Dear sir,—I return you, with many thanks for their perusal, Dr. Hawtrey’s translations from Homer and Kallinos. Both are beautifully done, and read like the ancient metres, which, after all, is the point to be aimed at. But of the two I infinitely prefer the latter. There is, I fear, no denying it—the hexameter, unvaried by the pentameter, is too heavy for the English ear, which is attuned to such infinite (and I must say such delightful) variety of versification. And if I might venture to criticise on such a good critic, I should say that the one variety of which the hexameter is capable is in this specimen in some measure wanting; it is here and there too uniformly dactylic, canters too much. Nevertheless, I wish somebody competent to the task would give us in English a hexameter Homer, if only as a parallel to Voss.
But if I look with some degree of doubt as to the
possibility of satisfying the English ear with a long hexameter poem—even
with all the variety (no great amount) of which that metre is capable—I
have none whatever about that of longs and
| 296 | MEMOIR OF REV. F. HODGSON. |
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Throw thyself on thy God, nor mock Him with feeble desire;
Sure of His love—and oh! sure of His mercy at last;
Bitter and deep tho’ the draught, yet shun not the cup of thy trial,
But in its healing effect smile at its bitterness past.
Pray for that holier cup, where sweet with bitter lies blending
Tears in the cheerful eye, smiles on the sorrowing cheek;
Death expiring in life—when the long-drawn struggle is ending,
Triumph and joy to the strong—strength to the weary
and weak.
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Repeating my thanks for the pleasure your attention has afforded me,
