A Critical Essay on Characteristic-Writings | Page 5

add some _Notes_; but yet I have endeavoured to shun that Fault, which I have already censur'd, by saying no more, but what was immediately necessary, to illustrate the Text, to vindicate a received Sense, or to propose a new one.
I am not conscious of having made any great Excursions beyond the Bounds which these Rules prescrib'd to me, unless it is in the Chapter concerning Superstition. And even here, unless the Commentary had been somewhat copious, the Text it self wou'd have appear'd like a motly Piece of mysterious Nonsense. Thus much I thought my self oblig'd to do in Justice to _Theophrastus_; and as for the Enlargements which I have made, over and above what wou'd have satisfy'd this Demand, they will not, 'tis hop'd, be unacceptable to the curious Reader. They are Digressions I own; but I shall not here offer to make one Digression to execute another, or, according to the Custom and Practice of modern Authors, beg a thousand Pardons of the Reader, before I am certain of having committed one Offence. Such a Procedure seems preposterous. For when an Author happens to digress, and take a Trip +huper ta eskammena+, beyond the Bounds prescrib'd; the best, the only consistent thing he can do, is to take his Chance for the Event. If what he has said does not immediately relate to the Matter in Hand, it may nevertheless be a propos, and good in its Kind; and then instead of Censure, he will probably meet with Thanks; but if it be not good, no prefatory Excuses will make it so: And besides, it will ever be insisted on, that 'tis an easier Matter to strike out bad Digressions, than it is to write good Apologies.
One Word more, and then I have done. Since Mr. Budgell has thought fit to censure Mr. de la Bruyere, for troubling his Reader with Notes, I think my self oblig'd, in order to justify both Mr. de la Bruyere and my self, to shew that this Censure is very unreasonable, and very unjust.[D] Mr. _Budgell's_ Words are as follow.
Theophrastus, at the Time he writ, referr'd to nothing but what was well known to the meanest Person in _Athens_; but as Mr. Bruyere has manag'd it, by hinting at too many Grecian Customs, a modern Reader is oblig'd to peruse one or two Notes, which are frequently longer than the Sentence it self he wou'd know the meaning of. But if those Manners and Customs, which Theophrastus alludes to, were, in his Time, well known to the meanest Athenian, it does not follow that they are now so well known to a modern Reader.
[D: Preface to his Translation of Theophrastus.]
_Mr. _de la Bruyere's_ Fault does not consist in having put Notes to his Translation, but rather in not having put enough. When a Translator of an antient Author intends to preserve the peculiar Character of the Original, Notes become absolutely necessary to render the Translation intelligible to a modern Reader. The Learn'd may pass them over; and those, for whom Explanatory Notes are chiefly designed, must not think it too much Trouble, to bestow a second Reading on the Text, after they have given a First to the Whole. This Trouble (if any thing ought to be call'd so that conveys Instruction) is no more than what many persons, who have attained to no small share of Knowledg in the learn'd Languages, must submit to, at the first Perusal of an Original Author. If in a translated Author any Difficulties occur, on this Head, to a modern Reader, and the Translator has taken Care to clear up those difficulties by adding Notes, the modern Reader ought to thank him for his Pains, and not think his Labour superfluous.
'Tis hop'd then that the Notes, that I have added, will be kindly receiv'd. The Reader will nevertheless be at full Liberty to peruse them, or to pass them over. If he if but so favourable as to approve of the Translation it self, this will be a sufficient Satisfaction to the Translator, and be looked upon as no finall Commendation of the Performance. For a Translation, if it be well performed, ought in Justice to be receiv'd as a good Commentary_.

SECT. II.
There is no Kind of polite Writing that seems to require a deeper Knowledge, a livelier Imagination, and a happier Turn of Expression than the Characteristic. Human Nature, in its various Forms and Affections, is the Subject; and he who wou'd attempt a Work of this Kind, with some assurance of Success, must not only study other Men; he has a more difficult Task to perform; he must study himself. The deep and dark Recesses of the Heart must be penetrated, to discover how Nature is disguis'd into Art, and how