the R E A D E R.

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us , not all at once indeed , but in different Parts of hisadmired Works . The Reflections upon some beautifulPastages t?/Horace, which I have seleSledout of many scat-tered thro his Lordship's Writings , as they stand in them,are so incidental, and environed with so many Beauties ymore essential to his main Defgn , that they are generallynot sufficiently attended to, to have the EffeEl, they cannot,

I think , fail to have, when they are presented to one bythemselves, or in an united View, as Pieces of truly ratio- Ynal and useful Criticism. And therefore I thought thatgathering and uniting them together, might be of use to shewwhat true Criticism ought to do ; and to what importantand profound RefleSlions Homer, Virgil, Horace, and o-ther ancient Authors, lead those who read them with Intel-ligence, and are capable of entering into their Spirit: Forin them and all good Writers, to use a Phrase os\\ one whowell deserves to be placed among the Ancients , More ismeant than meets the Ear. In order to this, one must notmerely be Master of dead Languages, which it can neverbe worth while to learn , if one is to learn nothing else bythem : But he must be very well acquainted with Antiquityand History, with ancient Philosophy, with Mankind ;and with that true and solid Criticism which deduces allits Maxims and Rules from Human Nature and the Know-ledge of the World. This plainly appears from these sewReflections on ancient Authors, on Horace in particular ,we have selected from that incomparable Writer on Pur-,pose to evince it. And he who understands and relishes

b 2 them >

I! Solebat Plato, quoties e schola dtscederet, dicere: Yidcte, pueri, utqcioad honestam aliquam rem utamini, Plato de Sanitate tuenda •