translations: "This is the conduct of Perault in his Parallels. Lastly, there are others, who, pretending to a fairer proceeding, diftinguish between the personal merit of Homer, and that of his work; but when they come to affign the causes of the great reputation of the Iliad, they found it upon the ignorance of his times, and the prejudice of those that followed: And in pursuance of this principle, they make those accidents (such as the contention of the cities, etc.) to be the causes of his fame, which were in reality the confequences of his merit. The fame might as well be faid of Virgil, or any great author, whofe general character will infallibly raise many casual additions to their reputation. This is the method of Monf. de la Motte; who yet confeffes upon the whole, that in whatever age Homer had lived, he must have been the greatest poet of his nation, and that he may be faid in this sense to be the master even of those who surpass'd him.

In all these objections we fee nothing that contradicts his title to the honour of the chief Invention; and as long as this (which is indeed the characteristic of Poetry itself) remains unequal'd by his followers, he ftill continues fuperior to them. A cooler judgment may commit fewer faults, and be more approved in the eyes of one fort of Criticks: but that warmth of fancy will carry the loudest and most universal applaufes, which holds the heart of a reader under the strongest enchantment.

Homer not only appears the Inventor of poetry, but excells all the inventors of other arts in this, that he has swallow'd up the honour of those who fucceeded him. What he has done admitted no increase, it only left room for contraction or regulation. He fhewed all the stretch of fancy at once; and if he has failed in fome of his flights, it was but because he attempted every thing. A work of this kind feems like a mighty Tree which rifes from the most vigorous feed, is improved with industry, flourishes, and produces the finest fruit; nature and art confpire to raise it; pleasure and profit join to make it valuable: and they who find the jufteft faults, have only faid that a few branches (which run luxuriant thro' a richness of nature) might be lopp'd into form to give it a more regular appearance.

Having now fpoken of the beauties and defects of the original, it remains to treat of the tranflation, with the fame view to the chief characteriftic. As far as that is feen in the main parts of the Poem, fuch as the fable, manners, and fentiments, no tranflator can prejudice it but by wilful omiffions or contractions. As it also breaks out in every particular image, defcription, and fimile; whoever leffens or too much foftens thofe, takes off from this chief character. It is the first grand duty of an interpreter to give his author entire and unmaim'd; and for the reft, the diction and verfifi

cation only are his proper province; fince thefe must be his own, but the others he is to take as he finds them.

It should then be confider'd what methods may afford fome equivalent in our language for the graces of thefe in the Greek. It is certain no literal translation can be just to an excellent original in a fuperior language: but it is a great mistake to imagine (as many have done) that a rash paraphrafe can make amends for this general defect; which is no lefs in danger to lose the spirit of an ancient, by deviating into the modern manners of expreffion. If there be fometimes a darkness, there is often a light in antiquity, which nothing better preferves than a version almost literal. I know no liberties one ought to take, but those which are necessary for transfufing the spirit of the original, and supporting the poetical stile of the translation: And I will venture to fay there have not been more men misled in former times by a fervile dull adherence to the letter, than have been deluded in ours by a chimerical infolent hope of raising and improving their author. It is not to be doubted that the fire of the poem is what a tranflator should principally regard, as it is most likely to expire in his managing However, it is his fafeft way to be content with preserving this to his utmost in the whole, without endeavouring to be more than he finds his author is, in any particular place. "Tis a great fecret in writing to know when to be plain,

and when poetical and figurative; and it is what Homer will teach us, if we will but follow modeftly in his footsteps. Where his diction is bold and lofty, let us raise ours as high as we can ; but where his is plain and humble, we ought not to be deterr'd from imitating him by the fear of incurring the cenfure of a mere English Critick. Nothing that belongs to Homer feems to have been more commonly mistaken than the just pitch of his style: Some of his tranflators having fwelled into fuftian in a proud confidence of the fublime; others funk into flatnefs in a cold and timorous notion of fimplicity. Methinks I fee thefe different followers of Homer, fome fweating and straining after him by violent leaps and bounds (the certain figns of falfe mettle) others flowly and fervilely creeping in his train, while the Poet himself is all the time proceeding with an unaffected and equal majesty before them. However, of the two extreams one could fooner pardon frenzy than frigidity: No author is to be envied for fuch commendations as he may gain by that character of style, which his friends muft agree together to call fimplicity, and the reft of the world will call dulness. There is a graceful and dignify'd fimplicity, as well as a bald and fordid one, which differ as much from each other as the air of a plain man from that of a floven: "Tis one thing to be tricked up, and another not to be dreffed at all. Simplicity is the mean between oftentation and rufticity.

This pure and noble fimplicity is no where in fuch perfection as in the Scripture and our Author. One may affirm, with all refpect to the inspired writings, that the divine Spirit made use of no other words but what were intelligible and common to men at that time, and in that part of the world; and as Homer is the author nearest to thofe, his style muft of course bear a greater refemblance to the facred books than that of any other writer. This confideration (together with what has been observed of the parity of some of his thoughts) may methinks induce a tranflator on the one hand, to give into feveral of those general phrases and manners of expreffion, which have attain'd a veneration even in our language from being used in the Old Testament; as on the other, to avoid those which have been appropriated to the Divinity, and in a manner confign'd to mystery and religion.

For a further prefervation of this air of fimplicity, a particular care should be taken to express with all plainnefs thofe moral fentences and proverbial fpeeches which are so numerous in this Poet. They have fomething venerable, and as I may fay oracular, in that unadorn'd gravity and shortness with which they are delivered: a grace which would be utterly loft by endeavouring to give them what we call a more ingenious (that is, a more modern) turn in the paraphrafe.