When we have given one or two other instances, we shall quit Mr. T. as a translator. The poet is reproving the luxury of the priesthood of his times: "Venne Cephas, e venne il gran vasello Or voglion quinci e quindi chi rincalzi 92 Tanto son gravi, e chi dirietro gli alzi. bra st Si che duo bestie van sott' una pelle; DANTE, Paradiso, canto xxi. last page, He came, who was the Holy Spirit's vessel, Barefoot and lean; eating their bread, as chanced, sd to At the first table. Modern Shepherds need Those who on either hand may prop and lead them, line 10. I CARY, canto xxi. The words marked in italics in the following, from the pen of Mr. T., will exhibit a sort of construction, a confusion of imagery, and a love of punning, which are no where to be found in the original: Came Cephas, and came poor and bare T A single hide upon a pair of brutes! stou pod & How far thy patience, Heaven, can go !^ ^^(P. 77.)/ Yet false in measure as these lines are, and in their nonconformity to the words and meaning of the original, (as also to Mr. Cary,) they scarcely read so badly as the ensuing : Are we not worms shall yet be riven, ..' And breed the glorious butterfly -Jing Whose wings were made to soar to heaven?" Comment. "Non accorgete voi, che noi siam vermiş Nati a formar l' angelica farfalla, Che vola alla giustizia sensa schermi ?” Purg. canto x. Know you not 7. That we are worms yet made at last to form The winged insect imp'd with angel plumes, That to Heaven's justice unobstructed soars ?" This is much nobler, and nearer to the original; and the sensa schermi is omitted by Mr. T. altogether. We subjoin one more specimen, which we consider as far the best among the author's few scattered versions; and we have therefore great pleasure in citing it, without any parallel or comment, except on its grammatical construction in the outset : The wisdom beyond wisdom beaming, And circles of creation wide; And also placed a Queen o'er chance Matter no whit your plots on plot: . Her orb that never finds a goal She keeps and must still fleetly tost; have crost: mori 8000) And most by those who owe her most. 12% 20p P. 445, 446. Now, perhaps, we have seen enough of the manner in which this writer would have been likely to realize his own wviews of the peculiar spirit and melody of Dante's great ework, in a new version. We fear that, even in that accuracy of interpretation, the deficiency of which he regrets in previous/commentators and translators, he would not so far have surpassed them as his voluminous remarks would lead both himself and others, perhaps, to imagine. Had he not given this little earnest of his powers, but had rested wholly on the strength of his criticisms, he might have assumed a more imposing attitude, and have enforced thebstrictest laws of his system on others with a better -grace. nem We shall, however, attempt to dismiss from our mind the idea of his poetical character, as here exhibited, and proceed swith our remarks on his Commentary as if we had never sencountered the unfortunate specimens interspersed through out out his volume. His object, in this immense undertaking, will be best explained by his own statements; from which we learn that he has long resided in Italy, that he is likely to continue there, and that he has attached himself entirely unto the chief of the celebrated Tuscan triumvirate. He proposes an historical, philosophical, critical elucidation of his author's sentiments, allusions, and intentions;' because we are to suppose that the different works, historical or literary, to which the reader may recur, have too lengthened a way before them to allow of their delaying on the same topics more than more or less cursorily,' &c. &c. His views will be rendered still more clear by a glance at the following longbreathed period; which will most probably bring to the reader's mind similar sentences in the old Italian commentators and historians, and will afford no bad example of the very protracted style of the whole Comment before us. To give the substance of the multitudinous Italian comments and treatises on Dante, many of them in print and some in MS.; to reconcile their opinions where they jar, and, particularly, correct the modern by the ancient; to clear their literal interpretations, and often interesting remarks and recitals, from the ocean of allegory in which they are so immersed, as to be, for the most part, unapproachable by ordinary readers; to say all they say that is worth knowing, and much that they do not say, by inquiring more closely into the foundation of Dante's ethical and political system; and to inweave with all this constant citations from his minor works, so that one shall at length become completely familiar with them, without the necessity of actual perusal; which would perhaps be impossible, from the very old-fashioned, I may add quaint, style in which they are frequently dressed; is a subnject not deficient certainly in extent or in materials. 9 How far these multitudinous objects have been attained remains yet to be seen; though we cannot pretend to bestow the same pains on them which the author has taken in his Comment on eight out of the hundred books of Dante. In estimating the completion of his labors, therefore, we do not quite agree with him that they will be as easily taken up and thrown down as the Essays of Montaigne, because they happen to consist of a number of independent articles. om We meet with some new and curious information in the preface, although the authorities for it are not stated. Some historical tracts of Dante are here enumerated, of which we never before heard among those of his commentators that we have perused; as also some particulars of the poet himself, and of the intimacies that he formed with characters of all nations in his times, to which we " must likewise confess ourselves in a great measure stran gers. We do not perceive, indeed, how Mr. Taaffe could arrive at his information, from the manner in which it is sometimes asserted, without any reference. For example, we are told that there was scarcely any one with whom he (Dante) was not personally acquainted, and that he must have been intimate with Marco Polo, the earliest modern who performed a famous voyage of discovery, and learned from him many things about the countries beyond the Line, and which are not to be found in Polo's book." Now, though we would not presume to impeach the commentator's exactness and fidelity, on which he every where sets so high a value, it must have been rather more satisfactory to have found marginal notes or references to certain authorities on these more novel or interesting points, relative to the most wonderful character (except it be Homer) that ever appeared in the poetic world. Of the different existing versions of the "DIVINA COMMEDIA" into other tongues, the one displaying most ability, according to Mr. T., is in the Latin language, from the pen of Carlo d'Aquino. When he comes to our English specimens, with which he was not acquainted until very lately, (and here we approach his strictures on Mr. Cary,) he ob serves of that of Mr. Boyd, we suppose, ? It is unnecessary to notice it; for ramblingly paraphrastic as it is, I believe if the title-page were cut out, and the book handed to me, I should not be aware it was intended for a translation of Dante. The other is, indeed, a very different production, I mean that of Mr. Cary. Its fidelity is exemplary, and though somewhat of a paraphrase, it is far from loose. But whatever be its literal merits, it does not give, nor pretend to give, any of the melody of its original. Dante writes in rhyme, and in a metre whose chief characteristics are pliancy and concision. Mr. Cary in blank verse, imitative of the stateliness and occasional prolixity of Milton,' We are now to come to closer quarters, and to the more particular points in dispute; which, we observe from contemporary prints, are brewing the elements of a controversy. For our own part, we shall endeavor to preserve the character of impartial umpires, and to administer justice evenly, where we think praise is due. That Mr. T. has, in many instances, thrown lights or suggested hints on several contested passages, and made himself thoroughly acquainted with the various readings and comparisons of readings in the different commentaries on the poet's work, must be expected from the time and labor which he has devoted to his task; and we do not mean to deny, also, that his views are occasionally just, as we we shall have reason to shew. We pass over his objections, in the first place, to Mr. Cary's choice of verse, because it is beyond doubt the best that he could have adopted; and the use of Dante's own terza rima, to any considerable extent, has always proved a failure in the English language. Lord Byron's success, in such a fragment as the "Prophecy of Dante," will not avail the author's argument in its favor; nor would Milton, or our earlier writers, such as Sidney, Surrey, Bryan, Wyatt, and many others, (with whose specimens of terza rima Mr. Taaffe does not appear to be much acquainted, being of older date than he is aware,) be sufficient authority for Mr. Cary in pursuing the attempt: while Mr. T. himself admits that he has not succeeded in his own. Dante is not intitled to the invention of this measure, for his master Latini wrote in it before him, and borrowed it from the "Syrvientes," or Satires of the Provençals. It proved extremely unmanageable in Mr. T.'s own hands; and he candidly avows that, after having written five cantos, he found it so heavy that he altogether renounced it. This is not greatly in favor of English terza rima, not even with all those principles which the author says he has disclosed; how much soever the measure may be famous for melody and pliancy and concision, in the Italian.' It is idle, then, for Mr. T. to protest most solemnly against Mr. Cary's metre, its want of harmony, his paraphrases, and, in fine, all that appertains to style, as totally inadequate to convey the remotest resemblance to the poetry of his original.' (P. xxvi.) Such assertions are futile and ill grounded; and they receive ample refutation in the grandeur and poetic beauty of Mr. C.'s version. The Commentator is, however, right, inasmuch as it sig nifies, in his objection to Mr. C.'s use of the title of Vision, altered from that of Comedy, which was conferred by the poet, and which stands in nearly all the early editions; while Dante was himself careful to specify his reasons for thus calling it. -Besides, no translator is allowed, whatever be the different meaning applied to the term in different tongues, to alter an original title in any way in which he may choose to explain it. We are also of opinion that Mr. T. is correct in his idea that "lago del cuore" (canto i. v. 20. of Dante) will bear, con"sistently with poetic beauty, a more literal interpretation; and that lake of the heart" would not be too bold a reading, instead of "recesses," by which Mr. C. has rendered it. In verse 30., “Si che 'l piè fermo sempre era 'l più basso,”as aburk 15 T Mr. C. |