Page images
PDF
EPUB

Mr.. OLDMIXON,

In his forementioned Effay, frequently commends the fame. And the painful

Mr. LEWIS THEOBALD

thus extolls it. (b) "The spirit of Homer "breathes all through this tranflation. "I am in doubt, whether I fhould most ad

mire the juftness to the original, or the "force, and beauty of the language, or the "founding variety of the numbers. But when "I find all these, meet, it puts me in mind "of what the Poet fays of one of his He"roes: That he alone rais'd and flung with

cafe, a mighty ftone, that two common "men could not lift from the ground; juft "fo, one fingle perfon has performed in this "tranflation, what I once defpaired to have "feen done by the force of feveral masterly "hands." Indeed the fame gentleman appears to have chang'd his fentiment, in his Elay on the Art of finking in reputation, where he fays thus: In order to fink in "reputation, let him take it into his head "to defcend into Homer (let the world won"der, as it will, how the devil he got "there) and pretend to do him into Eng· lish, life, fo his verfion denote his neglect of

ઠંડ

(b) Cenfor, vol. 2. No. 33.

"the

s. the manner how."

We are told in

Strange Variation

MIST'S JOURNAL, June 8.

"That this Tranflation of the Iliad, was "not in all refpects conformable to the fine "taste of his friend, Mr. Addison. Infomuch, "that he employed a younger muse, in an "undertaking of this kind, which he super"vis'd himself." Whether Mr. Addifon did find it conformable to his tafte, or not, beft appears from his own teftimony the year following its publication, in these words..

Mr. ADDISON, Freeholder.

(a)" When I confider my felf as a Bri"tifb freeholder, I am in a particular man"ner pleased with the labours of those who "have improv'd our language, with the "translation of old Greek and Latin authors: "We have already most of their Hifto"rians in our own tongue, and what is more ❝for the honour of our language, it has "been taught to exprefs with elegance the "greatest of their Poets in each nation. "the illiterate, among our countrymen may "learn to judge from Dryden's Virgil, of the "moft perfect Epic performance. "those parts of Homer which have been pub"lish'd already by Mr. Pope, give us reason

(a) No 40. May 7:

And

❝to

"to think that the Iliad will appear in Eng"lib with as little disadvantage to that im"mortal poem.

[ocr errors]

As to the reft, there is a flight mistake, for this younger Mufe was elder: Nor was the gentleman (who is a friend of our author) employ'd by Mr. Addison to tran-flate it after him, fince he faith himself that he did it before. (a) Contrariwife, that Mr. Addifon ingag'd our author in this work, appeareth by declaration thereof in the preface to the Iliad, printed fome years before his death, and by his own Letters of Oct. 26. and Nov. 2. 1713. where he declares it his opinion that no other perfon was equal to it.

Next comes his SHAKSPEAR on the ftage. "Let him (quoth one, whom I take ❝to be

Mr. THEOBALD) Mift, March 30, 1728.

"publish fuch an author as he has leaft ftu-"died, and forget to difcharge even the dull "duty of an editor. In this project let him "lend the bookfeller his name, (for a com

petent fum of money tho') to promote the "credit of an exorbitant fubfcription." Gentle reader, be pleas'd but to caft thine eye on the PROPOSAL below quoted, and on what

(a) Vid. Pref. to Mr. Tickel's Tranflation of the first Book of the Iliad, 4to..

follows

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

follows (fome months after the former affertion) in the fame Journalist of June 8..

The bookfeller propos'd the book by fub"fcription, and rais'd fome thousands of "pounds for the fame: I believe the gen"tleman did not share in the profits of this "extravagant Subscription.

"After the Iliad, he undertook (faith
MIST'S JOURNAL, June 8.)

"the fequel of that work, the Odyssey: and having fecur'd the fuccefs by a nume-"rous fubfcription, he imployed fome Un-"derlings to perform what, according to his "Proposals, fhould come from his own "bands." To which heavy charge we can. in truth oppofe nothing but the words of

Mr. POPE'S PROPOSALS for the ODYSSEY, (printed by J. Watts, Jan. 10. 1724) “ I take this occafion to declare that the SUB

66 SCRIPTION for SHAKESPEAR belongs "wholly to Mr. Tonson: And that the future "Benefit of THIS PROPOSAL is not folely "for my own ufe, but for that of Two of "my Friends, who have affifted me in this "work." But thefe very gentlemen are extolled above our Poet himfelf, by another of Mift's Journals, March 30, 1728, faying, that: "he would not advise Mr. Pope to try the. "experiment again, of getting a great part "of a book done by Affiftants, least those extraneous parts fhould unhappily afcend

"to"

14

"to the fublime, and retard the declenfion "of the whole." Behold! thefe Underlings are become good writers!

If any fay, that before the faid Propofals were printed, the Subfcription was begun without declaration of fuch Affiftance; verily those who set it on foot, or (as their term is) fecur'd it, to wit the Right Honourable the LORD VISCOUNT HARCOURT, were he living would teftify, and the Right Honourable the LORD BATHURST now living doth testify, that the fame is a Falfhood..

Sorry I am, that perfons profeffing to be learned, or of whatever rank of Authors, fhould either falsely tax, or be falfely taxed. Yet let us, who are only reporters, be impartial in our citations and proceed.

MIST'S JOURNAL, June 8.

"Mr. Addifon rais'd this Author from "obfcurity, obtain'd him the acquaintance "and friendship of the whole body of our "nobility, and transferr'd his powerful In"terefts with those great men to this rifing "Bard, who frequently levied by that means "unufual contributions on the publick.

"No fooner was his body lifeless, but this "author, reviving his refentment, libell'd "the memory of his departed friend, and' "what was ftill more heinous, made the

fcandal publick." Grievous the accufatian! Unknown the accufer! the perfon ac cufed

« PreviousContinue »