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Galabin and Marchant, Printers, Ingram-Court, London.

IN THREE ACTS.

WITH

Burlesque Annotations,

AFTER THE MANNER OF

DR. JOHNSON AND GEO. STEEVENS, Esq.

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PRINTED FOR J. M. RICHARDSON, NO. 23, CORNHILL,

OPPOSITE THE ROYAL EXCHANGE.

1811.
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PREFACE.

CONSCIOUS that any attempt to treat with levity the works of our IMMORTAL POET is in some danger of being received with displeasure, the following production is submitted to the public with that diffidence which the delicacy of its subject must, naturally, excite. In order, however, to remove such objections as may arise, solely out of partiality or of prejudice, a few observations may not be, altogether, unneces

sary.

The objection most commonly urged against burlesques and parodies in general, is, that they

tend to bring into ridicule and contempt those authors against whose works they are directed. That this objection will hold, when applied to works of inferior merit, or to such as are deficient in sense or genius, is freely admitted; but, when used with reference to such writings as, from their intrinsic merit, have long been established in the public estimation, its futility is evident. HOMER and VIRGIL have both been the subjects of strong burlesques, but they are still read with unabated admiration; the bay that adorns them still flourishes, and its verdure remains undiminished: and it would be an insult to the high character of OUR POET, were it supposed that the wreath is so loosely twined around his brows as to be endangered by so mere a trifle as that which gives rise to these remarks. Whilst the beauties of poetry shall continue to delight, the works of

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