The Elegy has been translated into nearly every European language, whilst numerous Greek and Latin versions have also been printed.
It would be foreign to the objects of this collection to include these translations, but some bibliographical notes may be given which will enable students, and admirers of Gray, to obtain the works, in the Library of the British Museum, or in either of the other great public Libraries in Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, or Dublin.
| Greek Versions of Gray’s Elegy. | ||
| J. Norbury. | Eton. | 1793. |
| Professor Cooke. | Cambridge. | 1785. |
| C. Coote. | London. | 1794. |
| B. E. Sparke. | ” | ” |
| S. Weston. | ” | ” |
| E. Tew. | ” | 1795. |
| J. Plumtre. | ” | 1795. |
| Hon. G. Denman. | Cambridge. | 1871. |
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| Latin Versions. | ||
| Christopher Anstey. | Cambridge. | 1762. |
| (This was in quarto, other editions have since beenpublished.) | ||
| R. Lloyd. | 1774. | |
| G. Costa. | Padua. | 1772. |
| Benio. | Verona. | 1817. |
| Barbieri. | Verona. | 1817. |
| C. C. Colton (author of “Lacon”). | 1822. | |
| Rev. William Hildyard. | London. | 1839. |
| J. H. Macaulay. | 1841. | |
| H. S. Dickenson. | 1849. | |
| James Pycroft, B.A. | Brighton. | 1879. |
| In Latin Elegiacs. Anonymous. | London. | 1876. |
| In Latin Elegiacs, by G. H., a countryman of George Buchanan. | 1877. | |
| Munro. In the Ovidian measure. | 1880. | |
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| French Versions. | ||
| M. J. de Chenier. | Paris. | 1805. |
| J. Roberts. | London. | 1875. |
| Madame Necker. | ||
| Adrien Sarrasin. | ||
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| Russian Version. | ||
| Joukovsky. | Moscow. | 1802. |
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| Italian Versions. | ||
| M. Cesarotti. | Padua. | 1772. |
| J. Giannini. | London. | 1782. |
| G. Torelli. | Parma. | 1793. |
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| Phonographic Version. | ||
| Corresponding style. Interlinear translation. London. F. Pitman. | (About 1866.) | |
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In the Library of the British Museum there is a volume entitled: “Elegia di Tommaso Gray, sopra un cimitero di Campagna, tradotta dall’ Inglese in piu lingue con aggiunta di varie cose finora inedite per cura dell dottore Alessandro Torri. Veronese. Livorno Tipografia Migliaresi. 1843. This contains the original Elegy in English, followed by twelve Italian translations in different metres, five in Latin, one in Hebrew, six in French, one in German prose by William Mason, and three in German verse, or twenty-eight translations in all, and it mentions others which are not included. There are also copious notes, and a biography of Thomas Gray. The press mark in the B. M. Library of this very curious volume is 1465 K.
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In 1839, a Polyglott edition of Gray’s Elegy was published by Mr. John Van Voorst, of Paternoster Row, London. This charming little volume contains some of the finest specimens of modern wood engraving, in which the artists have admirably succeeded in realising the spirit of the poem. The text consists of the original poem, with Greek, Latin, German, French, and Italian translations. The Greek translation was by Thomas J. Mathias, author of “The Pursuits of Literature,” the Latin by Rev. William Hildyard, the Italian by Guiseppe Torelli, and the German by F. G. Gotter. The French version is ascribed to M. Le Fourneur, whose verses are of very unequal merit; in a few cases he compresses the sense of a verse into two lines, in others he spreads it over six lines, whilst some of Gray’s most poetical ideas and images are entirely omitted.
The second verse:—
Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,