The School of Husbands Comedy

In the first edition of this comedy Moratín found the opportunity he wanted, to express the high appreciation he had always made of Molière's merit. The prologue which he put in it is a panegyric of the French poet, and the translation of it, a tribute of thanks which he dedicated to so worthy a teacher the most passionate of his imitators. «He has translated Molière (says the aforementioned prologue) with the freedom that he has thought convenient, to translate him in effect and...
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In the first edition of this comedy Moratín found the opportunity he wanted, to express the high appreciation he had always made of Molière's merit. The prologue which he put in it is a panegyric of the French poet, and the translation of it, a tribute of thanks which he dedicated to so worthy a teacher the most passionate of his imitators.
«He has translated Molière (says the aforementioned prologue) with the freedom that he has thought convenient, to translate him in effect and not spoil him; and in advance he is pleased to consider the surprise that the critics must cause the little accuracy with which he has put the expressions of the original into Spanish when they find entire pages, in which there is hardly a word that can be called rigorously translated. Who will forgive him for the audacity of omitting entire passages from his version, shortening or lengthening them, altering some scenes, preserving the result in others, dispensing with the dialogue in which the author put them and substituting a different one instead? This is not called translating, they will exclaim, full of zeal and scholarly indignation."