468 MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



reverse is the case. Straining the voice is sure to produce a cloudy and 

 indistinct tone ; and worse than that, the voice will rarely be in tune. 

 Some notes of Miss Paton's voice possess the most beautiful quality 

 of tone the inequality she displays is evidently the result of bad in- 

 struction. It is not enough to possess a fine voice and flexibility ; 

 judicious study is requisite to make a fine singer. As Miss E. Paton 

 is a young lady of no ordinaey power, we would advise her to pay 

 particular attention to the management of her breath, aud the equali- 

 zation of tone. If she does that, and has the good luck not to 

 become conceited with success, she will make an accomplished artist. 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 



PINDAR IN ENGLISH VERSE. BY THE REV. HENRY F. GARY, A.M. 



MOXON. 



The translation of Pindar into English verse is indeed one of the quick- 

 sands of literature. It is difficult and dangerous to cross unscathed. Few 

 have attempted, and those few have failed. The English reader has never 

 yet had an idea of the original. The metres of the original have not yet 

 been sufficiently explained by scholars, for while Person and Hermann have 

 unravelled all the intricacies of the metres of the Greek tragedians, those of 

 Pindar have not met with that attention which the merit of his odes de- 

 mands. And we hold it to be a sound principle that it is almost impossible 

 to give a proper idea of the original in a translation, unless something of the 

 the peculiar metre for which Pindar is so distinguished is retained in the 

 version. 



Mr. Gary, whose poetical powers are known, from his admirable transla- 

 tion of the Italian poet, has attempted to give the English reader some con- 

 ception of the peculiar metres of the original. This cannot be properly 

 done, since, as we said before, the learned are not yet acquainted with the 

 metres of the Greek. But in other respects the translator bas not been un- 

 successful. The version is also accurate and clear, and any scholar will 

 directly perceive its superiority over West by comparing any one passage 

 with the Greek. We would more particularly refer him to the Fourth Py- 

 thian Ode, where he will recognize both the meaning and the poetry of the 

 original. The Tuscan bard, however, in our opinion, suits the genius of 

 Mr. Gary better than he of Greece. 



FAMIY CLASSICAL LIBRARY. No. XLV. 

 The spirited translation of Potter has been reprinted by Mr. Valpy, in his 

 useful work. The merits and the faults of the version have been so long 

 known, and so often pointed out, that it would be needless to reiterate the 

 criticisms of preceding writers. The translation, however, of uiEschylus by 

 Potter, is far superior to his translations of Sophocles and Euripides ; in that 

 work he has happily seized the fire and spirit of the original. Those who 

 are so unfortunate as to be unable to peruse the father of tragedy in the 

 Greek, will, nevertheless, catch many glimpses of his splendour and sub- 

 limity in the glowing pages of the English, and will see the truth of the 

 eloquent description of Sir Walter Scott, " That at the summons of Ms- 

 chylus, the mysterious and tremendous volume of destiny, in which are 

 inscribed the doom of Gods and men, seemed to display its leaves of iron 

 before the appalled spectators ; the more than mortal voices of deities, Titans, 

 and departed heroes were heard in awful conference ; Olympus bowed, and 



