1824,} 
Extracts from the Jounnat of a Mis- 
cellaneous READER. 
LUCAN’S PHARSALIA. 
EAD A—g—n—n’s MS. volume of 
poems, with great interest. Com- 
pare his translation of the first 257 
hexameters of Lucan into 263 English 
heroic lines, with Rowe’s couplet and 
tripplet version of 460 lines. 
A—g—n—n’s compression renders 
him sometimes a little obscure; but his 
translation is upon the whole much 
more spirited and poetical than Rowe’s 
comparative dilation. Rowe, however, 
has been very unfairly treated, in one 
respect, by the pedantry of criticism. 
Whatever may be the disparity between 
his dilation and A—g—n—n’s com- 
pression, the difference is not so great, 
in this respect, between him and the 
original, Hexameters extend from four- 
teen to sixteen syllables; English he- 
roics have only ten .".257 hexameters= 
385 English heroics. Rowe has there- 
fore but seventy-five lines more than 
the just equivalent, i. e. a little better 
than one-sixth more syllables than the 
original. The manuscript translation is 
nearly one-third shorter than the ori- 
ginal. 
Proceed with Rowe’s translation to 
the end of the first book. Find the 
charge of paraphrastic dilation still less 
sustained. The first book of Lucan’s 
Pharsalia contains 695 hexameters= 
1,042 English heroics. Rowe’s tran- 
slation, therefore, of this whole book 
exceeds the original only to the amount 
of about 128 heroic = 85 or 86 hexame- 
ter lines. That his language is frequently 
feeble and unpoetical, is true, and his 
versification tame and monotonous: 
but what pedantic, uncalculating pre- 
judice it is to talk of paraphrase and 
feeble dilation, and spinning out one 
line into three or four, and the like. 
The whole translation, thus far, exceeds 
the original by less than one-eighth. It 
is true, indeed, that a poet availing 
himself of all the compressive energies 
and capabilities of the English language, 
might have translated the whole into 
good heroic verse with one-eighth or 
perhaps one-fourth less, instead of one- 
eighth more syllables than the Latin: 
whatever pedants may say of the com- 
parative feebleness, or poetasters may 
exhibit of the paraphrastic dilation of 
the English langnage. 
Of the second book, the following 
are some of the best lines of this tran- 
slation. 
Extracts from the Journal of a Miscellaneous Reader. 
429 
Hieroaryenics. YV. vy. 343-6. 
Then Memphis, e’er the reedy leaf was 
known, 
Engrav’d her precepts and her arts in stone ; 
While animals in various order plae’d, 
The learned Hieroglyphic column grac’d. 
Suicipgr. V. v. 374-7. 
Heroic minds! that can even fate command, 
And bid it wait upon a mortal hand; 
Who, full of life, forsake it as a feast, 
Take what they like, and give the gods the 
rest. 
Nevurrauiry. 475, 8-82. 
Should Heav’n itself be rent with civil 
rage*— 
Officious Piety would hardly dare 
To proffer Jove assistance in the war. 
Man unconcerned and humble should re- 
main, 
Nor seek to know whose arms the conquest 
gain: 
Jove’s thunder will convince them of his 
reign. 
Supmission AND Resistance. 553—6. 
586. 7. 
Anon, they pray that civil rage may cease : 
But war shall scourge them for these hopes 
of peace ; 
And make them know—the present times 
afford, 
At least while Czsar lives, no safvty like 
the sword.+ 
Ye times to come record the warrior’s praise, 
Who lengthen’d out expiring Freedom’s 
days. ; 
Crepuuity. 618.9 
But zealous crowds in ignorance adore ; 
And still the less they know, they fear the 
more, 
Even for such pearls as these there 
goes a good deal of scratching. The 
book consists of 1,153 lines. 
Ancient Intsu Histortes, Vor. 1. 
cer’s State of Ireland. 
Tanist, Tanistry, the particle tania, 
&c. (Lusitania, Britania, &c.) p. 10 to 
13. From whatever dialect the Irish 
originally had the word tanist, it is evi- 
dent that both that and the particles 
alluded to, and also tenure, ¢enantry, 
tenant, tenement, tain in appertain, &c. 
&c., through whatever channels, come 
from the same primitive source or root, 
having 
Spen- 
* The line that rhymes with this is re- 
commended to the fingers ; for certainly no 
mortal ear would willingly have any thing 
to do with it— 
Should giants once more with the gods engage !!! 
+ By the way this is straining a little for 
an alerandrine for the alexandrine’s sake. 
The syllables at feast weaken, rather than 
add to the sense, 
