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ADVERTISEMENT.

R. POPE, in his last illness, amused himself, amidst the care of his higher concerns, in preparing a corrected and complete Edition of his Writings"; and, with his usual delicacy, was even follicitous to prevent any share of the offence they might occafion, from falling on the Friend whom he had engaged to give them to the public.

*-" I own the late encroachments upon my constitution " made me willing to fee the end of all further care about me " or my works. I would rest for the one in a full resigna " tion of my Being to be disposed of by the Father of all " mercy; and for the other (though indeed a trifle, yet a " trifle may be some example) I would commit them to the " candour of a sensible and reflecting judge, rather than to " the malice of every short-fighted and malevolent critic, or " inadvertent and cenforious reader. And no hand can fet " them in so good a light." &. Let. cxx. to Mr. W.

-" I also give and bequeath to the said Mr. Warburton, : the property of all fuch of my Works already printed as " he hath written or shall write Commentaries or Notes up

on, and which I have not otherwise disposed of or alienat "ed; and as he shall publish WITHOUT FUTURE ALTE "RATIONS."- His last Will and Testament.

VOL. I.

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In

In discharge of this trust, the Public has here a complete Edition of his Works; executed in such a manner, as, I am perfuaded, would have been to his fatisfaction.

The Editor hath not, for the fake of profit, fuffered the Author's Name to be made cheap by a Subscription; nor his Works to be defrauded of their due honouis by a vulgar or inelegant Impression; nor his Memory to be disgraced by any pieces unworthy of his talents or virtue. On the contrary, he hath, at a very great expence, ornamented this Edition with all the advantages which the best Artists in Paper, Printing, and Sculpture could bestow upon it.

If the Public hath waited longer than the deference due to it's generous impatience for the Author's writings should have suffered, it was owing to a reason which the Editor need not be ashamed to tell. It was his regard to the family-interefts of his deceased Friend. Mr. Pope, at his death, had left large impressions of several parts of his Works, unfold; the property of which was adjudged to belong to his Executors; and the Editor was willing they fhould

should have time to dispose of them to the best advantage, before the publication of this Edition (which hath been long prepared) should put a stop to the sale.

But it may be proper to be a little more particular concerning the fuperiority of this Edition above all the preceding; so far as Mr. Pope himself was concerned. What the Editor hath done, the Reader must collect for himself.

The FIRST Volume, and the original poems in the SECOND, are here first print-ed from a copy corrected throughout by the Author himself, even to the very preface: Which, with feveral additional notes in his own hand, he delivered to the Editor a little before his death. The Juvenile tranflations, in the other part of the SECOND Volume, it was never his intention to bring into this Edition of his Works, on account of the levity of fome, the freedom of others, and the little importance of all. But these being the property of other men, the Editor had it not in his power to follow the Author's intention. The THIRD Volume, (all but the Effay on Man, which together with the Effay

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