Tomás de Iriarte

“ I do not flatter myself that it will make any conspicuous addition to the worthy achievements that have already graced our roll with names that rank high in the lists of Science, Philosophy and Literature. But it is pleasant to me to connect this translation of a college text-book—used by us all, long ago, within the walls of old Harvard—with the memory of youthful pursuits that have never lost their charm for the mind, and early associations that retain, with all their original freshness and geniality, their hold upon the heart. ”

“ If we no invention find,
Aught else is tedious waste."
FABLE XXI. THE RAT AND THE CAT. At telling of rabies old Esop was grand;
With his subtile invention, his wisdom so great.
And a story of his, as I have it at hand,
Into our own language I now will translate.
"It is plain," said a Rat, at the mouth of his hole,
"No distinction more lovely and noble is found
Than fidelity. Therefore it is, on my soul,
I love and respect the generous Hound." ”

“ The terminal inflections of the Spanish language and its accentuation are widely different from those of the Anglo-Saxon; and so axe the arbitrary arrangements of the rhythm, which are, in the latter, far more exacting and precise. The professed scholar will recognize and make due allowance for such obstacles. To the public at large we shall hope our little book may convey some instruction and amusement, in a palatable shape. If so, it may give, to a novel class of subjects, somewhat of the well-known interest inspired by the graceful and popular fictions of Esop, Gay and La Fontaine. ”

“ FABLE XXXIX. THE PORTRAIT. A spreading contagion, defacing our tongue
With phrases outlandish, our critics bemoan.
But some fools have their notions of purity hung
Upon obsolete terms superseding our own.
Living words they despise as a vulgar intrusion,
And forgotten ones rake from oblivion's gloom.
For a word of advice on such stupid conclusion,
In phrase like their own, we here must find room ”

“ Thus turning noble swords to vulgar spits.
Another clothes vile works in sounding words;
Then, seeks to sell his spits for trusty swords.
FABLE XLV. THE UNFORTUNATES. A man who, from his birth, was dumb
And deafer than a mole,
Some trifle to arrange was set
With a blind man, cheek by jowl. ”

“ Scarce a hand's breadth above the ground you've grown."
"Dear friend, that I'm of humble height, 'tis true,
But without help I grow. I pity you,
That cannot rise, even a hand's breadth high,
Without a wall to climb by, if you try." ”

“ I must go out and look up some twelve thousand tomes.
'Pon my honor, 'twill be a pretty good job.
I am almost discouraged—of money a deal
It will take; and 'tis work for a century, too.
Will it not be much better the cases to fill,
With books made of pasteboard, as good to the view?
Just think now—why not? A painter I know,
For such little jobs precisely the man;
Can write titles out fair, and make pasteboard to show
Like leather or parchment, if any one can. ”

“ Reflects this polysyllabic apologue enigmatical.
FABLE XLIII. THE CONCERT OF THE BEASTS. Attention—noble auditory!
While the rebeck I tune;
And be prepared with plaudits soon,
When ye have heard my story.
Certain of the subject beasts
Of the mighty Lion's court
An entertainment musical,
To make his Royal Highness sport
Upon his birth-day festival,
Devised,—to grace the occasion gay,
And pleasure to insure,
They organized an orchestra
To make success secure.
As often it doth happen,
Little wisdom was displayed,
In choosing actors competent,
That understood their trade. ”

“ They examine—their plaudits are hearty and loud.
And, even the Mole, though as blind as could be,
Concedes it to be a masterpiece proud.
But an old Caterpillar, who his spite could not stifle,
Muttered out of a corner, "This fuss was absurd.
Their wondrous cocoon was a pitiful trifle;
Its admirers all ninnies," he coolly averred.
The beasts at each other looked round in amaze.
"How comes it," say they, "that this creature forlorn,
What the rest of us all are uniting to praise,
He alone, wretched worm, takes upon him to scorn?" ”

“ Let the world wag, and stretch yourself at leisure."
But, in his turn, the Cock the Lamb addressed,
Soon after Piggy did his dissertation end;
"To be with health and active vigor blest,
One must sleep sparingly, my little friend.
In hot July, or frosty winter day,
With the bright stars to watch, is the true way.
Sleep numbs our senses with a stupid sloth;
In fact unnerves the mind and body both."
The Lamb hears both, and knows not which to trust.
He never guesses—simple little elf—
That the fine rule, by each laid down, is just
That others ought to do what suits himself. ”

“ And thus, good sir, you see, that by and by,
My natural talent will by education thrive."
Has the caprice some learned fancy crossed,
That hours to study given are labor lost?
Who wisest is, will ever study most. ”

“ His works, however, were of a character to command but little interest from posterity, with the exception of the fables translated in this little volume.
Of them, Professor Ticknor, from whose learned work on Spanish literature we have collected these details, speaks as follows:—
"Here, he, in some degree, struck out a new path; for he not only invented all his fictions, which no other fabulist, in modern times, had done, but restricted them all, in their moral purpose, to the correction of the faults and follies of men of learning—an application which had not before been thought of. ”

“ The maxims and criticisms they enforce must approve themselves to the mind, both of the professed scholar and the general reader.
The author was born in Teneriffe, A.D. 1750, but was educated and resided at Madrid, where he died in 1791, at the early age, of course, of forty-one years. His uncle, Don Juan De Yriarte, was the chief superintendent of the royal library; and the nephew was educated under his auspices. In his eighteenth year, he commenced his literary career by the writing of dramas, and the translation of plays from the French for the Spanish stage. ”

“ Many of these unpretending allegories have been familiar to us all, in childhood, in a great variety of dresses, and have long formed a standard part of our literature —congenial alike to nursery days and to mature age.
The fables contained in the little collection here translated are not, with one or two exceptions, found among the widely popular and familiar fables to which we have alluded. They were written in a foreign tongue, less generally understood, among us, than some other of the European languages; and they are designed for a special and somewhat abstruse purpose. ”

“ Coolly replied the precious fabric's workman:
"'T is true—your labor tells us its own story."
Let those who boast their numerous vapid volumes,
Know that 'tis quality, not bulk, that's precious.
What costs small labor is of smaller value.
FABLE III. THE BEAR, THE MONKEY AND THE HOG. A Piedmontese a Bear had taught
Upon two legs the art of dancing;
To earn their bread, the master sought,
By showing off his awkward prancing.
Now, Bruin, anxious to excel,
Before the Monkey showed his skill.
"How do I dance, friend? Prithee tell."
"Ill," said the Monkey, "very ill." ”

“ They are written with great care, in no less than forty different measures, and show an extraordinary degree of ingenuity in adapting the attributes and instincts of animals to the instruction, not of mankind at large, as had always been done before, but to that of a separate and small class, between whom and the inferior creation the resemblance is rarely obvious. ”

“ To have manuscripts, too, in same guise represented.
The precious old fool then, each day, set apart
Some hours to wander his library round;
Till, learning the titles of many by heart,
He thought himself grown to a scholar profound.
Truly, what better needs the student,—contented
Of books, nothing more than their titles, to know
Than to own a collection right skilfully painted,
Of genuine volumes presenting the show?
FABLE LXVII. THE VIPER AND THE LEECH. "A strangely inconsistent crew!"—
Said the Viper to the simple Leech,—
"Men fly from me and seek for you ”

“ In the eyes of all animals better to stand—
Though lazy and stupid as well they could be—
Than to try, at the making of honey, their hand.
But the labor proved very distasteful, indeed;
The workmen, a rude, inexperienced crew ”

“ Vain Grasshopper, the useful Ox reproaching,—
To drag to light, from works of sterling merit,
Some petty blemish, take to himself our meaning.
FABLE XXXVIII. THE MACAW AND THE MARMOT. A brilliantly-colored Macaw,
A wandering clown, near the spot
Where she hung in a balcony, saw—
A Savoyard, more likely than not.
He was showing—a penny to gain—
An animal ugly and squat;
Which he lauded in high-sounding strain
The creature, it was a Marmot.
The absurd little beast, at his word,
Came out of his box into sight ”

“ The task was certainly a difficult one. Perhaps, on this account, they are too narrative in their structure, and fail somewhat in the genial spirit which distinguishes Esop and La Fontaine, the greatest masters of Apologue and Fable. But their influence was so needed in the age of bad writing when they appeared, and they are, besides, so graceful in their versification, that they were not only received with great favor at first, but have never lost it since."—Ticknor's Hist, of Span. Literature, vol. iii., p. 279.
We have endeavored to discharge with fidelity the duty of translation ”

“ With Sunflower leaves was stuffing out her maw.
"Aha!"—said he,—"learned Signora Dropsical,
I know now what's your essence heliotropical!"
A silly Cricket heard the dialogue;
And, though he knew naught of this catalogue
Of words so overwhelming and so curious,
Honored the Cat with an eulogium glorious.
For some there are who pomp for merit take ”

“ To sell for bread. No honor can you win
On him—for, I'll be bound,
From living dogs the conscious rogue will run."
FABLE XXIV. THE THRUSH, PARROT AND MAGPIE. A Thrush, who heard a Parrot talking—
Of him, rather than of his instructor, man,
Desired himself the mystery to learn.
And, in one lesson, such line accent thought
To have attained, that, in his turn,
He the great art of speech began
To the Magpie to teach; and turned his pupil out
A scholar, as accomplished as, no doubt,
Are those who will poor copies and translations scan
For models—Blunder shocking! ”

“ Esop had, in these things, a way of his own."
Ah! but look, my good sir; from this noddle of mine
It all came. Your friend Esop wrote never a line—
Of the whole.—"Ah, indeed! Then the fable is thine?"
Yes it is, learned man; and I ween you'll not fail.
Being mine, to attack it with tooth and with nail.
FABLE XXII.—XXIII. THE OWL AND LAMP, AND THE DOGS AND THE RAGMAN. There is a set of dastard knaves,
Vile critics, that will wait to make attack
On authors till their victims are—alack!—
All safe and quiet in their graves;
For living men, they know, might answer back. ”

“ A purse full of these he placed in the hand
Of the Painter abashed—but ne'er said a word.
"With these coin—or, as certes, I rather might say—
These medals, to market if I chance for to his,"—
Quoth our limner,—"when victuals I needed, I pray,
How, with such, could I chaffer my cheer to supply?
"But sith," said the other, "you've pranked me out there
In a guise, that was once brave and lordly,—'tis true,
But which no living man but a beadle would wear ”

“ Both these circumstances tend to narrow their sphere of circulation; and we presume that they form a book little known to most English readers.
If we do not err in our estimate of them, the Literary Fables of Don Thomas De Yriarte are well worthy of perusal. They are aptly and ingeniously adapted to the truths they seek to inculcate; and they are remarkable for a terse simplicity of form and style, well suited to the objects and character of such productions. ”