t but too perceptible in our work, that this
fault is to be considered as a sacrifice of grace at the altar of truth.
It would have been not only possible, but easy, to have spun a
collection of easy rhymes, bearing a general resemblance to the vigorous
and passionate poetry of Pushkin; but this would not have been a
_translation_, and a translation it was our object to produce. Bowring's
_Russian Anthology_ (not to speak of his other volumes of translated
poetry) is a melancholy example of the danger of this attractive but
fatal system; while the names of Cary, of Hay, and of Merivale, will
remain as a bright encouragement to those who have sufficient strength
of mind to prefer the "strait and narrow way" of masterly _translation_,
to the "flowery paths of dalliance" so often trodden by the
_paraphraser_.

In all cases, the metre of the original, the musical movement and
modulation, has, as far as the translator's ear enabled him to judge,
been followed with minute exactness, and at no inconsiderable expense,
in some cases, of time and labour. It would be superfluous, therefore,
to state, that the number of lines in the English version is always the
same as in the original. It has been our study, wherever the differences
in the structure of the two languages would permit, to include the same
thoughts in the same number of lines. There is also a peculiarity of the
Russian language which frequently rendered our task still more arduous;
and the conquest of this difficulty has, we trust, conferred upon us the
right to speak of our triumph without incurring the charge of vanity. We
allude to the great abundance in the Russian of double terminations, and
the consequent recurrence of double rhymes, a peculiarity common also to
the Italian and Spanish versification, and one which certainly
communicates to the versification of those countries a character so
marked and peculiar, that no translator would be justified in neglecting
it. As it would be impossible, without the use of Russian types, to give
our readers an example of this from the writings of Pushkin, and as they
would be unable to pronounce such a quotation even if they saw it, we
will give an illustration of what we mean from the Spanish and the
Italian.

The first is from the fourth book of the _Galatea_ of Cervantes--

"Venga a mirar a la pastora mia
Quien quisiere contar de gente en gente
Que vio otro sol, que daba luz al dia
Mas claro, que el