SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES. TRANSLATIONS OF HUDIBRAS. Two complete versions of Hudibras, into French and German, were published in the last century, both, especially the former, remarkable for their spirit and fidelity. The French translation was made, not by Colonel Francis Townley, as stated in the Retros. Rev., ii. 257, but by Mr. John Townley, uncle of Mr. Charles Townley, the collector of the Townley Marbles. Mr. John Townley was an officer in the French service, and died in 1782, at the age of 85. His translation of Hudibras into French verse was published in three volumes in London in 1757, with the English, line for line, on the opposite pages. The publication was superintended by M. l'Abbé Tuberville Needham; the notes, founded, for the most part, on Dr. Grey's, were supplied by Larcher; and the plates were chiefly after the designs of Hogarth. Only two hundred impressions were printed, and the work became so rare, from the estimation in which it was held, that large prices were given for single copies. Bindley's copy sold for £5 5s.; the Fonthill copy for £7: and Inglis's for £8 10s. 6d. It was reprinted in Paris in 1819, with fifteen engravings, additional notes by Larcher, a key to the characters by Lottin le Jeune, and some account of the translator. Voltaire observes of Hudibras, 'c'est de tous des livres, que j'ai jamais lus, celui où j'ai trouvé le plus d'esprit; mais c'est aussi le plus intraduisible,' and he adds that in order to render the wit of this unique poem' into another language, it is necessary to retrench three-fourths of the original. In the specimen he gives us of his method of compression, he tells us that he has reduced the first 400 lines of the First Canto, containing the character and description of the knight, to about 80: but he has, in fact, reduced 456 lines to 107, of which the closing quatrain is an addition of his own. The English reader, knowing how essential it is to a just estimate of the powers of Butler, that the close texture of his verse, his subtle brevity, idiomatic forms, and compound rhymes should be accurately preserved, will not be sur prised to find that this singular experiment failed even in the skilful hands of Voltaire. It is curious that, in putting this plan into execution, he gives the best possible reason why it should never have been attempted. Who would believe, he asks, that a work which has as many thoughts as words could not be translated? Yet, with this frank avowal of the value and weight of the words, he proposes to reduce the whole to less than a fourth. As might be expected, the spirit evaporates in the compression of the substance, and the substance itself becomes totally unlike the original. The following is the entire passage: QUAND les profanes et les saint Dans l'Angleterre étaient aux prises; Sire Hudibras, cet homme rare, Grand sur les bancs, grand sur la selle, Sont rats de campagne et rats d'eau Mais, malgré sa grande éloquence, Etait, tout comme sa raison, La meilleure secte du monde, Au nez du chevalier antique III. BUTLER. 14 Le destin de la république. Grand Esculape d'Etrurie, Notre grand héros d'Albion, Sa barbe rousse et son courage! ; The French reader who should found his opinion of Hudibras upon this version of one of its most celebrated passages, might be excused for doubting the truth of the introductory criticism which led him to expect a sample of the rarest wit. The plan pursued by Voltaire is fatal to the essential qualities of his author, strips the satire of its peculiar humour, and sinks it into a few meagre items, which bear much about the same relation to the poem as an imperfect catalogue of furniture bears to the interior of a costly mansion. Voltaire misses the spirit, and mutilates the letter, of Hudibras. He omits the most important particulars, the metaphysics, the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew lore, the coinage of words, and the whole equipments and personal description of the knight; he converts the 'tawny beard' into a moustache, a change which utterly destroys an important characteristic; transposes some lines, misrepresents others, and interpolates images of his own-such as the allusion to Achilles, and the elaborate analogy between Samson and the Puritans. This evasive treatment could not have arisen from a deficient knowledge of English, for he tells us in one of his letters that he had become so familiar with the language as to think in it unconsciously. The cause of his failure, and of the strange method he adopted for avoiding the responsibility of a direct translation, must be traced to the difficulties presented by the artful turns, compact sense, and idiomatic diction of the original. These difficulties were completely overcome by Mr. Townley, whose translation is not less remarkable for its fidelity than for its ease and freshness. There is hardly a single peculiarity of expression that is not preserved in a corresponding shape. There is nothing left out, nothing added; and the version, thus distinguished by its close adherence to the very words of the author, possesses all the freedom and ease of an original work. Had Hudibras been written in French, it would, probably, have taken very nearly the form in which it was rendered by Mr. Townley. The most striking example that can be selected for illustration is the passage already exhibited in the translation of Voltaire. A comparison between them will at once reveal the immense inferiority of the latter. Mr. Townley follows the verse nearly line for line, bringing the 456 lines of the original into little more than 500 lines: QUAND les hommes en desarroi Se brouilloient sans sçavoir pourquoi; Se chamailloient dans la dispute 14-2 |