Page:Essay on the Principles of Translation - Tytler (1791, 1st ed).djvu/190

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Chap. XI.
TRANSLATION.
175

which is idiomatical, and has no strictly corresponding expression in English:

J'avois un jour un valet de Gascogne,
Gourmand, yvrogne, et assuré menteur,
Pipeur, larron, jureur, blasphémateur,
Sentant la hart de cent pas à la ronde:
Au demeurant le meilleur silz du monde.

Although we have idioms in English that are nearly similar to this, we have none which has the same naiveté, and therefore no justice can be done to this passage by any English translation.

CHAP.