Page:Virgil's Pastorals, Georgics and Aeneis - Dryden (1709) - volume 2.djvu/98

 Arraign you for want of Knowledge in this Art, till they can produce somewhat better of their own, than your Essay on Poetry. Twas on this Consideration, that I have drawn out my Preface to so great a length. Had I not address'd to a Poet, and a Critick of the first Magnitude, I had my self been taxed for want of Judgment, and sham'd my Patron for want of Understanding. But neither will you, my Lord, so soon be tir'd as any other, because the Discourse is on your Art: Neither will the Learned Reader think it tedious, be cause it is ad Clerum. At least, when he begins to be weary, the Church Doors are open. That I may pursue the Allegory with a short Prayer, after a long Sermon:

May you Live happily and long, for the Service of your Country, the Encouragement of good Letters and the Ornament of Poetry; which cannot be wish'd more earnestly by any Man, than by

Your Lordship's

Most Humble, most Obliged,

and most Obedient Servant,

.