William Scott’s Translation from Du Bartas’ Sepmaine [with text

Abstract

William Scott’s poetic treatise The Model of Poesy (c. 1599, now edited by Gavin Alexander and published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press) is followed in British Library MS Add. 81083 by the same author’s translation from the first two days of Guillaume de Saluste Du Bartas’ La Sepmaine (1578). The translation illustrates many of the principles discussed in the Model, and was evidently at the front of Scott’s mind as he wrote the treatise. In addition, it is a valuable new resource for students of Renaissance translation, divine poetry and Anglo-French literary relations. This essay offers a critical edition of Scott’s translation with an introduction that examines why he chose to translate Du Bartas, assesses the translation’s relation to the Model, and analyzes Scott’s translation practice (especially his use of Simon Goulart’s commentary and marginalia). [P.A.]