Page:Horace's Art of Poetry made English - Roscommon (1680).djvu/4

 Johnson, to which no Man pays more Veneration than I, it cannot be deny'd that the constraint of Rhyme, and a literal Translation (to which Horace in this Book declares himself an Enemy) has made him want a Comment in many places.

My chief care has been to Write intelligibly, and where the Latin was Obscure, I have added a Line or two to explain it.

I am below the Envy of the Criticks, but if I durst, I would begg them to remember, that Horace ow'd his favour and his fortune to the Character given of him by Virgil and Varius, that Fundanius & Pollio are still valued by what Horace says of them, and that in their Golden Age, there was a good Understanding among the Injenious, and those who were the most Esteem'd were the best Natur'd.

ROSCOMMON.