Fables Translated from Aesop and Other Authors. To which are subjoined a Moral in Verse and an Application in Prose Adapted to each Fable
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Authors
Draper, Charles (translator)
Issue Date
1774
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Book, Whole
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Abstract
After searching in Bodemann and in my favor private collector, I finally found Draper in Hobbs. This book is clearly fashioned along the lines of Croxall's, but Draper takes clear exception to Croxall's work. I may be able to give the best sense of this book by concentrating on Draper's stance in his preface, where he describes Croxall as being as partisan on the one side as Croxall had found l'Estrange on the other. He further finds Croxall not communicating effectively with the young audience he had said that he had in mind. While it is too trifling and puerile for the study of men, Croxall's work is too raised in style (though it sometimes falls into poor familiarities), too full of reflections on particular persons; too frequently illustrated with characters in the manner of our modern essaists, though not so well drawn; too much crouded with allusions to antient history; and too ostentatiously pieced with Latin quotations, for the perusal of children. Take that, Samuel Croxall! In his dedication to the five-year-old son of the Earl of Halifax, Draper finds Croxall guilty of gross impropriety and ridiculous affectation. He further is generally prolix in his manner, and bloated in his stile. Croxall is even indecent in his narration of The Boar and the Ass. Finally, his applications often deviate from the plain sense and meaning of the fable. Amen! Hobbs comments laconically (85): Charles Draper's rather more lively prose (published 1774 with Kirkall's cuts) here replaces the loquacious Croxall…. 202 fables (Croxall had had 196) finish on 328, to be followed (329-40) by an index of virtues and qualities. There is an AI at the beginning. This copy of the book is in fair condition at best. But what a treasure to have found on Ebay! Kirkall's illustrations are as always lovely, if somewhat worn here. It would make a fascinating project to compare this book and its fables in detail with Croxall's.
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Printed for S. Crowder in Pater-noster Row,
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Identifier
4465 (Access ID)