Rev. Henry Boyd
Anna Seward to Helen Williams, 25 August 1785; Letters, ed. Scott (1811) 1:77.
The dear bard has been so good as to send me Boyd's translation of Dante into English verse. Appearing after Mr. Hayley's version of the three first cantos of the Inferno, it suffers by a comparison with their matchless excellence; yet, even had he condescended to lead us through the long succession of fiery furnaces, the result must have been a certain weary horror, of which we grow impatient.