Lewis Theobald, his contribution to English Scholarship

Front matter

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Preface

The purpose of this dissertation is two-fold: to give a biography of Theobald, and to establish a thesis. With the exception of one or two written before 1728, none of the eighteenth century accounts of the scholar is in any way reliable, especially in matters touching The Dunciad. They all present the same picture of Theobald as is found in the variorum edition of Pope's satire, from which, indeed, the bulk of their information was derived. Early in the nineteenth century John Nichols, in the second volume of Illustrations of Literature, produced a much longer and more accurate sketch of Theobald than had yet appeared, together with the major part of his voluminous correspondence with Warburton. Though Nichols showed signs of appreciating the critic's learning and scholarship, he continued to accept as true many of the baseless charges advanced by Pope. The last century witnessed an amazing contrast in the estimates placed upon Theobald; Shakespearean scholars, almost unanimously, asserted that he was one of Shakespeare's greatest editors, while the biographers and critics of Pope, still continuing to echo the latter's slanders, proclaimed the unfortunate man a dunce. Finally, John Churton Collins, first in an essay called The Porson of Shakespearean Criticism — which might better have been called The Bentley of Shakespearean Criticism — and later in the Dictionary of National Biography clearly established his greatness as a scholar. Yet even Mr. Collins did not attempt to refute many of Pope's accusations. This worthy task was accomplished by the late Professor Lounsbury in The Text of Shakespeare, an admirable work

X PREFACE

to which I am heavily indebted. By minutely investigating The Dunciad and its surroundings, Professor Lounsbury has given us a true and comprehensive account of its hero, laying to rest, once and for all, the evil spirits loosed by Pope. To his biography I could have added little, had I not discovered a number of unpublished letters, written to Warburton, which throw some light on the period following the great satire, and make clearer the later relations of the two men.

The thesis that I attempt to uphold asserts that the basic principles of critical editing in English were derived directly from the method employed by Bentley in the classics. In his work on Shakespeare Theobald adapted this method to a new field, and in turn was followed by scholars who did not confine their labors to the great dramatist. I have not carried my discussion beyond that remarkable period of critical activity, the sixth decade of the eighteenth century, because by 1760 the method had become so prevalent that its connection with Theobald is no longer apparent. This fact explains why I have not mentioned some of the best known scholars of the latter half of the century such as Tyrwhitt and Ritson, both of whom admired Theobald and followed his lead. I think that it is necessary only to show that the method which Theobald derived from Bentley and handed on to succeeding scholars is the same in essential details as that employed now.

This dissertation owes its being to Professor W. P. Trent. He first suggested the possibility of Bentley' s influence on Theobald, and his abiding confidence in the thesis later sustained me through many discouragements. He also read both manuscript and proof, and made many criticisms compliance with which has added materially to the value of the book. I am also indebted to Professors A. H. Thorndike and E. H. Wright for reading the manuscript and making a number of helpful suggestions. Professor O. F. Emerson and Doctor D. H. Miles kindly read part of the manuscript

PREFACE XI

with results beneficial to the work, while my colleague, Mr. R. F. Dibble, went through the whole of the page proof. To the officials of the libraries of Columbia, Harvard, Yale, and Western Reserve universities, and also to the officials of the British Museum, I wish to acknowledge the obligation of many courtesies.

I wish publicly to express to my wife my heartfelt gratitude for her dear assistance. Besides performing the tedious and mechanical tasks necessary to publication, she was ever ready with affectionate sympathy and intelligent criticism, allowing neither my efforts to lag nor my perseverance to fail. To my brother, Doctor E. H. Jones, I am happy to return thanks for most substantial aid in publishing this book. Finally, Mr. John J. Lynch of the Columbia University Press has been of no small assistance to me in matters with which I was not familiar.

R. F. J.

Columbia University, January 25, 1919.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Theobald's Early Life 1

II. The Rage for Emending 31

CHAPTER I Theobald's early life

In writing the life of a man like Theobald the biographer would like to take up the story at the point where his hero first raised himself above mediocrity, and proved worthy of a written biography. What precedes appears but a collection of few and scattered details, too trivial to arrest attention, too dry to arouse interest. To weave these uninspiring facts into a narrative that will escape boring the reader to extinction is a task that sorely tries one's patience and ability. Yet the demands of modern research must justly be satisfied to the extent of leaving nothing half done. Nor is this the only reason for adopting such a course. A single great achievement, if kept in mind, induces interest and significance in events that otherwise would be surrendered to oblivion.

On the other hand, it is not necessary to delve deep into the genealogical past, unearthing maternal and paternal ancestors, to show how this or that trait can be explained. It is sufficient for us to know that in the early part of 1688 Lewis Theobald was born in Sittingbourne in Kent, where, according to a contemporary biography, his father was an eminent attorney. 1 He was named after a friend of the family, Lewis Watson, Earl of Rockingham, who made

1 "'About 1692,' says Nichols and the biographers, but he was baptized on the 2d of April, 1688, as the parish register testifies." — J. C. Collins, Essays and Studies, p. 312.

Nichols' mistake is due to a wrong date, given in Giles Jacob's

J, LEWIS THEOBALD

his namesake companion to his son, Viscount Sondres, at a school conducted by the Rev. Mr. Ellis at Isleworth in Middlesex. The instruction — and it must have been thorough — received here was improved by a sojourn passed under the roof of his kinsman, John Glanville of Broadhurst on, Wiltshire, at a time when he had "but the Indigested Learning of a School-boy, and wanted Judgment to make Use of Those Talents I either owed to Nature, or the Benefits of my education." 2 It was in appreciation of this kindness that Theobald dedicated his first attempt at poetry, a Cowleyan Pindaric in praise of the union of Scotland and England — a sample of which is given us by the late Professor Lounsbury 3 — as well as his translation of Aristophanes' Clouds.

At some date not later than 1708 Theobald removed to London, where he followed his father's profession. His practice, however, which was more profitable in the latter part of his life, was neither so interesting nor extensive as to prevent his engaging in various literary activities, the most noteworthy of which were translations. His knowledge of the classics was sufficient to recommend him to Bernard Lintot, "a no inconsiderable patron of literature and an enterprising bookseller," who in 1713 paid Theobald five guineas for a translation of Plato's Phaedo* Earlier in the year the translator had taken advantage of the great popularity of Cato to publish a life of the Roman hero, 6

Poetical Register, of the acting of The Persian Princess, in the preface to which Theobald said it was written and acted before he was nineteen years old. The date given by Jacob is 1710. See Nichols, Illustrations of Literature, vol. 2, pp. 707-708.

2 Dedication to his translation of the Clouds, 1715.

4 Plato 1 s Dialogue of the Immortality of the Soul. Translated from the Greek by Mr. Theobald, 1713.

5 The Life and Character of Marcus Portius Cato Uticensis: MDCCXIII.

and to push his advantage farther translated this dialogue of Plato, "it being the very treatise, which Cato read no less than twice before he killed himself/'

The same year Theobald entered into a contract with Lintot to translate all of the tragedies of Aeschylus for the modest sum of ten guineas, a contract that developed into his most ambitious attempt in this kind of work. Beginning with the purpose of merely translating the Greek, by 1736 he was entertaining the idea of publishing the text, with notes and emendations, on the opposite page to the translation. Though none of the plays was published, evidence seems to show that the work was completed a year or two after the contract was made, for in a note to verse six of his translation of Electra (1714) he says, "I shall refer the reader for it [the story of Io] to my Prometheus of Aeschylus, which will shortly be published/' while in the notes to his rendition of Oedipus (1714) he speaks of his translation of the Seven Captains against Thebes. 6 Some eight or ten years later Theobald issued proposals to publish the tragedies by subscription, setting the date of publication for April, 1724. At the end of Shakespeare Restored he found it necessary to apologize to his subscribers for the delay, offering as compensation the fact that he had been at additional expense in procuring copper plates for each volume, and that in his dissertation to be prefixed to the translation he designed a complete history of the ancient stage in all its branches.

6 Two selections from it were indeed published. The first, consisting of two passages, appeared in Theobald's periodical, the Censor. The second, entitled "The Siege From a Chorus of Aeschylus," appeared in The Grove, a miscellany compiled by Theobald in 1721. This seems to be all that was ever published, although later Dennis, in Remarks on the Dunciad, speaks of having seen a specimen. Giles Jacob is authority for the statement that Theobald completed the translation of all seven tragedies. Poetical Register, vol. 1, p. 259.

With the success of Shakespeare Restored and the consequent incentive to continue work on Shakespeare, Theobald must have found little opportunity for the farther prosecution of the undertaking at this time. But no longer was this lapse allowed to pass unnoticed. When The Dunciad was published, this line appeared,

And, last, his own cold ^Eschylus took fire.

and a note on the line in the editions of 1729 read : "He had been (to use an expression of our poet) about Aeschylus for ten years, and had received subscriptions for the same, but then went about other books.'' 7 For such criticism Pope had only the specimen in The Censor upon which to base his belief. In a note to another line in The Dunciad he sought to disparage Theobald's translation, 8 and continued his attacks in The Grub-street Journal. In one number Theobald is accused of bad faith in the collection of subscriptions, 9 and in another he is warned of failure by being reminded of the poor success of his translation of Aristophanes. 10

But he still persisted in his purpose, growing more ambitious as time went by. In his edition of Shakespeare n he speaks of his forthcoming translation of Aeschylus, and in a letter to Warburton, March 5, 1734, he comments on errors in Stanley's edition, with the assurance that he sees a method of correcting the text on the basis of the correspondence of antistrophe and strophe. A few months later,

7 Bk. I, 1. 210. The note continues: "The character of this Tragic Poet is fire and boldness in a high degree, but our author supposes it cooled by the translation; upon sight of a specimen of which was made this Epigram,

Alas! poor Aeschylus! unlucky dog!

Whom once a Lobster kilVd, and now a Log." « Bk. Ill, 1. 311 of the editions of 1729.

9 Grub-street Journal, No. 59, October 6, 1730.

10 Idem, No. 37, September 17, 1730.

in a letter to Sir Hans Sloane, soliciting a subscription to his Aeschylus, he says that he has been advised to put on the opposite page to the translation the Greek text, which he thinks can be corrected with great certainty, especially since he is fortunate in having a collation of the Laurentian manuscript made for him by Dr. Conyers Middleton. This enlargement of plan, to be sure, increased the burden of the undertaking, and we find Theobald showing signs of wearying. On February 12, 1734, he writes, "By God's leave I mean to print that work off this ensuing summer." And again, October 18, 1735, he hopes "in God" Aeschylus shall appear in the spring. But the only results of this enterprise that are left us are the few selections mentioned above, some emendations contributed to a magazine of the day, and those of his notes written in his Stanley, which Bloomfield used in his edition of the Greek dramatist.

Of Theobald's other translations we have more remains. In the spring of 1714 he entered into another contract with Lintot to translate the whole of the Odyssey, and the Oedipus Tyrannus, Oedipus Coloneus, Trachiniae, and Philoctetes of Sophocles, together with explanatory notes, into English blank verse. He also contracted to translate the satires and epistles of Horace into English rhyme. For the translations of Homer and Sophocles he was to receive fifty shillings for every four hundred and fifty lines, while for Horace the price was one guinea for every one hundred and twenty lines. 12 While Theobald may have translated the four tragedies mentioned above, only one, the Oedipus Tyrannus,

12 "All these articles were to be performed according to the time specified, under the penalty of £50 on the default of either party." Nichols, Illustrations of Literature, vol. 2, p. 708.

In a footnote on this passage Nichols says, "These particulars appear from Lintot's Accompt-Book : but the entry respecting the Odyssey has a line drawn through it, as if the agreement had been afterwards canceled."

b LEWIS THEOBALD

was published. 13 The next year, however, Lintot published a translation by Theobald of a play of Sophocles, the Electra, not mentioned in the contract. 14 This was dedicated to Addison, whose friendship the translator enjoyed.

By the same publisher there was issued a translation of Ajax 15 which later biographers of Theobald have attributed to him. The only evidence for such an attribution seems to be a line in The Dunciad, which reads

And last, a little Ajax tips the spire.

and a note on this line, "In duodecimo, translated from Sophocles by Tibbald." 16 Jacob, in his Poetical Register, although mentioning the Oedipus and Electra, as well as the two plays from Aristophanes, makes no mention of a translation of Ajax. Neither does Nichols in his account of Theobald. The Biographia Dramatica (1782) not only fails to attribute any such work to Theobald, but definitely states that the translation was made by Mr. Rowe, and on another page, that the Ajax is said, in the second volume, p. 190, of Hughes' letters, to have been translated by a Mr. Jackson. 17 Hughes was in a position to know, inasmuch as he was associated with Rowe in a translation of the Pharsalia. In a list of books printed for Lintot, found at the back of the translation of Electra, there is advertised a translation of Antigone and the notes to Ajax, both by Mr. Rowe. There is no record that Theobald was ever assisted,

13 Oedipus, King of Thebes: A Tragedy. Translated from Sophocles, with Notes By Mr. Theobald. London, 1715.

14 Electra: A Tragedie. Translated from Sophocles, with Notes. London, 1715.

15 Ajax of Sophocles. Translated from the Greek, with Notes. London, 1714.

17 Biographia Dramatica, vol. 1, p. 5, and vol. 2, p. 253.

or needed to be, in any of his translations. 18 Since Pope in search of material for the Dunciad investigated its hero's past with some thoroughness, he must have learned of his adversary's translations for Lintot. Hence he would naturally suppose that an anonymous translation of one of Sophocles' plays, published at this time and by Theobald's publisher, came from the pen of his enemy.

It is possible that Theobald translated all the plays contracted for. There is no evidence of the contract having been canceled. One of the translations was published, and a selection from another, the Philoctetes, appeared in The Grove under the title, " Description of the Plague at Thebes, and Invocation of the Gods to their Assistance, from a Chorus of Sophocles." In the " Publisher to the Reader," prefixed to the translation of Ajax, Lintot says,

I have by me the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, translated into English blank verse; they are all, as I have been assured by several gentlemen of allow' d judgment in these matters, very exactly done from the Greek.

Then he continues to speak of the literalness of the translations, and the critical and philological notes, adding,

I have given the public the Ajax of Sophocles as a specimen of my undertaking. If they think fit to encourage it, I intend to give 'em one every month, till I have gone through all the Greek Tragedies.

It is almost certain that Theobald translated Aeschylus. The four tragedies of Sophocles he contracted to translate, plus his Electra, plus the Antigone, advertised as being by Mr. Rowe, and plus the Ajax, by Jackson and Rowe, give us

18 The single copy of this translation in the British Museum is entered in the catalogue under Sophocles, N. Rowe, and Jackson, as

being translated by J., assisted by Mr. Rowe. But it is also

entered under Theobald's name.

all the tragedies of Sophocles. Furthermore, we have Theobald's own statement that he had little time for anything but translation in and about 1714. 19

The success of the translations published must not have been such as to warrant Lintot in carrying out his ambitious undertaking. Perhaps Pope's translation of Homer, the proposals for which appeared in October, 1713, interfered with it also. The next April Theobald contracted with Lintot to translate the Odyssey, the publisher doubtless hoping to profit by the interest in Homer aroused by Pope's proposals. But in November, 1714, Lintot received, at a very high price, the contract for publishing the Iliad, the fulfillment of which must have left him little time or inclination for any other of the classics. For his translations from Aristophanes, 1715, we find Theobald turning to another publisher. Later, with Tickell threatening a version of The Odyssey, it seems probable that Lintot put forth one book of Theobald's translation as a feeler. 20 Professor Lounsbury demolished the theory advanced by some that Theobald's rendition of the Odyssey accounts for his place in The Dunciad, but I can hardly agree with him in thinking the work was stopped because of lack of subscriptions. 21 It was begun by contract, and the appearance of one book was due, perhaps, to Lintot's desire to see if the publication of the whole would be worth while. Unfortunately there does not seem to be extant a copy of this production. It was, probably, in connection with

19 "I am so deeply engaged in the Translation of Works of more Moment, that I had no Time to throw away in Amendments." Preface to The Persian Princess, 1715.

20 Nichols (Literary Anecdotes, vol. 1, p. 80) gives November, 1716, as the date of publication, while Pope says 1717 (Dunciad, 1729, note on Bk. I, 1. 106). Cibber agrees with Nichols. (Lives of the Poets, vol. 5, p. 287.)

21 Lounsbury, Text of Shakespeare, pp. 133, 134.

his translation of the Odyssey that Theobald in 1714 translated a French treatise on the Iliad, an offshoot of the controversy in France between the ancients and moderns. 22 After breaking with Lintot, Theobald did not give up his idea of translating certain of the classics. He turned from tragedy to comedy, and in 1715 appeared his English versions of Aristophanes' Clouds and Plutus, the first dedicated to his kinsman, John Glanville, and the second to the Duke of Argyle. 23 In a prefatory discourse Theobald says, "If these find an Acceptation sufficient to Encourage my Attempt, I have a Design on some of the rest, that have equal Charms of Humour and Sprightliness." No other comedy appeared, however. A contributor to the Grub-street Journal, in speaking of the folly of translating classic poets into English prose, remarks,

And yet I am told that Mr. Theobald has a translation of even Aeschylus himself, whether in prose or verse I don't know, ready for the press; not deterr'd from the ill success his translation of Aristophanes had. 24

In later years when, owing largely to the influence of The Dunciad, it had become the custom to sneer at Theobald, his translations were subject to further attacks. In 1742 Henry Fielding and William Young issued a translation of Plutus, in the preface to which it is insinuated that Theobald

22 A Critical Discourse upon the Iliad of Homer: written in French by Monsieur de la Motte, a Member of the French Academy; and translated into English by Mr. Theobald. 1714.

Professor Lounsbury (p. 132) comments on the scarcity of this work. A copy was advertised in a recent catalogue of P. J. & A. E. Dobell of London.

23 The Clouds. A Comedy. Translated from the Greek of Aristophanes. By Mr. Theobald. London, MDCCXV.

Plutus: or the World's Idol. A Comedie. Translated from the Greek of Aristophanes. By Mr. Theobald. London, 1715.

24 Grub-street Journal, No. 37, September 17, 1730.

did not understand Aristophanes, and that his version was taken almost entirely from a French translation by Madame Dacier, issued in 1692. 25

I own we have more to answer to the lady than to Mr. Theobald who, being a critic of great nicety himself, and great diligence in correcting mistakes in others, cannot be offended at the same treatment. Indeed there are some parts of his work, which I should be more surprized at, had he not informed us in his dedication, that he was assisted in it by M. Dacier. We are not therefore much to wonder, if Mr. Theobald errs a little, when we find his guide going before out of the way.

While it may appear significant that the only plays translated by Theobald were those rendered into French by Madame Dacier, yet he showed a readiness to go on with the rest, had these first two plays succeeded. His later emendations of Aristophanes prove conclusively that he was master of the Greek. In places he does follow the French rather closely, but in the dedication he admits as much, excusing himself on the ground that since he is trying to make his readers understand Aristophanes, he is entitled to all the help possible. All through their notes Fielding and Young sneer at Theobald as " pious," "M. Dacier's good friend," and the like. When he refuses to be absolutely literal, as in the phrase " sharpen-eyed as an eagle," instead of "as a lynx," they ridicule him for not translating correctly ; where his and Madame Dacier's translations agree, they accuse him of translating the French and not the Greek. What they translate "sweetmeats" and Madame Dacier "confitures," Theobald translates "sugar-plums" and is accused of following the French. The whole attack is unjust and unsupported by a comparison of the French and English translations. Many of the words Theobald is accused of

25 Cf. Professor Lounsbury's Remarks on Disraeli's doubt of Theobald's knowledge of Greek. Text of Shakespeare, p. 133.

taking over from the French may just as well have come from the Greek.

Of the satires and epistles of Horace no translation appeared, and Theobald's only work in the Latin poets was a version of the first book of Ovid's Metamorphoses, a poet who was almost as popular as Horace. There is no copy of such a translation now, but Jacob mentions it, and John Dennis, while smarting under the appellation of "Furius" which Theobald had imposed upon him in The Censor, speaks of the latter having " lately burlesqued the Metamorphoses of Ovid by a vile Translation." 26 Inasmuch as circumstances largely controlled Theobald's literary activities, this translation may have been a product of the interest in Ovid excited by Dry den and promoted by Garth.

While Theobald's next work in the classics is not a translation, it is well to consider it under that head. This is an historical romance garnered from Galen, Appian, Lucian, Julian, and Valerius Maximus. 27 The author says he first thought of making a play of this subject, but after reading Corneille's Antiochus decided it would make a better narrative than drama. He treats the story rather freely, changing the parts he thinks necessary to make Christian readers better understand it. The last translation of Theobald, the Hero and Leander of the mythical Musaeus, appeared in The Grove, 1721. In this same miscellany appeared the selections from Aeschylus and Sophocles spoken of above, and also an imitation of the twenty-first idyl of Theocritus, entitled "The Fisherman; A Tale." These contributions do not merit critical comment.

A modern critic calls Theobald's translations meritorious, and speaks of the "free and spirited blanck verse" of the

26 Remarks of Pope's Homer, p. 9; quoted in Nichols, Illustrations of Literature, vol. 2, p. 719.

27 The History of the Loves of Antiochus and Stratonice: London, 1719.

version of Sophocles and the " vigorous and racy colloquial prose" of the rendition of the two plays of Aristophanes. 28 But not many years after his death there was an attempt to depreciate the worth of his work. The effect of The Dunciad grew with the years, and Pope's slanders were perpetuated by Warburton and Johnson. In 1753 Thomas Franklin, Fellow of Trinity College and Greek Professor in the University of Cambridge, issued proposals for translating Sophocles into English blank verse. These proposals were printed at the end of a rather long poem called Translation, 29 a satire upon translations and translators in general, praise being bestowed only upon Pope's Homer and Rowe's Pharsalia. But Theobald is especially marked for abuse, it being the custom then to consider him legitimate prey. Franklin places the blame for the low esteem in which translation was held on such translators as Theobald :

The great translator bids each dunce translate, And ranks us all with Tibbald and with Tate.

And he brings the aged accusation of pedantry against him :

Or some dull pedant whose encumber' d brain O'er the dull page hath toil'd for years in vain, Who writes at last ambitiously to show How much a fool may read, how little know.

Tis not enough that, fraught with learning's store, By the dim lamp the tasteless critic pore.

But a champion rushes to the aid of the abused originals :

Genius of Greece, do thou my breast inspire With some warm portion of the poet's fire, From hands profane defend his much-lov'd name; From Cruel Tibbald wrest his mangled frame.

28 J. C. Collins, Essays and Studies, p. 276; and the article on Theobald in the Dictionary of National Biography.

29 Translation: a Poem. By Thomas Franklin. London, 1753.

And in a note on this last passage : "Tibbald (or Theobald) translated two or three plays of Sophocles, and threatened the public with more." 30 Much pleasure seemed to be derived from misspelling Theobald's name, but Franklin was scholar enough not to find fault, as Fielding did, with his knowledge of Greek.

Although Franklin's work is much better known, I do not think that there is much to choose between their translations. The earlier translator differs from the later in that he is evidently trying to popularize the Greek drama, going to some pains to make the meaning of obscure passages clear to those not versed in the classics. In the two plays of Aristophanes he translates the idioms and phrases into the idioms and expressions of his own time to such an extent that he was accused, as we have seen, of incorrect translation.

While the translations represent the bulk of Theobald's work for this period, he also engaged in original composition. In 1707 his first attempt at poetry appeared, a Pindaric ode on the union of Scotland and England. 31 Six years later he published The Mausoleum, sl poem written in heroic couplets and dedicated to Charles, Earl of Orrery. 32 This lugubrious effort, stilted and affected, was composed in imitation of several of the classical poets, chiefly Ovid, with the imitated passages subjoined, and is full of praise for Pope and Addison. In 1715 Theobald translated Le Clerc's observations on Addison's travels, prompted by his ad-

30 In marked contrast to Franklin's estimate of Theobald's work stands that of the first of classical scholars in literary taste, Richard Porson, by whom Theobald's translations "were highly esteemed." See Reliquiae Hearnianae, ed. P. Bliss, 1869, vol. 3, p. 137, note.

31 Cibber gives 1707 as the date of this poem. Lives of the Poets, vol. 5, p. 287.

32 The Mausoleum. A Poem. Sacred to the Memory of Her Late Majesty Written by Mr. Theobald. London, 1714.

miration for the subject of the treatise. 33 An entirely different motive is discernible in a poem he gave to the world about this time, which was written on the recovery of the Duke of Ormonde from a dangerous illness. 34

This same year Theobald's most significant poem was published, The Cave of Poverty, 35 in imitation of Shakespeare. A contemporary critic declared it to be excellent. 36 It seems to have found its way across the channel, and was the cause of an exchange of letters between Theobald and the Zurich professor of History and Politics, Johann Jacob Bodmer, who characterized it as a splendid poem, possessing not only the style of Shakespeare but his spirit itself. 37 This extravagant praise is worthy of notice when we remember that Bodmer, one of the forerunners of German Romanticism, " prepared the way for a new poetry of emotion and sentiment." 38 He translated Paradise Lost, and his Critical Disquisition on the Wonderful in Poetry, written in defense of Milton, brought about the feud with Gottschedd (who upheld French classicism), which resulted in the complete discomfiture of the latter. The unsolicited praise of such a man is not to be underestimated.