a poet and a scholar of Gray's reputation it must be confessed that the performance is decidedly disappointing. That Gray himself had no great opinion of the piece may be gathered from the fact that he did not consider it worthy of publication. The following may be compared with Richardson's rendering of the same passage given above:— Now the Hour Of timely Food approach'd; when at the Gate And wan, such as mought Entrance find within My Sons, and in four Faces saw my own For Anguish, which they construed Hunger; straight Our Suffering, Sir, if you resume your Gift; These miserable Limbs with Flesh you cloath'd; An interesting experiment in Dante translation was published anonymously in 1746, in Robert Dodsley's Museum: Or, The Literary and Historical Register, in the shape of The Three First Stanzas of the 24th Canto of Dante's Inferna [sic] made into a Song. In imitation of the Earl of Surry's Stile' :: I. When in the opening of the youthful Year, And every Herb and every Grass is shent, II. The mean-clad Swain, forth issuing from his Cot, He beats his Breast as one distract, or mad; III. There silent grieves. Then once again looks out, And every Green appears more fresh and fair. IV. Thus when my Fair One views me with Disdain, I sit and sigh, and hang my drooping Head: But if she smile, my Sadness melts away, Each gloomy Thought clears up, and I'm all blithe and gay. Whatever may be thought of his choice of a metre, it must be admitted that the unknown author of these graceful stanzas has very successfully caught the spirit of the original; while his translation, all things considered, is remarkably close-the substitution of his 'Fair One' for Dante's Virgil is pardonable under the circumstances. The success of this experiment might fairly, we think, be used as a fresh argument in favour of the adoption of some form of stanza for the translation of the Divina Commedia into English'. Terza rima appears to be out of the question as an English metre, at any rate for the purposes of translation. No English writer, save one or two of our earlier poets,—not even Shelley, nor Byron-has shown himself to be really at home in the handling of this metre. Consequently, if the rhyme of the original is to be represented at all, as it assuredly should be, some such expedient as the above would seem to be the best way out of the difficulty. The Rev. Joseph Warton, then recently appointed second master of Winchester College, who next tried his hand at Dante, solved the problem in his own way, by taking refuge in prose. In that 'very pleasing book,' as Dr Johnson styled it, the Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope, the first volume of which was published in 1756, Warton instances the story of Ugolino, as told by Dante, in support of his contention that 'events that have actually happened, are, after all, the properest subjects for poetry.' For the benefit of those of his readers who should not be acquainted with Italian, he supplies a version of the story in his own words. 'I cannot recollect,' he says, 'any passage, in any writer whatever, so truly pathetic'; and, to make sure that none of the pathos shall be missed, he adds: 'It was thought not unproper to distinguish the more moving passages by Italics.' He then proceeds : 'Ugolino is giving the description of his being imprisoned with his 1 That Dante may be successfully rendered in this way is proved by the admirable version of the Purgatorio in Marvellian stanzas published a few years back by Charles Lancelot Shadwell:-The Purgatory of Dante Alighieri. An Experiment in Literal Verse Translation, 1892-1899. 2 Some may be inclined to make an exception in favour of the late Canon Dixon's Mano, which is, perhaps, the most successful attempt of the kind. 3 See Boswell's Life of Johnson (Globe ed. 1899, p. 153). children by the Archbishop Ruggieri. "The hour approached when we expected to have something brought us to eat. But, instead of seeing any food appear, I heard the doors of that horrible dungeon more closely barred. I beheld my little children in silence, and could not weep. My heart was petrified! The little wretches wept; and my dear Anselm said, Father, you look on us! what ails you? I could neither weep nor answer, and continued swallowed up in silent agony all that day, and the following night, even till the dawn of day. As soon as a glimmering ray darted through the doleful prison, that I could view again those four faces, in which my own image was impressed, I gnawed both my hands with grief and rage. My children believing I did this through eagerness to eat, raising themselves suddenly up, said to me, My father! our torments would be less, if you would allay the rage of your hunger upon us. I restrained myself, that I might not encrease their misery...." It is a relief to turn from this truly pedestrian performance to another anonymous specimen, which appeared in the British Magazine, or Monthly Repository for Gentlemen and Ladies, for the year 1760. The author is supposed to have been William Huggins, the translator of Ariosto, son of a notorious Warden of the Fleet Prison. A dispute between Huggins and Thomas Warton, Professor of Poetry at Oxford, concerning Ariosto, gave occasion to one of Dr Johnson's caustic remarks. Huggins,' relates Boswell', 'attempting to answer with violence Mr Warton's account of Ariosto, said, "I will militate no longer against his nescience." Huggins was master of the subject, but wanted expression. Mr Warton's knowledge of it was then imperfect, but his manner lively and elegant. Johnson said, "It appears to me, that Huggins has ball without powder, and Warton powder without ball.”’ The passage translated by Huggins is Dante's paraphrase of the Lord's Prayer, at the beginning of the eleventh canto of the Purgatorio. Huggins, who evidently piqued himself on the faithfulness of his version, succeeded in rendering the original line for line-a rare achievement in an eighteenth century translator. Dante, Il Purgatorio Canto 11 Sicut meus mos, As literally as possible. Our Father blest, who art in Heav'n above, 1 Life of Johnson (Globe ed. 1899, pp. 528-9). Which to those primal essences you bear, Our daily manna give to us this day, Benignant nor survey our merit small, But from his punctures keep us still exempt. Amen. William Huggins has been somewhat unkindly treated by the fates in the matter of Dante. At his death he left in manuscript a complete translation of the Divina Commedia (of which the above is supposed to be a specimen), with directions that it should be published. A clause in his will runs as follows:-'I give to my Worthy Friend the Revd. Mr Thomas Monkhouse, Fellow of Queen's College, Oxon., the Sum of Fifty pounds on condition, and with full persuasion that he will, to the best of his abilities, superintend an edition of the Dante, and Annotations, with all matters thereto belonging, lately translated and compiled by me, in manner and form as he shall judge best, the expenses of the Printing and publication, and all charges relative thereto to be paid by my Executors.' He also had his portrait painted and engraved by Hogarth' (whose friend and patron he was), with the names of Dante and Ariosto in the background, to serve as a frontispiece to his Dante. Hogarth's portrait of Huggins is still in the possession of his family; but his wishes with respect to his Dante seem to have been wholly disregarded by his executors (who were his sons-in-law, and inherited his estates)—at any rate the translation was never published, and Huggins has thus been deprived of the credit of having been the first to make a complete English translation of the Divina Commedia,— a distinction which is commonly claimed on behalf of the Rev. Henry Boyd, whose version was not published till more than forty years after Huggins' death. 1 Kindly supplied by one of his descendants. 2 According to William Stewart Rose (Introduction to Orlando Furioso) Huggins is the person who figures in Hogarth's picture as the Enraged Musician. We now return once more to the Ugolino episode, of which yet another version appeared in 1773. This was by Frederick Howard, fifth Earl of Carlisle, ci-devant gamester and boon companion of Charles James Fox-best known to fame, perhaps, as the kinsman and guardian of Lord Byron, who dedicated to him the second edition of his Hours of Idleness, and afterwards savagely lampooned him in English Bards and Scotch Reviewers: No muse will cheer, with renovating smile, The puny schoolboy and his early lay But who forgives the senior's ceaseless verse, Whose hairs grow hoary as his rhymes grow worse? Lord Carlisle, the productions of whose muse, whatever Byron may have chosen to think of them-he owned later' that he had done his kinsman 'some wrong'-earned the praise of two such differently constituted critics as Dr Johnson and Horace Walpole, printed his translation privately in the first instance in 1772. Walpole, writing to William Mason from Strawberry Hill on May 25 of that year, says:— 'Lord Carlisle has written and printed some copies of an Ode on Gray's death. There is a real spirit of poetry in it, but no invention ; for it is only a description of Gray's descriptions. There are also two epitaphs on Lady Carlisle's Dog, not bad, and a translation from Dante of the story of Count Ugolino, which I like the least of the four pieces.' This volume, which is a slim quarto of seventeen pages, was not published till the next year, when the Ugolino was also separately printed in the Gentleman's Magazine. The following is a specimen of the translation, which is in rhymed couplets, and anything but literal:— Through the small opening of the prison's height One moon had almost spent its waining light. It was when Sleep had charm'd my cares to rest, And wearied Grief lay dozing in my breast: Futurity's dark veil was drawn aside, I in my dream the troubled prospect eyed. On those high hills it seem'd, (those hills which hide Scar'd with their dreams, toss o'er their stony bed, 1 In the third canto of Childe Harold. 2 See Boswell's Life of Johnson (Globe ed. 1899, pp. 570, 619-20). |