The Earliest English Translations of Bürger's Lenore: a Study in English and German Romanticism

Front matter

Western Reserve University

BULLETIN

LITERARY SECTION

Preface

PREFACE

The present volume was begun as a study such as might have been printed in one of the scholarly journals devoted to English and the other modern languages. The story grew to be so interesting to the writer, and required so long in the telling, that it seemed best to offer it in another form.

The translations which accompany it, illustrating the unusual activity in this direction of a single year, have most of them been long inaccessible to the general reader. Frequent errors concerning them have also been made, and it therefore seemed desirable to print them with this introductory study. To these have been added for comparison the German Lenore from the last edition of the poem published during Bürger's lifetime.

I have to thank in this public way a number of people who have assisted me in various respects. The officials of the Harvard University library have freely and frequently sent me books without which the investigation could not have been made. Messrs. Stevens and Brown, of London, have made me accurate transcripts of translation of Bürger's poem, and of the text in Scott's first edition of William and Helen. The Rev. Alexander Gordon, who wrote the article on Pye in the Dictionary of National Biography, has placed at my disposal some facts not given in that article. Mr. J. B. Hamilton of Melrose, at the solicitation of Messrs. Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. of Edinburgh, has examined for me the copy of Scott's Apology for Tales of Terror in the Abbotsford library. Especially, too, has Miss J. H. Adeane, author of The Girlhood of Maria Josepha Holroyd, and The Early Married Life of Maria Josepha, Lady Stanley, allowed me to use the first edition of Mr. J. T. Stanley's translation of Lenore, a copy of which is not in the British Museum. This was Mr. Stanley's personal copy from which the second and third editions were made, and contains not only the manuscript changes for the third edition, but some modifications never before printed.

Chapter I. Introductory

THE EARLIEST ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF BURGER'S LENORE.

I. Introductory

The earliest English translations of Bürger's Lenore will always interest a student of the English poetic revival at the end of the eighteenth century. They represent almost the first real touch of the German romantic movement on England. It is true that certain German poems had appeared in English dress before this time. Yet these had but slight relation to the new romantic movement. This applies to Idylls and Death of Abel, both of which had been translated into English in 1762. It was equally true of Goethe's Iphigenia and Wieland's Dialogues of the Gods, which were made accessible to Englishmen by William Taylor of Norwich in 1793 and 1795. In Edinburgh, according to Scott's Imitations of the Ancient Ballad, Henry Mackenzie had lectured on German literature as early as 1788, but even this had produced little immediate effect.

This late influence of Germany on English literature of the eighteenth century is also the more remarkable, because the Germans had long recognized the inspiration of English masters. Shakespeare and Milton for the older periods had already been studied and imitated in Germany, as well as numerous writers of the eighteenth century, notably Thomson, Richardson and Goldsmith. Indeed, the translators of Bürger's most famous poem were merely returning to its native land an originally English ballad, which had inspired the most successful of the German ballad imitators.

Yet the slight acquaintance of Englishmen with Germany fully explains the lack of literary influence from that source. Throughout the eighteenth century the literary relations of England and the personal relations of Englishmen had been with France and Italy. In the early part of the century an Englishman would have been about as likely to visit Russia in travel, as any part of Germany. Even when Englishmen took to themselves the Hanoverian royal house, they still had as little interest in the Hanoverian principality as the first two Georges had in their English possessions. Later, when England gave her support to the great Frederick of Prussia, it was with pecuniary aid merely, unaccompanied in the case of most of the people with any but the barest knowledge of his kingdom, or of the learning and literature of his countrymen.

Take, for example, some significant instances of ignorance about things German on the part of literary Englishmen. In his essay On the Present State of Polite Learning (1759), Goldsmith says that the Germans had, indeed, a "passion for polite learning," that is literature, but "instead of studying the German tongue they continue to write in Latin." Nor does he mention a single German work of which he had any knowledge. A little later when the young Gibbon was meditating an historical subject for his pen, he preferred "one to all others, the history of the liberty of the Swiss." From this, however, he was debarred, as he thought absolutely, by his ignorance of "an old barbarous German dialect," and his unwillingness to learn it even for so important a purpose. Although Gray was one of the first to study Icelandic literature, he knew nothing of German, or of the beginnings there of a romantic movement which would have delighted him. Horace Walpole lived until 1797, but there is no mention of a German work or of German literature in his voluminous correspondence. When Mackenzie, the author of the Man of Feeling, lectured in Edinburgh on the German Theatre, and as Scott tells us first interested his countrymen in German literature, he knew no German himself, and had obtained his whole knowledge of German plays from French translations.

Under these conditions the appearance of Bürger's Lenore in the England of 1796 is quite extraordinary. Especially is this so when we remember that not one version only, but seven renderings by five different translators were published in that single year. Such an unusual circumstance naturally calls for some special explanation. Unfortunately, hitherto some of the important relations of the several versions appearing within a twelve-month have been missed by those who have dealt with the subject. It is possible, therefore, to shed some light upon the individual Bürger translations, and especially to give a connected history of this remarkable year in the literary influence of eighteenth century Germany upon England. Incidentally, too, it is a question whether the immediate influence of these translations upon English literature has been fully appreciated.

Chapter II. The Translations of Lenore by J. T. Stanley

II. The Translations of Lenore by J. T. Stanley

The earliest translation of Bürger's Lenore to be published in England was by one too little known in connection with the subject. Yet he was an interesting man, a member of parliament, a fellow of the Royal Societies of England and Scotland, and long acquainted with German life and German literature. Besides, his translation, while not the first or the best, was the occasion of the appearance of three others in the same year.

The materials for a knowledge of this first translator to publish his work have been accessible for some time. Moreover, they present the key to the conditions which led to much Bürger activity in England during the year 1796. We may begin with a reference in the Girlhood of Maria Josepha Holroyd, a book printed an even century after the appearance of the first English translation of Lenore. In a letter of "Serena to Maria Josepha," which is undated but immediately precedes one of Feb. 22, 1796, Serena, or Sarah Martha Holroyd, sister of Lord Sheffield, asks, "Have you seen a little Thing called 'Lenore'?" To this question Maria Josepha replied on Feb. 22 as follows:

I have seen the little thing called 'Leonora', and have got it of my own from the Author, alias Translator, Mr. Stanley; for I suppose you mean a Tale in Verse from the German. I cannot say I am delighted with it. The best parts are the Lines at the End, his own addition. Another Translation is coming out soon by Mr. Spencer which is likely to be better, but Mr. Stanley was very ill-used about it. He lent his Translation to Lady D. Beauclerk, who took advantage of it to make beautiful drawings from it, and Mr. Spencer, her nephew I think, undertook to improve the Translation, and meant to publish it with Engravings from Lady Diana's Drawings. Mr. Stanley did not intend to publish, but hearing of this he was affronted, and had his Translation printed in hot haste.

This spicy letter of Maria Holroyd, who soon became the wife of Mr. Stanley, gives us almost at first hand the story of a literary embroilment which precipitated the first appearance of an English Bürger translation. The Mr. Stanley referred to was John Thomas Stanley, son of Sir John Stanley of Cheshire. His interest in Ger- man literature began almost, if not quite, as early as that of William Taylor of Norwich, one of the earliest Englishmen to make his countrymen acquainted with German poetry. As a youth of fifteen, in August, 1781, Stanley set out for the continent, and took up his residence at Brunswick, where he remained a year with most intimate relations to the court and the people of the German principality. In May, 1783, he again returned to the continent, this time residing at Neuchatel, Lyons, and later at Turin, where he remained until the spring of 1785. Once more, in the spring of 1786, he revisited Neuchatel, staying there almost a year and then spending some months in Italy.

Perhaps owing to the circumstances narrated at the last of the Præterita (see last footnote), the young Stanley no longer went to the continent for his education. In 1788, however, he proceeded to the University of Edinburgh where, under Playfair, Dugald Stewart and Dr. Joseph Black, he acquired new interests in mathematics, philosophy and natural science. The latter led to an unusual venture for a young man of twenty-three. He fitted out and commanded a scientific expedition to Iceland in the summer of 1789. The journey was made "in princely style," says the Gentleman's Magazine, "in a private yacht, accompanied by a staff of naturalists, draughtsmen and men of science."

The expedition was fruitful in several ways. The young Stanley wrote Accounts of the Hot Springs near Rykum and Haukadal in Letters to Dr. Black. These were printed in Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (vol. III), and separately in 1791. By reason of them Stanley became a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He also presented the seeds and plants he had gathered in Iceland to Sir Joseph Banks, eminent scientist and president of the English Royal Society, who had himself visited the Hot Springs of Iceland in 1772. This led to Stanley's being elected fellow of the Royal Society of London, and to intimate acquaintance with the learned of the capital. In 1790 Mr. Stanley was chosen member of parliament for Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, and in June of that year became a member of Lord Auckland's embassy at the Hague. Two years later, June, 1792, he was plunged in grief by the death of his betrothed, an Irish heiress, and to gain seclusion from public life for a time he joined the Cheshire militia. In 1794, as major of the Cheshire regiment, he was stationed at Bexhill, Sussex, near Sheffield Place, where he met and wooed the Maria Holroyd of the letters already quoted, a daughter of John Baker Holroyd, Lord Sheffield.

We have less definite information than we might wish as to when Mr. Stanley made his translation of Lenore. The account of him in the Early Married Life of Lady Stanley breaks off in 1792 with the remark: "His letters during the next three years show that he was actively engaged in helping the French refugees, in military duties, and in literary work." What this literary work was we are not told. Nor have we any hint of any external influence leading Mr. Stanley toward German poetry. Possibly the publication of William Taylor's translation of Goethe's Iphigenia in 1793 may have turned him again to his earlier studies. The death of Bürger in 1794 may have directed him to this one of the German writers he had known. It certainly seems doubtful whether the publication of Taylor's translation of Wieland's Dialogues of the Gods in 1795 could have had any marked effect.

A single sentence of the Preface to Stanley's first edition of his Leonora may have an interpretation bearing upon the subject. He says: "The success of some late publications has proved that the wild and eccentric writings of the Germans are perused with pleasure by the English reader." If this is a reference to a particular book, and I am inclined to think it may be, it must be to the one which created the greatest sensation of the year 1795. That was the Ambrosio or the Monk of M. G. Lewis. This famous example of the terror school of fiction appeared in the summer, and was soon the talk of London. Now The Monk, as it came to be more commonly called, contained an unusual number of poems of the ballad sort, some of them of German origin. Besides, Lewis had introduced more than one horror or supernatural element from German legend, as the story of the bleeding nun. We know also from his Essay on Imitations of the Ancient Ballad, that Scott was much attracted by these ballads, as well as by the other German tales in Lewis's extravagant fiction. It is not impossible that Mr. Stanley was also turned again to German balladry by this book. If so we may place his translation with even more confidence in the last half of 1795.

Not impossibly, too, Stanley's translation of Lenore was associated with the composition of the only original poem known to have been written by him. While commanding the militia he composed a song for the men of his regiment, presumably while in Sussex, since the published edition was illustrated by views of Pevensey Bay and Beachy Head on the south coast. This also would lead us to 1794 or 1795 as the year of the composition of his translation.

We are more fortunate in being able to explain the relation of Mr. Stanley to the Spencers, and the probable occasion for his lending his manuscript poem to Lady Diana Beauclerk. Mr. Stanley and Lord Henry Spencer, second son of the fourth duke of Marlborough, entered parliament in the same year (1790), and were associated as members of the diplomatic staff of Lord Auckland at the Hague in 1792. Lord Henry Spencer, like Mr. William R. Spencer, was a nephew of Lady Diana, so that the acquaintance of Lady Diana and Mr. Stanley may be fully accounted for. Besides, Lord Henry Spencer died in July, 1795, and this is doubtless another reason why Mr. Stanley saw more of Lady Diana in that year. In any case parliament was in session from Oct. 29, 1795, to May 19, 1796, and doubtless Mr. Stanley was in attendance. We may reasonably assume, therefore, that Mr. Stanley's loan of his translation to Lady Diana Beauclerk, of which mention is made by Maria Josepha Holroyd, took place in the last part of 1795.

For the publication of Mr. Stanley's translation in February, 1796, we have Maria Josepha's spicy explanation. He did not intend to print but, on finding his poem was to be made the basis of a new edition by Mr. Spencer and Lady Beauclerk, he "printed in hot haste" as Maria Josepha says, though without his name. This first edition has never been described, as it is not in the British Museum, and has not been used by those who have dealt with the Lenore translations. It is my good fortune to have seen the copy possessed by Miss Adeane, a granddaughter of Maria Holroyd, the copy used by Mr. Stanley himself in preparing both the second and the new editions, and containing emendations in his own hand. Its title-page reads:

Leonora/A Tale/translated freely from the/German/of/Gottfried Augustus Bürger/"Poetry hath Bubbles, as the water hath:/"And these are of them"—/London/Printed for William Miller/Old Bond Street/1796.

The frontispiece is a plate by D. Chodowiecki (spelled Chodowiecke) and engraved by Harding, one of the eight made by Chodowiecki for the first collected edition of Bürger's Gedichte in 1778. It portrays William, with Lenore on the horse behind him, dashing through the gates into the city, i. e. Prague. In the clouds above him the devil, blowing a horn, is encircled by eight naked devlets dancing in a ring. Below is the Icelandic motto,

Farᚦv nv ᚦars ᚦic hafi allan gramir. Edda Sæmundar.

At the bottom of the page, "London Printed for W. Miller, Old Bond Street." The preface covers pages v to viii. Before the poem is a head-piece, picturing William at the left in the attitude of the dying gladiator, his horse lying dead at the right; horsemen and a fortress are in the middle distance. The tail-piece is a cupid with torch reversed, sleeping on a new-made grave, a full moon in the sky. Both these pieces are by J. Harding.

The preface, which I infer was written by Mr. Stanley though signed by the publisher, explains the issue of the translation as follows:

The following little Poem was translated by a respectable friend of the publisher, who, being favoured with a perusal, was much pleased with its wild originality; and he has thought himself fortunate in obtaining permission to lay it before the public.

This account, true enough in itself though not stating the whole case as we now know, is doubtless the reason why less attention has been given to Mr. Stanley's translation and its priority to others. Apart from this, the preface shows the characteristic attitude of many Englishmen toward the new romanticism. Mr. Stanley felt he must apologize for such extravagance, as he does in his second paragraph:

The German author, conscious, perhaps, of the latitude he gives his imagination, was willing to shield himself under that liberty which poets are allowed the privilege of possessing: for the parody of the words

'The earth hath bubbles, as the water has; And these are of them'—

which is placed as a motto to the title-page, is to be found in a preface to a collection of his works, published by him in his own country:—Was it not for these bubbles, which nature, in her lavish mode, sometimes permits to issue from the mind, poetry would be deprived of many of her most beautiful productions.

Again, Mr. Stanley frankly admits that he has altered the poem, as "translated freely" of the title-page implies. He says:

The Poem will be found, in many respects, to have been altered from the original; but more particularly towards the conclusion, where the translator, thinking the moral not sufficiently explained, has added several lines. The German poem concludes with a stanza, the literal meaning of which may be given in the following words:

Now in the moonshine, round and round, Link'd hand in hand, the spirits fly; And as they dance, in howling sound, Have patience! patience! loud they cry. Though rack'd with sorrow, be resign'd, And not with God in Heaven contend: May God unto thy soul be kind, Thy earthly course is at an end.

To his translation of this last stanza, free enough in itself, Mr. Stanley added one of his own as follows:

Who call on God, when press'd with grief, Who trust his love for kind relief, Ally their hearts to his: When man will bear, and be resign'd, God ever soothes his suffering mind, And grants him future bliss.

It was thus that he thought to explain and strengthen for his countrymen the didacticism of the poem.

In Mr. Stanley's modifications of the poem there was, of course, no intention to mislead. Free paraphrasing of foreign works was common enough at the time. Besides, Mr. Stanley provided for the printing of the German text, "which may be had, sewed up with the translation, by such as should be desirous of comparing the one with the other." Yet on the whole, this preface shows, quite as clearly as the poem itself, the spirit of the time immediately before the romantic revival gained its headway.

The preface to Mr. Stanley's first edition is dated Feb. 8, 1796. The advertisement to the third, called a "new edition" is dated April 15 of the same year. Between these two appeared a second edition, a clear indication of considerable popularity. This second edition was an exact duplicate of the first, except for two slight changes on the title-page. There, just before the two verses, appeared the words "By J. T. Stanley,. Esq. F.R.S.," and just after, "Second Edition."

The interest excited by Stanley's translating of the Lenore not only inspired, before its publication, the proposed edition of Wm. R. Spencer to accompany Lady Beauclerk's drawings, but brought out two others. The first, and by far the more important, was the version of William Taylor of Norwich, made some years before as we shall see, and now printed for the first time in the March number of the Monthly Magazine. The second was by Henry James Pye, the poet laureate. This interest also encouraged Stanley's publisher to propose a new edition with better plates, in anticipation of that with the designs of Lady Diana Beauclerk. It is possible also that Mr. Spencer's known purpose to "improve" the translation may have had its influence. At least Mr. Stanley now made his own improvement. He considerably altered the translation in details, and especially wrote a new conclusion.

The importance of this new edition, especially in relation to the conflict between the old and the new spirit in our literature, merits a fuller description than has hitherto been given. Its title-page reads:

Leonora/A Tale/Translated and altered from the/German/of Gottfried Augustus Bürger/By J. T. Stanley, Esq. F.R.S. &c./

"Poetry hath Bubbles, as the water has: "And these are of them,"— Does not the idea of a God include The notion of beneficent and good; Of one to mercy, not revenge inclin'd, Able and willing to relieve mankind?

A New Edition/London/Printed by S. Gosnall/For William Miller, Old Bond Street/1796.

The frontispiece of Chodowiecki is now replaced by one designed by Blake and engraved by Perry. There are head and tail pieces by the same artist. Below the frontispiece are the following lines, "altered from Young" of the Night Thoughts:

O! how I dreamt of things impossible! Of Death affecting Forms least like himself; I've seen, or dreamt I saw the Tyrant dress, Lay by his Horrors, and put on his Smiles; Treacherous he came an unexpected Guest, Nay, though invited by the loudest Calls Of blind Imprudence, unexpected still; And then he dropt his Mask."

The preface of the first edition is reprinted with slight changes, and a new preface, called an advertisement, explains the new issue. In this the publisher says:

The favourable manner in which the translation of "Leonora", offered by me to the Public, has been received, I feel highly flattering, as a proof, my opinion of the work was not erroneous, when I thought it worthy being submitted to their perusal.

When the last Edition was nearly exhausted, I intimated to Mr. Stanley, (whom now I am allowed to name as the Translator of the poem) my intention to re-publish it on a larger sized paper, accompanied by some new Engravings; he, in consequence, was pleased to send me, after an interval of some days, a copy of his Translation, much altered, and much enlarged, together with a letter, which, having his permission, as it states his reasons for deviating from the story originally related by Bürger, I shall here insert.

"Dear Sir, I have sent you, according to my promise, a corrected copy of the translation of Bürger's Leonora. Translation, indeed, I ought scarcely now to call it; for I have so altered and added to the original, that the story in its English dress, has acquired a character altogether new and peculiarly its own.

Since your first publication of the poem, I have often doubted whether it was not calculated (as far as its effects could extend) to injure the cause of Religion and Morality, by exhibiting a representation of supernatural interference, inconsistent with our ideas of a just and benevolent Deity. Such reflections have tempted me to make the alterations I have alluded to. I am, however, doubtful whether they will be approved by the public. Those who think the merit of the Poem consists in its power of exciting terror, and who love to retain the impressions of such sentiments when once excited, will probably condemn every deviation from the original, as prejudicial to its interests; but, on the other hand, many may prefer it, as it will appear in your new Edition, who think that the first object of all writing, particularly of all poetry, as bearing the character of more studied composition, should be to teach man clear ideas of justice and injustice, vice and virtue. They will be pleased to find the Almighty no longer held out to their contemplation as an irritable and vindictive ruler, ever watchful for offence, and prepared to punish; but instead, as a friend and affectionate parent, having but one interest with his creatures, happy in their happiness, and associated to their nature In the captivating forms of sympathy and love. I am, dear Sir, truly your's, I. T. S. Bolton Row, April 15, 1796."

The Public will judge between the merits of the first, and this new publication of Leonora, and it remains with me only to express my hopes that no purchaser of the former edition will be displeased at the appearance of another so much altered, and to inform such as may be desirous of exchanging the one for the other, that I shall, at all times, be ready to obey their orders.

W. M.

Old Bond Street.

It is clear from the letter of Mr. Stanley, found in the advertisement, that he was no child of the new romanticism. Although he seems to have enjoyed German poetry, he was still English to the core, attached to the established order of things, perhaps somewhat alarmed at the evident interest of his countrymen in what he thought German extravagance. This is even more fully confirmed by the new conclusion which he made for Bürger's poem. To offset the ghastly crew of spectres he introduces a second voice, which speaks "in milder tones" to the swooning Leonora. Transformed by the voice she is still able to express her resignation as she sinks into unconsciousness, and the spectres vanish discomfited. Then the dawn is made to appear, with "Love and his smiling train." William returns, calls to his Leonora to awake, tells her "Death has vainly aimed his dart," and clasps her in his arms as the poem closes. The whole makes an addition of eight stanzas, or seven besides the original stanza, now somewhat modified, which Mr. Stanley had first added to the Bürger material.

But these are by no means all the changes made in this new edition. Besides many verbal alterations in individual lines, of which a detailed account need not be given here, he added considerably in other ways. For instance, Bürger's poem consists of thirty-two stanzas. Mr. Stanley's first edition has thirty-four stanzas, the last of which was his own. The third, or new edition, has forty-four stanzas, ten more than his first version. Of these one new one is added after the twenty-first of the first edition, and another after the twenty-second. These, with the eight new stanzas at the end, account for the additions in this new edition.

The issue of three editions of Stanley's Leonora within a little more than two months is proof that it was not unfavorably received. Its reception by the reviewers attests the same fact. We have noted how the Monthly Mirror expressed the public's debt to the publisher "for this fantastic little work." It added, "The translator has lost little of the spirit of the original, though we think the metre he has adopted is by no means advantageous to the subject." Both the Critical and Monthly Reviews noticed it, with Pye's translation, in July. The former says of the two:

Mr. Pye claims the merit of superior exactness,—having translated it, as he says, line by line. Mr. Stanley's, however, we do not find deficient in exactness; and it is more concise, and, we think, has clearly more spirit than the other. Both have succeeded sufficiently to gratify the English reader with a very striking story; but neither has transfused the peculiar and characteristic beauties of his author with a free and masterly hand.

At this point the reviewer mentions what is evidently Taylor's version of the Lenore, which had appeared in the Monthly Magazine for March. He then takes up Stanley's new conclusion:

Since the above was written, a new edition has appeared of Mr. Stanley's version, in which his attention to the moral which we have before noticed, has led him to make a very material alteration in the catastrophe of the piece. …

Whether the generality of readers will think Mr. Stanley altered for the better a ballad of such a cast, by giving it a fortunate conclusion, we can not say; for our parts we confess we think he has not only flattened the piece very much, but spoiled the moral it was his object to improve. The story of Bürger is no doubt highly filled with horror; but for those whose sensibilities are too delicate to bear any thing which strongly moves them, poetry enough exists of a tamer cast:—there was no occasion to render Bürger tame.

The Monthly Review was also generally favorable, though also criticising the new conclusion of the poem:

We think it unnecessary to prompt the judgment of our readers with respect to the comparative merit of the two versions. … On the whole, however, we deem ourselves justified in saying that Mr. Stanley's performance contains more of the graces of poetry than the other, at no greater expense of ease and propriety of language. In his second edition [really the new edition as shown by the heading of the article] Mr. Stanley has deviated from himself, and from his original, in a total alteration of the catastrophe; which, by the ready artifice of supposing all the horrid scenery to have passed in a vision, he makes to end with the repentance of Leonora, rewarded by the return of her lover. For this liberty, he gives certain moral and religious reasons, which, we confess, do not greatly weigh with us; since, in a play of the fancy like the present, we rather look for a gratification of the imagination, than for any solid lesson for the understanding. We commend Mr. Stanley's motive: but, to those who delight in a tale of wonder and horror, we are convinced that the terrible catastrophe will be the most impressive:—and no others will delight in it at all.