Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/211

 S.V.MARCH 17, i90o.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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approbation of Tennyson. Mr. F. T. Palgrave, in his ' Personal Recollections,' says that the poet admired especially

"the brilliant closing picture of a boat-race, with its glimpse of Whewell, ' the high crest and blowing forelock of Phidippus's mare, and he himself shout- ing encouragement to his crew, conspicuous over all.'" 'Alfred, Lord Tennyson: a Memoir,' 1897, ii. 505.

1852.

Polonius : | A Collection | of | Wise Saws and Modern Instances. | [Line] Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, | And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, | I WILL BE BRIEF. | London : | William Pickering. | 1852.

Collation : Square octavo : pp. [ii] and x vi and 146 (last page unnumbered), consisting of : Title-page as above, with imprint on verso, " John Childs and Son, Bungay," pp. [i, ii] ; Preface, pp. i-xvi ; Text, pp. 1-142 ; Index, pp. 143-145 ; Errata, and imprint as before, p. [146]. Only the Preface has headlines; in the text the number of the page, in Roman figures, occupies the top centre. Every page is enclosed within double borders, and the little book is prettily got up in the taste of the day. Issued in emerald-green cloth boards, lettered upwards along the back " Polonius," and with the motto, " La | Verdad | essi^mpre | Verde," stamped in gilt letters, within an ornamental wreath, upon the side.

This little book was apparently published at the beginning of 1852, for FitzGerald refers to it in a letter which he wrote to the Rev. George Crabbe on 27 February in that year (' Letters, 3 i. 273). The " charming and characteristic preface," as it is justly styled by Mr. Edmund Gosse, was reprinted by Dr. Aldis Wright in 'The Letters and Literary Remains of Edward FitzGerald,' 1889, iii. 467. Although the book mainly consists of excerpts from Bacon, Selden, Carlyle, Newman, and other writers, there is sufficient of FitzGerald himself in it to afford a strong reflection of his personality. It is in ' Polonius ' that occurs his well-known aphorism, " Taste is the feminine of genius" (p. 33), to the author- ship of which he puts in a coy claim in a letter written many years after wards to Mr. J. R. Lowell C Letters,' ii. 226).

1853.

Six Dramas | of | Calderon. | Freely translated | by Ed ward FitzGerald. | London: | William Picker- ing. | MDCCCLIII.

Collation : Small octavo : pp. viii and 276 (the last three unnumbered), consisting of: Half-title, "Six Dramas | of | Calderon " ; pp. [i, ii], verso blank ; Title-page as above, with imprint on verso, "John Childs and Son, Bungay," pp. [iii, iv] ; Advertise- ment, pp. v-viii ; Text, pp. 1-273 ; Imprint as before, p. [274] ; Errata, p. fcf75], verso blank. The ^inie contains: 'The Painter of his own Dis- hoii ' *>. 1 ; 'Keep your own Secret,' p. 59; 'Gil " -Hician,' p. 103; 'Three Judgments at

' The Mayor of Zalamea,' p. 191 F Smooth Water,' p. 229. The title of the respective re given as headlines,

in \v Mi boards, lettered

across the back in gold " Translations | from | Calderon"; and, lower down, " E. F. G."

This volume, as we learn from FitzGerald's etters, was unfavourably noticed in the Leader and the Athenaeum on its first appear- ance ('Letters,' i. 284), though his friend W. B. Donne wrote a " handsome Article" in Fraser on it, and FitzGerald acknowledged that people liked it (' Letters,' p. 323). The " determined spit " of the Athenaeum, however, disconcerted him, and he called in all the unsold copies, with the result that the book is now excessively rare. As a specimen of the criticism of the day, it may be not unin- teresting to reproduce the short notice to which FitzGerald took objection. It is not easy to find, as it is wrongly indexed, but it appeared in the Athenaeum (No. 1350), 10 Sept., 1853, p. 1063:

" ' Freely translated,' says Mr. Fitzgerald. There is no doubt of it. By way of apology for so much licence for a freedom in dealing with his text so unusual the translator gives an original reason : 'I have not meddled,' he says, ' with any of Calde- ron' s more famous plays, not one of these on my list being mentioned with any praise or included in any selection that I know of except the homely Mayor of Zalamea [sic].' We have not taken the trouble to compare these translations with the originals ; holding it quite unnecessary to treat as a serious work a book whose author confesses that he ' has sunk, reduced, altered and replaced much that seemed not fine or efficient simplified some per- plexities, and curtailed or omitted scenes that seemed to mar the breadth of general effect, supply- ing such omissions by some lines.'"

It is curious that the volume of the Athe- nceum which produced this criticism, with its slightly garbled extract, should contain a long review, which was characterized by Archbishop Trench as masterly, of Mr. D. F. McCarthy's translations from Calderon. In contrast to the summary manner in which the Athenceum disposed of FitzGerald's claims to recognition, it may be worth while to quote the archbishop's opinion on the subject. It will be found in Dr. Trench's graceful little book ' Life's a Dream,' 1856, p. 120 :

" ' Six Dramas of Calderon freely translated,' by Edward Fitzgerald, 1853, are far the most important and worthiest contribution to the knowledge of the Spanish poet which we have yet received. But, written as they are in English of an exquisite purity and vigour, and dealing with poetry in a poet's spirit, they yet suffer, as it seems to me, under serious drawbacks. Mr. Fitzgerald has chosen, and avows that he has chosen, plays which, with the exception of the noble 'Mayor of Zalamea,' can hardly be said to rank among Calderon's greatest, being rather effective melodramas than works of highest art. He does this with the observation, 'Such plays as the "Magico Prodigioso" and the " Vida es Sueno" require another translator, and, I think, form of translation.' In respect of ' form of translation' I am compelled to agree with him,