of ordinary parts to find a fault in one of greater) I have not tied myself to a literal tranflation; but have often omitted what I judged unneceffary, or not of dignity enough to appear in the company of better thoughts. I have presumed farther, in fome places, and added fomewhat of my own where I thought my author was deficient, and had not given his thoughts their true luftre, for want of words in the beginning of our language. And to this I was the more emboldened, because (if I may be permitted to say it of myfelf) I found I had a foul congenial to his, and that I had been converfant in the fame ftudies. Another poet, in another age, may take the same liberty with my writings; if at leaft they live long enough to deserve correction. It was also neceffary fometimes to reftore the sense of Chaucer, which was loft or mangled in the errors of the prefs: let this example fuffice at prefent; in the ftory of Palamon and Arcite, where the temple of Diana is described, you find these verses, in all the editions of our author:

There faw I Danè turned into a tree,

I mean not the goddess Diane,

But Venus daughter, which that hight Danè:

Which after a little confideration I knew was to be reformed into this fenfe, that Daphne the daughter of Peneus was turned into a tree. I durft not make thus bold with Ovid, left fome future Milbourn should arife, and say, I varied from my author, because I understood him not.

But there are other judges who think I ought not to have tranflated Chaucer into English, out of a quite contrary notion: they fuppofe there is a certain veneration due to his old language; and that it is a little

lefs than profanation and facrilege to alter it. They are farther of opinion, that fomewhat of his good fenfe will fuffer in this transfufion, and much of the beauty of his thoughts will infallibly be loft, which appear with more grace in their old habit. Of this opinion was that excellent perfon, whom I mentioned, the late earl of Leicester, who valued Chaucer as much as Mr. Cowley defpifed him. My lord diffuaded me from this attempt, (for I was thinking of it fome years before his death) and his authority prevailed fo far with me, as to defer my undertaking while he lived, in deference to him: yet my reason was not convinced with what he urged against it. If the first end of a writer be to be understood, then as his language grows obfolete, his thoughts must grow obfcure: multa renafcentur quæ nunc cecidere; cadentque, quæ nunc funt in honore vocabula, fi volet ufus, quem penes arbitrium eft & jus & norma laquendi. When an ancient word for its found and fignificancy deserves to be revived, I have that reasonable veneration for antiquity, to restore it. All beyond this is fuperftition. Words are not like landmarks, fo facred as never to be removed; customs are changed, and even statutes are filently repealed, when the reafon ceases for which they were enacted. As for the other part of the argument, that his thoughts will lofe of their original beauty, by the innovation of words; in the first place, not only their beauty, but their being is loft, where they are no longer understood, which is the prefent cafe. I grant that fomething must be loft in all transfufion, that is, in all tranflations; but the fenfe will remain, which would otherwise be loft, or at least be maimed, when it is fcarce intelligible; and that but to a few. How few are there who can read Chaucer, fo as to underftand him perfectly? And if imperfectly, then with

lefs

lefs profit and no pleasure. 'Tis not for the use of fome old Saxon friends, that I have taken these pains with him: let them neglect my verfion, because they have no need of it. I made it for their fakes who understand sense and poetry as well as they, when that poetry and sense is put into words which they underftand. I will go farther, and dare to add, that what beauties I lose in some places, I give to others which had them not originally: but in this I may be partial to myself; let the reader judge, and I fubmit to his decifion. Yet I think I have juft occafion to complain of them, who, because they understand Chaucer, would deprive the greater part of their countrymen of the fame advantage, and hoard him up, as mifers do their grandam gold, only to look on it themselves, and hinder others from making use of it. In fum, I seriously proteft, that no man ever had, or can have, a greater veneration for Chaucer, than myself. I have tranflated some part of his works, only that I might perpetuate his memory, or at least refresh it, amongst my countrymen. If I have altered him any where for the better, I muft at the fame time acknowledge, that I could have done nothing without him: Facile eft inventis addere, is no great commendation; and I am not fo vain to think I have deserved a greater. I will conclude what I have to say of him fingly, with this one remark: a lady of my acquaintance, who keeps a kind of correfpondence with some authors of the fair fex in France, has been informed by them, that Mademoiselle de Scudery, who is as old as Sibyl, and infpired like her by the fame god of poetry, is at this time tranflating Chaucer into modern French. From which I gather, that he has been formerly tranflated into the old Provencal, (for how she should come to understand old English I know not.) But the matter

of

of fact being true, it makes me think that there is fomething in it like fatality; that, after certain periods of time, the fame and memory of great wits fhould be renewed, as Chaucer is both in France and England. If this be wholly chance, 'tis extraordinary, and I dare not call it more, for fear of being taxed with fuperstition.

Boccace comes laft to be confidered, who, living in the fame age with Chaucer, had the fame genius, and followed the fame ftudies: both writ novels, and each of them cultivated his mother tongue. But the greatest resemblance of our two modern authors being in their familiar ftile, and pleafing way of relating comical adventures, I may pafs it over, because I have tranflated nothing from Boccace of that nature. In the ferious part of poetry, the advantage is wholly on Chaucer's fide; for tho' the Englishman has borrow'd many tales from the Italian, yet it appears that thofe of Boccace were not generally of his own making but taken from authors of former ages, and by him only modelled: fo that what there was of invention in either of them, may be judged equal. But Chaucer has refined on Boccace, and has mended the stories which he has borrowed, in his way of telling; though profe allows more liberty of thought, and the expreffion is more eafy, when unconfined by numbers. Our countryman carries weight, and yet wins the race at difadvantage. I defire not the reader should take my word: and therefore I will set two of their discourses on the fame fubject, in the fame light, for every man to judge betwixt them. I tranflated Chaucer first, and, amongst the reft, pitched on the wife of Bath's tale; not daring, as I have faid, to adventure on her prologue, because it is too licentious: there Chaucer introduces an old woman of mean parentage, whom a

youthful

youthful knight of noble blood was forced to marry. and confequently loathed her: the crone being in bed with him on the wedding night, and finding his averfion, endeavours to win his affection by reason, and speaks a good word for herself, (as who could blame her?) in hope to mollify the fullen bridegroom. She takes her topicks from the benefits of poverty, the advantages of old age and uglinefs, the vanity of youth, and the filly pride of ancestry and titles without inherent virtue, which is the true nobility. When I had clofed Chaucer, I returned to Ovid, and tranflated fome more of his fables; and by this time had fo far forgotten the wife of Bath's tale, that, when I took up Boccace, unawares I fell on the fame argument of preferring virtue to nobility of blood, and titles, in the ftory of Sigifmunda; which I had certainly avoided for the resemblance of the two difcourfes, if my memory had not failed me. Let the reader weigh them both; and if he thinks me partial to Chaucer, it is in him to right Boccace.

I prefer in our countryman, far above all his other ftories, the noble Poem of Palamon and Arcite, which is of the Epic kind, and perhaps not much inferior to the Ilias or the Æneis: the ftory is more pleafing than either of them, the manners as perfect, the diction as poetical, the learning as deep and various; and the difpofition full as artful; only it includes a greater length of time, as taking up feven years at leaft; but Ariftotle has left undecided the duration of the action; which yet is eafily reduced into the compafs of a year, by a narration of what preceded the return of Palamon to Athens. I had thought for the honour of our nation, and more particularly for his, whofe laurel, tho' unworthy, I have worn after him, that this story was of English growth, and Chaucer's

own: