Introduction.
alone a fragment taken from an extended poem. The ſubſequent notes, retained from the firſt edition, will discloſe the difficulty, the almoſt impoſſibility of tranſlation into Engliſh and the incomparable adaptability of the Latin, both for meaſure and rhyme. Nevertheleſs, the Rev. Samuel W. Duffield has made a tranſlation in the meaſure of the original with the intermediate dactylic rhymes and the final double-rhymes, which moreover, is a literal rendering of the poem line for line and often word for word. The introduction of Mr. Duffield is alſo a valuable eſſay upon the construction of the verſe.
The great difficulty of rendering theſe mediæval hymns into Engliſh is cauſed by the fact that generally they are both in Latin and in rhyme, and the rhyme is often double-rhyme, an element which is little better than artificial in our monoſyllabic Engliſh tongue. If the reader will compare the following ſpecimens he will ſee how far apart tranſlators can be.
The firſt tranſlation is Mr. Duffield's; the ſecond is one which I made for the Seven Great Hymns; the third, it is needleſs to ſay, is Dr. Neale's.
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