William Adlington () was one among the host of translators that made the

Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

the "golden age of translations". His translation of

Apuleius Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern- ...

' 2nd century CE novel ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'', better known by its English title ''

The Golden Ass The ''Metamorphoses'' of Apuleius, which Augustine of Hippo referred to as ''The Golden Ass'' (''Asinus aureus''), is the only ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety. The protagonist of the novel is Lucius. At the end of the no ...

'' (1566, reprinted 1571, 1582, 1596) was its first appearance in English and has been steadily reprinted into the 20th century. His prose is bold and delightful, though he does not stick as close to his source as a modern translator would be expected to do, in part because he had probably translated from a French edition of the text alongside the original Latin. The book was a favourite source of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's.Borrowings even in the tragedies were demonstrated in detail by John J. M. Tobin, in Kenneth Muir, ed. ''Shakespeare and the Classical World'' (Shakespeare Survey 31) Cambridge University Press, 1978, and, for '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'', by James A. S. McPeek, "The Psyche Myth and A Midsummer Night's Dream" ''Shakespeare Quarterly'' 23.1 (Winter 1972:69-79). See also Robert H. F. Carver,'' The Protean Ass: The 'Metamorphoses' of Apuleius from Antiquity to the Renaissance'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007). He addressed his dedication to Thomas, Earl of Sussex, from "University College in Oxenford", but so little is known of him that he did not rate a ''

vita Vita or VITA (plural vitae) is Latin for "life", and may refer to: * ''Vita'', the usual start to the title of a biography in Latin, by which (in a known context) the work is often referred to; frequently of a saint, then called hagiography * Vit ...

'' in the '' Dictionary of National Biography''. A connection with the Adlington family of Cheshire is unproven, as is his authorship of the 1579 verse tract "A Speciall Remedie against the furious force of Lawlesse Love", which is more likely to have been written by the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

schoolmaster William Averell.

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adlington, William 16th-century English translators Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown Latin–English translators