t,

WILLIAM LAUDER.

December 20, 1750.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Virorum maximus--Joannes Miltonus--Poeta celeberrimus--non Angliae
modo, soli natalis, verum generis humani ornamentum--cujus eximius
liber, Anglicanis versibus conscriptus, vulgo Paradisus amissus,
immortalis illud ingenii monumentum, cum ipsa fere aeternitate
perennaturum est opus!--Hujus memoriam Anglorum primus, post tantum,
proh dolor! ab tanti excessu poetae intervallum, statua eleganti in
loco celeberrimo, coenobio Westmonasteriensi, posita, regum,
principum, antistitum, illustriumque Angliae virorum caemeterio, vir
ornatissimus, Gulielmus Benson prosecutus est.
_Poetarum Scotorum Musae Sacrae, in praefatione, Edinb. 1739._

A character, as high and honourable as ever was bestowed upon him by
the most sanguine of his admirers! and as this was my cool and
sincere opinion of that wonderful man formerly, so I declare it to
be the same still, and ever will be, notwithstanding all appearances
to the contrary, occasioned merely by passion and resentment; which
appear, however, by the Postscript to the Essay, to be so far from
extending to the posterity of Milton, that I recommend his only
remaining descendant, in the warmest terms, to the public.

[2] On two unequal crutches propp'd he[2a] came;
Milton's on this, on that _one_ Johnston's name. Dunciad, Book IV.

[2a] _Benson_. This man endeavoured to raise himself to fame, by
erecting monuments, striking coins, and procuring translations of
Milton; and afterwards continued: by a great passion for Arthur
Johnston, a Scots physician's version of the Psalms, of which he
printed many fine editions. _Notes on the Dunciad_.

No fewer than six different editions of that useful and valuable
book, two in quarto, two in octavo, and two in a lesser form, now
lie, like lumber, in the hand of Mr. Vaillant, bookseller, the
effects of Mr. Pope's ill-natured criticism.

One of these editions in quarto, illustrated with an interpretation
and notes, after the manner of the classic authors _in usum
Delphini_, was, by the worthy editor, anno 1741, inscribed to his
Royal Highness Prince George, as a proper book for his instruction
in principles of piety, as well as knowledge of the Latin tongue,
when he should arrive at due maturity of age. To restore this book
to credit wa