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UPON THE

CIN NA

OF

CORNEILL E

UPON THE

CIN NA

OF

CORNEILL E.

TH

HOUGH itis an agreeable tafk, upon the whole, to attempt the vindication of an author's injured fame, the pleasure is much allayed, by its being attended with a neceffity to lay open the unfairness and errors, in the proceedings of his antagonist. To defend is pleasant, to accuse is painful;, but we must prove the injustice of the aggreffor's fentence, before we can demand to have it repealed. The editor of the late edition of Corneille's works, has given the following preface to the tragedy of Cinna : Having often heard Corneille and Shake

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fpear compared, I thought it proper to "' fhew

"fhew their different manner, in fubjects "that have a refemblance. I have therefore "chofen the first acts of the Death of Cæ"far, where there is a confpiracy, as in "Cinna; and in which every thing is "relative to the confpiracy to the end of "the third Act. The reader may compare "the thoughts, the ftyle, and the judg"ment of Shakespear, with the thoughts, "the style, and the judgment of Corneille. "It belongs to the readers of all nations "to pronounce between the one and the "other. A Frenchman or an Englishman

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might perhaps be suspected of fome par

tiality. To inftitute this procefs, it was neceffary to make an exact tranflation; "what was profe in the tragedy of Shakefpear is rendered into profe; what was " in blank verfe, into blank verfe, and "almost verse by verfe; what is low and

familiar is tranflated familiarly and in a "low ftyle. The tranflator has endea"voured to rife with the author when he "rises; and when he is turgid and bom"baft, not to be more or less fo than he.

"The

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