436 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBMCATIONS, 



and octavo, for more general use. There are few libraries, public or 

 private, we conceive, into which these charming graphic illustrations 

 will not be admitted. 



The Life and Works of William Cowper. Edited by the Rev. T. S. 

 Grimshawe, A.M. * Vols. III. and IV. Saunders and Otley, Con- 

 duit-street, 1835. 



This unique edition of Cowper is now brought down to its 4th 

 volume, and, both in its embellishments and its typography, we cannot 

 but observe, it still continues tv be distinguished by the same excellent 

 taste and general correctness. 



In the 4th vol. we perceive the learned editor has, for an instant, 

 suspended the progress of the correspondence, to make room for a few 

 pertinent observations on Cowper's great and laborious undertaking, 

 the translation of Homer. Five years of intense application, it seems, 

 were devoted to this employment ; being, doubtless, stimulated in his 

 exertions by the idea that he was in that work building up for himself 

 a fame which should immortalize him. On the 1st of July, 1791, the 

 complete version was published in two quarto volumes, the Iliad being 

 inscribed to his young noble kinsman. Earl Cowper ; and the Odyssey 

 to the Dowager Countess Spencer. If any circumstance can prove 

 more strongly than another, the infatuation of men of genius, it is 

 that which took possession of Cowper's mind on the subject of this 

 translation. He knew that Pope had failed, who had called to his aid 

 all the varied charms of which poetry was capable, and yet he fancied 

 that the strength of his blank verse would more than compensate for 

 the sweetness of Pope's metrical numbers. The idea strangely wan- 

 dered in his brain, that by giving a faithful yet free translation, he 

 should embody a genuine and graceful representative of the admired 

 original. It is true that he is more faithful than Pope, but far less 

 rich and spirited — what he has gained in strength, he has lost in ele- 

 gance and in melody. We read Cowper as a task — we dwell on Pope, 

 and commit his lines to memory. Although there are many passages 

 distinguished by much grace and beauty, and we allow that in the 

 pages of Cowper there is a closer interpretation of Homer's meaning, 

 yet, on the whole, the lofty spirit, the bright glow of feeling, the 

 "thoughts that breathe, the words that burn," are not sufficiently 

 sustained. Each of these distinguished writers, to a certain extent, 

 has failed, not from any want of genius, but because complete success 

 is difficult, if not unattainable. Homer still remains untranslated, 

 because of all poets he is the most untranslatable. He seems to claim 

 the lofty prerogative of standing alone, and of enjoying the solitary 

 grandeur of his own unrivalled genius, allowing neither to rival nor 

 to friend, to imitator nor to translator, the honours of participation ; 

 but exercising the exclusive right of interpreting the majestic sim- 

 plicity of his own conceptions in all the fervour of his own poetic 

 fancy, and in the sweet melody of his own graceful and flowing num- 

 bers. He who wishes to understand and to appreciate Homer, must 

 seek him in the charm and beauty of his own inimitable language. 

 • We had intended to give a few specimens from each translator, to 

 invite comparison, but we find that we must defer such intention to 

 our next number. Want of space, and not inclination, must be our. 

 excuse. 



