PREFACE. xiii 



1 make an apology for undertaking it after Mr. 

 WILLS, who, in the year 1754, publiflied a Tranf- 

 lation of it in Metre without Rhyme *. 



This Gentleman, a Painter by profeffion, aflum- 

 ed for his motto, 



Traftant Fabrilia Fabri ; 



but however adroit he might be in handling the tools 

 of his own art, candour muft own that the tools 

 of a Poet and a Translator were beyond his manage- 

 ment ; attempting alfo a tafk abfolutely impoffible, 

 that of exprefling the fenfe of his Author in an 

 equal number of lines, he produced a verfion which 

 (if it was ever read through by any perfon except 

 myfelf) is now totally forgotten. Neverthelefs I 

 muft do him the juftice to own that he understood 

 the original text ; that he detected fome errors in 

 Mr. DRYDEN'S Tranilation, which had efcaped Mr. 



b 3 JERVAS 



* I call it fo rather than Blank Verfe, becaufe it was devoid of all harmony 

 of numbers. The beginning, which I fhall here infert, is a fufficient proof 

 of the truth of this affertion. 



As Painting, Poefy, fo fimilar 

 To Poefy be Painting ; emulous 

 Alike, each to her fifter doth refer, 

 Alternate change the office and the name ; 

 Mute verfe is this, that fpeaking picture call'd. 



From this little fpecimen the reader will eafily form a judgment of the 



whole. 



