Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 51.djvu/402

 a bad prose translation (completed in 1782) of all Shakespeare's plays and declared him to be ‘the god of the theatre.’ Voltaire protested against this estimate in a new remonstrance consisting of two letters, of which the first was read before the French Academy on 25 Aug. 1776. Here Shakespeare was described as a barbarian, whose works—‘a huge dunghill’—concealed some pearls. Although Voltaire's censure was rejected by the majority of later French critics, it expressed a sentiment born of the genius of the nation, and made an impression that was only gradually effaced. Marmontel, La Harpe, Marie-Joseph Chénier, and Chateaubriand, in his ‘Essai sur Shakespeare,’ 1801, inclined to Voltaire's view; but Madame de Staël wrote effectively on the other side in her ‘De la Littérature’ 1804 (i. caps. 13, 14, ii. 5). The revision of Le Tourneur's translation by François Guizot and A. Pichot in 1821 gave Shakespeare a fresh advantage. Paul Duport, in ‘Essais Littéraires sur Shakespeare’ (Paris, 1828, 2 vols.), was the last French critic of repute to repeat Voltaire's censure unreservedly. Guizot, in his ‘Sur la Vie et les Œuvres de Shakespeare’ (reprinted separately from the translation of 1821), as well as in his ‘Shakespeare et son Temps’ (1852); Villemain in a general essay (Mélanges Historiques, 1827, iii. 141–87), and Barante in a study of ‘Hamlet’ (ib. 1824, iii. 217–34), acknowledge the mightiness of Shakespeare's genius with comparatively few qualifications. Other translations followed—by Francisque Michel (1839), by Benjamin Laroche (1851), and by Emil Montégut (1867), but the best is that in prose by François Victor Hugo (1859–66), whose father, Victor Hugo, published a rhapsodical eulogy in 1864. Alfred Mézières's ‘Shakespeare, ses Œuvres et ses Critiques’ (Paris, 1860), is a saner appreciation. Meanwhile ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Macbeth,’ ‘Othello’ and a few other Shakespearean plays, became stock-pieces on the French stage. Alfred de Vigny prepared a version of ‘Othello’ for the Théâtre-Français in 1829 with eminent success. An adaptation of ‘Hamlet’ by Alexandre Dumas was first performed in 1847, and a rendering by De Chatelain (1864) was often repeated. George Sand translated ‘As you like it’ (Paris, 1856) for representation by the Comédie Française on 12 April 1856. ‘Lady Macbeth’ has been represented in recent years by Madame Sarah Bernhardt, and ‘Hamlet’ by M. Mounet Sully of the Théâtre-Français (cf., Histoire de l'Influence de Shakespeare sur le Théâtre Français, 1867; Edinb. Rev. 1849, pp. 39–77; , Essays, pp. 193 sq.; , ‘Shakespeare en France sous l'Ancien Régime,’ in Cosmopolis, Nov.–Dec. 1896, Jan.–Feb. 1897).

In Italy Shakespeare was little known before the present century. Such references as eighteenth-century Italian writers made to him were based on remarks by Voltaire (cf., Dell' Origine, Progressi e Stato attuale d'ogni Letteratura, 1782). The French adaptation of ‘Hamlet’ by Ducis was issued in Italian blank verse (Venice, 1774, 8vo). Complete translations of all the plays made direct from the English were issued by Michele Leoni (in verse) at Verona 1819–22, and by Carlo Rusconi in prose at Padua in 1831 (new edit. Turin, 1858–9). ‘Othello’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ have been most often translated into Italian separately. The Italian actors, Madame Ristori (as Lady Macbeth), Salvini (as Othello), and Rossi rank among Shakespeare's most effective interpreters. Verdi's operas on Macbeth, Othello, and Falstaff (the last two with libretti by Boito), betray a close and appreciative study of Shakespeare.

In Eastern Europe, Shakespeare first became known through French and German translations. Into Russian ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was translated in 1772, ‘Richard III’ in 1783, and ‘Julius Cæsar’ in 1786. Sumarakow translated Ducis' version of ‘Hamlet’ in 1784 for stage purposes, while the Empress Catherine II adapted the ‘Merry Wives’ and ‘King John.’ Numerous versions of all the chief plays followed; and in 1865 there appeared at St. Petersburg the best translation in verse (direct from the English), by Nekrasow and Gerbel. A prose translation, by N. Ketzcher, begun in 1862, was completed in 1879. Gerbel issued a Russian translation of the ‘Sonnets’ in 1880, and many critical essays in the language, original or translated, have been published. Almost every play has been represented in Russian on the Russian stage (cf. New Shaksp. Soc. Trans. 1880–5, pt. ii. 431 seq.). A Polish version of ‘Hamlet’ was acted at Lemberg in 1797; and as many as sixteen plays now hold a recognised place among Polish acting plays. The standard Polish translation of Shakespeare's collected works appeared at Warsaw in 1875 (edited by the Polish poet Kraszewski), and is reckoned among the most successful renderings in a foreign tongue.

Other complete translations have been published in Hungarian (Budapest, 1864–8), in Bohemian (Prague, 1874), in Swedish (Lund, 1847–51), in Dutch, in Danish (1845–