97] Defence of Mif 
Tt is-the chofeh place oF a luminary of fplen- 
did qualities, and fair; glorious her rifing from 
the verge of the torrent; and the fair one 
dhines upon the now progreffive year in the 
wild of Arvon, in the Snowdonian hills. 
The tent does not attract; the gloffy filk 
is not looked upon, by her I Jove, with pafling 
tendemefs : if her conqueft could be wrought 
by the mufe’s aid, ere thé night that comes, I 
thauld next to her be found. 

To the Editor of the Mouthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
ie the purfuits of ambition or wealth, 
we are nct furprifed to fee the compe- 
titors énvious of each other, and feek- 
Ing, too frequently, by infidious me- 
thods, to build fuccefs on the difappoint- 
ment of a rival; and we are at no lofs to 
account for {uch a degradation of the hu- 
man mind, where the end in view is 
not of a nature to elevate it: but in li- 
beral fciences,. where excellence is the 
object, one would imagine, that a fimi- 
larity of purfu.ts would attach their vo- 
taries to each other, and that, for in- 
ftance, no one could bea genuine /over 
of the Mufe, without feeling gratitude 
and admiration for thofe who have fuc- 
cefsfully cultivated poetry. Your cor- 
refpondent PHrioMmusE, has taken up 
near three columns of your Magazine, 
for December (p. 844) in ironically de- 
ploring the ignorance of the ancients, in 
the art of amplification, and has illuf- 
trated his fubjeét by pointing out a com- 
parifon between the Odes of Horace and 
the beautiful verfions of fome of them 
by Mifs Seward. Had Mifs Seward 
profeffed to give Jiferal tranilations, her 
odes, beautiful as they are, would juftly 
have been liable to cenfure ; and who 
that reads the letter of PHILOMUSE, 
could imagine, that to the firft of her 
tranflations, publifhed in the Gentleman’s 
Magazine for October, 1785, was {ub- 
joined the following note: ‘ Tranfla- 
tions fcrupuloufly faithful are apt to be 
(tiff, vapid, and frequently obfcure, from 
the often irreconcilably different nature 
of ancient and modern languages, from 
focal cuftoms, and allufions to circum- 
ftances, over which time has thrown a 
veil. Mifs Seward, in her attempt to 
put a few of the Horatian odes intro Eng- 
lith verfe, of which the above (the ode 
to Barine) is a {pecimen, takes only the 
poet’s general idea, often drawing it 
out into fuller expanfion to make the 
fenfe more clear, to bring the imagery 
more diftinétly to the eye, and in the 
Montuty Mac. No. XV. 
Seward’s Lranflations. 184 
hope of transfufing into her verfion from 
this celebrated poet, fomewhat of the 
{pirit of original compofition. ” 
It the object of PH1LOMUSE were no 
more than an open and general cenfure 
of the modern practice of amplification, 
why does he point out Mifs Seward only, 
as an inftance of it? Why arenot the 
juttly-admired tranflations of Homer, by 
Pope, and many other fplendid examples, 
brought forward ? and why are we again 
referred to Mifs Seward, in the middle 
of his letter, by “ poerefs ;”’ and towards 
the clofe of it, by ‘certain hands,” in 
inviduous italics? It is univerfally 
agreed, that it is extremely difficult to 
transfufe the Horatian fpirit into any 
tranflation ; in proportion, therefore, to 
that difficulty, thould be our gratitude 
to one whofe tranflations are eminently 
fuperior to thofe of all preceding tranf{- 
lators: fuch, in my opinion, are Mifs 
Seward’s; but better, and, perhaps, 
more impartial, judges than myfelf, 
will foon have the opportunity of 
deciding on this point, as Mifs Seward’s 
tranflations of Horace are, togethér with 
her fonnets, now advertifed for fpeedy 
publication. a 
If PaitomuseE poffeffes m poetry 
that brevity which he fo much admires, 
perhaps HE will have the goodne!s tu give 
us the ftory of Flora, in limits not ex- 
ceeding the original of Ovid; but, I fear, ' 
after his moft laborious compreffion of it, 
though we may perceive the beauty of 
the thought, that fuch quaint and epi, 
grammaiic concifene(s, in an Hugi drefs, 
will not obtain any high commendation 
from the genuine lovers of poetry. 
Iam, fir, your obedient fervant, 
Chifterfield, Feb. 5, 1797. A. S. 
eee cee ne eS a 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
A QUERY. 
Heo many vols. folio, doth the Hif- 
tory of Engiand, by James Tyrrell, 
Efq. confiftt of '—Befides three vols. 
folio, bound in fowr parts, the enquirer 
hath never met with any thing of this 
Mr. Tyrrell’s, except a folio volume, 
entitled, Biéolheca Politica; though the 
hiftory was itended to comprize the 
whole time from the earlieft records, to 
the death of William and Mary. ‘The 
firft three volumes, in four parts, bring 
down the hiftory no farther than the 
death of Richard the Second; and they 
were publifhed abeut the beginning of 
this century. 
M.A. 
Bib La 





