TESTIMONIES
OF
AUTHORS
Concerning our Poet and his Works.
Martinus Scriblerus, Lectori S.
BEFORE we present thee with our Exercitations on the most delectable Poem of the Dunciad (drawn from the many volumes of our Adversaria on modern Authors) we shall here, according to the laudable usage of Editors, collect the various judgments of the Learned concerning our Poet: Various indeed, not only of different authors, but of the same author at different seasons. Nor shall we gather only the Testimonies of such eminent Wits as would of course descend to posterity, and consequently be read without our collection; but we shall likewise with incredible labour seek out for divers others, which but for this our diligence, could never at the distance of a few months appear to the eye of the most curious. Hereby thou may’st not only receive the delectation of Variety, but also arrive at a more certain judgment, by a grave and circumspect comparison of the Witnesses with each other, or of each with himself.