LORD WOODHOUSELEE. 541 



" 'which it gives of a concurrence in sentiment upon critical sub- 

 " jects with persons of distinguished ingenuity and erudition. 

 " Such a discovery makes a man more confident in the justness of 

 " his own sentiments. I have only to add, that your illustrations 

 " of the general doctrines, and your examples from the. ancients, 

 " please me exceedingly." 



The opinion of Dr Campbell was very soon justified by the 

 voice of the literary world ; and 1 believe that there is no work 

 of literary criticism which this country has produced, that so 

 soon attained celebrity in England, as the Essay on Translation. 

 The different reviewers of the day, contended with each other in 

 the earliness of their notice, and in the liberality of their praise. 

 The most celebrated scholars of England, Dr Markham, Arch- 

 bishop of York, Dr Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury, Dr Percy, 

 Bishop of Dromore, Dr Vincent, of Westminster, and Dr Wat- 

 son of Winchester Schools, wrote to the author in terms of high 

 approbation. " Were I not afraid," says Mr Murphy, the well- 

 known translator of Tacitus, in a letter to the author, " of be- 

 " ing thought a dealer in compliment, I should say, that I esteem 

 " it the best performance I have ever seen on the subject. In- 

 " genious hints, and cursory remarks, are to be found in many 

 " authors, ancient and modern ; but they remained scattered, and, 

 " nothing like a regular system has been formed until now." And 

 Mr Cumberland, the extent of whose learning, and the fertili- 

 ty of whose genius gave so much value to his opinion, was so 

 much delighted with the work, and so grateful for the just 

 praise which Mr Tytler had bestowed upon his admirable 

 translations from the fragments of Greek comedy, that he 

 wrote to his friend Sir William Forbes, to beg of him to pro- 

 cure Mr Tytler's permission to dedicate to him a translation 

 of The Clouds of Aristophanes, which he was then preparing, 

 and which the praise of so distinguished a critic had encouraged 



3Y2 him 



