Siyar al-mutaʾakhkhirin 42.28.2

42.28.2

and an English nobleman, whose name I have forgotten, but who fled to Florence in the civil war of 1640, where he became a favourite and a Minister with the Grand Duke, is well known to have written elegantly in Italian verses, as well as in prose. Of late, Lord Chesterfield wrote so amazingly well in French, that one would almost say that he wrote it still better than the English. The Abbé Vinkleman, a German, wrote enthusiastically and poetically in Italian of the antiquities of Rome, and of Italy; and he is reckoned amongst the Classics. Lastly, notwithstanding the slight thrown upon them by Barretti of late, Milton's Penseroso and his Allegro always had the esteem of the Italians themselves. I could carry the catalogue much further, and tell you of good translations of Pope's Essay on Man, made by German noblemen in French verses. I will not tire you with a longer list; still less would I meddle with the invidious question of asking what language then I must be acknowledged to write tolerably; for I am very often a foreigner with the French, and my first section of the Seir-el-Mutaqherin in that language, has cost me an infinite deal of trouble, and at last proved to be full of anglicismes; and well it might, being translated upon no other original than the English itself.