x PREFACE.
his mind the propriety of publication. After bestowing all his attention on the work for the period already stated, the translator compared it with two French versions which he was advised to procure for that purpose, as the style and man- ner of Machiavelli are frequently obscure, and the Italian language at the period he wrote was far from being fixed.
These translations are by Amelot de Houssaye and Guiraudet: the former is only excellent on account of the notes; it professes, indeed, to be "so faithful a translation, that it would be very difficult to give one more so;" its principal fidelity is, however, the adoption of the author's mode of speaking in the second person, a manner which agrees very well with the idioms of the Italian and French languages, but is extremely harsh and inelegant in the English. The translation of Guiraudet is much superior; and avoiding the shackles of the former, is at once faithful and elegant, and contains many excellent notes, of which the reader will find the translator has frequently availed himself, as well as in correcting
