PASCAL.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:1 SIR,—Lord St. Cyres's "Pascal" no doubt deserves all the praise your reviewer bestows on it in your last issue. Still, what is wanted is not so much another work on Pascal as a translation by a competent hand of the immortal " Pro- vincials." The English translations—especially the most modern—are quite inadequate, and even incorrect and mis- leading. Difficult passages are slurred over, and the spirit of the original is hardly anywhere properly reproduced. Is there no one capable of making the "Provincials" what Jowett is said to have made the Platonic "Dialogues,"—an English classic P In spite of its apparent simplicity, the prose of Pascal is very difficult to transfer into the idiom of another language. One instance will suffice. The Jesuits are attacked rather than their followers because Les choses valent toujours stanza dans leas- source. The meaning of the sentence is per- fectly clear, and it is easy to produce some sort of English equivalent. But it would tax the powers of the most skilled translator to bring out the full value of the French words in another tongue. I believe the late Mr. W. H. Pater has quoted the above sentence as likely to try the quality of a translator.—I am, Sir, &c., V. DR S. FOWICK. New University Club, St. Tames 's Street, S.W.
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