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1702
The Visions of Dom Francisco de Quevedo. Villegas. Knight of the Order of St. James. Made English by Sir R. Lestrange, And Burlesqu'd by a Person of Quality. London, Printed and Sold by B. Harris, at the Golden Boar's-head in Grace-church-street. 1702.
pp. 1-284. o.c.
Hudibrastic.
For his subject-matter the writer stays close to L'Estrange's
translation of Quevedo's Visions (1667). What is interesting
about the poem is the way in which the writer's burlesque style transforms
his material. Here, for instance, is a passage from L'Estrange's translation
of the Seventh Vision, "Of Hell Reformed": 'This made me mend my pace;
but before I could reach them, they were altogether by the ears in a bloody
fray: they were all of them persons of great quality; emperors, magistrates
and generals of armies. Lucifer, to end the quarrel, commanded peace and
silence, which they all obeyed; but it vexed them very much to be taken off
in the full career of their fury and revenge. The first that spoke was a
fellow so marred with wounds and scars that I took him at first for an
indigent officer, but he proved to be Clitus, as he said himself: . . .'
(Francisco de Quevedo, Visions; As Translated by Sir
Roger L'Estrange and Now Introduced by J. M. Cohen,
Centaur Press, Sussex, England, 1963, p. 119). In the burlesque, this
passage is rendered as follows:
Together by the Ears they all
In a most bloody Fray did fall:
But those engaged, I did see,
Were Persons of great Quality,
As Emp'rors, Gen'rals, Magistrates,
And other topping Blades of States.
Lucifer to prevent the Quarrel,
Flung at each Wrangler's Head a Barrel,
Commanding Peace and Silence there;
But to be stopt in the Career
Of Fury in the dreadful Fight,
Their Lips they all did gnaw and bite;
Then an old prating martyr'd Fellow,
Who was with drinking somewhat mellow,
With a long story did delight us,
His Name (as Quintus told) is Clitus. [p. 223]
Together by the Ears they all
In a most bloody Fray did fall:
But those engaged, I did see,
Were Persons of great Quality,
As Emp'rors, Gen'rals, Magistrates,
And other topping Blades of States.
Lucifer to prevent the Quarrel,
237
Commanding Peace and Silence there;
But to be stopt in the Career
Of Fury in the dreadful Fight,
Their Lips they all did gnaw and bite;
Then an old prating martyr'd Fellow,
Who was with drinking somewhat mellow,
With a long story did delight us,
His Name (as Quintus told) is Clitus. [p. 223]
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