Mr. (afterwards Sir Richard) Fanshawe was born June 1608,—in 1630, was appointed Secretary to Lord Aston’s embassy to Spain, where he remained as Chargé d’Affaires after Lord Aston’s recall—returned to England about 1638—obtained, in 1641, the office of Remembrancer of the Court of Exchequer—attended Charles I. to Oxford during the early part of the civil war—in March, 1645, was appointed Secretary to the Prince of Wales, and accompanied him in the west—resigned his employment on the Prince quitting Jersey—compounded, and returned to England about the end of 1646, and quitted it again the following year—went on a mission to Spain in February, 1650, from whence he returned unsuccessful in October—was created a baronet, September 2, 1650—afterwards joined Charles II. in Scotland—was taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester—after the Restoration, was M.P. for the University of Cambridge—was sent to Portugal in 1661, on a complimentary mission to the Princess Katherine—in 1662, was made Privy Councillor for Ireland—in 1663, was sent on another mission to Portugal—in 1664, went ambassador to Madrid, from whence he was recalled, but, before he could return, he died at Madrid, June 26, 1666.
Personal
He was an exact critic in the Latin tongue, spoke the Spanish with ease and propriety, and perfectly understood the Italian. The politeness of his manners, and the integrity of his life, did not only procure him the love and esteem of his own countrymen, but gained him unusual favour and respect in Spain; among a people notorious for their disregard to strangers, and too apt to overlook all merit but their own.
General
At present we are only to consider his Scholarship, which will sufficiently appear by the several Translations which he has publisht, particularly those which are Dramatick: the first of which in Order, and the most Eminent, is stil’d Il Pastor Fido, The Faithful Shepherd, a Pastoral, printed 4o Lond. 1646, and dedicated to the Hope and Lustre of three Kingdoms, Charles Prince of Wales. This Piece is translated from the Italian of the Famous Guarini…. Sir John Denham in his Verses on this Translation, infinitely commends it: and tho’ he seems to assent to our Author’s Notions, touching Translations in general: yet he shews that Sir Richard has admirably succeeded in this particular Attempt; as the Reader may see by the following Lines; where after having blam’d servile Translators, he goes on thus;
| “A new and nobler Way thou dost pursue | |
| To make Translations, and Translators too. | |
| They but preserve the Ashes, thou the Flame, | |
| True to his Sense, but truer to his Fame.” |
Sir Richard’s version [“The Lusiad”] is quaint, flat, and harsh; and he has interwoven many ridiculously conceited expressions which are foreign both to the spirit and style of his original; but in general it is closer than the modern translation to the literal meaning of Camoens. Altogether, Fanshawe’s representation of the Portuguese poem may be compared to the wrong side of the tapestry.
To my taste this [“Querer por Solo Querer”] is fine, elegant, queen-like raillery; a second part of “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” to which title this extraordinary play has still better pretensions than even Shakespeare’s; for after leading three pair of royal lovers through endless mazes of doubts, difficulties; oppositions of dead fathers’ wills; a labyrinth of losings and findings; jealousies; enchantments; conflicts with giants, and single-handed against armies; to the exact state in which all the lovers might with the greatest propriety indulge their reciprocal wishes—when, the duce is in it, you think, but they must all be married now—suddenly the three ladies turn upon their lovers; and, as an exemplification of the moral of the play, “Loving for loving’s sake,” and a hyperplatonic, truly Spanish proof of their affections—demand that the lovers shall consent to their mistresses’ taking upon them the vow of a single life! to which the gallants, with becoming refinement, can do no less than consent.—The fact is that it was a court play, in which the characters—males, giants, and all—were played by females, and those of the highest order of Grandeeship. No nobleman might be permitted amongst them; and it was against the forms, that a great court lady of Spain should consent to such an unrefined motion, as that of wedlock, though but in a play.
Sir Richard Fanshawe is the author of versions of Camoens’s “Lusiad,” of Guarini’s Pastor Fido, of the Fourth Book of the Æneid, of the Odes of Horace, and of the Querer por Solo Querer (To love for love’s sake) of the Spanish dramatist Mendoza. Some passages from the last-mentioned work, which was published in 1649, may be found in Lamb’s “Specimens,” the ease and flowing gayety of which never have been excelled even in original writing. The “Pastor Fido” is also rendered with much spirit and elegance. Fanshawe is, besides, the author of a Latin translation of Fletcher’s “Faithful Shepherdess,” and of some original poetry. His genius, however, was sprightly and elegant rather than lofty, and perhaps he does not succeed so well in translating poetry of a more serious style.
His writings show a scholar’s acquaintance with the best ancient and modern poets. In all he wrote a good deal, but the greater part consists of translations from the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. He is one of the many translators who have wasted themselves over the hopeless tediousness of the “Lusiad.” But, besides a little graceful original work, his reputation rests chiefly on his beautiful translation of the “Pastor Fido,” on a small volume of translations from Virgil and Horace, and on a curious and clever piece of work, a rendering in Latin verse of Fletcher’s “Faithful Shepherdess.”
The translations of Horace’s “Odes” deserve to rank among the most successful efforts of the kind. Most of the subtle turns of the original are given with rare felicity, and there is throughout an ease and elegance which prove the translator to be a skilled literary workman. His classical scholarship was also shown to advantage in his translation of Fletcher’s “Faithful Shepherdess” into Latin hexameters and hendecasyllabics. Fanshawe’s few surviving original English poems exhibit rare literary faculty, and it is to be regretted that they are so few.
