Perhaps it is difficult for a European, accustomed from his infancy to the peculiar expressions of his language, the numbers of his poetry, and the national and religious feelings which they convey (all which dispose his ear and bias his judgment to give preference to his own language), to understand what is here attempted to be shewn-the existence in the Singhalese of works which may be compared to those of England, from the identity of effect which they severally produce upon the minds of the two classes of readers. Perhaps also, for the same reason, a native is incompetent to form a correct opinion on this subject.* Be this as it may; bearing in mind that the comparison here instituted, is with reference to the idiom of expression, the genius of the language, the habits of nationality, and the peculiarities of the religion of each class of writers; the Singhalese scholar, equally with the English, finds in the writings of his country's poets, the unsurpassed sublimity of a Milton, the flowing gracefulness of a Pope, and the sparkling wit of a Goldsmith: and it cannot be admitted by those capable of entering The writer once explained Goldsmith's humorous lines "On the death of a mad dog" to several of the most intelligent Singhalese scholars of the present day, and instead of hearing from them, anything equivalent to what Mrs. Barbauld thought of "this specimen of Goldsmith's poetical powers," that it "was wonderfully pathetic, and that it was sweet as music, and polished like a gem;" the writer was told by the Pandits that they could not perceive the wit of being informed by a Poet, "that his song eould not hold them long if they found it wondrous short." In like manner the English reader will probably fail to perceive the gay and smiling imagery, and the smooth and flowing numbers of the two following stanzas, the last composed under circumstances which we shall here briefly detail: A native poet, who was rather deficient in personal beauty, conceived an attachment to a charming young lady. A marriage was proposed, but was not concluded for some time. During the interval one of his friends, wishing to rouse the dormant powers of the enamoured bard, sent him an extract of the following lines from Kusajatake, wherein the beautiful Princess Pábáwatee, indignant at the deformity of her husband, King Kusa, is said to have exclaimed at the eve of her separation from her Royal consort: into the spirit of both the tongues, that the Elu is a language which should be spoken of disparagingly. Apart from the mere beauties of composition (which can only be appreciated by an intimate acquaintance with a language), we have occasionally found in the Singhalese books, as in all oriental literature, a vein of thought exactly similar to that of the Western writers. Who, for instance, can read the following, and not he struck with the correspondence of sentiments, if not the exactness of their symbols? ON CRITICISM. "One science only will one genius fit."-Pope. ' ලොවින් එකෙක් එක දේකට වෙයි සමත'* Subasita. We need not here remind the reader, that to render the English literally into the Singhalese is difficult, if not impossible. The absence of the same pithy expressions in both the languages, and the difference of idiom between the two, must necessarily render a literal translation little less than යමෙක් විසුළුව ඉඳ...පතා නම්වූ සිරැති ලඳ Ն අවැඩම මිස නොම ද... වැඩක්වූවේ ඔහුට කි කලෙද If one were deformed, and yet longed for a beautiful woman; when did any good result to him but inordinate ill!! and To the above the poet's answer was not only pertinent, but, to use the words of Mrs. Barbauld, it was also " wonderfully pathetic-sweet as music, polished like a gem.' He knew that this was a biting sarcasm upon himself, and therefore was sarcastic in return, without being offensive. He appealed to the sequel of the very Kusajatake to prove the illiberality of a sentiment expressed in the heat of anger; and, referring to Pabawati, who afterwards, ex-necessitate and voluntarily, adored her previously loathsome husband, and also to the alleged circumstance, that their re-union resulted in the loss of the King's deformity by the power of a miracle,-the poet answered: එකීබස බොරු විය..එහිමි අදහසසිදු විය යලි ඉසුරුමත් විය... ඒදා දඹදිව මගුල් ගෙය විය his (Nay) That dictum was incorrect; for the LOVER consummated wish, and attained prosperity; and Dambadiwa did on that day present the appearance of a festive House. * Literally, 'one in this world will be (clever) qualified for one thing (science.)' ridiculous. But if the well conceived and understood idea of an English sentence be conveyed in the Singhalese, suited to the peculiarities to which we have already alluded, the translation thus made will serve the purposes of a literal one. Of this the following will serve as an example:— නොඉඳ ලොවේ නෙදනන්සියැ සහමුව ට " When lovely woman stoops to folly, The only art her guilt to cover, To hide her shame from every eye, To give repentance to her lover And wring his bosom, is to die.”—Goldsmith. With a view to shew our readers those shades of difference, which ever exist in the same sentiments when clothed in divers languages, we select the following scraps; for some of which we are indebted to a friend: and we subjoin a translation of the same into Singhalese. GREEK. Ex Apollonii Rhodii Argonauticorum, Ἠελίου ὥς τίς τε δόμοις ἐνιπάλλεται ἀίγλη Μέ που εν γαυλῷ κέχυται ἡ δ ̓ ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα Ωκέση στροφάλιγγι τινάσσεται αΐτσουσα As from the stream-stor'd vase with dubious ray E. Publii Virgilii Æneidos Sicut aqux trimulum labris ubi lumen ahenis ENGLISH. So when the sun by day, or moon by night, Dryden's Virgil's Æneis. B. 8. "As some one causes to play upon [or vibrate through] the houses the radiance of the solar light springing up from the water which is recently poured into a vase or a bucket; and it [the radiance] dancing quivers in rapid revolution; so did the heart of the virgin flutter in her breast." PORTUGUESE. Qual o reflexo lume de polido Camoen's Lusiad, Canto 8. st. 87. ල බදන කප නින්රිචිකිර නින්නැගිසස ឌ ල Whilst on the subject of Translations, it may perhaps, not be amiss to introduce into these pages a few remarks upon the subject of the translation of the Holy Scriptures. It behoves every one who feels assured that the religion of the Bible will in process of time become the universal faith of the Ceylonese, to have the Scriptures translated into correct idiomatic Singhalese, so that this Book of books may prove to the Singhalese scholar, what the English version is to the English, "the best standard of the language." That any of the Singhalese versions now extant are as correct as they may or ought to be, we are not prepared to say. Nor, if called upon to pronounce an opinion with reference to the style adopted, can we hesitate to decide in favour of the old, in preference to the so-called new Cotta-version. We shall not, however, here pause to consider the disputed question regarding the pronouns and Des; nor indeed do we blame the pious and learned gentlemen who introduced the innovation, believing, as we do, that they were actuated with the best of intentions. But, that the simplicity so much studied by the new translators after "an elegant English style" |