_Hail mighty_ MARO! _May That sacred Name Kindle my Breast with Thy celestial Flame; Sublime Ideas, and apt Words infuse: The Muse instruct my Voice, and THOU inspire the Muse._
[3] _De tous les Ouvrages dont l'Esprit de l'Homme est capable, le Poem Epique est sans doute le plus accompli._
[4] _For so it should certainly be read; tho' both in the Folio and Octavo Editions, 'tis_ Aristotle.
[6] Elogia Virgilii Cap. IV Major _Homero_.
[7] _The Word was originally applied to Dramatic Poetry, and from thence transferred to Epic._ Aristotle _uses it in more Senses than one; which seem not to be rightly distinguished by his Interpreters. However we are for that Reason more at Liberty to apply it, as we think most proper._
[8] _For he mentions several Episodes, which he allows to be truly such; which yet are only convenient, not necessary. And besides, he says, p. 100, and in other Places_, Une Episode est une partie necessaire de l'Action: _And yet, p. 102_, Le premier plan de l'Action contient _seulement ce qui est propre & necessaire_ à la Fable; _& n'a aucune Episode. By which he_ seems at least _to allow that an Episode may not be necessary._
[9] Τὸ μεν οὖν ἰδιον τοὖτο, τὰ δ' ἄλλα ἐπεισόδια. Poetic. Cap XVII.
[10] _The one is ἴδιον, the other is οἰκεῖον. The former is of a more_ close, restrained, _and_ peculiar _Signification, than the latter: The former relating_ most properly _to a Man_'s Person; _the latter to his_ Possessions.
[14] _Upon the Article of_ Virgil's _Invention, see M._ Segrais _at large in his admirable Preface to his Translation of the_ Æneis; _and from him Mr_. Dryden _in his Dedication of the_ Æneis, _p. 226_, &c. _of the Folio Edition._
[21] _Verses before L._ Roscommon's _Essay. And Preface to his_ Virgil.
[23] _Dr._ Swift _in his Letter to the Earl of_ Oxford.
Spelling: English spelling in the 18th century had many differences from present-day spelling, and most of the spelling has therefore been retained without alteration.
The following may also be correct, and have been retained: "Excrescencies" (Preface p. xiii), "it self" (Preface p. xvii), "w'on't" (Preface p. xxvii), "encountring" (Preface p. xliv, a quotation from Milton PL Book 6), "forreign" (Preface p. xlviii), "litteral" (Preface p. xv), "Scotish" (Preface p. xlviii), "grosly" (Preface p. xlix).