Page:The battle of the books - Guthkelch - 1908.djvu/47

 general question of the superiority of the Ancients or the Moderns and refers to the work of Wotton and Bentley. As the second edition of Wotton's Reflections which contained Bentley's first Dissertation did not appear until after April 1697, this part of the book must have been written after that date; or if it was begun earlier (as is quite possible), it must have been considerably altered. The fact that Boyle is not mentioned in the first part of the Battle suggests that this part was written before the appearance of his Examination in 1698.

The second part refers, among other things, to Boyle's reply to Bentley and Wotton, which as we have just seen appeared in 1698; and this part of the Battle must, accordingly, have been written in 1698 or later. As there is no reason to suppose a later date, we may safely accept 1698.

The date for the book as we have it would be, therefore, 1697-8. As the date of the Battle has sometimes been given as 1696, it is necessary, perhaps, to insist on this point.