ct being "to convey some
notion of the variety of versification which forms one great charm of
the poem." A literal translation is always possible in the unrhymed
passages; but even here Mr. Hayward's ear did not dictate to him the
necessity of preserving the original rhythm.

While, therefore, I heartily recognize his lofty appreciation of
_Faust_,--while I honor him for the patient and conscientious labor he
has bestowed upon his translation,--I cannot but feel that he has
himself illustrated the unsoundness of his argument. Nevertheless, the
circumstance that his prose translation of _Faust_ has received so much
acceptance proves those qualities of the original work which cannot be
destroyed by a test so violent. From the cold bare outline thus
produced, the reader unacquainted with the German language would
scarcely guess what glow of color, what richness of changeful life, what
fluent grace and energy of movement have been lost in the process. We
must, of course, gratefully receive such an outline, where a nearer
approach to the form of the original is impossible, but, until the
latter has been demonstrated, we are wrong to remain content with the
cheaper substitute.

It seems to me that in all discussions upon this subject the capacities
of the English language have received but scanty justice. The
intellectual tendencies of our race have always been somewhat
conservative, and its standards of literary taste or belief, once set
up, are not varied without a struggle. The English ear is suspicious of
new metres and unaccustomed forms of expression: there are critical
detectives on the track of every author, and a violation of the accepted
canons is followed by a summons to judgment. Thus the tendency is to
contract rather than to expand the acknowledged excellences of the
language.[J]

[J] I cannot resist the temptation of quoting the following passage from
Jacob Grimm: "No one of all the modern languages has acquired a greater
force and strength than the English, through the derangement and
relinquishment of its ancient laws of sound. The unteachable
(nevertheless _learnable_) profusion of its middle-tones has conferred
upon it an intrinsic power of expression, such as no other human tongue
ever possessed. Its entire, thoroughly intellectual and wonderfully
successful foundation and perfected development issued from a marvelous
union of the two noblest tongues of Europe, the Germanic and the
Romanic. Their mutu