Page:The Iliad of Homer in English Hexameter Verse.djvu/14

 only say that now, on the completion of his task, he sees no reason to regret having selected the Hexameter. In it, and in it alone, is it possible, he believes, to combine adequate fidelity to the original, with that vigor and rapidity of movement, without which a translation may reproduce the ideas of the poet, and may be an exceedingly elaborate, elegant, and artistic production, but is not Homer; any more than the obelisk of Luxor is the Matterhorn. The want of rapidity of movement may be considered to be the one great drawback from the merits of the recent translation by Lord Derby, as also from those of the far less known, yet more vigorous, translation now in course of publication by Mr. Charles Ichabod Wright: and is, perhaps, a defect inherent in the English heroic blank verse. In writing thus, the Translator must not be supposed to be viewing with self-complacency his own efforts as compared with those of others; but merely to express his continued adherence to the metre which he originally selected; and which he believes has the sanction of a sufficient number of educated readers, to prevent the publication of an Hexameter translation of the Iliad, of even average merit, being treated as a literary intrusion. He is also satisfied that very many of those who now entertain a sense of dislike to the metre, would feel differently if their ears were but habituated to its use. The difficulty arising from the acquired habit of associating certain metres with Classical poetry, and other metres with English poetry, may—to use the words of a writer whose viii