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An ESSAY on the ART, RISE, and PROGRESS of
the STAGE, in Greece, Rome, and England.

And a GLOSSARY of the Old Words us'd in these Works.

The Whole Revis'd and Corrected, with a PREFACE,
By Dr. SEWELL.

LONDON;

Printed by J. DARBY, for A. BETTES WORTH, F. FAYRAM,
W. MEARS, J. PEMBERTON, J. HOOKE, C. RIVINGTON,
F. CLAY, J. BATLEY, E. SYMON. M.DCC.XXV.

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1955-4

FARIQUE

SENTIAT

To the Right HONOURABLE

The Lord WALPOLE.

My LORD,

I

SHOULD not have dared to approach Your Lordship with a less Poet in my Hand than SHAKESPEAR; the dead Ornament of the English Nation, being the most proper Present to its Living Glory. He, My LORD, has shared the Fate common to every great Genius, receiving very

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ill

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ill Returns for all his Beauties and Benefits; in amends for which, my present Endeavour is to wipe off the Dust of Age, Error and Ignorance, and Screen his valuable Remains under Your Lordship's Protection.

YOUR Lordship knowing his Excellencies, can happily compare them with the Antients, and have thereby a peculiar Right to this Offering. That Nurse of Arts and Sciences, that Builder and Refiner of Mankind, (with what Pride I Say our common Mother, ETON!) has furnished You with a true Taste of Letters; so that tho SHAKESPEAR might fear You, as a Judge, yet he now prides himself in courting You, as a Patron.

IN Your Travels, Your Name, the best Harbinger, prepared for You at every Court a Reception fuitable to the Son of Mr. WALPOLE. You was then the Representative of the English Genius Abroad, difplaying that Probity, Integrity, and Openness of Soul, that diftinguishes this Nation from all others.

IN the Situation You are now in, My LORD, You have nothing to do but to imitate the Great Pattern Pattern before You, to the Joy of Your Friends, and the Disappointment not of Yours, so much as of Your Country's Enemies. You have the nobleft Incentives : For it is with You as with young Afcanius,

Te pater ÆNEAS & Avunculus excitat HECTOR.

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