The Low-German edition, accordingly, is that from which I have worked ... It is in the irregular verse (doggrel is not the precise term) of the Low-German version of Alkmar. After the example of Goethe, the poem has been divided into cantos, or, more properly, pauses (here called fyttes), which, in the earlier editions, are distributed over numerous books, and these again subdivided into chapters ; an arrangement by no means so favorable to the continuity of the narrative, as the method here substituted. The present reproduction of this almost forgotten epic, can assert no claim to be considered in the light of a strictly verbal translation of Alkmar's, or indeed, of any one, in particular, of the numerous continental versions of the Reynard which have grown to be considered as the true originals in the several countries of their respective discovery or adoption. In books, as in other works of invention, the oldest is not always the best; for my part, I have found more genuine humour in the edition of Alkmar, as to matter, and a better adaptation of style to subject, than in the others with which I am acquainted, and I have therefore worked principally from his model. I have endeavored to make my version as comprehensive in idea, for readers of the present day, as was Alkmar's, compared with its predecessors, for the public of his time; using the same liberty (probably rather more) with his text, as was used by him with his original, and by Goethe, subsequently, with his model—mindful ever of the requisitions insisted on by Novalis, in all paraphrastic translations, that they should convey accurately an idea of the first type, whilst, at the same time, the translator make his author speak after that appreciation of his work which exists in his own mind, no less than according to the poet's original conception. - [Author]

Language: English