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Show A The BftfiU dedicatory. L- DI<,V tn o w n (which is theonlj a„ow m e n th,s F ' W ° ™ J I have to Y o , W7fta„T n S o Mrs" Bek. for the OccaCo, of a n oftSonateDittrefs in m y LaftP.ay; and L Cogence that I had not made erafuffi, ent Acknowledgment, I have tun further ,moh« Debt for Oroonoko, with a Defign to obbge me to be honeft; and that every one may find me out for Ingratitude, when I don't fay all that s fit form upon that Subjeft. She had a great Commands the Stage ; and I have often wonder d that I would bury her Favourite Hero in a Novel, wra fhe might have reviv'd him in the Scene. & thought either that no h&ov could reprefent h« or (he could not bear him reprefented : And Ik lieve the laft, when I remember what I have heat from a Friend of hers, That (he always told te Story, more feelingly, than fhe writ it. Wto ever has happen'd to him al Surinam, he hum* ed his Condition in England. He was bom to under Your Grace's Influence ; and that has a ried his Fortune farther into the World, thanaS the Poetical Stars that I could have foll.c.tedk his Succefs. It was Your Opinion, JSy L, that dircded m e to M r . Verbruggen ; and it1 bis Care to maintain Your Opinion that ta ,be T o w n to me, the Better Part of it, thee of Quality ; whofe Favours as I am proud ot, full always be induftrious to preferve. D Ihe Epiflle Dedicatory!** $ Lord, I know the Refpeft and R e ve ffhich in this Addrefs I ought to appear in b X re y0U> who are fo intimate with the Ancients 0 general a Knower bf the feveral Species of poetry, and fo Juft a Judge in the Trials of this kind. You have an abfolute Power to Arraign aid Convitl, but a prevailing Inclination to Par-inn and Save; and from the Humanity of Your Temper, and the true Knowledge of the Difficulties of fucceeding this way, never aggravate or infill upon Faults, -Quas ant incuria fudlt, Aut humana parum cavit Natura Hor. Art. Poet. to our Condemnation, where they are Venial and not againft the Principles of the Art w e pretend to. Horace, w h o found it fo, fays, Gratia Regum Pieriis tentata mod'ts. The Favour of Great Men is the Poets Inheritance, and all Ages have allow'd 'em to put in their Claim; I only wifh that I had Merit enough o prefer me to Your Grace: That I might de-fervein fome meafure that Patronage which Y ou are pleafed to beftow on m e : That I were a Horace for fuch a Mecanas. That I could de-fcribe |