Introduction.
in the tranſlator ſuch fervor of admiration reſtrained by ſuch exacting criticiſm. Indeed, I am inclined to believe that Dr. Johnſon ſo scrupulouſly complied with his own inexorable canons as to diſpoil his tranſlation of poetic beauties which might better have been retained. For example, he ſacrificed the moſt exact and poetical tranſlation of the thirteenth ſtanza that has ever been made becauſe it contained the word "ſhriven"—becauſe the word ſhrive "is a ſectarian term, and is uſed in general with reference to the Romiſh Church, the Dies Iræ being ſingularly free from everything peculiar to the communion of which its author was a member." When the word is taken in connection with Him "by whom the thief was ſhriven," I deem this criticiſm is too technical and the tranſlation is as free from sectarianiſm as the original. I have, therefore, taken the liberty of reſtoring the rejected ſtanza. Taking this verſion all in all, its adherence to the meaſure of the original, its retention of the double-rhyme, its avoidance of the Engliſh participle ending in "ing," its preſervation of the ideas and imagery of the original, I doubt
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