St John’s College Aa.3.45

‘Explanations’ upon Bentley’s Dedication of Horace. English, ca. 1730

 

‘This Non-pareil dedication shall be honoured with some Explanations, and a few extempore Observations, By Scriblerus. An Hole Picker’. Concerning a work of Richard Bentley (1662-1742), of St John’s College. Beg.: ‘Bentley had dedicated Horace to Hallifax, A Lover of his Country…’; Ends: ‘This literal Translation of Bentley’s Dedication was a Judicious Burlesque, it being the most effectual Method for throwing the slashing Critic, as Pope styled him, into the lowest Contempt’. The notes are linked to identified pages in the published work. They are hostile to Bentley, who is described as ‘a Book Worm’, ‘the proudest and vainest of Mortals’, a disgrace to the Church (fos 9v-10r).

Manuscript extra information

165x100 mm. 1 fo. preceding and 9 fols following the printed work to which it refers, and with which it is bound (numbered 1-10, modern foliation). Bound with a copy of Dr Bentley’s Dedication of Horace, translated. To which is added, a poem in Latin and English, inscribed to the Right Honourable the Lord Hallifax, written by the Reverend Dr Bentley (London, n.d. [1712]) (ESTC T10222). Presented by William Emerton Heitland (1847-1935), Fellow of St John’s College, 1892 (College donation plate inside front cover).

A single, rather broad and well-spaced hand of the eighteenth century. Paper; ruled margins from fo. 2r. Blue paper covers, slightly damaged, especially at the spine. Cover title in MS: ‘Horace to Oxford from Bentley’.