19 MAY 1866, Page 13

LORD DERBY AND MR. NORGATE'S ILIADS.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

SIR,—In your last number, speaking of translations of Homer, you talk of Lord Derby's famous "Knee me no knees." I do not wish to detract from the merit of what I have always thought an unusually happy rendering, but it is right to remark that it had been anticipated by Mr. Norgate in his blank-verse translation of the Iliad, which appeared, I believe, some months before Lord Derby's. Fortunate as the expression is, it may well have occurred independently to two or more persons, who happened to recollect Shakespeare's "Thank me no thankings, nor proud ins

no prouds."—Your obedient servant, J. C.