From: William Godwin (1784). Imogen: A Pastorial Romance From the Ancient
British.
PREFACE If we could allow ourselves in that
license of conjecture, which is become almost inseparable from the
character of an editor, we should say: That Milton having written it
upon the borders of Wales, might have had easy recourse to the
manuscript whose contents are now first given to the public: And that
the singularity of preserving the name of the place where it was first
performed in the title of his poem, was intended for an ingenuous and
well-bred acknowledgement of the source from whence he drew his choicest
materials. But notwithstanding the plausibility of these
conjectures, we are now inclined to give up our original opinion, and to
ascribe the performance to a gentleman of Wales, who lived so late as
the reign of king William the third. The name of this amiable person was
Rice ap Thomas. The romance was certainly at one time in his custody,
and was handed down as a valuable legacy to his descendants, among whom
the present translator has the honor to rank himself. Rice ap Thomas,
Esquire, was a man of a most sweet and inoffensive disposition, beloved
and respected by all his neighbors and tenants, and "passing rich with
"sixty" pounds a year." In his domestic he was elegant, hospitable, and
even sumptuous, for the time and country in which he lived. He was
however naturally of an abstemious and recluse disposition. He abounded
in singularities, which were pardoned to his harmlessness and his
virtues; and his temper was full of sensibility, seriousness, and
melancholy. He devoted the greater part of his time to study; and he
boasted that he had almost a complete collection of the manuscript
remains of our Welch bards. He was often heard to prefer even to
Taliessin, Merlin, and Aneurim, the effusions of the immortal Cadwallo,
and indeed this was the only subject upon which he was ever known to
dispute with eagerness and fervor. In the midst of the controversy, he
would frequently produce passages from the Pastoral Romance, as decisive
of the question. And to confess the truth, I know not how to excuse this
piece of jockeyship and ill faith, even in Rice ap Thomas, whom I regard
as the father of my family, and the chief ornament of my beloved
country. Some readers will probably however be inclined to
apologize for the conduct of Mr. Thomas, and to lay an equivalent blame
to my charge. They will tell me, that nothing but the weakest partiality
could blind me to the genuine air of antiquity with which the
composition is every where impressed, and to ascribe it to a modern
writer. But I am conscious to my honesty and defy their malice. So far
from being sensible of any improper bias in favor of my ancestor, I am
content to strengthen their hands, by acknowledging that the manuscript,
which I am not at all desirous of refusing to their inspection, is
richly emblazoned with all the discoloration and rust they can possibly
desire. I confess that the wording has the purity of Taliessin, and the
expressiveness of Aneurim, and is such as I know of no modern Welch man
who could write. And yet, in spite as they will probably tell me of
evidence and common sense, I still aver my persuasion, that it is the
production of Rice ap Thomas. But enough, and perhaps too
much, for the question of its antiquity. It would be unfair to send it
into the world without saying something of the nature of its
composition. It is unlike the Arcadia of sir Philip Sidney, and unlike,
what I have just taken the trouble of running over, the Daphnis of
Gessner. It neither on the one hand leaves behind it the laws of
criticism, and mixes together the different stages of civilization; nor
on the other will it perhaps be found frigid, uninteresting, and
insipid. The prevailing opinion of Pastoral seems to have been, that it
is a species of composition admirably fitted for the size of an eclogue,
but that either its nature will not be preserved, or its simplicity will
become surfeiting in a longer performance. And accordingly, the Pastoral
Dramas of Tasso, Guarini, and Fletcher, however they may have been
commended by the critics, and admired by that credulous train who clap
and stare whenever they are bid, have when the recommendation of novelty
has subsided been little attended to and little read. But the great
Milton has proved that this objection is not insuperable. His Comus is a
master-piece of poetical composition. It is at least equal in its kind
even to the Paradise Lost. It is interesting, descriptive and pathetic.
Its fame is continually increasing, and it will be admired wherever the
name of Britain is repeated, and the language of Britain is
understood. If our hypothesis respecting the date of the
present performance is admitted, it must be acknowledged that the
ingenious Mr. Thomas has taken the Masque of Milton for a model; and the
reader with whom Comus is a favorite, will certainly trace some literal
imitations. With respect to any objections that may be made on this
score to the Pastoral Romance, we will beg the reader to bear in mind,
that the volumes before him are not an original, but a translation.
Recollecting this, we may, beside the authority of Milton himself, and
others as great poets as ever existed who have imitated Homer and one
another at least as much as our author has done Comus, suggest two very
weighty apologies. In the first place, imitation in a certain degree,
has ever been considered as lawful when made from a different language:
And in the second, these imitations come to the reader exaggerated, by
being presented to him in English, and by a person who confesses, that
he has long been conversant with our greatest poets. The translator has
always admired Comus as much as the Pastoral Romance; he has read them
together, and been used to consider them as illustrating each other. Any
verbal coincidences into which he may have fallen, are therefore to be
ascribed where they are due, to him, and not to the author. And upon the
whole, let the imperfections of the Pastoral Romance be what they will,
he trusts he shall be regarded as making a valuable present to the
connoisseurs and the men of taste, and an agreeable addition to the
innocent amusements of the less laborious classes of the polite
world.
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