Methinks rhime in heroic poems looks equally as Gothic, as rhime in tragedies: beside who would attempt it, after fo excellent a mafter as Mr. Pope? But he forgetting Homer's Jupiter, who indeed tried to fleep, and laid himself down to that purpose: and in the thirteenth book of the Iliad did actually fall asleep, much to his own fhame, and to the deftruction of many a Trojan; this Mr. Pope forgetting, or then perhaps having not red, takes his ideas from the God of Ifrael, who neither flumbereth nor fleepeth, and thus verfifies, in contradiction to his original author, and the established religion of old Greece, Now pleafing fleep had feal'd each mortal eye, Bat 'tis furprizing I fhould dwell fo long upon faults, when I have fo many beauties all around me. I will therefore break off for fear of the application of the following story. There lived in the fouthern parts of England a man of a large eftate, who had a very magnificent garden with all that variety which is confiftent at the same time with what is beautiful: it wanted neither hillocks, nor lawns, nor groves, nor various kinds of buildings at proper points of view; and the whole was terminated with a winding river. It happened there came to vifit him a finical gentleman, who had no notion of any thing but what was minute, and as minutely finished; all greatnefs of defign, with the correfpondency of various kinds of beauties were totally loft to him; nay he descended once so very low in his critical obfervations, as to take notice of fome weeds that accidentally were growing up and down in feveral places of the garden: upon which the master could not help telling him, that if he himself would undertake to weed his garden, he should fairly have all the weeds in it for his trouble. SECT. VI. THO' there are feveral corrections of corrupted paffages offered to your confideration, which naturally occurred whilft I was perfuing the former fubjects, yet my intention was to keep these corrections for the laft fection: because tho' this part of criticism may appear easy to minute scholars, 'tis not fo to the real scholar; who knows what previous preparations are requifite for this province. I do not think that I alter the author's words, whenever I have the authority of books for fuch alterations: but without fuch authority I would hardly allow any thing further than "commas and points fet right."-" A depofed and B restored." As wits have been pleased to express themselves: or the liberty, now and then, of fuppofing words to be fhuffled out of their proper places, or of being omitted in hafty writing. With thefe allowances, (and I think I am not exorbitant in my demand, confidering the incroaching fpirit of criticifm) and fometimes too by laying the blame on the author himself, whom I do not fuppofe infallible, I think I can furnish out fuch an edition of Spenser, as a tolerable taught reader may easily understand. But I will give you a few inftances, before I conclude this hafty epistle. Book BOOK II. CANTO VII. ft. 52. There mournfull Cypreffe grew in greatest store, To the faire Critias his deareft belamie. Later editions read, With which, but Spenfer follows the latin idiom of placing the prepofition after the pronoun: but this is immaterial at present to mention. When first I red Spenfer I thus corrected him, And Cicuta bad Which with th' unjuft Athenians made to dy i. e. both Socrates and Theramenes. But hear the reflection of the ingenious au- For every mistake here the author, thro' meer careleffness, is to blame; who if he had given himself the trouble of examining this ftory in Xenophon, would have found a plain allufion to a well known fport and cuftom. But fo far was Spenfer from thinking of Xenophon, that in transcribing this paffage from Cicero, inftead of Theramenes he wrote Socrates: and hence arose the confufion. These kind of mistakes are not unufual, and Cicero himself has been guilty of the like mistake of putting one proper name for another. The whole mystery is now opened. And this will account for the blunder in the introduction to the Fourth Book, Witnesse the father of philosophy Which to his Critias fhaded oft from funne Of love full manie leffons did apply. There is a dialogue of Plato named Critias, which has nothing to do with this paffage and he should have faid Phædrus, or rather Alcibiades, and have new modelled his verfe. Shaded from fun, means the groves of Academus: in fylvis Academi. Horat. BOOK III. CANTO XI. ft. 43. Next Saturne was (but who would ever weene, That to a centaure did himself tranfmove. And into her faire bofome made his grapes decline. In my edition of Spenser I fhall make no alteration of these words, tho' I am almoft perfuaded, that the proper names are fhuffled out of their places, not by the poet, but by the tranfcriber or corrector of the prefs. 'Tis plain he had Ovid before him, Liber ut Erigonen falfa deceperit uva, Ut Saturnus equo geminu Chirona crearit. Met. VI, 125. Saturnes love-intrigue with Philyra is well known from those beautiful verfes of Virgil in the Georgicks; and is related by Hyginus. Fab. 138. and all the mythologifts. I would not alter the text, however fatisfied I may be myself, but in the notes one may propofe, what feems the true reading, and thus reduce the proper names to their proper places: Yet love is fullein and Saturnlike feene, I keep to Spenser's fpelling And the other verfe, I would read, When for to compaffe ERIGONES hard love He turn'd himselfe into a fruitfull vine Erigone, is of three fyllables; and this manner of pronouncing is not without its inftance in Spenfer, not to mention Chaucer, who fpells and pronounces proper names just as he pleases, or rather as his verse pleases. BOOK I. CANTO IV. ft. 42. "And to augment the glorie of his guile, "Who reapes the harvest fowen by his foe, "He never meant with words, but fwords, to plead his right. You fee plainly the Paynim is ANGRY; and he fays above, 1 น "Pardon "Pardon the errour of enraged wight This epithet is therefore highly proper to him; not to the fedate Chriftian Knight, who fhews no figns of anger, but cool courage. How easy therefore, and without changing, only tranfpofing the words, to read? "Him ANGRY, little anfwer'd th' elfin knight; "He never meant with words, but fwords, to plead his right. What a ridiculous tranfpofition of words is made in Chaucer's Allemble of Foules, . 267. Spenser, K1.2.18283. THERE is no one who transcribes haftily, but will omit either words or parts of words: thefe omiffions are fometimes fo obvious that the printer can eafily fupply them; and fometimes he leaves them (which 'twere wished he always did) just as he finds them. Let us confider in this light the following paffage, but let me die that ought; "More is more loffe: one is enough to die. t B. 3. C. 11. ft. 19. The s and vary fo little, that if b was omitted in tranfcribing, no wonder the printer gave it us in the manner we now have it. But let us thus read, "Life is not loft, faid fhe, for which is bought "Endleffe renowme, that more then death is to be THOUGHT. i. e. Life is not loft, in exchange for which we purchase renown, which is much more to be THOUGHT of, than death. The learned author of the Remarks has mentioned this place; his words are "He ought to have faid, -That more than life is to be fought. Virgil Aen. V. 230. But I can hardly think a transcriber would thus blunder, the greatest of all blunders, and put death for life. BOOK I. CANTO V. ft. 5. At laft forth comes that farre renowmed queene, With regall pomp and princely majestie; Shee is ybrought unto a paled greene, And placed under ftately canopee, F 2 The The warlike feates of both thofe knights to fee. Duela placed is, and on the tree. Sanfoy his fhield is hang'd with bloody hew: Both THOSE THE lawrell girlonds to the victor dew. Here feems an omiffion, occafioned by an abbreviation of and, which perhaps was written in the Saxon character 1, which I would thus reftore, Both THOSE, AND TH' lawrell girlonds to the victor dew. i. e. Both those (viz. Duela and the fhield of Sansfoy) and the garland of laurels, which was hung up to crown the conqueror, due to him. The elifion of TH', fo frequent in our old poets, and particularly in Shakespeare, might not a little contribute to the omiffion of, for THE wrote at length gave the verfe its full measure indeed, but what without my alteration can scarce be even tortured into fense: for 'tis not all kinds of elliptical fpeeches and figurative expreffions that language will bear, but fuch only as hinder not its proper idiom and perfpicuity. This verse therefore ought not to be supplied firft with a verb, and next with making the garland of laurel to ftand for the reward: because if the fenfe of a paffage is thus to be eked out, neither idiom, nor perfpicuity, as I faid, can be preferved : and if Spenser had intended this, he would have written more intelligibly, as Those were the laurel girlonds to the victor due. But even this had been forced and hard. IF tranfcribers and printers, or editors, will be perpetually varying from the fpelling of their author, we shall neceffarily have a conftant fource of corruption : for by this alteration, which infenfibly goes on from fmaller to greater things, that antique caft is loft, which of itself carries fo venerable an afpect; and our modern editors, in this refpect, resemble the officious fervant of the late learned antiquary Dr. Woodward, who in fcowering off the ruft from an old fhield, which his mafter had just purchased, made it more resemble the new fcowered cover of an old kettle, than the fhield of an ancient heroe. Such kind of fcowerers were Mr. Urry and Mr. Hughes; who by endeavouring to reduce the spelling of their authors to modern ufe, have fhamefully, in many inftances, blundered, as well as grievously erred, in their very first entrance. Milton and Shakespeare have both been served in this manner, but 'twas always my intention to print, as they fpelt. The transcribers, &c. began firft with varying in the fpelling, and next in the expreffion; and old words, becaufe hard, were flung out of the context, and profaic interpretations were admitted, or they were ftrangely corrupted: an inftance of which corruption now occurs in our author. BOOK I. CANTO II. ft. 19. "And at his haughty helmet making mark What, |