[ Je ] laisse Renaud dans les jardins d'Armida, "I leave this fox in the gardens of Armida," and, between brackets, the following explanatory statement:
("Jerusalem delivered Tasso in the hands of an enchantress named Armida.") [ [7] ]
[ Chaque ] âge a ses plaisirs was translated by a nice little boy, "Every one grows old for his preserves."
(Evidently written after a surfeit of jam.)
The vagaries of my young friends are thrown into the shade by some achievements of professional translators which I have come across in America. A French master may occasionally enjoy the drolleries that a magnificent disdain for dictionary trammels and a violent yearning towards the playground will betray his pupil into; but I imagine that a publisher, who pays in hard cash for the faithful translation of a French book, can scarcely be pleased to find that the work has been interlarded with mirth-provoking blunders thrown in gratis.
I extract the two following examples of "French as she is traduced" from the translation of one of my books that the American pirates did me the honor to publish:
[ Les ] exploits d'Hercule sont de la Saint Jean auprès de..., "The exploits of Hercules are but of the St. John order compared to...."