and my Love and Veneration for which I Shall never be able to express: It is to That famous University, I say, that I owe a very considerable Part of my Encouragement in this Undertaking; tho' at the same time I have great and signal Obligations to many _Others_, who were not only Subscribers to it themselves, but Promoters of it by their Interest in their Friends. With the most grateful Sense of the Favour, and Honour done me, I return my _general_ Thanks to _All_ Those of the Nobility, and Gentry, and all Others, who appear as my Subscribers: But These my _especial Benefactors_ are desired to accept of my more _particular_ Acknowledgments. Even These (many of whom are Persons of Quality) are so numerous, that to mention them would be to transcribe a great Part of my List into my Preface: And Since I cannot properly name them _All_, I think it the best Manners to name _None_. I wish for Their sakes, as well as my Own, that, when they have read this Translation, they may not repent of the _generous Encouragement_ they have given it. One Thing of which, I hope, I may say; and That is, that _it is a Translation_. And if it be; I believe I may add, that it is almost the only one in Verse, and of a considerable Length. And this I am very far from speaking, upon the Account of any great Opinion which I have conceived of my own Performance. For besides that a Translation may be very _close_, and yet very _bad_. Others could have done the same thing much better, if they would: But they thought it either impracticable, or improper. They have been so averse from the Folly of rendering Word for Word, that they have ran into the other Extreme; and their Translations are commonly so very licentious, that they can scarce be called so much as Paraphrases. Whereas, were it practicable to translate _verbatim_ in the strictest Sense; and yet preserve the Elegance, and Sublimity, and Spirit of the Author, as much as if one allowed one's self a greater Latitude: That Method ought to be chosen before the other. And in proportion, the nearer one approaches to the Original, the better it is; provided the Version be in other Respects no way prejudiced, but rather improved by it: A Thing, in my Apprehension, by no Means inconceivable. A Translator should _draw the Picture_ of his Author: And in Painting, we know, _Likeness_ is the _first_ Beauty; so that if it has not _That_, all the rest are insignificant. Draw _Virgil_ as _like_ as you can; To think of _improving_ him is _arrogant_; and to flatter him, is _impossible_. I have not added, or omitted very many Words: Many indeed are varied; the Sense of the Substantive in the Latin, being often transferred to the Adjective in the English; and so on the Reverse: with a great Number of such like Instances, which it is needless to mention. Yet many Lines are translated Word for Word: But, upon the Whole, to give a tolerable, and yet a perfectly litteral Version, I take to be in