Page:The Earliest English Translations of Bürger's Lenore - A Study in English and German Romanticism - Emerson (1915).djvu/31

 as we shall see, Taylor printed a revised form before the close of the year, and this second version is more widely known from its republication, many years later, in his Historic Survey of German Poetry.

That Taylor's was the next version to be printed seems clear from the fact that Pye's translation is not mentioned among new publications until the April number of the Monthly Magazine. This periodical, it should be said, was issued toward the last of the month, possibly at the very end, a common way with eighteenth century magazines. The proof of this is that in each number occur references to the events of the current month. Thus, letters as late as the twentieth, and events as late as the twenty-second of March appear in the March number. Again, Stanley's Leonora, which could not have appeared until Feb. 8, as shown by the date of its preface, is mentioned among the new books in the February number. The mention of Pye's translation as new only in the April number implies, therefore, that it was not issued until that month, or at the earliest toward the very end of March. This makes practically certain that the Taylor version was the second to be issued, or at least that Taylor's and Pye's translations appeared simultaneously.

William Taylor's interest in German literature is well known, but some additional facts may now be given regarding his translation of this particular poem. To do this we must review briefly certain parts of his life. He was the son of a prosperous tradesman of Norwich, where he was born in 1765. His most important early schooling began at Palgrave near Diss, Norfolk, in 1774. At the head of the school in these years was the Rev. Rochemont Barbauld, husband of the more famous Anne Letitia Aikin, the Mrs. Barbauld of English literature, who also assisted in the school. She was sister of Dr. John Aikin, minor poet and miscellaneous writer of the time. As we shall notice later, this acquaintance with Mrs. Barbauld and Dr. John Aikin was to have important relations to Taylor's translation of Lenore, as well as to one other of the translators of this eventful year. From Mrs. Barbauld the young Taylor received his early training in English composition, with such effect that he later called her the mother of his mind', and always re-