" But how is this
significant Observation made out? Why, who can possibly object any
Thing to the Contrary?--_Does not_ Pausanias_ relate, that _Draco_
the Lawgiver to the _Athenians_ granted Impunity to any Person that
took Revenge upon an Adulterer? And was it not also the Institution
of _Solon_, that if Any One took an Adulterer in the Fact, he might
use him as he pleas'd?_ These Things are very true: and to see What
a good Memory, and sound Judgment in Conjunction can atchieve! Tho'
_Homer_'s Date is not determin'd down to a single Year, yet 'tis
pretty generally agreed that he liv'd above 300 Years before _Draco_
and _Solon_: And That, it seems, has made him _seem_ to allude to
the very Laws, which these Two Legislators propounded above 300
Years after. If this Inference be not something like an _Anachronism_
or _Prolepsis_, I'll look once more into my Lexicons for the true
Meaning of the Words. It appears to me, that somebody besides _Mars_
and _Venus_ has been caught in a Net by this Episode: and I could
call in other Instances to confirm what treacherous Tackle this
Network is, if not cautiously handled.
How just, notwithstanding, I have been in detecting the Anachronisms
of my Author, and in defending him for the Use of them, Our late
Editor seems to think, They should rather have slept in Obscurity:
and the having discovered them is sneer'd at, as a sort of
wrong-headed Sagacity.
The numerous Corrections, which I made of the Poet's Text in my
SHAKESPEARE _Restor'd_, and which the Publick have been so kind to
think well of, are, in the Appendix of Mr.
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