was not a heart that could fafely defy temptation, al though the barbarous ingenuity of fome commentators would make us believe, that all his amours were purely platonic, and that he was ig norant of the paffion in every other refpect. Happily for himself, the cafe was different; and his works record that he more than once indulged in the little wanderings of amatory frolic.' Ibid. p. 13. All this may be very true; but we do not think that the queftion, whether Camoens was fenfible to the fame feelings and paffions with the generality of mankind, is at present of great importance; ftill lefs do we think that the eftablishment of this important fact would entitle him to fuch profound admiration as his tranflator expreffes when he triumphantly proclaims his difcovery. But Lord Strangford informs us, that his book was the amufement of a young mind, (Pref. Rem. p. 31.); and time, it is to be hoped, will make fome change in his opinions: If not, woe be to our fair countrywomen; for he already poffeffes, as he informs us, what he confiders as the principal offenfive weapons for carrying on his warfare-locks of auburn, and eyes of blue; and he ventures to hope, upon the strength of those indications, that he is of an amorous difpofition. Our readers may doubt the fairness of this reprefentation; and we therefore prefent them with the memorable words of the original. Thou haft an eye, &c. Notwithstanding all that has been faid, and all that has been written to disprove the exiftence of a real and pofitive standard of beauty, were we to argue from the univerfality of poeti cal tafte in every age, we fhould place the effence of female loveliness in the defcription before us. Locks of auburn and eyes of blue have ever been dear to the fons of fong. The tranflator almost ventures to doubt, whether these two ideas do not enter into every combination of charms created by the poetical mind. The former are almoft conftantly ac |