Here we have the jolly god, in person, gamboling with the drunken clowns; whereas Dryden, agreeably to the Latin, simply meant, And, glad with Bacchus,.... i. e. "enlivened with good wine," as in Georgic iv, 156And with old Bacchus new metheglin join. Georgic ii, 576. 66 Nor, when thy tender trees at length are bound..... If verse 582 now stand as Dryden originally penned it, he must here, instead of "Nor," have written "Ev'n" or Nay," to make sense of the passage. I have chosen "Nay," as being the word which was the more likely to have been changed by the printer to Nor. It is possible, however, that the printer was not in fault, but that the poet had at first given to the sentence a different turn, to the following effect" Nor.....are their labours yet ended," and afterwards altered line 582 in his manuscript, without adverting to the "Nor" above. Georgic iii, 45. Next him, Niphates, with inverted urn, And dropping sedge, shall his Armenia mourn. Dryden unquestionably wrote "drooping." Georgic iii, 53. But neither shore his conquest shall confine. Read" conquests.” Georgic iv, 305. And grandsires' grandsons the long list contains. No very long list is requisite to furnish the grandsons of grandsires. The petty isle, which harboured no other human being than Robinson Crusoe and his man Friday, contained at that moment the grandsons of grandsires. But Virgil's expression includes at least six generations-"avi numerantur avorum," i. e. as I have printed the line, and as, no doubt, Dryden wrote it And grandsires' grandsires the long list contains. Georgic iv, 352. (first edit.) .Lurking lizards often lodge by stealth. Within the suburbs, and purloin their wealth. And worms, that shun the light, a dark retreat Have found in combs, and undermin'd the seat. Agreeably to a direction given in the errata to the first edition, that of 1698 exhibits the third line thus And lizards shunning light, &c. This alteration I have not adopted, being fully convinced that it is the offspring of an oversight on the part either of the author or the printer: for Dryden, after having translated " stellio" lizard in the first line, could never have thought of again introducing lizard in the third, as the translation of "blatta," which appears to be the moth-worm, or some other tiny creature of that kind, as Horace describes it preying upon drapery (Sat. ii, 3, 119) -cui stragula vestis, Blattarum ac tinearum epulæ, putrescat in arcâ. Georgic iv, 453. On Penëus's banks he stood, and near his holy head. For the information of the unlatined reader, I observe, that, "Peneus" being always three syllables, this line was intended by the author for one of fourteen, such as he has elsewhere used in this work: and it was accordingly so printed in both the folio editions; though succeeding printers, not aware of the measure of the word, contrived to cut the verse down to an Alexandrine, by improperly contracting the eu" to a diphthong, and then giving On Peneus' banks he stood, &c. Georgic iv, 586. (first edit.) The slipp'ry god will try to loose his hold, Or imitates the lion's angry roar; Breaks out in crackling flames to shun thy snares, Second edition The slipp'ry god will try, &c. With foamy tusks will seem a bristly boar, Break out in crackling flames to shun thy snares, Having altered the tense of the verbs, Dryden probably forgot to strike his pen through the final s of " snares" to make it rhime with "stare," as he intended. The printer, determined not to spoil the rhime, preserved both "snares" and “stares” in defiance of sense and grammar. I have printed "snare" and "stare" according to the poet's intention. Georgic iv, 667. The realms of Mars remurmur'd all aroundinstead of "remurmur.” Georgic iv, 776. The soft Napaan race will soon repent Their anger, and remit the punishment. C Virgil's expression is "iras remittent," which Dryden, no doubt, translated, and very properly, by" relent their anger:" but the printer officiously corrected it to "repent" — not dreaming that" relent" (like its French original, ralentir) was a verb active, signifying to slacken, repress, mollifyand that, when used as a verb neuter, it is merely an elliptic form of speech. Georgic iv, 787. T'appease the manes of the poets' king. Dryden, I doubt not, wrote, as I have printed, "the poet king," i. e. the poet and king, or the royal poet; Orpheus having, according to some accounts, been king of the Cicones. Dedication of Æneïs, vol. II, p. ii, 1. 10. "The trifling novels, which Aristotle and others have inserted in their poems." 66 Ariosto." There cannot be a doubt that Dryden wrote The printer, however, having probably never seen or heard the name of Ariosto, and finding that of Aristotle several times repeated in the same sheet concluded that the author had here made a mistake, which he accordingly cor rected in his way made Dedication of Æneïs, vol. II, pp. lxxvii and lxxix.i as the passage stands in the original, En. xii, 894. On restoring the true reading, I felt myself obliged, in p. lxxix, to alter the word "valour" to "threats." Although I might perhaps more properly have said "taunts," yet there was at least an implied threat in those taunts; and "threats" better suits the context. Eneïs, i, 179. He rear'd his awful head above the main : rer Serene in majesty, then roll'd his eyes, &c. Virgil's summâ placidum caput extulit undâ" naturally directs us to read He rear'd his awful head above the main, with as much anger and indignation as you please, but with very little serenity, on viewing the disastrous effects of the late hurricane. enc An island forms a port secure for ships to ride, Broke by the jutting land on either side: ris In double streams the briny waters glide. Betwixt two rows of rocks, a silvan scene Appears above, and groves for ever green. Did Dryden ever pen such nonsense, with Virgil by his side? No: we owe it all to his printer. The poet wrote thus forms a port secure for ships to ride: Broke by the jutting land, on either side, Eneïs, i, 862. With his right hand Ilioneus was grac❜d. The poet must certainly have written "he grac'd:" otherwise the following lines contain neither sense nor grammar. Eneïs, i, 904. antique vases all of gold emboss'd; Of curious work, where on the sides were seen Here the printer has imparted to us a notable discovery. that the fashion of the plate was not given for nothing in those days, since the vases had cost something more than the bare market-price of the bullion. Dryden himself, with an eye to Ovid's "Materiem superabat opus," had written as follows antique vases, all of gold emboss'd, (The gold itself inferior to the cost Of curious work) where on the sides were seen Eneïs, i, 954. I mean to plunge the boy in pleasing sleep, How different this from Virgil's idea! With him, the deceit consists in Cupid's assuming the figure of Iülus, and, in that disguise, enamouring Dido; while Iülus is kept out of the way, to prevent a discovery of the trick. Here, according to the printer's improvement of the passage, Iülus is to be |