1799-] 
he more eafily obtained: but chiefly be- 
caufe he confidered it as more coniiftent 
with the moral fentunent, and more coz- 
genial to the heart of aa Englifh audience, 
than the forgivenels of a wife who had 
been actually guilty.”” One alteration 
begets the neceflity’ of another: the 
“* Stranger,” in this very tranflation, 
does agtually forgive his wife, and is re- 
conciled to her, under the full. perfua- 
fion of her infidelity!) Mrs, Smith, it is 
true, informs Lady Santon, zz @ private 
converfation with her, that although fhe 
eloped from her hufband, yet that fhe re- 
turned, and faw her error, before the 
purpofe of her deceiver was accomplith- 
ed—but her hufband knews nothing of 
all this! The tranflator forgot that he 
ought to have made him acquainted with 
it; ought to have infpired him with a 
belief of it; but this would have demand- 
ed a long dialogue, for the ‘* Stranger” 
is reprefented as full of fufpicion, and 
yielding wery tardy credit. As it is, 
the effect is entirely fruftrated which was 
intended to be produced, and the audi- 
ence is left in pain, that a rath but very 
repentant wife fhould labour under the 
fufpicion of a foul crime of which fhe was 
actually innocent. Can this .be “ con- 
genial to the heart of an Englifh audi- 
ence?’ Iam forry that the tranflator, in 
his ardour for alteration, fhould have 
committed fo grofs an abfurdity: the 
“* Stranger’ is with me a very favourite 
play : the myftery with which Kotzebue 
has enyeloped the fortune of his hero 
creates an intereft in his favour from the 
very firft fcene—the myftery thickens— 
the intereft grows ftronger: acts of the 
pureft benevolence proceed from apparent 
mifanthropy—they are like the meteors 
of the night, that feem to derive {plendour 
from the darknefs of the horizon. 
It is objeéted, I am well aware, againft 
.a {crupulous fidelity of tranflation, that 
German plays ave in general fo abomi- 
nably long as to be very ill adapted to an 
Enelith ftage; that the author, therefore, 
has only the alternative of fubmitting to 
the curtailment of his piece, or foregoing 
the honours of reprefentation. ‘To this 
objection I can only reply, that when a 
play is exprefsly tranflated for the pur- 
pofe of reprefentation, if the fcenes or 
the dialogue be too long, fimple curtail- 
ment is venial, becau/é it is neceflary, and 
for that reafon only: if there be any other 
objection to the original than its length ; 
if the fentiments are not ‘* congenial to 
the hearts of an Englith audience ;”’ if 
Tranflations of Kotzebue’s Plays. 
107 
the charagters are difpufting ; if the lan- 
guage is indelicate or profane, fuch a 
play is unfit for reprefentation, and there- 
fore ought not to be tranflated with any 
view toit. It feems to me that we are 
not authorifed to alter the fentiments, the 
characters, or the plot ; fuch an alteration 
is an abfolute forgery. Suppofe it were 
the fafhion in Germany to recite odes or 
elegies on the public ttage, and fuppofe 
that fome German, acquainted with the 
Englifh language, were to tranflate for 
recitation fome of our popular poetry, 
Gray’sBard, for inftance. We aretold,that 
‘© Ona rock, whofe haughty brow 
Frowns o’er old Conway’s foaming flood, 
Rob’d in the fable garb of woe, 
With haggard eyes, the poet ftood ;”” 
and after breathing vengeance on the race 
of Edward, and weaving ‘ with bloody 
hands the tiffue of his line,’’ in a moment 
of enthufiafm, 
——‘* headlong from the mountain’s height, 
Deep in the roaring tide he plung’d to endlefs 
night!” 
Now, Sir, it is a poffible cafe, that the 
tranflator, not being infpired with the 
high poetic genius of his original author, 
might look upon this headlong plunge of 
the ancient bard as a very extravagant, 
unnatural, and fhocking piece of bufi- 
-nefs; when the old gentleman had done 
{colding the king, therefore, he might 
rather choofe to make him unftring his 
lyre, throw it over his fhoulder, and walk 
home. And if any critic were to arraign 
the tranflator’s judgment or his tafte, he 
might offer juft the fame excufe as Mrs. 
INCHBALD has done, and Mr. S****x; 
he might reply, that for a man in his 
fenfes to throw himielf from the top of a 
high rock and dafh his brains out, would 
be the moft revolting thing imaginable to 
the delicacy and fine feelings of a Ger- 
man audience—O dear, they would not 
bear it! Now, Sir, what would an Eng- 
lifhman, zealous for the honour of his 
Pindaric countryman, fay to fuch an 
alteration as this?- Precifely what he 
would fay, may a German fay to uss 
and if we go on mutilating taeir dra- 
matilts as we have done, I think the lex 
taliouis may be enforced. againft us-with- 
out any injuftice. 
I have taken the liberty to offer thefe 
hints, becaufe I think the fubject well 
merits attention, and it is poffible that 
they may contribute in fome meature to 
excite it. Je terne 
Norwich, Fan.1799%. ¢ 
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