Ebook The Ruins

IT has long been matter of complaint among. French writers, that those publications of theirs, which have been rendered into En glish, contain many inaccuracies and false translations. These arise from the greater part of those, who translate works from one language into another, pursuing that business as a profession, in order to obtain a living; their circumstances are necessitous, which too 2 often compel them to hurry through their translations, without paying that attention Which IS always necessary to investigate the true meaning of the author; to develope an ambiguous expression — to discover and re jcet, the obsolete meaning of a word, would consume too much time; hence arise false translations, But in this edition the trans lator was not under necessitous circumstances; he undertook it to oblige a friend, and had frequent opportunities of consulting the eu thor, and, several gentlemen distinguished equally for their knowledge of the French as of the English language.invocation.