3CS 



TRANSLATIONS AND TRANSLATOR?,. 



upon the table warned the transla- 

 tor that he might continue his 

 lecture. 



The lesson began and concluded 

 with a slight and silent obeisance ; 

 and during thirteen months thus 

 spent, the count scarcely spoke as 

 many words to the assistant of his 

 studies. 



THE CZAR AND THE MONK. 



Peter the Great having directed 

 the translation of Puffendorff s In- 

 troduction to the Knowledge of the 

 States of Europe into the Russian 

 language, a monk to whom this 

 translation was committed, pre- 

 sented it to the emperor when fin- 

 ished, who turned over the leaves, 

 and exclaimed with an indignant 

 air, " Fool ! what did I order you 

 to do ? Is this a translation ? " 

 Then referring to the original, he 

 showed him a paragraph in which 

 the author had spoken with great 

 asperity of the Russians, but the 

 translator had omitted it. " Go in- 

 stantly," said the czar, "and exe- 

 cute my orders rigidly. It is not 

 to flatter my subjects that I have 

 this book translated and printed, 

 but to instruct and reform them." 



THE WELSH CURATE AND TILLOT- 

 SON'S SERMONS. 



A Welsh curate, being asked how 

 he managed to preach sermons so 

 far above his own powers of com- 

 position, replied, " I have a volume 

 of sermons by one Archbishop Til- 

 lotson, which I translate in to Welsh, 

 and afterwards re-translate into 

 English, after which the archbishop 

 himself would not know his own 

 compositions." 



IGNORANCE BETTER PAID THAN 

 KNOWLEDGE. 



Sir John Hill contracted to trans- 

 late Swammerdam's work on In- 

 sects for fifty guineas. After the 

 agreement with the bookseller, he 

 recollected that he did not under- 

 stand a single word of the Dutch 

 language, nor did there exist a 

 French translation. 



The work, however, was not the 

 less closely attended to on account 

 of this small obstacle. Sir John 

 bargained with another translator 

 for twenty-five guineas. The second 

 translator was precisely in the same 

 situation as the first as ignorant, 

 though not so well paid, as the 

 knight. 



He re-bargained with a third, who 

 perfectly understood the original, 

 for twelve guineas. So that the 

 translators who could not translate 

 a word feasted on venisou and tur- 

 tle, while the modest drudge, whose 

 name never appeared to the world, 

 broke in patience his daily bread. 



"VICAR OF WAKEFIELD" IN FRENCH. 



The Vicar of Wakcfield has been 

 translated perhaps as many as fifty 

 times 1 into French, but always in a 

 blundering manner, in consequence 

 of the ignorance of the translators 

 of the meaning of certain phrases. 

 In one case, for instance, a transla- 

 tor has completely misunderstood 

 the meaning of the words, " Moses 

 flay edalive,"and rendered it," Moses 

 almost devoured alive by fleas." 



Lately, however, the worthy Vicar 

 has had justice done to him by the 

 translation of M. Charles Nodier, 

 who is well acquainted with the 

 idiom of English literature 



