The question might also come why Pye did not mention Taylor's translation in his preface. Indeed Mr. W. W. Greg has expressed the opinion that the "free paraphrase" was Taylor's.[1] But there is little on which to base this suggestion. The Monthly Magazine in which Taylor's version appeared could not have been printed before Pye wrote his advertisement, and probably not before his book was issued. The reference to the latter as among the new publications in the Monthly Magazine for April, is clear evidence that Pye could not have printed much, if any before April first. As already shown the Monthly Magazine was printed at the close of the month, not at the beginning, as with magazines today. The evidence all indicates that Pye's and Taylor's versions were printed almost, if not quite simultaneously, and that Pye could have referred only to Stanley's Leonora in his preface.
It must be accepted, then, that Pye's publication, and probably the composition of his poem were the result of Stanley's issue of his first version. Although the advertisement is not dated, too, Pye's translation could hardly have appeared much before April first, and it seems more reasonable to believe that the exact date of issue. The title-page reads as follows:
Lenore/A/Tale/From the German of/Gottfried Augustus Burger/By/Henry James Pye/οἱ δὲ μὴ τὸ φοβερὸν . . . ἀλλὰ τὸ τερατῶδες μόνον παραστκευάζοντες οὐδὲν τραγῳδίᾳ κοινωνοῡσιν/London/Printed for the author/And sold by Samson Low, No. 7, Berwick Street, Soho./1796.
Apart from the first paragraph, already quoted, Pye's advertisement has little except an explanation of the Greek motto of the title-page, and the pronunciation of the German name Lenore, the final e of which, he is careful to say, must be pronounced.
Of the Greek motto placed on his title-page Pye says in his preface:
The motto prefixed deviates from the usual partiality of translators. This little poem, from the singularity of the incidents, and the wild horror of the images, is certainly an object of curiosity, but it is by no means held up as a pattern for imitation.
He thus condemns the poem which he had translated, and which was already making some noise in England, by these words of
- ↑ Modern Quarterly of Language and Literature II, 13f. Brandl had even suggested that the reference was to Scott's version, but to this Mr. Greg demurs in the article above. Scott's translation was not in existence when Pye probably wrote his advertisement, and at any rate he could not possibly have seen it before his own version was published. See the later discussion of Scott and his translation.
