FOOTNOTES:

THE END.

LONDON: PRINTED BY JAMES MOYES, GREVILLE STREET.

NEW TRANSLATION OF THE "JERUSALEM DELIVERED."

PROPOSALS FOR PUBLISHING BY SUBSCRIPTION A NEW TRANSLATION OF TASSO, In English Spenserian Verse.

BY J. H. WIFFEN, AUTHOR OF "AONIAN HOURS," "JULIA ALPINULA," "THE DEATH OF MUNGO PARK," ETC.

"You will, perhaps, be inclined to laugh at the warmth with which I express myself; but I feel that the not having good modern translations of Ariosto and Tasso is a disgrace to our literature, and conceive that we are only debarred from this by Mr. Hoole's lumbering vehicle having so long stopped the way."—Stewart Rose's Letters from the North of Italy.

At a time rich beyond all former ages but that of Elizabeth, and scarcely less prodigal than that in works of imagination; at a period when our Poetry, following in the steps of our refinement as a nation, and becoming, from the industry and success with which it is cultivated, no less the theme of the aged than the passion of the young,—whilst some superior intellects of the day, in their thirst for distinction, are spending their great powers on startling and vain experiments, it were surprising if there were not some more willing to confine their ambition within the boundaries of classical study, and, tracing the improvements which English Poetry has undergone in its progress, to the Tuscan Muses as their principal source, to explore, as their adventure, the treasures confined under the golden key of Italian language. Never has the inspiration of those Muses been invoked without the most signal advantage, not only to our literature, but our language. It softened, under Chaucer, the Saxon roughness of our early tongue; it ruled and regulated the cadences of Surrey and Wyatt, till from an uncouth and often arbitrary metre, our Poetry grew into proportion, harmony, and grace; it gave to the lyres of Spenser, Milton, Collins, and Gray, much of their compass, richness, and luxury of sound. The advantages have indeed been such, and of so permanent a nature, as to lead the historians of our literature to assert, that all the grand renovations which have been made from time to time in our Poetry, have either originally sprung from the Italian school, or been promoted by it. Nor can the increasing taste for Italian literature, spread by the excellent productions of Roscoe, Foscolo, and Matthias, nor the farther cultivation and extension of it by Commentators and Translators, lead to less important results.

But little, however, has yet been accomplished in giving to England the Poets of Italy; and our writers may with justice observe, that this neglect is a disgrace to our national literature. If we except the Amynta of Tasso, recently given in a good translation by Mr. Hunt; if we except Fanshaw's old version of Guarini's Pastor Fido, so justly eulogised by Sir John Denham, Lloyd's Alfieri, and the Dante of Mr. Carey, where shall we look for adequate pictures of her thousand Spirits of Song? This deficiency has arisen from neglect, from disdain, from any thing but inability. What Italy has been in the possession of her Dantes, her Ariostos, her Petrarcas, and her Tassos, England is in her Byrons, her Scotts, her Campbells, and her Moores; not omitting others that have powers little less, if at all inferior, who might, if they desired it, by Translations almost as original in composition as are those glorious types themselves, become at once personifications of their beauties, and inheritors of their fame. The severe simplicity and wrathful grandeur of Dante is already transfused with spirit and condensity. There is perhaps but one living poet possessed of an equal versatility of talent, of the same various powers of passionate description, fancy, wit, and whim, to transfuse the Proteus-spirit of Ariosto, the Prince of Romancers; and but one gifted with an equal feeling, melody, and charm of language, who could, with a graceful hand, pour out music and lamentation from the Urn of Petrarch: but they could do it to the life; nor may it be altogether a vain expectation that some of their future hours will be consecrated to the service, and that their names will thus become consociated in immortal brotherhood with the names of these Patriarchs of Italian verse.

But if the writer does not calculate amiss, it is to a Translation of Tasso,—of Tasso, who possesses much of the sublimity and fervour, with nothing of the obscurity of Dante,—the romance and the picture, the fantasy and fire of Ariosto, without his eccentricity and caprice,—the melody, tenderness, classical elegance, and transpicuousness of Petrarch, without his subtilty: of Tasso,—who, by the specific account of Serassi, his best biographer, had passed, at the time when he was writing, through one hundred and thirty editions, and had been translated into twenty languages and dialects of Europe, that the liveliest sympathy is likely to be accorded, and the greatest favour shown, by a People whose pride must be gratified by the celebrity which he has given in his Poem to the exploits of their ancestors, with minds sufficiently imaginative to abandon themselves at will to the spells of his delightful genius, and with hearts that cannot avoid taking a warm part in the generous heroism of his Rinaldo and Tancred, in the enchanting beauty of Armida, and the yet more interesting fortunes of his sensitive Erminia.

In speaking of the ten former attempts that have been made to give Tasso an English dress, the writer has no desire to undervalue, or unjustly to decry them,—they may all have been more or less serviceable: he is admiringly alive to the harmonies and graces of our most masculine Fairfax, as well as to the stoical fidelity of antique Carew; but he cannot be blind to their great defects, still less can he shut his eyes upon those empiric pretensions and empty performances of the Usurper of their honours, which have led "the Ariosto of the North" (whom Britain also tenaciously claims for her Boccaccio) to observe with his characteristic truth and humour, that "to rescue this charming Poet from the frozen paws of poor Mr. Hoole, would be to do our literature a service at which he must rejoice." Stimulated by the approbation accorded by his mighty mind, no less than by that of other literary characters whom it would be ostentatious to mention, the task commenced under favourable auspices, and in which great progress is made, will be prosecuted with the care and devotedness which so exquisite a poet demands, and the nature of the measure chosen as most true to his genius, of necessity enforces. It has been observed that Translation is but little popular in England: to render it so with the mass of readers it may be requisite to aim at giving it the air and charm of original composition; but with the very many to whom the Italian poem must be familiar, it cannot be doubted that their pleasure must be doubled in having added to their contemplation of the original their criticism of the artist, more particularly if, as in the fine Translation of Coleridge from Schiller,—that criticism should fortunately derive gratification from his skill. Neither is the Iliad of Pope unpopular, nor Sotheby's Oberon, nor any Translator who has trod with freedom and spirit in the steps of the Master with whom he has endeavoured to identify himself. But if the name of Tasso should be insufficient to bespeak attention to a project which cannot be perfected but with great labour of thought, the Author will look for it in the story and the subject, and believe it impossible but that those who view with interest the present exertions of Christian Greece against the Mussulman Ottomite, will still find emotion and amusement in a transcript, though it may prove a too unworthy one, of the celebrated pages in which all Europe stands in banner-array against the despotic Ottomite of the Middle Ages, in a land full of the most sacred recollections.

The Translator submits to the Public the following

PROPOSALS:

The "Jerusalem Delivered" to be translated stanza for stanza from the original, in the measure of the "Fairie Queene:" to be printed in the finest manner, with a beautiful new type cast on purpose for the Work, in Two Volumes Royal Octavo, accompanied with a Biographical Account of the Life and Writings of Tasso, with his Portrait engraved in the first style, and, if the number of Subscribers prove sufficient, with other Embellishments.

PRICE TWO GUINEAS, To be paid on delivery of the Work.

As the object of the Translator is principally to place a work of some value in the libraries of men of letters, no more copies of this Edition will be struck off than are subscribed for: and as the Translation is now near its completion, those Gentlemen who may be desirous of possessing copies are requested to forward their names without delay.

⁂ Names of Subscribers are received by Hurst, Robinson, and Co. 90, Cheapside, and 8, Pall Mall; Mr. Hookham, Old Bond Street; Treuttel, Wurtz, and Richter, Soho Square; and by the Author, Woburn Abbey. A List of Subscribers will be printed collectively with the Volumes, as well as individually after the Dedication leaf.

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In Octavo, price 5s. 6d. JERUSALEM DELIVERED, BOOK FOURTH: BEING THE SPECIMEN OF AN INTENDED NEW TRANSLATION, In English Spenserian Verse, WITH A PREFATORY DISSERTATION ON EXISTING TRANSLATIONS.

BY J. H. WIFFEN.

PUBLISHED BY HURST, ROBINSON, AND CO. 90, CHEAPSIDE, AND 8, PALL MALL.

"There are certain ages in the history of the world, on which the heart dwells with interest and affection; but there are none which excite our curiosity, our admiration, and our love, more intensely than the days of chivalry."—

Campbell.

"Il existe en Angleterre plusieurs traductions de la Jérusalem Délivrée; mais elles ont presque toutes de grands défauts. Celle de Hoole est sans contredit la plus mauvaise. Fairfax en a publié une où l'on rencontre de très-beaux passages, à côté de choses triviales; il franchit souvent l'espace qui sépare le sublime du ridicule. M. Hunt a publié une traduction du poème du Tasse, mais la mesure de vers qu'il a adoptée ne convient point au poème héroique, et nuit à l'effet général: on peut aussi lui reprocher d'être diffus, et de ne pas toujours choisir le tour le plus neuf et le plus concis. M. Wiffen, si l'on en juge d'après l'essai qu'il offre au public, est appelé à faire enfin passer les beautés du poète Italien dans la langue Anglaise. Sa traduction, élégante et fidèle, a parfois le charme et la magie des vers du Tasse: on voit qu'il s'est d'abord pénétré des pensées de son modèle, afin de parvenir à les rendre sans les dénaturer, comme cela n'arrive que trop souvent aux traducteurs vulgaires."—La Revue Encyclopédique de Paris, Avril, 1822.

"In conclusion, we must state our opinion, that this Specimen is highly creditable to the taste and talents of Mr. Wiffen. He possesses strong powers of versification, which are absolutely necessary to a translator of Tasso, and he manifests a warm and vigorous imagination. His acquaintance with poetical phraseology, also, is various and extensive. A poet himself, he is delighted with his labour, and appears, like Ariel, to do 'his spiriting gently.' The task which he has undertaken is most difficult and arduous, on which the highest minds might enter with diffidence and distrust: but Mr. W. certainly has the power of producing a work which will be honourable to the literature of his country and to his own fame; and we hope he may meet with the encouragement which the attempt deserves."—Monthly Review, June, 1821.

"The present Specimen is prefaced by a sensible and liberal criticism on the merits of those who have preceded the Translator in this great work. The pretensions of Hoole, which, to the astonishment of all who are acquainted with the subject, have been so long suffered to pass unquestioned, are ably and judiciously exposed; and the version of Fairfax, so much talked of, and so little known, receives the tribute of praise which is its due, unmixed, however, with any portion of that slavish admiration which mistakes blemishes for beauties, and want of taste for exuberance of genius. The result of Mr. Wiffen's inquiry is inevitable—that a new Translation is necessary, and that at present we possess none which gives any adequate idea of the original. * * * * * But we must set limits to our extracts. Indeed, we should transcribe the whole Pamphlet, if we were to show all that has pleased and delighted us. The whole is splendidly and powerfully written, and the sense and style of the original scrupulously preserved. Some of the extracts we have given, beautifully as they are versified, are almost literal transcripts from Tasso. Most sincerely do we congratulate Mr. Wiffen on the success of his labours, and we hope that it will not be long before he fully realizes the hopes which so promising a specimen must necessarily excite."—Monthly Magazine, April, 1821.

"Upon the whole, we have never met with a translation possessing more of the spirit and interest of the original; and we can confidently recommend it to our readers as a work abounding with merit, and likely to add much to the already well-earned reputation of its author. Mr. Wiffen possesses a genuine vein of his own, and has given to the present work a life and intrinsic interest very seldom met with in productions of this class. He displays a fervency, an enthusiasm, an instinct of beauty, a seriousness of tone and manner, which accord admirably with the spirit of his author. We have no hesitation in affirming, that very many of his stanzas equal the originals in every thing but the language; and we think we could point out more than one or two that are absolutely superior."—Investigator, April, 1823.

By the same Author,

AONIAN HOURS and OTHER POEMS. Price 7s.

JULIA ALPINULA, with the CAPTIVE OF STAMBOUL, and OTHER POEMS. Price 7s. 6d.