In short, my Lord, I shall be very proud to please a
_Sidney_, an house fertile, of extraordinary genio's, whose every
member deserves his own Sir _Philip_ to celebrate him; whose
characters are romances to the rest of mankind, but real life in his
own family.
_I am, my Lord,_
_Your Lordships most devoted_
_Humble Servant,_
W. BURNABY.
THE PREFACE
The Moors ('tis said) us'd to cast their newborn children into the
sea, and only if they swam would think 'em worth their care; but mine,
with more neglect, I turn into the world, for sink or swim, I have
done all I design'd for't. I have already, with as much satisfaction
as _Aeneas_ in a cloud heard _Dido_ praise him, heard the
_Beaux-Criticks_ condemn this translation before they saw it, and with
as much judgment as if they had: And after they had prophetically
discover'd all the flaws in the turns of thought, the cadence of
periods, and had almost brought in _Epick_ and _Drama_, they supt
their coffee, took snuff, and charitably concluded to send _Briscoe_
the pye-woman to help off with his books. Well, I have nothing to
say, but that these brisk gentlemen that draw without occasion, must
put up without satisfaction.
After the injury of 1700 years, or better, and the several editions in
_Quarto_, _Octavo_, _Duodecimo_, etc., with their respective notes to
little purpose; for these annotators upon matters of no difficulty,
are so tedious, that you can't get rid of their enlargements without
sleeping, but at any real knot are too modest to interrupt any man's
Curiosity in the untying of it.
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