Page:The Earliest English Translations of Bürger's Lenore - A Study in English and German Romanticism - Emerson (1915).djvu/64

 in which the poem differs from the German, by circumstances and pictures that increase the sublime horrors of the story. He knew how high Spencer's Leonora stood in my estimation; but he also knew my predilection for that species of translation which scruples not to throw in new matter, congenial to the subject and style, and capable of heightening their interest or their imagery. On perusing those extracts I agreed with my friend, that the new features in this equestrian ghost are more grandly horrid than any in the original. Thus will it almost invariably be when poets, not versifiers, translate.

The Letters further show that Mr. Saville had visited Llangollen Vale and its celebrated ladies in the summer of 1796, so that Scott's version of the Lenore, in one of its manuscript reproductions, had reached this part of England before its publication in Scotland.

Outside of his own country Scott's translation naturally made less impression, although it was favorably received by the reviewers. The Monthly Review of May, 1797, after referring to Taylor's translation as that with which it was most pleased, says:

We have already noted the Critical Review's suggestion of likeness in this translation to Taylor's. Yet it adds of the version as a whole,

This seems a fair judgment, without precluding the feeling that