The first is that of Father Miles Pinkney,[1] who wrote under the name of "Thomas Carre." It was published in Paris in 1664, and is now very rare. Carre's translation—though every now and then a difficult phrase is shirked in it—is complete and faithful. Its fault is that it is so faithful in the way of simply turning the Latin words into Latin-English, that were it reproduced few people would care to use it.
The next in order is a Protestant translation by Henry Lee, LL.B., the first edition of which was published in 1760, and the second (identical with the first) in 1762. Its title-page runs thus: "Meditations and Prayers on the Life and Lovingkindnesses of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in four Parts, etc. Written originally in Latin by Thomas a Kempis, and now translated into English for the Benefit of devout Christians by Henry Lee, LL.B., etc."
But in his preface the " translator " writes thus: "It will be proper to observe that as Castalio and Dean Stanhope have taken liberties, and great ones too, in many places, in their versions of the 'Imitation of Christ,' so the like and perhaps greater liberties have been taken in the translation of this work. . . . One chapter in the Second Book is
- ↑ An interesting biography of Father Miles Pinkney will be found at p. 313 of vol. v of Gillow's "Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics" (London, Burns and Oates).
