Mr. Pope’s Dying Christian to his Soul, which is modelled on the verses of Adrian, retains so little of the thoughts of the original, and substitutes in their place a train of sentiments so different, that it cannot even be called a paraphrase, but falls rather under the description of imitation.
The Italian version of Ovid in ottava rima, by Anguillara, is a work of great poetical merit; but is scarcely in any part to be regarded as a translation of the original. It is almost entirely paraphrastical. In the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, the simple ideas announced in these two lines,
Tempore crevit amor: tædæ quoque jure coïssent;
Sed vetuere patres quod non potuere vetare,
are the subject of the following paraphrase, which is as beautiful in its composition, as it is unbounded in the licence of its amplification.
Era l’amor cresciuto à poco à poco
Secondo erano in lor cresciuti gli anni:
E dove prima era trastullo, e gioco,
Scherzi, corrucci, e fanciulleschi inganni,