The widest range of
the thought, its more delicate shades and subtiler connections, often
depend in great part upon the peculiar forms of the language in which
they are first clothed; and by a strictly literal translation the scope
of the thought is narrowed, its finer lines obscured, and that which
is of more importance than all else, the fitness of the expression, is
altogether lost. The utmost strictness of literal translation is a poor
compensation for the resultant poverty of language and dilution of
thought; and by as much as the original is more impressive in its rich
and fitting garb, by so much the more is it made to appear mean and
unlike itself when forced to clothe itself in scanty second-hand
habiliments.
We have said thus much on this point for two reasons: first, because it
is on this chiefly that Mr. Sawyer appeals to the public for a verdict
in favor of his translation; and secondly, because it is a common and
popular notion, that, the more literal a translation can be made,
especially in the case of the Bible, the better and more trustworthy
it will be.
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