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printed from the incorrect copies of the players, there is more room left for conjectures and emendations; and as according to the old proverb,

Bene qui conjiciet vatem hunc perhibebo optimum,

the best guesser was the best diviner, so he may be said in some measure too to be the best editor of Shakespeare, as Mr. Warburton hath proved himself by variety of conjectures, and many of them very happy ones, upon the most difficult passages. But we who undertake to publish Milton's Paradise Lost are not reduced to that uncertainty; we are not left floating in the wide ocean of conjecture, but have a chart and compass to steer by; we have an authentic copy to follow in the two editions printed in his own lifetime, and have only to correct what may be supposed to be the errors of the press, or mistakes occasioned by the author's blindness. These two editions then, the first in ten books printed in a small quarto, and the second in twelve books printed in a small octavo, are proposed as our standard: the variations in each are noted; and we never deviate from them both without assigning, as we think, a substantial reason for it. Some alterations indeed are necessary to be made in consequence of the late improvements in printing, with regard to the use of capital letters, Italic characters, and the spelling of some words: but to Milton's own spelling (for we must distinguish between his and that of his times) we pay all proper regard, and commonly note where it is right, and where it is wrong; and follow it or not accordingly. His pointing too we generally observe, because it is generally right; such was the care, that

Milton himself took in having the proof-sheets read to him, or his friends took for him: and changes of consequence we make none without signifying the reasons; in lesser instances there is no occasion to be particular. In a word, we approve of the two first editions in the main, though we cannot think that they ought to be followed (as some have advised) letter for letter, and point for point. We desire to transcribe all their excellencies, but have no notion of perpetuating their faults and errors.

When the text was settled, the notes came next under consideration. P. H. or Patrick Hume, as he was the first, so is the most copious annotator. He laid the foundation, but he laid it among infinite heaps of rubbish. The greater part of his work is a dull dictionary of the most common words, a tedious fardel of the most trivial observations, explaining what requires no explanation: but take away what is superfluous, and there will still remain a great deal that is useful; there is gold among his dross, and I have been careful to separate the one from the other. It was recommended to me indeed to print entire Mr. Addison's Spectators upon the Paradise Lost, as ingenious essays which had contributed greatly to the reputation of the poem, and having been added to several editions they could not well be omitted in this edition: and accord

ingly those papers, which treat of the poem in general, are prefixed in the nature of a preliminary discourse; and those, which are written upon each book separately, are inserted under each book, and interwoven in their proper places. Dr. Bentley's is a great name in criticism, but he has not acquired any additional honour by

his new edition of the Paradise Lost. Nay some have been so far prejudiced as to think, that he could not be a good critic in any language, who had shown himself so injudicious an one in his own mother-tongue. But prejudice apart, he was a very great man, of parts inferior to few, of learning superior to most men; and he has made some very judicious and useful remarks upon the Paradise Lost, though in the general they may rather be called the dotages of Dr. Bentley. He was more sagacious in finding faults, than happy in mending them; and if he had confined himself only to the former, he might have had better success; but when he attempted the latter, and substituted verses of his own in the room of Milton's, he commonly made most miserable bungling work, being no poet himself, and having little or no taste of poetry. Dr. Pearce, the present Lord Bishop of Rochester, has distinguished his taste and judgment in choosing always the best authors for the subjects of his criticism, as Cicero and Longinus among the ancients, and Milton among the moderns. His Review of the Text of the Paradise Lost is not only a most complete answer to Dr. Bentley, but may serve as a pattern to all future critics, of sound learning and just reasoning joined with the greatest candour and gentleness of manners. The whole is well worthy of the perusal of every lover and admirer of Milton, but such parts only are ingraffed into this work as are more immediately proper for our design, and explain some difficulty, or illustrate some beauty, of our author. His Lordship together with my Lord Bath first engaged me in this undertaking, and he has kindly assisted me in it from the beginning to the end;

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and I cannot but entertain the better hopes of the public approbation, as these sheets, long before they went to the press, were perused and corrected by his Lordship. Of Mr. Richardson's notes it must be said that there are strange inequalities in them, some extravagances, and many excellencies; there is often better sense than grammar or English; and he sometimes hits the true meaning of the author surprisingly, and explains it properly. He had good natural parts but without erudition or learning, in which he was assisted by his son, who is a man of taste and literature, as well as of the greatest benevolence and goodnature. Mr. Warburton likewise has published some remarks upon the Paradise Lost, occasioned chiefly by Dr. Bentley's edition. They were printed some years ago in the History of the Works of the Learned, and he allowed me the free use of them: but upon looking into the History of the Works of the Learned, to my regret I found that his remarks were continued no farther than the three first books, and what is become of his other papers, and how they were mislaid and lost, neither he nor I can apprehend; but the excellence of those which remain sufficiently evinces the great loss that we have sustained in the others, which cannot now be recovered. He has done me the honour too of recommending this edition to the public in the preface to his Shakespeare, but nothing could have recommended it more effectually than if it had been adorned by some more of his notes and observations. There is a pamphlet entitled An Essay upon Milton's imitations of the Ancients, said to be written by a Gentleman of North Britain: and there is another

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entitled Letters concerning poetical translations, and Virgil's and Milton's arts of verse, commonly ascribed to Mr. Auditor Benson: and of both these I have made some use, as I have likewise of the learned Mr. Upton's Critical Observations on Shakespeare, wherein he has occasionally interspersed some remarks upon Milton; and in short, like the bee, I have been studious of gathering sweets wherever I could find them growing.

But besides the flower of those which have been already published, here are several new observations offered to the world, both of others and my own. Dr. Heylin lent me the use of his manuscript remarks, but much the greater part of them had been rifled before by Dr. Bentley. It seems Dr. Heylin had once an intention of publishing a new edition of the Paradise Lost, and mentioned his design to Dr. Bentley: but Dr. Bentley declaring at the same time his resolution of doing it, Dr. Heylin modestly desisted, and freely communicated what observations he had made to Dr. Bentley. And what does Dr. Bentley do? Why, he borrows the best and most plausible of his notes from Dr. Heylin, publishes them as his own, and never has the gratitude to make any acknowledgment, or so much as any mention of his benefactor. I am obliged too to Mr. Jortin for some remarks, which he conveyed to me by the hands of Dr. Pearce. They are chiefly upon Milton's imitations of the Ancients; but every thing that proceeds from him is of value, whether in poetry, criticism, or divinity, as appears from his Lusus Poetici, his Miscellaneous Observations upon authors, and his Discourses concerning the truth of the Chris

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