In his extensive discussion of poetry in volume 2, Kames frequently cites single lines of Latin, Italian, French, or English, without indicating their author or the work in which the quotation occurs. Although he explicitly states that “thought and expression have a great influence on expression” [2.143], many of the single lines, extracted from their contexts, are almost meaningless, and translations have not been provided. Kames is interested essentially in how lines should, or could, be properly spoken, and his discussion is about accent, rhythm, and meter.
Translations
Kames read Latin, French, and Italian fluently, and quoted texts in the original language: his comments are on works in their original language, not on any translation that may be provided. He himself particularly admired the translations of Alexander Pope and John Dryden, and these have been used where possible, together with some other translations of the time. Details are:
Ariosto, Lodovico. Orlando Furioso (1532). Translated by William Stewart Rose. London: J. Murray, 1823–31.
Boileau Despréaux, Nicolas. The Works of Monsieur Boileau. Translated by Nicholas Rowe. London: E. Sanger and E. Curll, 1712.
Catullus, Gaius Valerius. The Poems of Catullus. Translated by Peter Whigham. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1966.
Corneille, Pierre. The Cid, Cinna, The Theatrical Illusion. Translation and introduction by John Cairncross. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1975.
———. Pompey the Great, a Tragedy. Translated out of French by certain persons of honor. London: Herringman, 1664.
Dryden, John, trans. Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Aeneid. London: J. Tonson, 1697.
Fénelon, François de Salignac de la Mothe-, The Adventures of Telemachus, the Son of Ulysses. Translated by Tobias Smollett. London, 1776.
Guarini, Battista. Il Pastor Fido. Translated by Richard Fanshawe. London: Bently et al., 1692.
Pope, Alexander, trans. The Iliad of Homer. London: for Bernard Lintott, 1715–20.
———. Imitations of Horace. Edited by John Butt. London: Methuen, 1939.
———. The Odyssey of Homer. London: for Bernard Lintott, 1725–26.
———. The Poetical Works. Edited by A. W. Ward. London: Macmillan, 1873.
Quintus Curtius Rufus. The History of Alexander. Translated by John Yardley. Hammondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1984.
Racine, Jean. Bajazet. Translated by Y. M. Martin. London: George Gill, 1964.
———. Iphigenia, Phaedra, Athaliah. Translation and introduction by John Cairncross. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1970.
Tasso, Torquato. Gerusalemme Liberata. Translated by Edward Fairfax. Published in 1600 as Godfrey of Bulloigne, or the Recovery of Jerusalem. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.
———. Aminta. Translated by E. Grillo. London: Dent, 1924.
Vida, Marco Girolamo. Vida’s Art of Poetry. Translated by Christopher Pitt. London: Sam. Palmer for A. Bettersworth, 1725.
The classical texts quoted by Kames differ in countless minor details from modern editions: the variations have not been noted. The following classical works are cited in translations from the Loeb Classical Library published by Heinemann, London, and Harvard University Press, various dates:
Cicero: De Finibus, H. Rackham
Cicero: De Officiis, Walter Miller
Cicero: De Oratore, E. W. Sutton and H. Rackham
Cicero: Tusculan Disputations, J. E. King
Cicero: Verrine Orations (Against Caecilius), L. H. G. Greenwood
Horace: Odes and Epodes, C. E. Bennett
Horace: Satires, Epistles, Ars Poetica, H. R. Fairclough
Livy: B. O. Foster, F. G. Moore, Evan T. Sage, A. C. Schlesinger, R. M. Geer
Lucan: The Civil War [Pharsalia], J. D. Duff
Martial: Epigrams, D. R. Shackleton Bailey
Ovid: The Art of Love and Other Poems, J. H. Mozley
Ovid: Heroides and Amores, Grant Showerman
Quintilian: The Institutio Oratoria, H. E. Butler
Terence: The Self-Tormentor, The Eunuch, John Barsby
Virgil: Eclogues, Georgics, Aeneid, The Minor Poems, H. R. Fairclough
In a few cases I have provided my own version.
Most editors exhaust their own resources in chasing down unidentified books and quotations and appropriate translations. Without the unstinting help of friends there would remain many more gaps in notes to the text than still exist, and I wish to thank most warmly William Desmond, Jean Jones, Emilio Mazza, Åsa Söderman, and Robert Wokler.
ELEMENTS OF CRITICISM
VOLUME 1
WITH THE
AUTHOR’S LAST CORRECTIONS
AND ADDITIONS.
EDINBURGH:
Printed for JOHN BELL and WILLIAM CREECH,
And for T. CADELL and G. ROBINSON, London.
M, DCC, LXXXV.<iv><v>
TO THE
KING
SIR,
The Fine Arts have ever been encouraged by wise Princes, not singly for private amusement, but for their beneficial influence in society. By uniting different ranks in the same elegant pleasures, they promote benevolence: by cherishing love of order, they enforce submission to government: and by inspiring delicacy of feeling, they make regular government a double blessing.<vi>
These considerations embolden me to hope for your Majesty’s patronage in behalf of the following work, which treats of the Fine Arts, and attempts to form a standard of taste, by unfolding those principles that ought to govern the taste of every individual.
It is rare to find one born with such delicacy of feeling, as not to need instruction: it is equally rare to find one so low in feeling, as not to be capable of instruction. And yet, to refine our taste with respect to beauties of art or of nature, is scarce endeavoured in any seminary of learning; a lamentable defect, considering how early in life taste is susceptible of culture, and how difficult to reform it if unhappily perverted. To furnish materials for supplying that defect, was an additional motive for the present undertaking.<vii>
To promote the Fine Arts in Britain, has become of greater importance than is generally imagined. A flourishing commerce begets opulence; and opulence, inflaming our appetite for pleasure, is commonly vented on luxury, and on every sensual gratification: Selfishness rears its head; becomes fashionable;