THE

JERUSALEM Delivered

OF

TORQUATO TASSO

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH SPENSERIAN VERSE
WITH A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR

BY J. H. WIFFEN

LONDON

GEORGE BELL AND SONS
1908

[Reprinted from Stereotype plates.]

YEARS have flown o'er since first my soul aspired
In song the sacred Missal to repeat,
Which sainted Tasso writ with pen inspired,-
Told is my rosary, and the task complete :
And now, 'twixt hope and fear, with toil untired,
I cast the' ambrosial relique at thy feet;
Not without faith that in thy goodness thou
Wilt deign one smile to my accomplished vow.

II.

Not in dim dungeons to the clank of chains,

Like sad Torquato's, have the hours been spent Given to the song, but in bright halls where reignз Uncumbered Freedom,—with a mind unbent By walks in woods, green dells, and pastoral plains, To sound, far-off, of village merriment; Albeit, perchance, some springs whence Tasso drew His sweetest tones, have touched my spirit too.

III.

Oh that, as happier constellations bless

My studious life, my verses too could boast Some happier graces (should I wish for less?) To' atone for charms unseized and splendours lost! No! the rich rainbow mocks the child's caress, Who can but sorrow, as his fancy 's crossed, That e'er so beautiful a thing should rise, To' elude his grasp, yet so enchant his eyes.

IV.

On the majestic Sorrentine I gazed
With a familiar joy-methought he smiled;
But now the vigil 's past, I stand amazed

At the conceit, and sorrow like the child.
What second hand can paint the scenes that blazed
In Tasso's brain, with tints as sweet and wild?
As much the shapes that on his canvass glow,
Their birth to Frenzy as to Genius owe.

Yet may I hope o'er generous minds to cast
A faint reflection of his matchless skill,
For here his own Sophronia, unaghast,
Flings firm defiance to her tyrant still:-
Clorinda bleeds; lovelorn Erminia fast

Hies through the forest at her steed's wiid will;

And in these pages still Armida's charms
Strike the rapt heart, and wake a world to arms.

VI.

Thus then, O Lady, with thy name I grace

The glorious fable; fitly, since to thee
And thine the thanks are due, that in the face
Of time and toil, the Poet's devotee

Has raised the' enchanted structure on its base,
And to thy hand now yields the' unclosing key,
Blest, if in one bright intellect like thine,
He wins regard, and builds himself a shrine!

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

Is at length presenting to the Public a complete Translation of the "Gerusalemme Liberata," I have the satisfaction of expressing my gratitude both for the flattering manner in which my published Specimen was received, and for the encouraging requests which reached me, from various quarters, for a continuance of the version. I needed, perhaps, no other inducement to proceed than the pleasure attendant on the pursuit; but it would be folly to deny that these Folicitations, coming as they did from writers of established reputation, greatly contributed to cherish my ambition, and to endue me with the perseverance necessary to accomplish a task confessedly both difficult and daring.

Yet it is with nothing like presumption on the public favour that I now submit my labours to the public eye. Some indulgence I might consider as my due, from the arduous nature of the attempt, and the desire which it implies to add to others' gratification; but as it is no uncommon thing to find such considerations lost sight of, and such claims denied, I abandon them without plea to the mercy of the world. The severest critic will probably not be able to point out, or even discover in the performance so many defects and inequalities as I myself am sensible of; for what author or artist ever succeeded in executing to the life the ideal beauty of the image in his mind? yet do I not so far discredit that secret instinct of nature which first led me to Tasso's pages, as to imagine that I shall ever have cause to regret having engaged in the undertaking. Those who are personally acquainted with me, know how wholly I have given myself to the task I have studied the old masters of English poetry, their phraseology and flow of verse; I have endeavoured to follow the naxim of Roscommon, "to write with fervour and correct with phlegm "of the earlier Cantos, no less than two-thirds have been entirely re-written;-and whether I succeed or fail in attaining that reward of high exertion which Milton once ventured to whisper in the ear of Diodati, I have at least the satisfaction of knowing that I have in all points laboured to deserve it

I do not deem it necessary here to discuss the merits or demerits of former translators. To the idolaters of Fairfax alone I would observe, that the beauties scattered over his spirited translation car. never, notwithstanding his frequent absurdities, cease to find an echo in the heart and admiration of all who are capable of distinguishing and relishing what is good and excellent in poetry; but to assert, as some have done, that Fairfax never deviates from Tasso but to add some new grace to what is already graceful, never interweaves fresh images but to shed beauty over the original, never once adapts his own original thoughts to his author but with congruity and elegance, is an absurdity too notoriously incorrect to need a single observation. Had I employed, as Mr. Rose has done in his excellent translation of Ariosto, the same measure as the original, I might have followed the steps of my author with the most scrupulous exactness, and havs

a