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JERUSALEM DELIVERED,
BOOK FOURTH:
BEING
THE SPECIMEN OF AN INTENDED NEW TRANSLATION,
In English Spenserian Verse,
WITH
A PREFATORY DISSERTATION ON EXISTING TRANSLATIONS.
BY J. H. WIFFEN.
PUBLISHED BY HURST, ROBINSON, AND CO.
90, CHEAPSIDE, AND 8, PALL MALL.
"There are certain ages in the history of the world, on which the heart dwells with interest and affection; but there are none which excite our curiosity, our admiration, and our love, more intensely than the days of chivalry."—
Campbell.
"Il existe en Angleterre plusieurs traductions de la Jérusalem Délivrée; mais elles ont presque toutes de grands défauts. Celle de Hoole est sans contredit la plus mauvaise. Fairfax en a publié une où l'on rencontre de très-beaux passages, à côté de choses triviales; il franchit souvent l'espace qui sépare le sublime du ridicule. M. Hunt a publié une traduction du poème du Tasse, mais la mesure de vers qu'il a adoptée ne convient point au poème héroique, et nuit à l'effet général: on peut aussi lui reprocher d'être diffus, et de ne pas toujours choisir le tour le plus neuf et le plus concis. M. Wiffen, si l'on en juge d'après l'essai qu'il offre au public, est appelé à faire enfin passer les beautés du poète Italien dans la langue Anglaise. Sa traduction, élégante et fidèle, a parfois le charme et la magie des vers du Tasse: on voit qu'il s'est d'abord pénétré des pensées de son modèle, afin de parvenir à les rendre sans les dénaturer, comme cela n'arrive que trop souvent aux traducteurs vulgaires."—La Revue Encyclopédique de Paris, Avril, 1822.
"In conclusion, we must state our opinion, that this Specimen is highly creditable to the taste and talents of Mr. Wiffen. He possesses strong powers of versification, which are absolutely necessary to a translator of Tasso, and he manifests a warm and vigorous imagination. His acquaintance with poetical phraseology, also, is various and extensive. A poet himself, he is delighted with his labour, and appears, like Ariel, to do 'his spiriting gently.' The task which he has undertaken is most difficult and arduous, on which the highest minds might enter with diffidence and distrust: but Mr. W. certainly has the power of producing a work which will be honourable to the literature of his country and to his own fame; and we hope he may meet with the encouragement which the attempt deserves."—Monthly Review, June, 1821.
"The present Specimen is prefaced by a sensible and liberal criticism on the merits of those who have preceded the Translator in this great work. The pretensions of Hoole, which, to the astonishment of all who are acquainted with the subject, have been so long suffered to pass unquestioned, are ably and judiciously exposed; and the version of Fairfax, so much talked of, and so little known, receives the tribute of praise which is its due, unmixed, however, with any portion of that slavish admiration which mistakes blemishes for beauties, and want of taste for exuberance of genius. The result of Mr. Wiffen's inquiry is inevitable—that a new Translation is necessary, and that at present we possess none which gives any adequate idea of the original. * * * * * But we must set limits to our extracts. Indeed, we should transcribe the whole Pamphlet, if we were to show all that has pleased and delighted us. The whole is splendidly and powerfully written, and the sense and style of the original scrupulously preserved. Some of the extracts we have given, beautifully as they are versified, are almost literal transcripts from Tasso. Most sincerely do we congratulate Mr. Wiffen on the success of his labours, and we hope that it will not be long before he fully realizes the hopes which so promising a specimen must necessarily excite."—Monthly Magazine, April, 1821.
"Upon the whole, we have never met with a translation possessing more of the spirit and interest of the original; and we can confidently recommend it to our readers as a work abounding with merit, and likely to add much to the already well-earned reputation of its author. Mr. Wiffen possesses a genuine vein of his own, and has given to the present work a life and intrinsic interest very seldom met with in productions of this class. He displays a fervency, an enthusiasm, an instinct of beauty, a seriousness of tone and manner, which accord admirably with the spirit of his author. We have no hesitation in affirming, that very many of his stanzas equal the originals in every thing but the language; and we think we could point out more than one or two that are absolutely superior."—Investigator, April, 1823.
By the same Author,
AONIAN HOURS and OTHER POEMS. Price 7s.
JULIA ALPINULA, with the CAPTIVE OF STAMBOUL, and OTHER POEMS. Price 7s. 6d.
Transcriber's Notes:
Symbol inverted asterism (three asterisks arranged as inverted triangle) is presented as ⁂ (asterism) in this e-text.
In this book, there are Footnotes (marked with letters) and Endnotes (marked with numbers). In the original book, the footnotes are located at the bottom of the relevant pages and the endnotes are located in the Appendix. In this e-book, the footnotes are relocated to the end of the book, after the Appendix.
Obvious printer's errors have been repaired, other inconsistent spellings have been kept, including inconsistent use of hyphen (e.g. "by-gone" and "bygone") and diacritical marks (e.g. "Góngora," "Gongora," and "Gongóra).