234
PRINCIPLES OF
Chap. XIII.
of thought and abrupt transitions of the original, Voltaire has in this passage, by the looseness of his paraphrase, allowed some of the most striking beauties, both of the thought and expression, entirely to escape; while he has superadded, with unpardonable licence, several ideas of his own, not only unconnected with the original, but dissonant to the general tenor of the speaker's thoughts. Adopting Voltaire's own style of criticism on the translations of the Abbé des Fontaines, we may ask him, "Where do we find in this translation of Hamlet's soliloquy
"The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune———
"To take arms against a sea of trouble———
"The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
"That flesh is heir to———
—"Perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub———
"The whips and scorns of time———
"To take arms against a sea of trouble———
"The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
"That flesh is heir to———
—"Perchance to dream; ay, there's the rub———
"The whips and scorns of time———
