Page:Horace's Art of Poetry made English - Roscommon (1680).djvu/3



''Have seldome known a Trick succeed, and will put none upon the Reader, But tell him plainly that I think it could never be more seasonable than now to lay down such Rules, as if they be observ'd, will make Men write more Correctly, and judge more discreetly; But Horace must be read seriously or not at all, for else the Reader wont be the better for him, and I shall have lost my labour; I have kept as close as I could, both to the Meaning, and the Words of the Author, and done nothing but what I believe he would forgive if he were alive; And I have often ask'd my self that Question. I know this is a Field''

Per quem Magnus Equos Arunci flexit Alumnus.

But with all the respect due to the name of Ben.