_the true Duty of an Editor._ A shy hit at Pope’s “dull duty of an
editor,” Preface, p. 61.
82. _as I have formerly observ’d_, in the Introduction to _Shakespeare
Restored_, pp. ii and iv. The paragraph is quoted almost verbatim.
83. _labour’d under flat Nonsense._ Here again Theobald incorporates a
passage from the Introduction to _Shakespeare Restored_, p. vi.
_Corrections and conjectures._ Yet another passage appropriated from his
earlier work. The French quotation, however, is new.
_Edition of our author’s Poems._ Theobald did not carry out his intention
of editing the _Poems_. References to the proposed edition will be found
in Warburton’s letters to him of 17th May and 14th October, 1734 (see
Nichols, _Illustrations_, ii., pp. 634, 654).
The only attempt as yet towards a Shakespearian Glossary is to be found in
the supplementary volumes of Rowe’s and Pope’s editions. It is far from
“copious and complete.”
84. _The English are observ’d to produce more Humourists._ See Congreve’s
letter to Dennis _Concerning Humour in Comedy_, 1695.
_Wit lying mostly in the Assemblage of Ideas_, etc. So Locke, _Essay
concerning the Human Understanding_, Book II., Ch. xi., § 2. The passage
had been popularised by Addison, _Spectator_, No. 62.