Page:The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart.pdf/54

50 published at Spremberg by Dr. Novotny, a Protestant divine, has little or no value. The translator, who evidently had but a slight knowledge of the Bohemian language, has made some rather serious mistakes; he has also, with an audacity that would appear inconceivable on the part of one translating from a better known language than that of Bohemia, omitted considerable passages of the "Labyrinth," while he has inserted a good deal of matter that is not contained in Komensky's MS. There are also Hungarian and Russian translations of the "Labyrinth."

In his to the "Labyrinth," Komensky tells his reader "that it is not a poem that you will read, although it may have the seeming of a poem." I have explained in a what I believe to be Komensky's meaning. Yet the author may also have intended to point out to his readers that his book was written in a somewhat ornate manner, differing largely from the rather homely prose that was then usual in Bohemia. It is, I think, the first duty of a translator to render as closely and faithfully as he can the word and thought of the author whose writings he endeavours to transfer into a different language; he should, therefore, adhere as closely as possible not only to the current of thought, but even to the manner of writing of his author. I have therefore not hesitated in using some words that at the present day are hardly used in English prose, and in employing some rather archaic locutions. Such locutions would, of course, not have