The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our Lady of Carmel (Classic Reprint)

Under his agreement with the owners of the copyright, he was bound to reproduce the text and notes, etc., originally prepared by Mr. David Lewis without any change, so that my duty was confined to reading the proofs and verifying the quotations. This translation of the Life of St. Teresa is so ex cellent, that it could hardly be improved. While faithfully adhering to her wording, the translator has been successful in rendering the lofty teaching in simple and clear language, an achievement all the more remarkable as in addition to the difficulty arising from the transcendental nature of the subject matter, the involved style, and the total absence of punctuation tend to perplex the reader. Now and then there might be some difference of opinion as to how St. Teresa sphrases should be construed, but it is not too much to say that on the whole Mr. Lewis has been more successful than any other translator, whether English or foreign. Only in one case have I found it necessary to make some slight alteration in the text, and I trust the owners of the copyright will forgive me for doing so. In Chapter XXV., 4, St. Teresa, speaking of the difference between the Divine and the imaginary locutions, says that a person com mending a matter to God with great earnestness, may think that he hears whether his prayer will be granted or not :y es muy posible, and this is quite possible, but he who has ever heard a Divine locution will see at once that this assurance is something quite different. Mr. Lewis, following the old Spanish editions, trans lated :A nd it is most impossible, whereas both the autograph and the context demand the wording I have ventured to substitute. When Mr. Lewis undertook the translation of St. Teresa sworksr he had before him Don Vicente de la Fuente sedition (M adrid, 1861- 1862), supposed to be a faithful transcript of the original. In 1873 the Soc
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)