I. H. Meyer Soulp heavens! he cried, with solemn sneer, What incongruities are here! 4. Mauden, as an Houri fair. Hung round with h gems yet bare, quite bare! P.46. TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE, BY J. HOPPNER, ESQ. R. A. At vos exiguo pecori furesque lupique Parcite; de magno est præda petenda grege. TIBULLUS. LONDON: PRINTED BY W. BULMER AND CO. CLEVELAND-ROW; FOR J. HATCHARD, BOOKSELLER TO HER MAJESTY, OPPOSITE ALBANY PLACE, PICCADILLY. 1805. PREFACE. It would be affectation, on so slight an occasion as the present, were I even qualified for the task, to enter into an elaborate enquiry concerning the origin and progress of Tale writing. It may be sufficient to hint, what I presume is pretty generally allowed, that it took its rise in the East, from whence, through the medium of Persia, it spread, in the times of the Caliphs, over the western world, where it was eagerly received, and sedulously cultivated. It will readily be supposed that my acquaintance with the tales and apologues of France and Italy is not very extensive; I cannot however refrain from observing, that my surprise has been more than once excited, during the perusal of the few which have fallen under my hand, at the little claim they have to originality. In useful inventions Europe must undoubtedly take the lead, but in the productions of fancy Asia has always been pre-eminent. Pilpay, and other Orientalists, have furnished Boccaccio and his followers with their most amusing fables; and from the tenth to the fourteenth century, the literature (if it may be so called) of the south of Europe was confined to little else but imitating and embellishing them. Enough of these discussions, to which I am as little accustomed as equal:-I feel |