sternunt. At quandoquidem omnia horum poetarum carmina, uti erant primitus et Latine scripta, tuto et sine labe legi queant; singula tamen, salva morum pietate, Anglice reddi posse minime contendo. Sed quum multa possint, dolendum videtur linguam Anglicanam non perfrui pluribus quippe quæ ditiorem redderent sermonem nostrum, atque pleniorem dulcium varietate imaginum, quæ æque sunt innocuæ, atque sunt suaves. Qui vero hujusce operis provinciam in se susceperint, illi profecto desudabunt, cum novos passim invenient labores ex crebris clausulis ad ritualem religionis cultum et superstitiosa quælibet dogmata alte respicientibus oriundos. Hisce exemplis abundant ea Carmina, in quibus reperitur maxima vis libidinis; nempe lasciviæ lenocinari superstitio jugiter solet. Quantum autem ad illa attinet, quæ non indecora tralatione digna sunt, ea quidem omnia, paucis illustrata commentariis, non solum erunt intellectu facilia, verum etiam lectoribus mere Anglicanis magnam afferent voluptatem. TRANSLATION. tempt them to pervert even the most sacred things to the vilest purposes. However, though all their poems may be read in the originals with safety, I do not pretend to say they can all be translated with decency. But since many of them may, it is pity, I think, we have not more of them in English, to enrich our language with a variety of pleasing images that are as innocent as they are delightful. There is one difficulty that will still lie upon the hands of any who shall undertake this work, and this ariseth from their frequent allusions to the ceremonies and notions of their religion. Instances of this abound even in those copies of their verses that are writ the most in the spirit of lewdness (as superstition hath ever been an especial bawd to lust). But for all such as are proper to be translated, they may be rendered by a few explanatory notes not only intelligible, but very entertaining to a mere English reader. IN LAUDEM DOMINI PARKERI.1 QUANDOQUIDEM ad boni principis officium nihil magis pertinet, quàm ut amplissimas reipublicæ dignitates viris de PREAMBLE TO LORD PARKER'S PATENT. As it is the duty of a good prince to confer the highest dignities of the state upon those who have done the most eminent services In Mr. Hughes's correspondence (vol. ii. p. 79) will be found a very courteous and complimentary letter to Lord Chancellor Parker, for patria optumè merentibus impertiatur, prædilectum et perquamfidelem consiliarium nostrum Thomam Parkerum militem, et capitalem in banco regio justiciarium, procerum nostrorum numero adscribi volumus, qui in honorum fuga, pari studio usus est, quo plures, in eorum petitione, uti solent; nec, ulla sua opera titulos sibi acquisivit, nisi quòd illos meruerit. Egregiam hanc optimi civis modestiam efflagitatione nostra vincendam duximus, nè ab arduis curiæ patricia negotiis diutiùs se retraheret, malo publico verecundus. Præclaræ, quibus fruitur, animi dotes, et omnimodo tum rerum tum scientiarum peritia, quæ, ut vitam in otio elegantèr et jucundè agere et posset et mallet, effecere, quo minùs ita ageret, dudum impedierunt. Summam in senatu, summam in foro laudem sibi comparavit. Gravissimo seni Johanni Holt militi, capitali in banco regio justiciario, successor constitutus est, utpote qui tanti muneris dignitatem ritè sustineret, tanti viri levaret desiderium. Ibi, difficillimis temporibus, cum jus nostrum in regni hu TRANSLATION. to their country, We have determined to advance to the degree of peerage our well-beloved and faithful counsellor, Sir Thomas Parker, knight, Chief Justice of the King's Bench; who has hitherto as industriously declined honours as others are wont to solicit them; and has had no part in the acquisition of a title, but deserving it. This modesty of so good a subject, however commendable in itself, We have thought fit to over-rule by Our express commands, that it should no longer withhold him from the important services of the House of Peers, nor continue to be indulged to the prejudice of the public. His eminent endowments of mind, with his extensive knowledge and learning, which have put it in his power and in his wishes to pass his time in the pleasures of an elegant and retired life, have been the very means which have hindered his doing so. After having arrived at the highest reputation of a lawyer and senator, he was, upon the death of that valuable person Sir John Holt, appointed Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench, as one fully qualified to support the dignity of so weighty a charge, and to alleviate the loss of so great a man. In that station, at a juncture when Our succession to this Crown was most endangered, he promoted the cause of Our family, and warding a copy of his "Ode to the Creator of the World,” which he says was published by Tonson, 1713, at the particular instance of Mr. Addison, "for whose judgment I know your Lordship has a very just esteem." jusce successionem periclitaretur, domus nostræ adeòque populi Brittannici causam strenuè promovit, majori fortitudine an justitia incertum; cavitque nè impunè leges partibus nostris faventes impugnarent mali, neu cum periculo boni vindicarent. Nec majorem officii auctoritate in negotiis publicis reverentiam, quàm morum suavitate in quotidiana vitæ consuetudine omnium sibi gratiam conciliavit : fælix meritò habendus, cui ista contigerit animi æquabilitas, quæ sicuti civem maxumè exornat, ita in primis commendat judicem. Neque ea quæ inter mortalium laudes præcipuum locum obtinet, et quæ illum sibi nobisque paritèr reddit acceptiorem silentio prætereunda est, sincera erga Deum pietas, singulari erga homines benevolentiæ conjuncta. Hunc talem virum, ut litibus intersit supremo foro dirimendis judex integerrimus; ac in legibus ferendis eodem loco versetur, quo in explicandis sæpe sibi gloriam adeptus est; optimatum nostrorum ordini admovendum curavimus. TRANSLATION. therein of the British nation, with equal justice and fortitude; and took effectual care that it should not be safe for ill men to attack those laws which were made in Our behalf, nor dangerous for good men to defend them. If he has made himself venerable by the authority of his office in public affairs, he has made himself no less amiable by the sweetness of his behaviour in all the ordinary and familiar intercourses of life; being blessed with that evenness of temper, which, as it adorns the private man, so in a peculiar manner it recommends the judge. Nor must we omit that which is the greatest of all human praises, and which renders him more acceptable both to himself and Us, a sincere piety towards God, joined with an exemplary benevolence towards men. A person of this character, We have thought fit to make a Peer of Our Realm; that a Judge, who has so long acted with the greatest integrity, may have a voice in that Court which is the last resource of justice, and share in the making of laws where he has so often gained himself a reputation in the explaining of them. ORATIO. NOVA PHILOSOPHIA VETERI PRÆFERENDA EST.1 QUOUSQUE veterum vestigiis serviliter insistemus, Academici, nec ultra patres sapere audebimus! Quousque antiquitatis ineptias, ut senum deliria nonnulli solent, religiose venerabimur? Pudeat sane, dum tam præclarum ætatis hujusce specimen coram oculis præsens intuemur, ad antiquos encomia nostra transferre, et inter priora sæcula quos celebremus sedulo investigare. Satis superque veteri Philosophiæ concessum est, quod Stagyrite laudibus theatrum toties sonuit Sheldonianum, quod ille vel Alexandro suo major in scholarum rostris tam AN ORATION, IN DEFENCE OF THE NEW PHILOSOPHY." SPOKEN IN THE THEATRE AT OXFORD, JULY 7, 1693, BY MR. ADDISON. Translated from the Latin by Richard Rawlinson, LL. D. How long, gentlemen of the University, shall we slavishly tread in the steps of the ancients, and be afraid of being wiser than our ancestors? How long shall we religiously worship the triflings of antiquity, as some do old wives' stories? It is indeed shameful, when we survey the great ornament of the present age,3 to transfer our applauses to the ancients, and to take pains to search into ages past for persons deserving of panegyric. The ancient philosophy has had more allowed than it could reasonably pretend to; how often has Sheldon's theatre rung with Encomia on the Stagyrite, who, greater than his own Alexander, has long, unopposed, triumphed in our schooldesks, and had the whole world for his pupils. At length Vid. Theatri Oxoniensis Encænia, sive Comitia Philologica, Julii 7, 1693, celebrata. 2 This Oration, as well as Dr. Rawlinson's translation, was first printed by Curll in Lit. Cor. vol. iv. 1736, then by Cogan in Addison's Miscellaneous Works, 1750, and lastly, as far as we know, at the end of an edition of, Fontenelle's Plurality of Worlds, Lond. 1757. Sir David Brewster quotes it at large in his recent Life of Sir Isaac Newton, vol. i. p. 334. 3 Newton. diu impune triumphavit, et totum mundum habuit discipulum. Fæliciori tandem ingenio succedit Cartesius, qui contra omnes omnium oppugnantium vires veritatem pertinaciter asservit, et novum hoc introduxit philosophandi genus; si vero Philosophiæ isti novitatis nomen tribuendum sit, quæ, quanquam jam primum innotuerit, vel Peripateticam antiquitate superat, et ipsi materiæ a quâ derivatur, existit coætanea. Illustris ille vir, quem unum Galliæ invidemus, proinde omnia explicuit, ac si ipse totius mundi olim fuisset architectus. Diffregit ille vitreos istos cœlorum orbes, quos veterum insomnia compegere, ex materiæ catibulis ignotam eruit formarum turbam et elementum ignis penitus extinxit, uno totam tam dilucide depinxit rerum universitatem ut nulla jam qualitas relicta sit occulta. Inter mundi Aristotelici angustias et moenia crystallina diutius coarctari dedignatur Philosophus, juvat undique superiores cœlorum tractus explorare, novosque soles, et mundos inter sydera latentes detegere; juvat immensas hasce ætheris plagas orbibus erraticis passim interspersas, terrasque per viam lacteam undequaque disjacentes intueri, et machinæ totius molem rectius TRANSLATION. arose Cartesius, a happier genius, who has bravely asserted the truth against the united force of all opposers, and has brought on the stage a new method of philosophizing. But shall we stigmatize with the name of novelty that philosophy, which, though but lately revived, is more ancient than the Peripatetic, and as old as the matter from whence it is derived? A great man indeed he was, and the only one we envy France.1 He solved the difficulties of the universe, almost as well as if he had been its architect. He destroyed those orbs of glass which the whims of antiquity had fixed above, brought to light that troop of forms till then unknown, and has almost extinguished the element of fire; nay, he with so much clearness traced out the whole mass of matter, as to leave no occult quality untouched. This philosopher scorned to be any longer bounded within the straits and crystalline walls of an Aristotelic world; no, his delight is to search the regions above, to discover new suns, and new worlds, which lay hid among the stars; his satisfaction is to view that large kingdom of air amidst the unfixed stars, and Descartes. |