Note 52 — BOOK II.
T. (Tobias) Smollett translation
The reader will perceive that I have endeavoured to adapt the versification to the plainness and rusticity of the sentiment, which are preserved through the whole of this ballad; though all the other translators seem to have been bent upon setting the poetry at variance with the pastoral simplicity of the thoughts. For example, who would ever dream of a goatherd’s addressing his mistress in these terms?
‘With rapture on each charm I dwell,
‘And daily spread thy beauty’s fame;
‘And still my tongue thy praise shall tell,
‘Though envy swell, or malice blame.’
The original sentiments which this courtly stanza is designed to translate, are literally these:
‘I do not mention the praises I have spoke of your beauty, which, though true in fact, are the occasion of my being hated by some other women.’