[349] The ridicule attached to the translation by Sternhold and Hopkins is proverbial; yet there is at least little pretension in that despised version, and it gives us, in a homely old-fashioned metre and diction, the sense of the Hebrew authors. But, in Tate and Brady, there is a vain attempt to grace the inspired songs with the incongruous ornaments of modern taste. On the whole, it is perhaps impossible to transfuse the beauties of oriental poetry into a metrical translation. It is remarkable, that, in this very poem, Dryden uses these translations to express nearly the lowest of all poetry. He calls the Whig poets,
Poor slaves, in metre dull and addle-pated,
Who rhyme below even David's psalms translated.
This was an odd prophetic denunciation, concerning what was doomed to be the principal work of his assistant. Tate and Brady, however, did not undertake their task till after the Revolution.
[350] Part of Achitophel's speech to Absalom, beginning,
The crown's true heir, a prince severe and wise,
is copied verbatim from the first part; and whole lines in many other places.
[351] First edit. Goodness was e'en.
[352] First edit. Flatterie's.