Mr. _Pit_'s Æneid.

"--_Facti de Nomine Byrsam,
Sed vos, qui tandem, quibus aut venistis ab oris,
Quove tenetis iter?_--

"Hence _Byrsa_ nam'd.--But now ye Strangers, say,
Who, whence you are, and whither lies your Way?

I have chosen here three Passages of three very different kinds, and
in all of them the _English_ appears to be much more concise than the
_Latin_; neither is there any thing wanting in the Fulness of the
Sense, or in Majesty, or in Harmony of Numbers, any more in the two
last Passages than in the former. Another Instance of this kind might
be produced out of _Virgil_'s most perfect Work, the _Georgick_,
although it wants the Advantage of being translated by such a Hand as
Mr. _Pit_'s.

"_Si vero Viciamq; seres vitemq; Faselum,
Nec Pelusiacoe curam aspernabere lentis._

"But if the Vetch you sow, or meaner Tare,
Nor shall disdain th' _Ægyptian_ Lentil's Care.

In the _Latin_ there are thirty Syllables in the two Lines, in the
_English_ but twenty one. So that the _English_ is almost one third
more concise than the _Latin_; and at the same time _Virgil_'s Sense
fully expressed.

I will conclude this Letter with the Opinion of a Foreigner concerning