| This Scot was a swift horse-riding robber, And no one balanced spear by knee better, |
—verses as little resembling the original as "an eyas does a true hawk."
Translated into Latin, the original lines would read
| Scotticus fuit eques, strenuus raptoque pollutus Quo nullus hastam a genu tam apte librabat, |
as great a failure as the Greek.
If Scott would suffer so much in the eyes of the Greek and Latin reader, it is only fair to presume that Homer and Virgil suffer as much in our eyes.
We perceive the merits of our modern poet; we are blind to the merits of the ancient. We are consequently incapable of judging between them. Mr. Grimckè's comparison is unreasonable.
II.
"Humility is certainly beautiful, but vanity is not always uncomely."—Anon.