“I thank you for your ode of Anacreon; the Greek metre in which you have translated it, is certainly the best that could be chosen, but, perhaps, the most difficult, as the accent should flow so easily that a bad reader may not be able to spoil them. This is the case with your fourth and fifth lines: an old woman can’t read them out of the proper cadence. . . . . I think this metre much improved to an English ear, by sometimes ending a line with a long syllable instead of a trochee. This you will see regularly done in the following translation from the Spanish of Villegas. The original metre is that of Θεγω λεγειν Ατρειδας, and the verses flow as harmoniously as those of Anacreon.
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‘The maidens thus address me:—
How is it, Don Esteban,
That you of love sing always,
And never sing of war?
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I answer thus the question,
Ye bachelor* young damsels:
It is that men are ugly,
It is that you are fair.
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‘For what would it avail me
To sing to drums and trumpets,
Whilst marching sorely onward,
Encumber’d by my shield?
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* This is literal. The original is muchachas bachilleras—bachelor girls. |
| 342 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 23. |
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“‘Think you the tree of glory
Delights the common soldier;
That tree so full of blossoms
That never bears a fruit?
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“‘Let him who gains in battles
His glorious wounds, enjoy them;
Let him praise war who knows not
The happiness of peace.
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“‘I will not sing of soldiers,
I will not sing of combats,
But only of the damsels,—
My combats are with them.’
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“. . . . . We are now tolerably settled at Martin Hall.
I have laboured much in making it comfortable, and comfortable it now is. Our
sitting-room is large, with three windows and two recesses—once windows,
but now converted into book-cases, with green baize hanging half-way down the
books, as in the College Green. The room is papered with cartridge paper,
bordered with yellow Vandykes edged with black. I have a good many books, but
not all I want, as many of my most valuable ones are lying in London. I shall
be very glad to get settled in a house at London, where I may collect all my
chattels together, and move on contentedly for some dozen years in my
profession. You will find little difficulty either in Anacreon or in Homer; the
language will soon become familiar to you, and you will, I hope, apply yourself
to it with assiduity. I remember William
Taylor promising to give you some instruction in German when you
were well enough acquainted with the ancient languages to begin the modern
ones. I need not tell you how valuable such instruction would be, or how
| Ætat. 23. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 343 |
“You will send me your other translations from Anacreon, and in return I will always send you some piece which you had not before seen. I wish you would sometimes, on a fine evening, walk out, and write as exact a description of the sunset, and the appearance of everything around, as you can. You would find it a pleasant employment, and I can assure you it would be a very useful one. I should like you to send me some of these sketches; not of sunset only, but of any natural scene. If you have Ossian at hand, you may see what I mean in the description of night by five Scotch bards. Your neighbourhood to the sea gives you opportunities of seeing the finest effects of sunrise—fine weather, or storms; or you may contrast it with inland views and forest scenery, of which I believe you will see much in Nottinghamshire.
“Let me hear from you soon, and often, and regularly.
