6 ! Evil ONE. Hide thyself! Sin and shame Despair ! despair ! Quem patronum rogaturus ? Cum vix justus sit securus. Their foreheads from thee; Despair! . The last exclamation is, in the original, Nachbarin euer fläschen.' The translator probably thought the contrast of the awful Latin chorus, the whispers of a demon, and the poor Margaret asking the girl that kneels next to her for her phial, too violent-too German. But the poet knew what he was doing ;—the effect of his three bare coinmon words is terrible. It is among the highest triumphs of genius to blend, without producing the effect of incongruity, the dream and the reality; and this simple girls agonies, whether of love, sorrow, or despair, would have been comparatively powerless, had she not been taught to utter them in the vivid poetry of such prose as this. The terrible prison scene with which the poem closes is rendered with fidelity, elegance and strength; and the performance, as a whole, has received the warm praise of one who must be admitted to be a most competent judge,-Professor Schlegel, not only doctissimus utriusque lingua, but himself, perhaps, the first of all poetical translators, ancient or modern, -as displaying distinguished talent in a most difficult undertaking.** The translator brought to his task a thorough knowledge of the language of his original; he has had the courage to cope with all the perplexities of rhyme; and the warmth of his poetical feeling is as apparent in the passages we have quoted, as the study which he has bestowed on English language and versification. In general, we think he has succeeded better in the tragic than in the lyric parts of the Mystery; but we must acknowledge one exception to this remark, in his treatment of the song, -a wonderful accumulation, or rather weaving together of luxu 6 * Introduction to Bohte's Catalogue. London. 1825. K 2 rious a rious images,-by which the spirits lull Faust to sleep at the close of his first colloquy with Mephistopheles— Schwindet ihr dunkeln Wolbungen droben, &c. where difficulties, which we should have imagined almost insuperable, have unquestionably been overcome in a manner that does his lordship much honour. We are sorry to observe, that the writer of such verses can condescend occasionally to such rhymes as dawning and morning. This is offensive enough in Mr. Wiffen, but altogether unpardonable in Lord Francis Gower. We have already alluded to some specimens of a translation of this extraordinary poem, which appear in the posthumous works of Mr. P. B. Shelley. As this volume was not prepared for the press by the author, and has had the disadvantage of being published under the inspection of persons ignorant, almost equally as it would seem, of foreign languages and of their own, it would be altogether unfair to make any part of its contents the subject of rigid criticism; and the versions from Faust, in particular, have, in many places, every appearance of being little more than first, however happy, sketches. In several passages the meaning of the original is quite missed; as, for example, in the whole strain of the pedlar witch's speech, in the larger fragment; and, upon the whole, we are inclined to suspect, that Mr. Shelley's knowledge of the German language had been imperfect. But it is impossble for such blemishes to conceal the extraordinary merit of these specimens. Mr. Shelley had a fine ear for harmony, and a great command of poetical language, although he was often seduced by bad example into licenses both of expression and versification at once mean and extravagant. He had, moreover, a fine liveliness both of feeling and of imagination, and in short, wanted little to be a distinguished original poet, but distinctness of conception, and regulation of taste. Accordingly, when he had a model of style before him, and the ideas were supplied ; when he translated, whether from the Homeric hymns, from Euripides, from Calderon, or from Goethe, he had every requisite for the attainment of excellence. The vague and idle allegories in which he delighted, to say nothing of dulcia vitia of a worse kind, were banished for the moment from his fancy; and his verse, at once chastened and inspired by the continued contemplation of consummate art, was capable not only of reaching a classical gracefulness, but of reflecting vividly the strength of genius and the projection of its language. Our literature can show few translations from the Greek poets more elegant than his of the Hymn to Mercury and Cyclops of Euripides; nor, in spite of a few inaccuracies, could Goethe himself desire to see the effect of a of the famous Mayday-night scene of his Faust transferred into any foreign language with more truth and vigour than Mr. Shelley's version exhibits. The reader is aware that Mephistopheles carries Faust to the great wizard festival shortly after the consummation of Margaret's ruin. The opening of their adventures in this region of enchantment is thus admirably given. 'Meph. Would you not like a broomstick? As for me I wish I had a good stout ram to ride ; For we are still far from th' appointed place. Whilst I feel fresh upon my legs. What good Sball she not work also within our limbs ? My body is all wintry, and I wish you there to no purpose ? Pray be so good as light us up this way. The Ignis-Fatuus, after some little parley obeys, and we then have: Faust, MEPHISTOPHELES, and IGNIS-FATUUS in alternate chorus. 'The limits of the sphere of dream, The bounds of true and false, are past. Lead us onward, far and fast, To the wide, the desert waste. Trees behind trees, row by row, Their frowning foreheads as we go. Through K 3 Through the mossy sods and stones, To whoo! to whoo! near, nearer now See, with long legs and belly wide, Every root is like a snake, And along the loose hill side, With strange contortions through the night, The fire-flies flit, and swarm, Nor is the following, in another style, less exquisite. 'MEPH. Why did you let that fair girl pass from you, MEPH. That was all right, my friend, MEPH. : Meph. What? Seest thou not a pale Is like poor Margaret, Let it be-pass on- up the blood of man; and they Like those who saw Medusa. Oh, too true! Those are the lovely limbs which I enjoyed ! She looks to every one like his first love. My looks from her sweet piteous countenance. Adorn her lovely neck ! Aye, she can carry Perseus bas cut it off for her.To show how well the man who could serve the Gothic muse in this way, could feel and transfer the polished graces of an Attic master, we shall transcribe part of the first chorus in Mr. Shelley's version of the Cyclops (Πά δή μοι γενναιων μεν πατέρων, &c.) STROPHE. |
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