But the performance of the French
is not equal to their skill; and hitherto we have wanted skill to
perform better. Segrais, whose preface is so wonderfully good, yet
is wholly destitute of elevation; though his version is much better
than that of the two brothers, or any of the rest who have attempted
Virgil. Annibale Caro is a great name amongst the Italians, yet his
translation of the "AEneis" is most scandalously mean, though he has
taken the advantage of writing in blank verse, and freed himself
from the shackles of modern rhyme--if it be modern; for Le Clerc has
told us lately, and I believe has made it out, that David's Psalms
were written in as errant rhyme as they are translated. Now if a
Muse cannot run when she is unfettered, it is a sign she has but
little speed. I will not make a digression here, though I am
strangely tempted to it, but will only say that he who can write
well in rhyme may write better in blank verse. Rhyme is certainly a
constraint even to the best poets, and those who make it with most
ease; though perhaps I have as little reason to complain of that
hardship as any man, excepting Quarles and Withers.
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