Page:A Dissertation on Reading the Classics and Forming a Just Style.djvu/20

x Pedants do we meet with, that keep to the Letter, and lose the Spirit?

''I won't pretend to answer my Want of Method, perhaps I have observed it, tho' I seem to neglect it. Nor shall I need any Apology for the Style and Manner I have used, which the graver Critics will censure as too light and juvenile for one of my Profession. But I was not writing to myself, nor to the grave and learned, but to a young Nobleman of sprightly Parts, and a lively Imagination. My Business was to engage his Attention, and give the Piece such Colours, as would strike his Fancy. And I am very glad, that while I wrote to a Youth, I could write'' Rh