The sun., 1881-12-04
SOME NEW BOOKS.
Csuoe.s ..d HE Trsas,ators.

There has been In England during the
,resent century a notable revival OF interest In
the great Portuguese epic. no less than seven
translations oithe whole or parts OF the Lusiads
having beon published since 1926. The most
i"iuortant contribution. however. to our knowl-
c.lge ot the poem and OF its author. has been
n ade 10y RICHARD F. BURTON. who printed last
y rametricai translation Of the Lusiads. which
h has now supplemented with an elaborate COM
n"ntary. comprising essays on the distinctive
t,"tical merits OF Camoens and OF his transla-
! rs; a biography OF the poet with full account
O. his travels in tho East: q narrative OF Da
Gima's voyage. and careful review OF 80 much
ui Portuguese history as Ia rectsd In the poem.
Altogether Capt Burton's work. published By
Bernard Quaritch. London. not only ofers
lose and attractive version OF the Lusiads. but
constitutes an exhaustive magazine OF Ca
mosnsian literature
ltisa remarkable fact that one OF the most
distinguished explorers OF our day should have
found time to execute task which seems at
first slcht to beone 20 professional man OF let
tore. But Capt Bneton has given conclusive
proof in these volumes OF those many-aided ac-
tvities and accom- plishments which were more
frequently united In the same personality three
centuries ago than they are now. Like the author
whom he has essaYed to reproduce. like Ger
vantes. Descartes. Raleigh. and Sydney. he is at
once man Of thought and man OF action. and
the circle OF his literary culture and antiquarian
research is no wider than his practical experi-
ence OF life. Only onoe before has Comoens
found au English translator whose qualifications
for the work were so curiously like his own. Sir
Richard Fanshaw. whose version OF the Lusiads
was publish ed Ia 1868. was a soldier in the civil
wars and after ward filled tho post OF ambss-
sador to Madrid and Lisbon. His translation
should be classed with HarrinEton's Ariosto.
Fairfax's Tasso. and Chapman's Homer He
Is rugged and. at times. bom bastic. takes I'm
proper liberties with his author. and his
auaintness often overpowers his poetic sense;
hut his English Is nervous and idiomatic. and
whom at his bcst he is stirring and spirited.
diRnined and dramatic. 1t is shown. too. By
Capt Burton that Fanshaw had q much better
knowledge OF Portuguese than his critics have
conceded to him. and that when he chooses he
exhibits extraordinary fidelity. not only to his
authors idea but even to his metrcal form
Tho English version Of Camocns. however.
which up to recent date had the same hold
upon the public which Pope's Homer long
maintained. Was that published By Mickle in
l776. Like Pope. he laid no claim to literalness.
Averring that By too strict adhcrence to an au
thor's text you are certain to misc the original
felicities OF expression. the energy. elegance.
Was written In the heroic coupet. was not 30
much . translation "a An adaptation OF the
Lusiads. and. not satisfied with paraphrases and
omissions. he even ventured upon impertinent
intrusions and interpretations. often iasifyinG
history and geography. and proving by his
treatment OF proper names that his knowledge
OF Portuguese was but slicht. He considered
himself to have materially improved upon
Camoens. and in his own time It was popularly
believed that he had done SO. 1t is certain that
bis version has gone through Ave editions. aud.
Notwithstanding all Its faults OF stilted. turgid
smoothncss. has bscomo n pseudo classic.
Tho nrst reaction from "ths lmsy pompous
chime" OF Mickle was exhibited in the trans.
lation published In 1926 by MusRrsve. He
aspired to little more than fidelity to the
sense OF his original. and he was much
hetter acquainted than his predecessor with
the Portuguese language and literature. But
a. no rejected the original division Of
stanxns. and chose blank verse for his
medium OF expressi on. his translation re-
sembes rather choppedup prose than poetry.
10 respect. too. he errs against fidelity for.
desiring. ss he says. to suppress the licsntous-
ness OF Camosns. he evinces much false shame
and immodest m odesty In the treatment OF sun
Ley passages. The version OF Edward Quillinan
who translated Nve books OF the Lusiads in
1853. Is OF u far higher order than MusGrave's.
He was a scholar and poet OF the Lake school.
and In knowledge OF the Portuguese language
and literature he surpassed all previous trans
lators. But although fluent and vigorous. and
much more faithful than Fanshav. he is not by
Any means satisfactory. He has a way OF pack
ing the senss OF couplet into one line. that all
tho other may be at his own disposal and he is
at times essentially proeaic. A year later than
Quiilinan's unfinished book appeared a version
OF the whole poem by Sir I. L. Mitchell. but
this Srotesoue performance was wholly beneath
criticism. Neither from the specimens Access
sibe. would the translation published BY Mr..
James E. Hewitt in 1879 soon TO deserve much
attention. o. a very different order are the two
TRANSACTIONS OF the Lusiads by J. j. Auber,in
and II. F. Dufr which appeared respectively In
1878 and 1870 They are executed on different
principles. Mr.. Aubertin aiming at extreme
literalness. and hav Ing the courage to print the
Portuguese in the same volume with his fac
simile. This translation was unquestionably
an Astonishing tour de force. the English poem
resembling an excellent lithoGraph. and repre-
senting the outlines OF Camoens with perfect
fidelity. Mr. DufY. who had supposed the liter
airy feat performed by Mr.. Aubertin a complete
i'm possibility. chose for his version tho Spen-
serian staIzt. and succeeded In making an at
tractive English poem. not undeserving OF q
place with Fanshaw and Mickle in the group OF
those VINO have produced q paraphrase rather
than fac-simile.
II may be asked. in view Of the limited audi
enoe likely to be reached by works OF this kind.
why Capt Burton should think it worth whileto
add one moro to the Ave tran stations OF Camoens
which have appeared since 1883 We infer from
his remarks upon the subject. that had Auber-
tins version been in existence twenty years
ago. the present translation might never have
been undertaken. But Capt. Burton. it seems.
began the task Of reproducing the Lusiats as
ong ago as lsi7 AT Goa. resumed 1t in West Az
eican Fernando Po NsG0l. continued Tin Brazil
1868. at Damascus tlsG9I. and Trieste tlS72l
and completed 1t at Cairo lsS0l. He tells US
that he began with the resolution 10 render line
for line and word for word. The result
was tho usual mincemeat English. poetcal
prose- printed like poetry hashed. inverted. and
Rarnshed With rhymes more or less faulty. He
finally gave up the idea Of reproducing liue for
line. realizing that the EnGlsh is a much
more concise language than any Neo-
Latin tongue. His new rule was TO
render word for word. and this he has car