But when he began to write, the
subject swelled in such a manner, that instead of prefaces to each poet,
of no more than a few pages, as he had originally intended[125], he
produced an ample, rich, and most entertaining view of them in every
respect. In this he resembled Quintilian, who tells us, that in the
composition of his _Institutions of Oratory[126], Latius se tamen
aperiente materia, plus quam imponebatur oneris sponte suscepi._ The
booksellers, justly sensible of the great additional value of the
copy-right, presented him with another hundred pounds, over and above
two hundred, for which his agreement was to furnish such prefaces as he
thought fit[127].
This was, however, but a small recompense for such a collection of
biography, and such principles and illustrations of criticism, as, if
digested and arranged in one system, by some modern Aristotle or
Longinus, might form a code upon that subject, such as no other nation
can shew. As he was so good as to make me a present of the greatest part
of the original and indeed only[128] manuscript of this admirable work,
I have an opportunity of observing with wonder, the correctness with
which he rapidly struck off such glowing composition.
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