THE NEW TRANSLATION OF DON QUIXOTE.* HUMAN nature must have
altered very much since the time of Cer- vantes, if Mr. Duffield gets half the credit he deserves for this labour of love ; but the faults of the book are just such as make the most placable reader exclaim that the picture would have been better if the painter had taken less pains. There is a highflying tone about some of the introductory and interlocutory matter, and a starched self-consciousness in the rest, which goes far to spoil the effect of good work. It was comparatively a small matter (following a hint of Godwin's) to clear Don Quixote of the interpolations of ruffians of the Philips order; far more arduous was the task of solving a problem which neither Philips nor Smollett was one whit capable of apprehending, but which Mr. Duffield has, to his honour, grappled with. How are we to render for the English reader the simplicity, the buoyant sweetness, the unfaltering animal spirits of Cervantes, and yet preserve the dignity—often the antique dignity—of his style ? He makes the Don counsel Sancho Panza (on the duties of a governor) con reposada voz, which Mr. Duffield translates, "in a
* The ingenious Raighf, Don Quixote de la Mancha. Composed by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. A Now Translation, from the Originals of 1605 end 1608, by Alexander James Duffield. With some of the Notes of the Rev. J. Bowie, Juan Antonio Pellieer, Don Diego Clemenein, and other Commentators. 3 vols. London : C. Began Paul and Co.
The Hietory of the logenious ljnight, Don Quixote of La Mancha. Translated from the Spanish by P. A. Eaten:. Edinburgh : William Paterson.
seasoned and gracious voice," but which to most people's minds conveys an idea of stateliness. So taking it, we may say that the manner of Cervantes, for all its freshness and gaiety, is always reposada, and sometimes "high." Mr. Duffield, feel- ing the whole difficulty (we presume), has done something to meet it by resorting to a hazardous use of antique English. And though he sometimes falls into affectation and uses an utterly obsolete vocabulary ; and though, in addition, his phrasing is sometimes roundabout,—in spite of this, he is here,. we think, on the right track. But then, again, we have parted with the simplicity of the original author's manner. That, if it is "old," is also " plain " and. "silly Booth," so that "the spinsters and the knitters in the sun" may enjoy it.
Mr. Duffield appears to have spent many years at this task of his, and with the help of a distinguished Spanish scholar, Seilor Don Pascual de Gayangos, he gives a curious list of books of chivalry published in Spain. Strange has been the fate of such books. Burke, "commonly called the Sublime," was so, sublime as to put Don Belianis and the Pilgrim's Progress in the same category. All we need remark is that a very little knowledge of such literature goes a long way, and that Mr. Duffield clearly lays too much stress upon its value to "the young reader," and to other readers.
In regard to the translation of a big book like Don Quixote,. there must, of course, be debateable ground ; for the Spanish, though a regular language, has traps and pitfalls (for instance, in the use of the word que), and is sometimes very elliptical, to- say nothing of the difficulties imposed by the frequent irrup- tions of proverbs, or worse, half-proverbs. Nor need anybody be ashamed of positive errors ; the ,careful and laborious Southey committed a good many in his rendering of Amadis of Gaul, sometimes even making the narrator say the reverse of what he meant. On first reading Mr. Duffield, we began making notes of more or less questionable things ; but they mounted up too fast to be of any use, and, having dropped formal memoranda, we must now trust to memory. Take, to begin with, the chapters in which the Don lectures Sancho about the duties of a governor. Here, "short persuasions ". is a very bad translation of sentencias breves (applied to pro- verbs), and " fopperies " for disparates is still worse ; for, both by the dictionary and the context, the word means fooleries or absurdities. Quien destaja no baraja can hardly mean, "he who works by the job does not jangle." Is it not a card- player's maxim, meaning that he who shuffles must not deal ? Even if Mr. Duffield's rendering were on the right line, surely the meaning would be, "He who can impose terms need not discuss them ?" Before leaving these chap- ters, we may say that Mr. Duffield, who has "explained ". so many simple things, might just as well have explained the Don's, "I will be thy Cato," since it is not every- body who knows the maxim-book of the middle-ages called Dionysii Catonis Disticha de Iforibus ad Filium. On the other hand, Mr. Duffield gives an explanation of "Bendel," which was unnecessary ; and a long note, full of Scripture references, to explain Don Quixote's exclamation of "padre !" in a certain case. This explanation is far over the head of the subject. The "My father !" here, and similar interjections elsewhere, are the same in character with such loose-tongued exclamations in English as " Pooh ! my grandmother ! Go about your busi- ness !" There is a Spanish proverb which runs," Who will carry the cat to the water ? " or, "Hands off ! or else you will soon see what a cat you are carrying to the water !" Mr. Duffield gravely says (p. 100, Vol. I.) that "the origin of the proverb is lost." But since what date have cats become recon- ciled to the water, or easy to drown ? Suppose you want to. put a poor tabby "out of its misery" in the coarse old way. Posh it into a Wellington boot, tie a brick round its neck, and sink it in a pond miles off. You will get very much scratched, but the cat will probably be at your fireside next day, looking quite fresh, and with the brick gone. See, for an authentic instance, the delightful Memorials of Mrs. (Ann Taylor) Gilbert, chapter iii.
In the counsels of Don Quixote to Sancho there are three errors, so grave that they must be noticed. The smallest of the three is translating Si tu tomas por medio /a virtud, as, "If thou takest virtue as thy middle course." What next ? Very bad, too, is it to render Las informaciones del rico, as, "the in- telligence of the rich." It means, of course, "informations," in the legal sense ; set pleadings, paid for :—" Let the [silent, informal pleading in] tears of the poor weigh with thee as much as," dec. Worst of all is the next. The Don tells Sancho that he will have to account for all bribes, &c., en la residencia uni- versal. Now, residencia is the trial which a judge, resigning or
deposed, has to undergo at the last ; all the world being legally summoned to speak their complaints against him, if any. Mr.
Duffield renders the Spanish, "in the universal residence," and without note or comment, too. The text, of course, means the " universal judgment."
Passing over some points, we might ask why disparates is to mean "fopperies," and disparatado is to mean " fantas- tical,"—" Haber entendido el disparatado humor de Don Quixote." The meaning in the latter case is clearly the cracked, crazed, or absurd humour; and, in the other place, fooleries, absurdities, or crazinesses. And, before leaving the Duke and Duchess, why is gracioso, applied to the success of a practical joke, rendered "gracious P" The meaning is, beyond question, " ludicrous," or "comical." Lest this should make the merely English reader shake his head, we may mention that "ludicrous" or "facetious" is the second dictionary meaning of gracioso ; that gracioso, as a noun, means a harlequin or merry-andrew ; and that the word in the place referred to is applied to the success of a gross trick played upon the Knight. Again, when Don Quixote tells Sancho, upon their meeting the Duke and Duchess in the woods, to take care not to encajar any of his proverbs into his discourse with the lady, Mr. Duffield translates, "mingle with ;" and Sancho is made to reply, "You have found your mingler." But encojar (literally, "to encase ") means here to drive or ram in by main force, and surely Sancho's answer means, "The ramming-in is all out of your own head." Of course, " ramming-in " would not do for the translation, but "
mingle" is far too mild.
There is much to say concerning the proverbs, but we will only take a few. Here, of course, we are often on mainly conjectural ground. But take the awfully momentous Pan por dodo ques- tion. Mr. Duffield rightly rejects this reading, and accepts pamporcino, or pan-porcino, which means the wild cyclamen, but takes the Duke's praise of hunting—Vereis como os vale un pamporcino—to mean that it will make Sancho look "as fresh as a daisy," the allusion being (supposed to be) to the fine pink of the flower. But is not this rather perverse P The talk is of boar-hunting, and pan-porcino is sow's-bread, a favourite root with hogs, which has, besides, various medicinal uses, when applied either externally or internally. It certainly looks as if any meaning for the proverb that departs wholly from what is " piggish " must be wrong, though the bulb would be of use to the swineherd, as well as to the swine. However, let that pass. In another place, Mr. Duffield refers to the lost meaning of the proverb, Ir por los cerros de Ubeda. Admittedly, this means "to talk nonsense," and he so renders it ; but if the plain of Ubeda was very flat, and full of salt-pits, have we not a possible clue, since cerros means hills ? Again, does our memory deceive us, or have we a vague but real recollection of half-a-dozen or so of proverbs about Ubeda, in which it figures as a sort of Gotham, a place for crazy things P The "painter of Ubeda," mentioned in this book, who painted at random and named his pictures at random, e.g., "This is a Cock," looks rather in that direction. By-the-by, the exact words used by Sancho Panza seem to suggest some sort of mock-oath, as, "By the mountains of Ubeda!" there being no mountains there. Bat all this is guess-work. One case more. Mr. Duffield con- demns the London edition of 1738 for altering campo real into .camino real, and when the much-abused Clemencin asks," What is a campo real ?" turns round upon him with, "Why, a campo real is a royal camp." Bat, as at present advised, we think camino real (king's highway) a sound correction. The Knight and the Squire (after the routing of the poor sheep) are in a much-frequented highway, and we will paraphrase and abbreviate what then passes, as we read it :—" Sancho : Master, that last speech of yours was just like a sermon ; you would have made a better preacher than knight-errant. Don Quixote (rather nettled): Let me tell you, Sancho, that many a good knight before my time has pulled up short in the king's highway to preach a sermon." This is at least congruous, but Mr. Duffield makes the imaginary knight halt in the midst of a camp royal to preach the sermon. But why should he P Real, by itself, means the royal tent (in a battle-field), but as poor Clemencin says, what is a "camp royal ?" Unless some old ballad authority answers this question, we shall stick to camino real (the king's highway), instead of campo real.
There is a matter on which it is wise to speak with reserve, and yet difficult to avoid a little indignation. If the eulogists, including Mr. Duffield (chief, and mostextravagant) would only come down from their stilts, it would be easy for others to speak the truth. But to come closer,—matter in the wrong place is matter in the wrong place, even in Cervantes. The writings of Cervantes are rose and lily compared with Humphry Clinker and .Roderick Random ; but the pretence that it is mere squeamishness which turns away from some things in Don Quixote does nothing but harm. Apart from the ques- tion of what is physically nauseating, one is puzzled to find Mr. Duffield, who apologises for a passage in the Dorothea story, rather anxious to claim the horrible tale of El Curios° Impertinente as the invention of Cervantes, which we do not believe it is. It is a story of a husband supposed to be much in love with his wife, and who employs his dearest friend to tempt her. Let the truth be spoken ; the notions of Cervantes about love between man and woman had their full share of the arti- ficiality, fatality, and want of height which might be expected under the circumstances. He is no worse than others,—no worse than Shakespeare in far too many instances; but do let us keep our eyes open and our consciences clean It is in the closing chapters of Don Quixote that Mr. Duffield is at his best. They are tender, simple, and fairly humorous ; but want of elastic humour is the main defect of this transla- tion, as we have aleady hinted. The proper key-note for trans- lating Don Quixote is struck in Byron's version of the Very Mournful Ballad, and in his first canto of the Morgante Maggiore. If any translator should arise who can catch that key-note at once, as a matter of course, and keep it up with unflagging animal spirits to the end, he will, to quote the Duke to Sancho, be "worth a pamporcino" to English readers. Cervantes has also struck the right key-note himself in the "customary roll of sonnets," which, with the other verses, have been so admirably translated by Mr. Daffield's colleague, Mr. J. Young Gibson. It is a pity Mr. Gibson was not set to render Sancho Panza, when- ever he uses rhymed proverbs. But the point of points is that Mr. Duffield's laborious and ingenious version has not that sus- tained ambiguity of humour without which Don Quixote is a book to break the heart.
There is only room to add that the new and handsomely- printed edition of Motteux contains some fine etchings, which really throw light upon the text.
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