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xviii
INTRODUCTION
viction that English is of all languages the one which is best
adapted to translation from the Swedish; for the English
love, as we do, to concentrate expression, either thought or
figure, within the briefest possible space; to flash a short
but sharp sword: whereas the German prefers long,
dragging sentences, and likes to encase his weapons in a
scabbard of hogskin. English,on the other hand, is a collection
of laconisms, and the so much misunderstood Pope, with
his keenly sharpened antitheses, has always appeared to
me the true representative of the genius of the English
language. Among the four or five translations of Frithiof
which I have had occasion to see,* there is none as yet
with which I have been fully satisfied, except the Herr
Professor’s. Where the translator has understood the
meaning, which has not always been the case, the translation
has often’suffered from ignorance of technicalities or
insufficient command over his own language. Lethman’sf
is better in this respect. But above all I place the Herr
Professor’s both as regards understanding of the original and
versification. The only fault I have to find with the
translation is that it is not complete; and to this I take the
pleasure of calling the attention of the Herr Professor, so that
I may be able to say that Frithiof is well translated into at
least one language.
This winter I begin the publication of a collection of
my writings in verse and prose. ... I shall send a copy
of this to America as soon as it leaves the press, addressed
to the Herr Professor, as a mark of my esteem and grati-
* When this letter was written, the following translations of Frithiof had
already appeared : Strong’s, 1833; Frye’s, 1835 ; Latham’s, 1838; Stephens’s,
1839 j and possibly Baker’s, 1841. There were also fragments in the
periodicals and some extracts translated by George Borrow,
•f"Latham’s" is undoubtedly meant.
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