Of such translation it may with truth be said, in the words of Francklin,
Thus Greece and Rome, in modern dress array’d,
Is but antiquity in masquerade.
[55] The modern air of the following sentence is, however, not displeasing: Antipho asks Cherea, where he has bespoke supper; he answers, Apud libertum Discum, “At Discus the freedman’s.” Echard, with a happy familiarity, says, “At old Harry Platter’s.” Ter. Eun. act 3, sc. 5.
[56] Alluding to the French Admiral’s ship Le Soleil Royal, beaten and disabled by Russell.
[57] The translation published by Motteux declares in the title-page, that it is the work of several hands; but as of these Mr. Motteux was the principal, and revised and corrected the parts that were translated by others, which indeed we have no means of discriminating from his own, I shall, in the following comparison, speak of him as the author of the whole work.
[58] The only French translation of Don Quixote I have ever seen, is that to which is subjoined a continuation of the Knight’s adventures, in two supplemental volumes, by Le Sage. This translation has undergone numberless editions, and is therefore, I presume, the best; perhaps indeed the only one, except a very old version, which is mentioned in the preface, as being quite literal, and very antiquated in its style. It is therefore to be presumed, that when Jarvis accuses Motteux of having taken his version entirely from the French, he refers to that translation above mentioned to which Le Sage has given a supplement. If this be the case, we may confidently affirm, that Jarvis has done Motteux the greatest injustice. On comparing his translation with the French, there is a discrepancy so absolute and universal, that there does not arise the smallest suspicion that he had ever seen that version. Let any passage be compared ad aperturam libri; as, for example, the following:
“De simples huttes tenoient lieu de maisons, et de palais aux habitants de la terre; les arbes se defaisant d’eux-memes de leurs écorces, leur fournissoient de quoi couvrir leurs cabanes, et se garantir de l’intempérie des saisons.”
“The tough and strenuous cork-trees did of themselves, and without other art than their native liberality, dismiss and impart their broad, light bark, which served to cover those lowly huts, propped up with rough-hewn stakes, that were first built as a shelter against the inclemencies of the air.”—Motteux.
“La beaute n’étoit point un avantage dangereux aux jeunes filles; elles alloient librement partout, etalant sans artifice et sans dessein tous les présents que leur avoit fait la Nature, sans se cacher davantage, qu’autant que l’honnêteté commune à tous les siecles l’a toujours demandé.”