ſcattered in many books and papers, which were probably never read but once, or the particulars which they contain received only in the courſe of common converſation; nay, what is called plagiariſm, is often no more than the reſult of having thought alike with others on the ſame ſubject.
The diſpute about the learning of Shakeſpeare being now finally ſettled, a catalogue is added of thoſe tranſlated authors, whom Mr. Pope has thought proper to call
The claſſics of an age that heard of none.
The reader may not be diſpleaſed to have the Greek and Roman poets, orators, &c. who had been rendered acceſſible to our author, expoſed at one view; eſpecially as the liſt has received the advantage of being corrected and amplified by the Reverend Dr. Farmer, the ſubſtance of whoſe very deciſive pamphlet is interſperſed through the notes which are added in this reviſal of Dr. Johnſon’s Shakeſpeare.
To thoſe who have advanced the reputation of our Poet, it has been endeavoured, by Dr. Johnſon, in the foregoing preface, impartially to allot their dividend of fame; and it is with great regret that we now add to the catalogue, another, the conſequence of whoſe death will perhaps affect not only the works of Shakeſpeare, but of many other writers. Soon after the firſt appearance of this edition, a diſeaſe, rapid in its progreſs, deprived the world of Mr. Jacob Tonson;
a man,
