Page:Essay on the Principles of Translation - Tytler (1791, 1st ed).djvu/207

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192
PRINCIPLES OF
Chap. XII.

Motteux. "What, I suppose you fell too, quoth the landlady? Not I, quoth Sancho, but the very fright," &c.

Smollet. "What, did you fall too, said she? I can't say I did, answered the squire; but I was so infected, &c.

There is not only more ease of expression and force of humour in Motteux's translation of the above passages than in Smollet's, but greater fidelity to the original. In one part, no fueron golpes, Smollet has improperly changed the first person for the third, or the colloquial style for the narrative, which materially weakens the spirit of the passage. Cada uno habia hecho su cardenal is most happily translated by Motteux, "every one of them gave him a token of its kindness;" but in Smollet's version,this