While still more wretch, more wicked he doth prove:
Till now at length that Jove an office gives,
(At Juno's suite who much did Argus love)
In this our world a Hangman for to be
Of all those fooles that will have all they see.—B. 2. Ch. 14.
I know it may be objected on the authority of such Biographers as Theophilus Cibber, and the Writer of the Life of Sir Philip, prefixed to the modern Editions, that the Arcadia was not published before 1613, and consequently too late for this imitation: but I have a Copy in my own possession, printed for W. Ponsonbie, 1590, 4to. which hath escaped the notice of the industrious Ames, and the rest of our typographical Antiquaries.
Thus likewise every word of antiquity is to be cut down to the classical standard.
In a Note on the Prologue to Troilus and Cressida (which, by the way, is not met with in the Quarto), [pg 187] Mr. Theobald informs us that the very names of the gates of Troy have been barbarously demolished by the Editors: and a deal of learned dust he makes in setting them right again; much however to Mr. Heath's satisfaction. Indeed the learning is modestly withdrawn from the later Editions, and we are quietly instructed to read,
Dardan, and Thymbria, Ilia, Scæa, Troian,
And Antenorides.