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PRINCIPLES OF
Chap. XI.
will ever find himself under any difficulty. It is in the translation of those particular idiomatic phrases of which every language has its own collection; phrases which are generally of a familiar nature, and which occur most commonly in conversation, or in that species of writing which approaches to the ease of conversation.
The translation is perfect, when the translator finds in his own language an idiomatic phrase corresponding to that of the original. Montaigne (Ess. 1. I. c. 29.) says of Gallio, "Lequel ayant été envoyé en exil en l'Isle de Lesbos, on fut averti à Rome qu'il s'y donnoit du bon temps, et que ce qu'on lui avoit enjoins pour peine, lui tournoit à commodité." The difficulty oftranslating
