Monthly Review of Literature. 93 



"And his line's as thick as a rope," said A-B-C, who was our youngest 

 volunteer, and at the bottom of the lowest form in school. 



"Ah! and there's another ship," rejoined Hic-hasc-hoe, "oh, and a good 

 many more : and what are those men doing ? but the nose of one of them 

 has been knocked off, and the nose of the other has been rubbed quite flat." 



"There's a man up there," said A-B-C, "with a long stick in his hand: I 

 wonder if 'tis a fishing-rod but it's got no reel." 



A hearty peal burst forth from all sides, at the expense of the simplicity of 

 A-B-C. 



The whiles they laughed a gleam of sunshine struck across the chapel, 

 and unconsciously drew their attention upon two ancient dials. 



" Almost three o'clock," said Gradus, perceiving the shadow fell over that 

 figure. 



" Come, come along then," rejoined Hic-hsec-hoc, catching hold of his 

 neighbour's arm to pull him away. 



'V Nesciunt reverti,' " said Ille-ego, reading the inscription on one of the dials. 



On arrivng at the destined spot, there arose a call for ammunition and 

 stores. Pockets, hats, coat sleeves, and holes cut to get between the lining 

 and cloth of trowsers (where pockets were not long enough) were pregnant 

 with candles, matches, tinder, and potatoes to make candlesticks of. There 

 was a most prolific birth. 



POETRY AND FICTION. 



The Purgatorio of Dante, translated by J. C. Wright, M. A. 8vo. 



Longman. 



THE man who"would attempt to translate Dante must be either a consum- 

 mate Italian scholar and a poet of no ordinary capacities, or else an ignorant 

 and totally unexperienced pretender. Those who have translated prose can 

 tellsomewhat of the difficulty of rendering the thoughts expressed in one 

 language in the symbols of another ; but none, except a poetic translator, can 

 form any idea of the almost insurmountable obstacles that present themselves 

 to his success in transferring the imaginative portraits to a foreign canvass. 

 The difficulties under which the translator of Dante labours, as compared with 

 those encountered by other translators, are as mountains to mole-hills. Who 

 was Dante ? A man, with whose poetic genius perhaps four minds only and 

 those minds entirely different in character in the whole history of this world's 

 literature can bear any comparison. But besides this he lived at a time, when 

 the Italian language, although formed as ours was in the time of Wickliffe 

 and Chaucer had not entirely got rid of its barbarisms resulting from nearly 

 five centuries of foreign depredation. The language may be said to have been 

 in its transition state, differing much more from that of the later poets and 

 dramatists of Italy than the style of Rowley and Spencer differs from that of 

 Otway and Pope. Dante, again, was a most abstruse thinker, who revelled 

 in thought and in imagery that none can understand, far less transfer, with- 

 out intense study. We might easily state other reasons for the opinion enter- 

 tained by us of the difficulty of the task undertaken by the translator of Dante, 

 but enough. 



The author of the " Divina Commedia" is not and never will be a popular 

 author, any more than the much- praised but little -read poet of Paradise is 

 with us. Very very few Italians understand Dante ; and very few English- 

 men understand or can bear to read Milton. The crack passages of both are 

 lauded to the skies ; but where is the man, English or Italian, except he be an 

 enthusiast, who has sought out and duly appreciated the flowers to be found 

 throughout these magnificent productions ? What wonder then, if a transla- 

 tion should fail of being popular, nay, should burden the shelves of the book- 

 seller for many a long month or year? Dante, however, has not lacked 

 translators. Fairfax and the author of the " Oceana" were the first to venture 



