| RefNo | HSF/1/1/5 |
| Previous numbers | 600/31/52 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Letter from W [William] Whewell, C C [Cliff Cottage, Lowestoft], to [Sir John Frederick William] Herschel |
| Creator | Whewell; William (1794-1866); British mathematician |
| Date | 15 January 1862 |
| Description | Whewell likes Herschel's translation, but suggests criticisms, marking some lines of Herschel's manuscript in pencil and referring to them. His remarks do not mean that Herschel's lines are not hexameters, simply that they are not the best hexameters. Readers will try to apply some rules wrongly adapted from Greek or Latin, and therefore say that hexameters are not readable: Herschel's 'Walk' and Longfellow's 'Evangeline' are as easily readable as other works, including 'Paradise Lost'. He does not have the London Review article, but their dogmas should not be heeded. He considers reading accents, including sapphics. He notes Milton's work in keeping Greek quantities in some names, but this is unacceptable to the English ear. He thinks that Greek proper names should be kept for all, even Alexander, since the alternative belongs to the time when Greek was read in Latin translations, Jove being an exception. With regard to Homeric epithets, he could not do better than Herschel. Whewell thinks he has not sent Herschel the third volume of his Plato and he will get the publisher to send it. The 'Timaeus' is a curious example of an ancient 'System of the World', and some of the 'Republic' is entertaining. He does not know of [Joseph Henry] Dart's translation of Homer, but notes that [James Inglis] Cochrane has a translation of 'The Iliad' in hexameters ready for publication. Lockhart published the first two books in Blackwood, very well done. Whewell asks how Herschel gets throught the winter: it has been so cold that Whewell would not venture to the 'elevated region occupied by men on horseback'. He gives new year's greetings. |
| Extent | 5p. |
| Format | Manuscript |
| PhysicalDescription | Ink on paper |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA6578 | Whewell; William (1794 - 1866); college head and writer on the history and philosophy of science | 1794 - 1866 |