THE DUNCIAD.
BOOK the FIRST.
BOOKS and the Man I sing, the first who brings The Smithfield Muses to the Ear of Kings.REMARKS on BOOK the FIRST.
The Dunciad, Sic M. S. It may be well disputed whether this be a right Reading? Ought it not rather to be spelled Dunceiad, as the Etymology evidently demands? Dunce with an e, therefore Dunceiad with an e. That accurate and punctual Man of Letters, the Restorer of Shakespeare, constantly observes the preservation of this very letter e, in spelling the name of his beloved Author, and not like his common careless Editors, with the omission of one, nay sometimes of two ee’s [as Shak’spear] which is utterly unpardonable. Nor is the neglect of a Single Letter so trivial as to some it may appear; the alteration whereof in a learned language is an Atchivement that brings honour to the Critick who advances
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