482
NOTES AND QUERIES.
[9 th S. I. JUNE 18, '98.
by this inscription : " Ex yoto communi
memoriam nuptiarum viii. Kal. Aug.
MDCCCXXXIX." The double marriage was
that of Mary Glynne to Lord Lyttelton,
and of her sister Catherine to Mr. Gladstone,
on 25 July, 1839, at Ha warden. Of these
two daughters of Sir Stephen Glynne, the
younger, Lady Lyttelton, died in 1857, whilst
the elder survives, and in the great sorrow
that has now befallen her has the respect and
sympathy of the entire civilized world. Lord
Lyttelton was a man of deeply religious spirit,
an earnest Churchman, and a zealous friend
of education. His melancholy death in 1876
was a matter of universal regret. This volume
is an evidence of his classical scholarship, for
his contributions to it are three translations
into Greek from Milton, and one each from
Dryden and Tennyson, and into Latin one
each from Gray and Goldsmith, and three
from Tennyson. Other examples of Lyttel-
ton's skill in this direction are to be found in
the two series of his 'Ephemera.' Those of
Mr. Gladstone take a wider range, and in-
clude versions from the Greek, Latin, Italian,
and German, as well as from English into
Greek and Latin. Although 798 copies were
printed, the volume is somewhat of a
rarity. From the Greek Mr. Gladstone has
translated the passage about the lion's cub
from the 'Agamemnon' of ^Eschylus (1836),
the Homeric hymn to the Delian Apollo (1836),
two battle scenes from the fourth oook (1859)
and from the eleventh book (1858-9) of the
'Iliad,' and the whole of the first book (1861).
These dates confirm what we know from other
sources that it was not until a generation
after his schooldays that Mr. Gladstone be-
came really interested in Homer. It was a
suggestive remark by Dr. Pusey that set him
on the Homeric quest. Of Horace to Lydia
(' Od.,' iii. 9) the version was made in 1858,
and the 'Ode to Pyrrha' in 1859. To the
same year belongs the Catullus, ' To Lesbia '
('Carm.,' li.), on which Mr. Gladstone re-
marks : " By borrowing from the beautiful
ode of Sappho, which is the prototype if not
the original of Catullus, I have filled up the
gap in the sense as well as in the metre which
the Latin presents to us." Dante was early
a favourite author, and three passages from
him are given. The terrible description of
Ugolino dates from 1837, the Lord's Prayer
and the speech of Piccarda both from 1835.
Manzoni's fine ode on the death of Napoleon
belongs to 1861. In the first year of Queen
Victoria a knowledge of German was not so
common an accomplishment as it has since
become, and it is, therefore, interesting to
find Mr. Gladstone at that time translating
Schiller's ' Graf yon Habsburg.' Some verses
from ' Der Freischiitz,' which probably at-
tracted him by their simple devotional feeling,
were rendered into English in 1845. The
libretto for this famous opera of Weber's was
written by Friedrich Kind. Milton's descrip-
tion of
Great and glorious Rome, queen of the earth, So far renowned, and with the spoils enriched of nations,
was turned into Latin in 1831; and in the same year Gladstone wrote a Greek translation of verses on Mars. The well-known Latin ver- sion of Toplady's 'Rock of Ages ' was written in 1848. Its opening line is "Jesus, pro me perforatus," and it has been objected that, as a version, it fails by reason of the omission of the "Rock." Twenty years after his own marriage Mr. Gladstone translated into Latin the grateful and touching verse which Bishop Heber addressed to his wife. Perhaps the verses from ' Der Freischiitz ' may be given as a specimen :
Though wrapt in clouds, yet still, and still The stedfast Sun, the empyrean sways ; There, still prevails a holy Will ; 'Tis not blind Chance the world obeys ; The Eye Eternal, pure, and clear, Regards, and holds all Being dear.
For me too will the Father care, Whose heart and soul in Him confide ;
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Me too regards, and holds me dear. A better example of his power is the closing verse of his translation of Manzoni's noble ' Ode on the Death of Napoleon ':
fair, deathless, O benign,
O still victorious Faith, This triumph reckon too for thine
With joy ; for ne'er in Death A sterner pride hath stooped to woo The shame of Golgotha : From his outwearied ashes warn Each word of wrath and scorn : The God that gives or eases pain, That smites and lifts again, On that lone couch, in that dark day, Beside him lay.
Mr. Gladstone felt, as so many scholars and statesmen have done, the attraction of Horace, and in 1894 there appeared his translation of the 'Odes.' Some of these versions had already appeared in the Nineteenth Century (May, 1894). Besides translating 'Rock of Ages,' Mr. Gladstone made a Latin version of "Art thou weary, art thou languid?" the well-known hymn which Neale translated from Stephen the Sabaite. This and an Italian rendering of Cowper's " Hark, my soul," appeared in the Contemporary Review of December, 1875.
