Page:Fables by La Fontaine translated by Elizur Wright.djvu/53

 J'aime le jeu, Tamour, les livres, la musique, La ville et la campagne, enfin tout ; il n'est rien Qui ne me soit souverain bien, Jusqu'au sombre plaisir d'un coeur mdlancolique. Viens done. . . The characteristic grace and playfulness of this seem to defy translation. To the mere English reader, the sense may be roughly given thus :

Delight, Delight, who didst as mistress hold The finest wit of Grecian mould, Disdain not me ; but come, And make my house thy home. Thou shalt not be without employ : In play, love, music, books, I joy. In town and country; and, indeed, there 's nought, E'en to the luxury of sober thought, — The sombre, melancholy mood, — But brings to me the sovereign good. Come, then, etc. The same Polyphile, in recounting his adventures on a visit to the infernal regions, tells us that he saw, in the hands of the cruel Eumenides, — Les auteurs de maint hymen force L'amant chiche, et la dame au cceur interesse ; La troupe des censeurs, peuple a I'Amour rebelle ; Ceux enfin dont les vers ont noirci quelque belle. Artificers of many a loveless match, And lovers who but sought the pence to catch ; The crew censorious, rebels against Love ; And those whose verses soiled the fair above.