英国桂冠诗人尼古拉斯·罗

Rowe, Nicholas (1674–1718), poet and playwright, was born in the house of his maternal grandfather, Jasper Edwards, at Little Barford, Bedfordshire, on 20 June 1674 and was baptized there on 30 June, the son of John Rowe (1647–1692) and Elizabeth (d. 1679), daughter of Jasper Edwards. The Rowe family was long settled at Lamerton, Devon, and an ancestor is reputed to have been distinguished as a crusader. John Rowe was a London barrister of the Middle Temple and a serjeant-at-law. He died on 30 April 1692 and was buried in the Temple Church. His wife was buried at Little Barford on 25 April 1679.

罗，尼古拉斯（1674-1718），诗人和剧作家，1674年6月20日出生在贝德福德郡小巴福德的外祖父贾斯珀·爱德华兹家中，6月30日在那里受洗，约翰·罗（1647-1692）和伊丽莎白（公元1679年），贾斯珀·爱德华兹的女儿。罗一家长期定居在德文郡的拉默顿，一位祖先被誉为十字军战士。约翰·罗是伦敦中殿的一名大律师，也是一名法律顾问。他于1692年4月30日去世，葬在圣殿教堂里。他的妻子于1679年4月25日被埋葬在小巴福德。

Nicholas attended a private grammar school at Highgate, and in 1688 was elected a king's scholar at Westminster School, where he came under the charge of the formidable Dr Richard Busby. In 1690 he left Westminster School and entered as a student at the Middle Temple on 4 August 1691. He was called to the bar on 20 May 1696, and attracted the favourable notice of Sir George Treby, lord chief justice. Rowe did not take to the law, however, and having, even as a youth, read greatly, especially in classical and modern dramatic literature, he tried his hand as dramatist. On his father's death in 1692 he had come into an income of £300 a year and, having inherited his father's chambers in the Temple, he was free to follow his inclinations.

尼古拉斯在海盖特的一所私立文法学校上学，1688年他被选为威斯敏斯特学校的国王学者，在那里他由令人敬畏的理查德·巴斯比博士负责。1690年，他离开威斯敏斯特学校，于1691年8月4日作为学生进入中殿。他于1696年5月20日被召入律师事务所，并得到首席大法官乔治·特雷比爵士的青睐。然而，罗并没有接受法律，他甚至在年轻时就大量阅读，尤其是古典和现代戏剧文学，因此他试图成为一名剧作家。1692年父亲去世后，他每年收入300英镑，继承了父亲在寺庙里的房间，他可以随心所欲。

The plays

Rowe's fame rests on three foundations, his tragedies, his edition of Shakespeare's plays, and his translation of Lucan's Pharsalia. His career as a dramatist began in 1700 with the production of The Ambitious Stepmother, written in blank verse, as were his other plays. Much of the initial success of the play and of others of his plays stemmed from the performances of the great actors and actresses who were cast in the various roles. Thus the cast of The Ambitious Stepmother included the veteran Thomas Betterton, Mrs Bracegirdle, and Mrs Barry. Both in his prologue and in the dedication to the earl of Jersey Rowe invoked the name of Thomas Otway, the playwright whom he greatly admired for his ability to arouse the emotions. In the prologue he wrote of 'the weeping fair',

罗的名声建立在三个基础上：他的悲剧，他对莎士比亚戏剧的版本，以及他翻译的卢卡的《法老王》。他的剧作家生涯始于1700年，他的作品《继母雄心勃勃》，用空白诗句写成，他的其他戏剧也是如此。这出戏和他其他剧目最初的成功，很大程度上都源于扮演各种角色的伟大男女演员的表演。因此，这位野心勃勃的继母的演员包括老兵托马斯·贝特顿、布拉斯盖尔德夫人和巴里夫人。在他的开场白和对泽西伯爵的献词中，罗都提到了托马斯·奥特韦的名字，这位剧作家因其激发情感的能力而备受钦佩。他在序言中写到“哭泣的集市”，

Those kind Protectors of the Tragick Muse,

Whose Tears did Otway's labours crown,

And made the poor Monimia's Grief their own.

The play opened in December 1700, with revivals in 1706, 1715, 1722, and eight performances in 1759, that of 10 February 1759 by command of the prince of Wales. Tamerlane appeared in December 1701, and besides its virtues and shortcomings as drama, there is historical interest in that Tamerlane represents King William III and the villainous Bajazet represents Louis XIV of France.

该剧于1700年12月上映，1706年、1715年、1722年又恢复演出，1759年8场演出，1759年2月10日由威尔士亲王指挥。塔梅兰出现于1701年12月，除了它作为戏剧的优点和缺点之外，还有一个历史性的兴趣：塔梅兰代表威廉三世国王，邪恶的巴贾泽人代表法国的路易十四。

The Fair Penitent is the first of Rowe's ‘she-tragedies’, modelled on, indebted to, and plagiarized from Philip Massinger's The Fatal Dowry (c.1618). The Fair Penitent is one of the first examples of domestic tragedy, the 'melancholy tale of private woes', as Rowe described it in the prologue. The play contains an aged roué named Lothario, whose name persists as descriptive of a type. Despite its great popularity, the play has had its detractors. Sir Walter Scott called it 'a poor imitation' of Massinger's play, adding, 'It does not greatly excel the original in the management and conduct of the piece; and, in every thing else, falls as far beneath it as the baldest translation can sink below the most spirited original ('An essay on the drama', in Miscellaneous Prose Works of Sir Walter Scott, 1849, 6.370). Dr Johnson, however, was a great admirer of the play, writing that 'There is scarcely any work of any poet at once so interesting by the fable and so delightful in the language' (Johnson, Poets, 2.67). Samuel Richardson's Robert Lovelace and Clarissa Harlowe are the literary descendants of Lothario and of Calista, the heroine. The rest of Rowe's dramatic output consists of a very bad farce, The Biter (1704); a classical tragedy, Ulysses (1705), which proved mildly successful, with Betterton taking the title role four years before his death in 1710; The Royal Convert (1707); Jane Shore (1714), a failed attempt at Shakespearian tragedy couched in Shakespearian language; and Lady Jane Gray (1715). Charles Gildon wrote of these last two she-tragedies in the 'Preface' to his Remarks on Mr. Rowe's Tragedy of the Lady Jane Gray (1715) that 'The Whore found more favour with the Town than the Saint.'

《美丽的忏悔者》是罗的《她悲剧》中的第一部，模仿、借鉴了菲利普·马辛格的《致命嫁妆》（The Fatal Dowry，约1618年），并从中借鉴。《美丽的忏悔者》是家庭悲剧的第一个例子之一，正如罗在序言中所描述的那样，是一个“关于个人不幸的忧郁故事”。这出戏里有一个叫洛塔里奥的老家伙，他的名字一直是一种类型的描述。尽管这出戏很受欢迎，但它还是受到了很大的贬低。沃尔特·斯科特爵士称这是对马林格戏剧的“拙劣模仿”，他补充说，“在这部作品的管理和表现上，它并没有大大优于原著；而且，在其他方面，它都远远低于它，因为最温和的翻译可能会低于最具活力的原著（《戏剧随笔》），《沃尔特·斯科特爵士杂文作品》，1849年，6.370）。然而，约翰逊博士非常欣赏这部戏剧，他写道：“几乎没有任何一位诗人的作品能像寓言一样有趣，语言如此令人愉悦”（约翰逊，诗人，2.67）。塞缪尔·理查森笔下的罗伯特·洛夫莱斯和克拉丽莎·哈洛是洛塔里奥和女主人公卡莉斯塔的文学后代。罗的其余戏剧作品包括一出非常糟糕的闹剧《咬人》（1704年）；一部古典悲剧《尤利西斯》（1705年），这部剧被证明是相当成功的，贝特顿在1710年去世前四年担任主角；皇家皈依者（1707年）；简·肖尔（1714年），一个失败的莎士比亚悲剧尝试，以莎士比亚的语言表现出来；还有简·格雷夫人（1715年）。查尔斯·吉尔顿在评论罗先生的《简·格雷夫人的悲剧》（1715年）的“前言”中写到了最后两个“她”悲剧，“妓女比圣人更受镇上的青睐。”

Public life

While writing his plays and seeing them produced, Rowe was not unaware of the political world about him. He was a devout whig, his party loyalty being recognized on 5 February 1709 when James Douglas, the second duke of Queensberry, secretary of state for Scotland, took him on as his under-secretary. He held this post until the duke's death on 6 July 1711. There is an authenticated anecdote to the effect that at some time thereafter, Rowe applied to Lord Oxford, a tory, for employment in some capacity. Oxford advised him to study Spanish, which Rowe did, in expectation of a possible foreign posting, only to be told by Oxford, when he reported his mastery of the language, 'Then, Sir, I envy you the pleasure of reading “Don Quixote” in the original' (Johnson, Poets, 2.71). After George I's succession to the throne on 1 August 1715, however, Rowe was appointed poet laureate on the death of Nahum Tate, and brought dignity and respectability to that position, virtues which his predecessors had not shown. Other political plums followed. In October 1715 he became one of the land surveyors of the customs of the Port of London. The prince of Wales made him clerk of his council, and in May 1718 he was appointed to the position of clerk of the presentations by the lord chancellor.

在写剧本和观看剧本制作的过程中，罗并非不了解自己的政治世界。他是一个虔诚的辉格党人，1709年2月5日，当苏格兰州务卿昆斯伯里第二公爵詹姆斯·道格拉斯接任他的副秘书时，他的政党忠诚得到了承认。他一直担任这个职位，直到1711年7月6日公爵去世。有一个经过证实的轶事，大意是在此后的某个时候，罗向保守党牛津勋爵申请以某种身份就业。牛津大学建议他学习西班牙语，罗也这样做了，因为他有可能在国外任职，但当他报告自己精通西班牙语时，牛津告诉他：“那么，先生，我羡慕你读原著《堂吉诃德》的乐趣”（约翰逊，诗人，2.71）。然而，在乔治一世于1715年8月1日继承王位后，罗在纳胡姆·泰特去世时被任命为桂冠诗人，并为这一职位带来了尊严和体面，而这些美德是他的前任们没有表现出来的。其他政治利好接踵而至。1715年10月，他成为伦敦港海关的土地测量员之一。威尔士亲王任命他为议会秘书，1718年5月，他被任命为大法官陈述的书记员。

In his capacity as poet laureate Rowe was expected to write, and did write, odes to be sung on the new year and on the king's birthday, and other occasional poetry. He provided a prologue to Mrs Centlivre's The Gamester and an epilogue for her Cruel Gift, produced on 17 December 1716, as well as a prologue for his friend Colley Cibber's Nonjuror on 6 October 1717. Two other epilogues give further evidence of his intimacy with other playwrights. Rowe had done journeyman's work of various kinds, including some translations, but his most ambitious poetic endeavour was the translation of Lucan's Pharsalia, a work on which he devoted some twenty years, contributing a translation of the ninth book of that epic to the sixth volume of Jacob Tonson's Miscellanies (1709). The whole translation was published posthumously in 1719, dedicated to George I by Rowe's widow who was rewarded with a pension of £40 a year. Dr James Welwood, Rowe's physician and friend, wrote a prologue to the translation, treating of Lucan's work and adding the first biographical account of Rowe. The translation was almost universally praised, with Addison writing in The Freeholder (no. 40, 7 May 1716) that Rowe 'had delivered the sentiments [Lucan's] with greater perspicuity, and in a finer turn of phrase and verse'. The greatest praise came, however, from Dr Johnson in his life of Rowe. He wrote

以桂冠诗人的身份，罗被期望写，而且确实写了，在新年和国王生日时要唱的颂歌，以及其他偶尔的诗歌。他为森特利夫尔夫人的《游戏人》作了序曲，并为她于1716年12月17日创作的《残酷的礼物》作了结语，并于1717年10月6日为他的朋友科莉·西伯的非陪审员作了开场白。进一步证明了他和其他两个剧作家的亲密关系。罗曾做过各种各样的技工工作，包括一些翻译，但他最雄心勃勃的诗歌事业是翻译卢卡的《法尔萨利亚》，他花了大约二十年的时间，把这部史诗的第九卷翻译成雅各布·汤森的《杂记》（1709）第六卷。整个译本于1719年在去世后出版，献给乔治一世的是罗的遗孀，他每年获得40英镑的退休金。詹姆斯·韦尔伍德博士，罗的医生和朋友，为翻译写了一个序言，介绍了卢卡的作品，并增加了罗的第一个传记。译文几乎得到了普遍的赞扬，艾迪生在《自由持有人》（Freeholder，1716年5月7日第40期）中写道，罗“以更清晰的方式传达了[卢卡的]情感，并在词句和诗句上进行了更精细的转换”。然而，最伟大的赞誉来自约翰逊博士在罗的一生中。他写道:

The version of Lucan is one of the greatest productions of English poetry; for there is perhaps none that so completely exhibits the genius and spirit of the original. Lucan is distinguished by a kind of dictatorial or philosophic dignity rather … declamatory than poetical; full of ambitious morality and pointed sentences, comprised in vigorous and animated lines. This character Rowe has very diligently and successfully preserved. His versification … seldom wants either melody or force. His author's sense is sometimes a little diluted by additional infusions, and sometimes weakened by too much expansion. But such faults are to be expected in all translations, from the constraint of measures and dissimilitude of languages. The Pharsalia of Rowe deserves more notice than it obtains, and as it is more read will be more esteemed.

Johnson, Poets, 2.77

卢卡的译本是英国诗歌中最伟大的作品之一，因为也许没有一部作品如此完整地展现了原作的天才和精神。卢卡的特点是一种专横或哲学的尊严，而不是诗歌；充满雄心勃勃的道德和尖锐的句子，由充满活力和活力的线条组成。这一角色罗已经非常努力和成功地保存下来。他的版本…很少需要旋律或力量。他的作者的感觉有时会被额外的注射所稀释，有时会因过度扩张而减弱。但由于尺度的限制和语言的差异，所有的翻译都会出现这样的错误。罗的《法萨利亚》值得更多的关注，因为它被更多地阅读，也会受到更多的尊重。

约翰逊，诗人，2.77

The edition of Shakespeare

While John Heminge and Henry Condell, Shakespeare's actor friends, were the first editors of Shakespeare's plays, responsible for the First Folio of 1623, Rowe is the first modern editor of the plays, the work for which he is most widely known. His edition of the canonical plays, but not of the poems, was published in six volumes in 1709, with a prefatory 'Some account of the life of Mr. William Shakespear', later revised by Pope. The 'Account' is the earliest biography of Shakespeare of any length. Rowe modernized Shakespeare's spelling and punctuation, listed the dramatis personae of each play for the first time, and introduced a relatively small number of silent emendations. Dr Johnson, in a footnote to the beginning of Twelfth Night in his Shakespeare (1765), wrote 'The persons of the drama were enumerated, with all the cant of the modern stage, by Mr. Rowe' (The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, ed. A. Sherbo, 7.311). Rowe, for example, had called Sir Andrew Aguecheek 'a foolish knight, pretending to Olivia'.

约翰·海明格和亨利·康德尔，莎士比亚的演员朋友，是莎士比亚戏剧的第一批编辑，负责1623年的第一部对开本，而罗是第一位现代编辑，他的作品最广为人知。1709年，他出版了六卷本的经典剧本，而不是诗集，并附有序言“威廉·莎士比亚先生的生平”，后来由教皇修订。《账户》是莎士比亚最早的传记。罗对莎士比亚的拼写和标点符号进行了现代化改造，首次列出了每部戏剧的主人公，并引入了相对较少的沉默修正。约翰逊博士在其《莎士比亚》（1765）的《第十二夜》一书的脚注中写道：“罗先生列举了戏剧中的人物，以及现代舞台上所有的不光彩之处”（耶鲁版塞缪尔·约翰逊作品，编辑a.谢尔博，7.311）。例如，罗曾称安德鲁·阿奎切克爵士是“一个愚蠢的骑士，假装是奥利维亚”。

But Johnson also applauded some of the emendation, stating roundly that Rowe:

但约翰逊也对其中的一些修正表示赞赏，他直截了当地指出：

has made many emendations, if they were not made before, which his successors have received without acknowledgement, and which, if they had produced them, would have filled pages and pages with censures of the stupidity with which the faults were committed, with displays of the absurdities which they involved, with ostentatious expositions of the new reading, and self congratulations of the happiness of discovering it.

他做了许多修正，如果不是以前做过的，他的继任者已经收到了而没有承认，如果他们已经提出了这些修正，就会一页又一页地谴责犯了错误的愚蠢，展示了其中所涉及的荒谬，以及炫耀性地阐述了那些错误新的阅读，自我祝贺发现它的快乐。

The Yale Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson, ed. A. Sherbo, 7.93

塞缪尔·约翰逊作品耶鲁版，编辑A.谢尔博，7.93

Johnson wrote of the 'Account' that although it was 'not written with much elegance or spirit', it deserved being kept because it told what was known of Shakespeare's life up to that time (ibid., 7.94). And while he linked Rowe with Pope as 'very ignorant of the ancient English literature' (ibid., 7.56), his considered verdict on the edition was favourable.

约翰逊在书中写道，尽管这本书“写得不太优雅或精神”，但它值得保留，因为它讲述了莎士比亚在当时的生活（同上，7.94）。虽然他认为罗和教皇“对古代英国文学一无所知”（同上，7.56），但他对版本的深思熟虑的判断是有利的。

Rowe was a popular figure in the literary world of his time. He was particularly friendly with Pope. In a letter Pope sent to John Caryll, dated 20 September [1713], he wrote:

罗在他那个时代的文坛上是个受欢迎的人物。他对波普特别友好。教皇在写给约翰·卡里尔的一封信（1713年9月20日）中写道：

I am just returned from the country, wither Mr. Rowe did me the favour to accompany me and to pass a week at Binfield. I need not tell you how much a man of his turn could not but entertain me, but I must acquaint you there is a vivacity and gayety of disposition almost peculiar to that gentleman, which rends it impossible to part from him without that uneasiness and chagrin which generally succeeds all great pleasures.

我刚从乡下回来，罗先生帮了我一个忙，陪我去宾菲尔德过了一个星期。我不必告诉你，一个像他这样的人，是多么地不能不取悦我，但我必须告诉你，这位先生有一种几乎是他特有的活泼和快活的性情，这使他很难离开他，而这种不安和懊恼通常都会伴随着一切极大的乐趣。

Correspondence of Alexander Pope, 1.190

亚历山大·波普的书信，1.190

Pope obliged Rowe by writing the epilogue to Jane Shore in February 1714. But it was he who reported that Addison said of Rowe that 'the levity of his heart is such' that he could not be a friend (Johnson, Poets, 2.75). Rowe, however, numbered among his other friends Sir Samuel Garth, Richard Steele, Jonathan Swift, John Dennis, Colley Cibber, William Congreve, and John Hughes. Dr James Welwood wrote of him,

1714年2月，教皇给简·肖尔写了结语，以此来感谢罗。但正是他报告说，艾迪生在谈到罗时说，“他内心的轻浮是如此的轻浮”，以至于他不能成为朋友（约翰逊，诗人，2.75）。然而，罗的朋友中也有塞缪尔·加思爵士、理查德·斯蒂尔、乔纳森·斯威夫特、约翰·丹尼斯、科利·西伯、威廉·康格里夫和约翰·休斯。詹姆斯·韦尔伍德博士写过他，

As to his person, it was graceful and well-made; his face regular, and of a manly beauty … His conversation was pleasant, witty, and learned, without the least tincture of affectation or pedantry; and his inimitable manner of diverting and enlivening the company made it impossible for any one to be out of humour when he was in it.

对他的人来说，这是一件优雅而做作的事；他面容匀称，有男子气概的美貌……他的谈吐令人愉快、诙谐、博学，丝毫没有矫揉造作或卖弄学问的味道；他那无与伦比的转移和活跃公司的方式，使任何人在他身上都不可能失去幽默感。

Johnson, Poets, 2.73

Rowe was married twice: first, on 6 July 1693 to Antonia, daughter of Anthony Parsons, one of the auditors of the revenue. Antonia died on 13 February 1712 and in 1716 he married Anne, daughter of Joseph Devenish of Buckham, Dorset. His son John, by his first wife, was baptized on 24 August 1699. There were six other children, most of whom died within a year of birth. With his second wife he had a daughter, Charlotte (1718–1739), who became the wife of Henry Fane, the youngest son of Vere Fane, fourth earl of Westmorland. Rowe died on 6 December 1718 and was buried on 19 December in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey. Pope's epitaph intended for Rowe's monument was drafted between 1718 and 1720, corrected for publication in 1720, and finally placed on the monument in 1773. In his will, witnessed by Pope and Thomas Hill (presumably the portrait painter), Rowe left all his property to his wife, his executor, with small legacies to his son, daughter, and sister (Sarah Peele). His wife died on 6 December 1747 and was also buried in Westminster Abbey.

罗曾结过两次婚：第一次是在1693年7月6日嫁给了安东尼·帕森斯的女儿安东尼娅，安东尼·帕森斯是财政收入的审计人之一。安东尼娅于1712年2月13日去世，1716年他嫁给了多塞特巴克姆约瑟夫·德维尼斯的女儿安妮。他的儿子约翰由他的第一任妻子于1699年8月24日受洗。另外还有6个孩子，大部分在出生后一年内死亡。他和第二任妻子育有一个女儿夏洛特（1718-1739），夏洛特成了亨利·法恩的妻子，亨利·法恩是韦斯特摩兰第四伯爵维尔·法恩的小儿子。罗于1718年12月6日去世，12月19日被埋葬在威斯敏斯特教堂诗人角。教皇为罗的纪念碑准备的墓志铭是在1718年至1720年间起草的，1720年修正出版，最终于1773年被安放在纪念碑上。在教皇和托马斯·希尔（可能是肖像画家）的见证下，罗把所有财产留给了他的妻子，他的遗嘱执行人，还有他的儿子、女儿和妹妹（莎拉·皮尔饰）的小遗产。他的妻子于1747年12月6日去世，也被埋葬在威斯敏斯特教堂。

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