PREFACE. "Primo rerum aspectu, cum investigandæ veritatis copia non est, falli possumus, et fallimur, idque a naturâ suâ genus habet humanum: ast ubi temporis ope mentis ille primus conatus deferbuit, et rationis lumine res discuti cœpta innotuit, humana id monstrat conditio, ut errorem, quem ipsi evitavimus, posteris ut evitent, ne nobis ipsi injurii esse velimus, propona mus.' "Habui quod verum esse pronuntiarem; habui, quo falsitatem, sed breviter et pro temporis opportunitate depellerem."-LEONIS ALLATII Animadv. in Antiq. Etrusc. Fragmenta ab INGHIRAMIO edita 1640, 4to. دو "In delectu notarum, hanc rationem sequebar, ut quæ alibi essent obvia, ferè transilirem. Id profitendum jam nunc fuit, ne quis hic quæreret, quæ interpretum eruditissimorum passim extantia satis scripta declararent. Nec tamen nova me omnia glorior afferre; benè meum agi putaturus, si vel pauca protulisse judicer, quæ hoc serum Spicilegium, post uberrimas aliorum messes, non usquequaque infelix probent.' -PETRI POSSINI, s. 1, Presb. Spicilegium Evangelicum, p. 1, ed. 1712. THE notes, though few in number, which are here presented to the reader, will form the best proof of the estimation in which Mr. Dyce's edition of Beaumont and Fletcher is held by me. I have emulated the diligence, though I might not possess the learning, of the editor; and have examined the entire work with that care that is due to the high reputation of the critic, as well as to the great and varied excellence of the authors, whom he has so curiously and successfully illustrated. Indeed Mr. Dyce has favoured us with an edition, so rich in all the required learning, as much to surpass any previous attempts of the same kind on the same text. He has collected in one view all the variety of *"After all, Beaumont and Fletcher are but an inferior sort of Shakespeares and Sidneys."-C. LAMB. |
