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Mr. Pope had formed his eftablifhed ftyle of elegant poetry 

 before he engaged in tranflating Homer, a poet whofe ftyle 

 was extremely different. To this it is to be aicribed that we 

 have here fo many prettyneflfes which are not to be found in 

 the original — -fond arms — lovely boy — iiaith fecret pleafure — glittering 

 terrors — lifting high in air — father s prayer. I think I can alfo 

 perceive m this paffage the eifedl of habits of tranflating even 

 on Mr. Pope. Dazzling helms and nodding crejis were phrafes 

 which had become by tranflating the battle fcenes of Homer 

 fo familiar to his ear, that though in general more verbofe than 

 his author, he could not here dilate the exprefllons beyond the 

 dimenfions in which they had ufed to appear : he has there- 

 fore contracted into one line the fubftance of two in the ori- 

 ginal. Had this been the only paffage of the Iliad which Mr. 

 Pope tranflated, I am confident we fhould have found it, if 

 not more like Homer, yet certainly more vigorous and aff^dl- 

 ing. 



Mr. Cowper has been led by his fondnefs foi^ the fimplicity 

 of Homer to too clofe a literal adherence to the words of the 

 original, in prejudice of the fentiment and the fenfe. Thus 

 becaufe the word vo^Vaj, ufually fignifies an acl of attention 

 voluntary and protradled, Cowper has rendered it in this paf- 

 fage, he had attentive marked, an exprefhon iitterly inapplicable 

 here, as unfuited to the age of the infant and the terror he 

 fhewed. The word fhould be taken here in its fecondary fig- 

 nification, for the bare intelleftual acfl of perception. The 

 word lyiXaa-iTt in like manner Mr. Cowper has rendered laughed, 



though 



