Notes and Queries, Number 40, August 3, 1850

TRANSLATIONS OF JUVENAL—WORDSWORTH

Mr. Markland's ascertainment (Vol. i., p. 481.) of the origin of Johnson's "From China to Peru," where, however, I sincerely believe our great moralist intended not so much to borrow the phrase as to profit by its temporary notoriety and popularity, reminds me of a conversation, many years since, with the late William Wordsworth, at which I happened to be present, and which now derives an additional interest from the circumstance of his recent decease.

Some mention had been made of the opening lines of the tenth satire of Juvenal:

"Johnson's translation of this," said Wordsworth, "is extremely bad:

"And I do not know that Gifford's is at all better:

"But", he added, musing, "what is Dryden's? Ha! I have it:

"This is indeed the language of a poet; it is better than the original."

The great majority of your readers will without doubt, consider this compliment to Dryden well and justly bestowed, and his version, besides having the merit of classical expression, to be at once concise and poetical. And pity it is that one who could form so true an estimate of the excellences of other writers, and whose own powers, it will be acknowledged, were of a very high order, should so often have given us reason to regret his puerilities and absurdities. This language, perhaps, will sound like treason to many; but permit me to give an instance in which the late poet-laureate seems to have admitted (which he did not often do) that he was wrong.

In the first edition of the poem of Peter Bell (the genuine, and not the pseudo-Peter), London, 8vo. 1819, that personage sets to work to bang the poor ass, the result of which is this, p. 36.:

After remarks on Peter's strange state of mind when saluted by this horrible music, and describing him as preparing to seize the ass by the neck, we are told his purpose was interrupted by something he just then saw in the water, which afterwards proves to be a corpse. The reader is, however, first excited and disposed to expect something horrible by the following startling conjectures:—

This last stanza was omitted in subsequent editions. Indeed, it is not very easy to imagine what it could possibly mean, or how any stretch of imagination could connect it with the appearance presented by a body in the water.

To return, however, from this digression to the subject of translations. In the passage already quoted, the reader has been presented with a proof how well Dryden could compress the words, without losing the sense, of his author. In the following, he has done precisely the reverse.

In the year 1801 there was published at Oxford, in 12mo., a translation of the satires of Juvenal in verse, by Mr. William Rhodes, A.M., superior Bedell of Arts in that University, which he describes in his title-page as "nec verbum verbo." There are some prefatory remarks prefixed to the third satire in which he says:

"The reader, I hope, will neither contrast the following, nor the tenth satire, with the excellent imitation of a mighty genius; though similar, they are upon a different plan. I have not adhered rigidly to my author, compared with him; and if that were not the case, I am very sensible how little they are calculated to undergo so fiery an ordeal."

And speaking particularly of the third satire, he adds:

"This part has been altered, as already mentioned, to render it more applicable to London: nothing is to be looked for in it but the ill-humour of the emigrant."

The reader will perhaps recollect, that in the opening of the third satire, Juvenal represents himself about to take leave of his friends Umbritius, who is quitting Rome for Canæ: they meet on the road (the Via Appia), and turning aside, for greater freedom of conversation, into the Vallis Egeriæ, the sight of the fountain there, newly decorated with foreign marbles, leads to an expression of regret that it was no longer suffered to remain in the simplicity of the times of Numa:

In imitating this passage, Mr. Rhodes, finding no fons Egeriæ, no Numa, and perhaps no Muses in London, transfers his regrets from a rivulet to a navigable stream; and makes the whole ridiculous, by suggesting that the Thames would look infinitely better if it flowed through grass, as every ordinary brook would do.

DEDICATION TO MILTON BY ANTONIO MALATESTI

Dr. Todd, in his Life of Milton, ed. 1826, mentions the accidental discovery of a manuscript by Antonio Malatesti, bearing the following title:

"La Tina Equivoci Rusticali di Antonio Malatesti, c[=o]posti nella sua Villa di Taiano il Settembre dell' Anno 1637. Sonetti Cinqu[=a]nta. Dedicati al' III'mo Signore et Padrone Oss'mo Signor Giovanni Milton, Nobil' Inghilese."

It seems that this MS. had been presented, together with Milton's works, to the Academy della Crusca, by Mr. Brand Hollis, but had by some chance again found its way to England, and was sold by auction at Evans's some short time before Mr. Todd published this second edition of Milton's Life.

I know not if there has been any further notice of this MS., which is interesting as a monument of the respect and attention our great poet received from the most distinguished literary men of Italy at the time of his visit, and I should be glad if any of your correspondents can indicate its existence, and the place where it is now preserved. When it was on sale, I had permission to copy the title and a few of the sonnets, which were such as we could not imagine would have given pleasure to the chaste mind of Milton; each of them containing, as the title indicates, an équivoque, which would bear an obscene sense, yet very ingeniously wrapped up. The first sonnet opens thus:—

The second may serve to show the nature of the équivoque:—

Antonio Malatesti was a man of mark in his time, being distinguished for his talent as an improvisatore. Among his friends were Galileo, Coltellini, and Valerio Chimentelli, who have all commendatory poems prefixed to Malatesti's "Sphinx," a collection of poetical enigmas, which has been frequently reprinted. Beside his poetical talent, he studied astronomy, probably under Galileo; and painting, in which he was a pupil of Lorenzo Lippi, author of the "Malmantile Raqquistato," who thus designates him under his academical name of Amostante Latoni (canto i. stanza 61.):—

Malatesti was a member of the Academy degli Apatisti, of which Milton's friends Coltellini and Carlo Dati had been the principal founders. The house of the latter was a court of the Muses, and it was at the evening parties there that all who were distinguished for science or literature assembled: "Era in Firenze la sua Casa la Magione de' Letterati, particolarmente Oltramontani, da lui ricevuti in essa, e trattati con ogni sorta di gentilezza."1 Heinsius, Menage, Chapelain, and other distinguished foreigners were members of this academy; and it is more than probable that, were its annals consulted, our poet's name would also be found there.

Mickleham, July 15, 1850.

PULTENEY'S BALLAD OF "THE HONEST JURY."

On the application for a new trial, in the case of The King against William Davies Shipley, Dean of St. Asaph (1784), wherein was raised the important and interesting question, whether in libel cases the jury were judges of the law as well as the fact, Lord Mansfield, in giving judgment, remarked in reference to trials for libel, before Lord Raymond:

"I by accident (from memory only I speak now) recollect one where the Craftsman was acquitted; and I recollect it from a famous, witty, and ingenious ballad that was made at the time by Mr. Pulteney; and though it is a ballad, I will cite the stanza I remember from it, because it will show you the idea of the able men in opposition, and the leaders of the popular party in those days. They had not an idea of assuming that the jury put it upon another and much better ground. The stanza I allude to is this:—

"It was the admission of the whole of that party; they put it right; they put it upon the meaning of the innuendos; upon that the jury acquitted the defendant; and they never put up a pretence of any other power, except when talking to the jury themselves."

In Howell's State Trials (xxi. 1038.) is a note on this passage. This note (stated to be from the Speeches of Hon. Thomas Erskine) is as follows:—

"It appears by a pamphlet printed in 1754, that Lord Mansfield is mistaken. The verse runs thus:—

Lord Campbell, in his Lives of the Chancellors (v. 25.) and Lives of the Lord Chief Justices (ii. 543.), and Mr. Harris, in his Life of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke (i. 221.), give the lines as quoted by Lord Mansfield, with the exception of the last and only important line, which they give, after the note to Erskine's speeches, as

And Lord Campbell (who refers to State Trials, xxi.) says that Lord Mansfield, in the Dean of St. Asaph's Case, misquoted the lines "to suit his purpose, or from lapse of memory."

I know not what is the pamphlet referred to as printed in 1754; but on consulting the song itself, as given in the 5th volume of the Craftsman, 337., and there entitled "The Honest Jury; or, Caleb Triumphant. To the tune of 'Packington's Pound,'" I find not only that Lord Mansfield's recollection of the stanza he referred to was substantially correct, but that the opinion in support of which he cited it is expressed in another stanza besides that which he quoted. The first verse of the song is as follows:

In the third verse are the lines Lord Mansfield cited from memory:—

Lord Campbell and Mr. Harris both make another mistake with reference to this ballad which I may perhaps be excused if I notice. They say that it was composed on an unsuccessful prosecution of the Craftsman by Sir Philip Yorke, and that this unsuccessful prosecution was subsequent to the successful prosecution of that paper on December 3rd, 1731. This was not so: Sir Philip Yorke's unsuccessful prosecution, and to which of course Pulteney's ballad refers, was in 1729, when Francklin was tried for printing "The Alcayde of Seville's Speech," and, as the song indicates, acquitted.

Cambridge, July 29. 1850.

NOTES ON MILTON

Comus.

On l. 8. (G.):—

Macbeth, iii. 2.

On l. 101. (M.):—

Fletcher's Purple Island C. ix. St. 1.

On l. 102. (M.):—

On l. 155. (D.):—

Sylvester's Du Bartas. Week i. Day 1.

On l. 162. (G.):—

Warners Albion's England, p. 155. ed. 1612.

On l. 166. (G.):—

Beaumont and Fletcher's Two Noble Kinsmen, iii. 5.

On l. 215. (G.) "Unblemished" was originally (Trin. Coll. Cam. MSS.) written "unspotted," perhaps from Drayton:—

On l. 254. (G.) Add to Mr. Warton's note, that after the creation of Sir Robert Dudley to be Earl of Leicester by Queen Elizabeth in 1564, "He sat at dinner in his kirtle." So says Stow in Annals, p. 658. edit. 1633.

On l. 290. (G.):—

Randolph's Aristippus, p. 18. 4to. ed. 1630.

On l. 297. (G.):—

Fletcher's Purple Island, C. 6. S. 28. p. 71. ed. 1633.

On l. 331. (G.):—

Wither's Mistresse of Philarete.

On l. 335. (G.):—

Cartwright's Poems, p. 220. ed. 1651.

On l. 345. (G.):—

Drummond, p. 128.

On l. 373. (G.):—

Spenser's F. Queene.

(D.) For what is here finely said, and again beautifully expressed (v. 381.), we may perhaps refer to Ariosto's description of the gems which form the walls of the castle of Logistilla, or Reason:—

Orl. Fur. x. 60.

On l. 404. (G.):—

Hamlet> i. 3.

On l. 405. (G.):—

All's Well that ends Well, iii. 4.

On l. 421. (M.):—

2 Henry IV., iii. 2.

On l. 424. (G.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Eclog., i. p. 4. ed. 1633.

On l. 494. (G.) The same sort of compliment occurs in Wither's Sheperd's Hunting. (See Gentleman's Mag. for December 1800, p. 1151.)

He adds:—

Juvenilia, p. 417. ed. 12mo. 1633.

On l. 535. (M.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Poetical Miscellanies, p. 65. ed. 1633.

On l. 544. (D.):—

Herrick's Hesperides, p. 223.

On l. 554 (G.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Purple Island, p. 112. ed. 1633.

On l. 635. (G.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Purple Island, p. 113.

On l. 707. (G.) A passage in the Spanish Tragedy confirms Mr. Warton's reasoning—

Old Plays, vol. iii. p. 214. ed. 1780.

On l. 734. (G.):—

Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, Act iv.

On l. 752. (G.):—

Quarles' Argalus and Parthenia, p. 118. ed. 1647.

On l. 812. (G.):—

Drayton, p. 586. ed. 1753.

E. of Sterline's Works, p. 251. ed. 1637.

On l. 834. (D.):—

The Country Life, Herrick's Hesperides, p. 269.

(G.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Purple Island, p. 117.

On l. 853. (G.) Compare this line of Drayton in his Baron's Warrs:—

Vol. i. p. 110. ed. 1753.

On l. 861. (G.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Pur. Island, C. 5. St. 31. p. 54.

On l. 862. (M.):—

Ph. Fletcher's Poet. Miscell., p 67. ed. 1633.

On l. 863. (G.) The use of Ambergris, mentioned in Warton's note, appears from Drayton, v. ii. p. 483.:—

On l. 886. (G.):—

Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster, Act iv.

On l. 894. (G.):—

Lingua iv. 4. Old Plays, v. 5. p. 202. ed. 1780.

On l. 924. (M.) Mr. Warton says this votive address was suggested by that of Amoret in the Faithful Shepherdess; but observes that "the form and subject, rather than the imagery, is copied." In the following maledictory address from Ph. Fletcher's 2nd eclogue, st. 23., the imagery is precisely similar to Milton's, the good and evil being made to consist in the fulness or decrease of the water, the clearness or muddiness of the stream, and the nature of the plants flowing on its banks:—

P. 13. ed. 1633.

See also the "Masque," in Beaumont and Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy, Act I. vol. i. p. 17. edit. 1750.

On l. 936. (G.):—

Spenser's F. Queen, vol. ii. p. 146. ed. 1596.

On l. 958. (G.):—

As You Like It, iii. 2.

On l. 989. (D.) See Bethsabe's address to Zephyr in tire opening of Peele's David and Bethsabe:—

On l. 995. (D.):—

Robert Henryson's Garment of Good Ladies. See Ellis' Spec. of Early Eng. Poets, i. 362.

FOLK LORE

High Spirits considered a Sign of impending Calamity or Death (Vol. ii., p. 84.).—

Second Part of King Henry IV., Act iv. Sc. 2.

In the last act of Romeo and Juliet, Sc. 1, Romeo comes on, saying,—

Immediately a messenger comes in to announce Juliet's death.

In Act iii. Sc. 2., of King Richard III., Hastings is represented as rising in the morning in unusually high spirits. This idea runs through the whole scene, which is too long for extraction. Before dinner-time he is beheaded.

Norfolk Popular Rhymes.—On looking over an old newspaper, I stumbled on the following rhymes, which are there stated to be prevalent in the district in which these parishes are situated, viz. between Norwich and Yarmouth:—

They seem to proceed simply on the alliterative principle mentioned by J.M.B. (Vol. i., p. 475.) as common to many popular proverbs, &c. Two others I subjoin from my own recollection, which differ in this particular:—

These are four villages on the road between Norwich and Cromer. A third couplet alludes merely to the situation of a group of villages near the sea-coast,—

Throwing Salt over the Shoulder.—This custom I have frequently observed, of taking a pinch of salt without any remark, and flinging it over the shoulder. I should be glad to know its origin.