



Produced by Thomas Berger, Eric Eldred, Charles Franks and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.










THE FABLES OF LA FONTAINE


_Translated From The French_

By Elizur Wright.


_A New Edition, With Notes_

By J. W. M. Gibbs.

1882

       *       *       *       *       *

PREFACE

To The Present Edition,

With Some Account Of The Translator.

The first edition of this translation of La Fontaine's Fables appeared
in Boston, U.S., in 1841. It achieved a considerable success, and six
editions were printed in three years. Since then it has been allowed to
pass out of print, except in the shape of a small-type edition produced
in London immediately after the first publication in Boston, and the
present publishers have thought that a reprint in a readable yet popular
form would be generally acceptable.

The translator has remarked, in the "Advertisement" to his original
edition (which follows these pages), on the singular neglect of La
Fontaine by English translators up to the time of his own work. Forty
years have elapsed since those remarks were penned, yet translations into
English of the _complete_ Fables of the chief among modern fabulists
are almost as few in number as they were then. Mr. George Ticknor (the
author of the "History of Spanish Literature," &c.), in praising Mr.
Wright's translation when it first appeared, said La Fontaine's was "a
book till now untranslated;" and since Mr. Wright so happily accomplished
his self-imposed task, there has been but one other complete translation,
viz., that of the late Mr. Walter Thornbury. This latter, however, seems
to have been undertaken chiefly with a view to supplying the necessary
accompaniment to the English issue of M. Dore's well-known designs for
the Fables (first published as illustrations to a Paris edition), and
existing as it does only in the large quarto form given to those
illustrations, it cannot make any claim to be a handy-volume edition. Mr.
Wright's translation, however, still holds its place as the best English
version, and the present reprint, besides having undergone careful
revision, embodies the corrections (but not the expurgations) of the
sixth edition, which differed from those preceding it. The notes too,
have, for the most part, been added by the reviser.

Some account of the translator, who is still one of the living notables
of his nation, may not be out of place here. Elizur Wright, junior, is
the son of Elizur Wright, who published some papers in mathematics, but
was principally engaged in agricultural pursuits at Canaan, Litchfield
Co., Connecticut, U.S. The younger Elizur Wright was born at Canaan in
1804. He graduated at Yale College in 1826, and afterwards taught in a
school at Groton. In 1829, he became Professor of Mathematics in Hudson
College, from which post he went to New York in 1833, on being appointed
secretary to the American Anti-Slavery Society. In 1838 he removed to the
literary centre of the United States, Boston, where he edited several
papers successively, and where he published his "La Fontaine;" which
thus, whilst, it still remains his most considerable work, was also one
of his earliest. How he was led to undertake it, he has himself narrated
in the advertisement to his first edition. But previously to 1841, the
date of the first publication of the complete "Fables," he tried the
effect of a partial publication. In 1839 he published, anonymously, a
little 12mo volume, "La Fontaine; A Present for the Young." This, as
appears from the title, was a book for children, and though the substance
of these few (and simpler) fables may be traced in the later and complete
edition, the latter shows a considerable improvement upon the work of his
"'prentice hand." The complete work was published, as we have said, in
1841. It appeared in an expensive and sumptuous form, and was adorned
with the French artist Grandville's illustrations--which had first
appeared only two years previously in the Paris edition of La Fontaine's
Fables, published by Fournier Aine. The book was well received both in
America and England, and four other editions were speedily called for.
The sixth edition, published in 1843, was a slightly expurgated one,
designed for schools. The expurgation, however, almost wholly consisted
of the omission bodily of five of the fables, whose places were, as Mr.
Wright stated in his preface, filled by six original fables of his own.
From his "Notice" affixed to this sixth edition, it seems evident that he
by no means relished the task, usually a hateful one, of expurgating his
author. Having, however, been urged to the task by "criticisms both
friendly and unfriendly" (as he says) he did it; and did it wisely,
because sparingly. But in his prefatory words he in a measure protests.
He says:--"In this age, distinguished for almost everything more than
sincerity, there are some people who would seem too delicate and refined
to read their Bibles." And he concludes with the appeal,--"But the
unsophisticated lovers of _nature_, who have not had the opportunity
to acquaint themselves with the French language, I have no doubt will
thank me for interpreting to them these honest and truthful fictions of
the frank old JEAN, and will beg me to proceed no farther in the work
of expurgation." The first of the substituted fables of the sixth
edition--_The Fly and the Game_, given below--may also be viewed as
a protest to the same purpose. As a specimen of Mr. Wright's powers at
once as an original poet and an original fabulist, we here print (for the
first time in England, we believe) the substituted fables of his sixth
edition. We may add, that they appeared in lieu of the following five
fables as given in Mr. Wright's complete edition--and in the present
edition:--_The Bitch and her Friend, The Mountain in Labour, The Young
Widow, The Women and the Secret_, and, _The Husband, the Wife, and
the Thief_. It should also be borne in mind that these original fables
were inserted in an edition professedly meant for schools rather than for
the general public.

       *       *       *       *       *

THE FLY AND THE GAME.

  A knight of powder-horn and shot
  Once fill'd his bag--as I would not,
  Unless the feelings of my breast
  By poverty were sorely press'd--
  With birds and squirrels for the spits
  Of certain gormandizing cits.
  With merry heart the fellow went
  Direct to Mr. Centpercent,
  Who loved, as well was understood,
  Whatever game was nice and good.
  This gentleman, with knowing air,
  Survey'd the dainty lot with care,
  Pronounced it racy, rich, and rare,
  And call'd his wife, to know her wishes
  About its purchase for their dishes.
  The lady thought the creatures prime,
  And for their dinner just in time;
  So sweet they were, and delicate,
  For dinner she could hardly wait.
  But now there came--could luck be worse?--
  Just as the buyer drew his purse,
  A bulky fly, with solemn buzz,
  And smelt, as an inspector does,
  This bird and that, and said the meat--
  But here his words I won't repeat--
  Was anything but fit to eat.
  'Ah!' cried the lady, 'there's a fly
  I never knew to tell a lie;
  His coat, you see, is bottle-green;
  He knows a thing or two I ween;
  My dear, I beg you, do not buy:
  Such game as this may suit the dogs.'
  So on our peddling sportsman jogs,
  His soul possess'd of this surmise,
  About some men, as well as flies:
  A filthy taint they soonest find
  Who are to relish filth inclined.




THE DOG AND CAT.

  A dog and cat, messmates for life,
  Were often falling into strife,
  Which came to scratching, growls, and snaps,
  And spitting in the face, perhaps.
  A neighbour dog once chanced to call
  Just at the outset of their brawl,
  And, thinking Tray was cross and cruel,
  To snarl so sharp at Mrs. Mew-well,
  Growl'd rather roughly in his ear.
  'And who are you to interfere?'
  Exclaim'd the cat, while in his face she flew;
  And, as was wise, he suddenly withdrew.

    It seems, in spite of all his snarling,
    And hers, that Tray was still her darling.




