Prize Translations: Poems and Parodies. (John Walker and Co.) —These
are "reprinted from the Journal of Education," and are the successful or commended pieces sent in for a series of prizes. The editor speaks of the difficulty which he has found in setting pieces "translatable, worth translating, and hitherto untranslatocl." The first two conditions ho has fulfilled, we think, in all cases ; as to the third, the only piece that was already familiar in an English dress was Ublaud's "Dor Wirthin Tochterlein." The first poem, Alfred do Mussot's " Si vows croyez quo je vais dire, Qui j'cso sinner" (notice- able, among other things, as an example of the licence of French rhyme), is capitally translated by " Patch " ; and another French poem, "Flour dos Champs," by Lemoino, almost bettor, by F. W. Bourdillon. This we are inclined to put at the head of the list. A third version from the French may be mentioned,—Corneille's "Les Ravages du Temps," rendered by the Rev. James Robertson. Many more aro worth mentioning; in fact, the volume shows good work throughout. We see a carious mistake in the line, "Idols elle ltait du monde oh lee belles chosos," where we have "de co monde," quite spoiling the metro.
Previous page
