e
in the first of the two additional letters published with the letters on
Shakespeare. Addison had examined this "ridiculous doctrine in modern
criticism" in the _Spectator_, No. 40 (April 16, 1711). Cf. Pope's account
of Dennis's "deplorable frenzy" in the _Narrative of Dr. Robert Norris_
(Pope's _Works_, ed. Elwin and Courthope, x. 459).

30. _Natura fieret._ Horace, _Ars poetica_, 408.

_a circular poet_, _i.e._ a cyclic poet. This is the only example of this
sense of _circular_ in the _New English Dictionary_.

32. _Hector speaking of Aristotle_,--_Troilis and Cressida_, ii. 2. 166;
_Milo_, _id._ ii. 3. 258; _Alexander_, _Coriolanus_ v. 4. 23.

_Plutarch._ Though Dennis is right in his conjecture that Shakespeare used
a translation, the absence of any allusion to North's Plutarch would show
that he did not know of it. He is in error about Livy. Philemon Holland's
translation had appeared in 1600.

33. _Offenduntur enim_, etc. _Ars poetica_, 248.

34. _Caesar._ Cf. the criticism of _Julius Caesar_ in Sewell's preface to
the seventh volume of Pope's Shakespeare, 1725.

36. _Haec igitur_, etc. Cicero, _Pro M. Marcello_, ix.

38. _Julius Caesar._ Dennis alludes to the version of _Julius Caesar_ by
John Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire, published in 1722. In the altered
form a chorus is introduced between the acts, and the "play begins the day
before Caesar's death, and ends within an hour after it." Buckinghamshire
wrote also the _Tragedy of Marcus Brutus_.

39. _Dryden_, Preface to the Translation of Ovid's _Epistles_ (1680) _ad
fin._: "That of _OEnone to Paris_ is in Mr. Cowley's way of imitation only.
I was desired to say that the author, who is of the fair sex, understood
not Latin. But if she does not, I am afraid she has given us occasion to
be ashamed who do" (Ed. W. P. Ker, i., p. 243). The author was Mrs. Behn.

_Hudibras_, i. 1, 661. But _Hudibras_ has it slightly differently,--"Though
out of languages in which," etc.

39. _a Version of two Epistles of Ovid._ The poems in the seventh volume
of Rowe's edition of Shakespeare include Thomas Heywood's _Amorous Epistle
of Paris to Helen_ and _Helen to Paris_. They were attributed to
Shakespeare, till Farmer proved their authorship (p. 203). Cf. Gildon,
_Essay on the Stage_, 1710, p. vi.

40. _Scriptor_, etc. _Ars poetica_, 120.

41. _The Menechmi._ Dennis's "vehement suspicion" is justified. See above,
note on p. 9.

_Ben Johnson_, "small Latin a