Robert Aris Willmott

Robert Aris Willmott (30 January 1809 – 27 May 1863) was an English cleric and author. Christened Robert Eldridge Aris Willmott, he never used his second Christian name. Quotes The first duty of a reader is to study the genius of his own country. But whosoever has leisure and opportunity may profit by the speech of other lands, since it enlarges the Pleasure of Literature, and because translations imperfectly reflect the original. They are landscapes or portraits transferred to the wood. Outline, and grouping, and features may be preserved, but colour and life escape. By what process of skill can the copyist produce, in their full splendour, the epithets of St. Paul, the silvery lights of Livy, or the picture-words of Æschylus? The weather-stains of Dante disappear in the modern fabric. The bloom of Petrarch melts under the touch. The polish rubs off from Massillon and Racine, and the crowded thoughtfulness of Pascal is scattered. Pleasures, Objects, and Advantages of Literature (London: Thomas Bosworth, 1851), p. 274 External links Category:1809 births Category:1863 deaths Category:Church of England clergy Category:Non-fiction authors from England Category:People educated at Harrow School Category:University of Cambridge alumni