_writers of the time._ “Ascham, in the Epistle prefixed to his
_Toxophilus_, 1571, observes of them that ‘Manye Englishe writers, usinge
straunge wordes, as _Lattine_, _Frenche_, and _Italian_, do make all
thinges darke and harde,’ ” etc. (Farmer).
_all such reading as was never read._ _Dunciad_, i., line 156, first
edition (see Introduction, p. xliv.; iv., line 250, edition of 1742).
_Natale solum._ “This alludes to an intended publication of the
_Antiquities of the Town of Leicester_. The work was just begun at the
press, when the writer was called to the principal tuition of a large
college, and was obliged to decline the undertaking. The plates, however,
and some of the materials have been long ago put into the hands of a
gentleman who is every way qualified to make a proper use of them”
(Farmer). This gentleman was John Nichols, the printer, whose _History and
Antiquities of the County of Leicester_ appeared from 1795 to 1815.